Schmigadoon is one of my newest favs.

As a fan of musicals, I had always wanted to watch the Apple TV + series, but I never had gotten around to it. However, recently, I found some time and I figured that I could give this a try.

After the very first episode, I was in.

I did not binge the whole series, spreading out the two season, 6-episode seasons over about a week, which worked extremely well.

I have always been a fan of Keegan-Michael Key, who stars as Dr. Josh Skinner. To be fair, Keegan-Michael Key is not the best singer of the cast, but the show keeps his songs to a minimum and, truthfully, his song in season 1 was one of the most emotional moments of the first season.

Dr. Josh Skinner’s girlfriend in season 1 and wife in season 2 is Dr. Melissa Gimble, played by Cecily Strong, who has a strong comedic presence and great timing. She makes a effective team with Key. Even when I was not sure about what the show intended, I was always rooting for this couple to be together.

Season 1 was based on musicals such as Oklahoma, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and the 1947 musical Brigadoon.

Season 2 takes several musical inspirations/parodies including obviously Chicago, Sweeny Todd, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar and Annie.

There is some remarkably clever writing in the series and the music is both enjoyable and extremely funny. You can hear the homage to the classic music from the different musicals that Schmigadoon parodies in the score for the show.

The ensemble cast included some heavy hitters like Alan Cumming, Fred Armisen, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski, Ariana DeBose, Tituss Burgess, Aaron Tveit, Dove Cameron, Kristin Chenoweth, Jaime Camil and Michelle Rios.

That cast played different characters in the two seasons, highlighting different styles of musicals and some great work. Alan Cumming was especially brilliant in season 2 as the Sweeney Todd-inspired butcher, Dooley Flint. His unbalanced performance was spectacular.

Season two’s inclusion of the Narrator character, played by Tituss Burgess was a stroke of genius. It kept the meta aspects of the series in place.

I hope there will be more Schmigadoon on Apple TV in the future. This was a lot of fun and entertaining as could be.

“It’s a doggity-dog world”