Garfunkel and Oates (TV series)

Garfunkel and Oates is an American comedy television series created by and starring Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, members of the titular musical duo. The series aired from August 7 through September 25, 2014, on IFC.[1][2] On March 3, 2015, IFC decided not to renew the series for a second season.[3]

Garfunkel and Oates
GenreComedy
Musical
Created byRiki Lindhome
Kate Micucci
Directed byFred Savage
StarringRiki Lindhome
Kate Micucci
Opening theme"Wow" by Garfunkel and Oates
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes8 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersRiki Lindhome
Kate Micucci
Fred Savage
Jonathan Stern
Dennis McNicholas
Camera setupSingle camera
Running time22 minutes
Production companiesHair And Moustache
Abominable Pictures
IFC Original Production
Release
Original networkIFC
Original releaseAugust 7 –
September 25, 2014 (2014-09-25)
External links
Official website

Plot

The series follows the personal and professional lives of the comedy-folk duo Riki (Garfunkel) and Kate (Oates), as they attempt to make it big in Hollywood one satirical song at a time.

Cast

Recurring

Development and production

On January 13, 2011, Garfunkel and Oates signed a deal with HBO for a pilot for a series loosely based on their lives.[4][5] Lindhome has described it as "Glee with dick jokes".[6] Shortly afterward, HBO passed on the series.[7] In August 2012, HBO posted webisodes on their website.

On April 10, 2013, IFC ordered their own pilot for Garfunkel and Oates, as part of the scripted development slate.[8] On September 30, 2013, IFC officially placed an eight-episode series order on the series, executive produced by Jonathan Stern and Abominable Pictures.[9] A few months later, Fred Savage signed on to executive produce and direct all season one episodes.[10]

On June 2, 2014, IFC announced the series premiere date of August 7, 2014, at 10 pm ET/PT.[1] IFC released the third episode online a week before the series premiere.[11]

On March 3, 2015, IFC announced that it would not order a second season of the comedy. In an interview, Riki Lindhome stated that the network "wanted to do another season but they needed it out by a certain date", which Lindhome could not meet due to commitments for another show on Comedy Central.[12]

Episodes
No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUS viewers
(millions)
1"The Fadeaway"Fred SavageRiki Lindhome & Courtney BowmanAugust 7, 2014 (2014-08-07)0.199[13]
Stand-up comedians and comedy-music duo Garfunkel and Oates (Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome) are living in Los Angeles. Riki begins dating a fellow comedian after her boyfriend breaks up with her, believing their recent song was mocking his testicles. Kate gets a call from their agent to audition for an upcoming Ben Kingsley film. When she messes up and calls her agent, she discovers the role was meant for Riki. Meanwhile, Riki decides to break up with her boyfriend, after his stand-up act focuses on their awkward sex.
2"Rule 34"Fred SavageDennis McNicholasAugust 14, 2014 (2014-08-14)0.205[14]
Riki and Kate discover they are the subject of a porn parody, "Garfinger and Butts". The two girls who starred in this are fans and wish to emulate them. After Chris Hardwick tweets about a song of Garfinger and Butts, the two become bigger than Garfunkel and Oates. The two groups then both get an offer to write a song for Pumpernickel Place (a parody of Sesame Street) about the wedding of Schubert and Sockley (a parody of Bert and Ernie). John Oates plays the bit character Dirty D. The episode ends with Riki and Kate getting an offer to open for Garfinger and Butts.
3"Speechless"Fred SavageRiki Lindhome & Kate MicucciAugust 21, 2014 (2014-08-21)0.103[15]
After their friend starts dating a girl who barely talks, Kate and Riki experiment to see what will happen if they don't talk at all on a blind date. To their surprise, their dates become invested in them, and the two decide to continue these relationships. Riki's new boyfriend makes assumptions about her past due to her not talking, and she finally talks during a football game, with him liking her even more. Unfortunately, he ends it when he discovers many Garfunkel and Oates songs are about their ex-boyfriends' penises. Kate has to break up with her new boyfriend when she finds out he is dating her because he believes she is autistic, as he is into mentally handicapped women.
4"Road Warriors"Fred SavageJonathan SternAugust 28, 2014 (2014-08-28)0.206[16]
Riki and Kate go to a show outside the city, where they find a man who has been protesting them for some time in order to discourage female comedians. Riki and Kate encounter several problems with the show when their sound guy quits and the bar owner wants to propose to his girlfriend in the middle of the show. The show ends up going horribly, as the sound guy remains defiant and the owner's girlfriend turns him down after hearing a Garfunkel and Oates song about how miserable life is in one's thirties. Riki and Kate are forced to get a ride back home with their protester.
5"Hair Swap"Fred SavageDennis McNicholasSeptember 4, 2014 (2014-09-04)0.145[17]
Wondering if blondes are hotter in the eyes of men and if brunettes are treated nicer by women, Kate and Riki buy wigs of opposite colors to test their theory. Their hypothesis is proven true when Riki finds their friends treating her much better than usual, and Kate easily picks up a guy at a bar. They end up having to ditch the wigs when Riki is treated worse by the director of the film she is in, and when Kate falls asleep during sex with her one night stand. They surmise at the end that they have learned nothing from this experience.
6"Third Member"Fred SavageJason Sudeikis & Hanna ChristianSeptember 11, 2014 (2014-09-11)0.130[18]
While trying to get licenses to legally purchase marijuana, the former third member of Garfunkel and Oates, Jazzy Jeff (now a celebrity known as Cornish), wishes to get revenge on the two for kicking her out of the band, using her celebrity fame and fortune to torture the two. After several hijinks, Cornish's final piece of revenge is buying out all of their next concert tickets to stop anyone from going to the show, and buying all their merchandise to leave none for their fans. This makes Riki and Kate ecstatic, as her revenge has ended up giving them plenty of money.
7"Eggs"Fred SavageRiki LindhomeSeptember 18, 2014 (2014-09-18)0.136[19]
Finding out she has little time to give birth before her reproductive system begins failing, Riki begins the process of hormone injections. Also, after meeting a massage therapist, Kate worries she may have Peter Pan Syndrome, meaning she is afraid to grow up. She begins keeping a fear journal, and gives away all of her handmade puppets to separate herself from her childhood. Riki ends up messing up a show for them due to her hormones, and the episode ends on a cliffhanger.
8"Maturity"Fred SavageRiki LindhomeSeptember 25, 2014 (2014-09-25)0.088[20]
Riki begins dating her ex, and Kate begins dating a high schooler, hoping he will be on her own level of maturity. This is all happening while Kate is organizing a "kazoo parade," where she gets several people to march down the street while playing the kazoo. Riki ends up getting along marvelously with her ex, but when he discovers she is using hormones to freeze her eggs, he gives her an ultimatum: have kids with him now, or they break up. She chooses to continue her medical procedures, and he ends their relationship. Meanwhile, Kate's boyfriend breaks up with her, as her sexual experience is not enough for him. The next day, Riki's results her in, and none of her eggs have taken, which means she likely won't be able to have children, though she tells their friend Vivian she still wishes to one day have kids. At Kate's kazoo parade, she finds out that the men who attended to join her are perverts, as in internet slang, a "kazoo parade" is when a woman gives a blowjob to several flaccid dicks. Riki finds Kate sitting alone in the park, and suggests they put on the kazoo parade, just the two of them, saying it will allow the reliving of it one last time before finally moving on with their lives. The two do the parade, and the series ends with Riki and Kate sitting together in their apartment. Kate gives a happy ending to her fear journal about growing up, and gives it to Riki for her future child, assuring her that she will have kids one day.

Reception

The series received mostly positive reviews from television critics. On Metacritic, the first season was given a rating of 73 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[21] Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described the series as "a gem of a little show."[22] Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Robert Lloyd noted that the first episode "is the weakest of the three I've seen," but "Things quickly improve, however, as the women get stranger and more idiosyncratic."[23] Caroline Framke of The A.V. Club awarded the series with a "B-" grade, stating that the series was "promising" but also "struggling to find itself". She also picked up on the comparisons to Flight of the Conchords, noting that "both shows feature hapless heroes and smash cuts to surrealist musical interruptions. While Flight of the Conchords took pride in maintaining a quizzical distance from the audience, Garfunkel and Oates tries to bring us right into Lindhome and Micucci's world alongside them."[24] Mike Hale of The New York Times compared the series to The Mary Tyler Moore Show, stating that "the Mary Tyler Moore connection is clear, and the desirable Riki and second banana Kate have a slight Mary-Rhoda correlation."[25]

References
  1. "IFC's New Comedy Series "Garfunkel and Oates" Premieres Thursday, August 7 at 10:00 PM ET/PT". The Futon Critic. June 2, 2014. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  2. "Shows A-Z - garfunkel & oates on ifc". The Futon Critic. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  3. 'Garfunkel & Oates' Canceled by IFC After 1 Season
  4. Littleton, Cynthia (January 13, 2011). "Micucci, Lindhome ink pact with HBO". Variety.
  5. Conversation with Ross: Featuring Riki Lindhome
  6. "Garfunkel--Oates-Serenades". Attack of the Show. March 9, 2011.
  7. See more posts from Lisa M. Gerry (2012-03-19). "A Chat With the Rad-Ass Chicks of Garfunkel and Oates". Hellogiggles.com. Archived from the original on 2012-12-11. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
  8. "IFC Unveils Development Slate of 11 Scripted Comedies". The Futon Critic. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  9. O'Connell, Michael (September 30, 2013). "IFC Orders 'Garfunkel & Oates' Pilot to Series". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  10. Busis, Hillary (March 5, 2014). "Fred Savage to direct, produce IFC's 'Garfunkel and Oates'". EW.com. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  11. Travers, Ben (July 31, 2014). "Watch: IFC Releases 'Garfunkel and Oates' Pilot Online Ahead of Premiere". IndieWire. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  12. Garfunkel & Oates (September 10, 2015). "Opie With Jim Norton - Garfunkel & Oates In Studio (09/10/15)" (Interview). Interviewed by Greg "Opie" Hughes and Jim Norton. SiriusXM. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  13. Metcalf, Mitch (August 8, 2014). "UPDATED: THE SKED CABLE/NETWORK THURSDAY SCORECARD - 8/7/14". ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  14. Metcalf, Mitch (August 15, 2014). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 25 Thursday Cable Originals - 8/14/14". ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  15. Metcalf, Mitch (August 22, 2014). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 25 Thursday Cable Originals: 8.21.2014". ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  16. Metcalf, Mitch (August 29, 2014). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 25 Thursday Cable Originals: 8.28.2014". ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  17. Metcalf, Mitch (September 5, 2014). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 25 Thursday Cable Originals: 9.4.2014". ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  18. Metcalf, Mitch (September 12, 2014). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 25 Thursday Cable Originals: 9.11.2014". ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  19. Metcalf, Mitch (September 19, 2014). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 25 Thursday Cable Originals: 9.18.2014". ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  20. Metcalf, Mitch (September 26, 2014). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 25 Thursday Cable Originals (& Network Update): 9.25.2014". ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  21. "Garfunkel & Oates : Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  22. Owen, Rob (August 5, 2014). "Some decent laughs with IFC's 'Garfunkel & Oates'". postgazette.com. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  23. Lloyd, Robert (August 7, 2014). "'Garfunkel and Oates' finds an odd, funny, endearing harmony". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  24. Framke, Caroline (August 7, 2014). "The promising Garfunkel And Oates struggles to find itself on TV". The A.V. Club. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  25. Hale, Mike (August 6, 2014). "Demure, Deadpan and Smutty, an Offshoot of Girl Power". The New York Times. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
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