Another Period

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Another Period
Another Period.png
Created by Natasha Leggero
Riki Lindhome
Written by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • Natasha Leggero
  • Riki Lindhome
Directed by Jeremy Konner
Starring <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Theme music composer Snoop Dogg
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 10 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Running time 22 minutes
Production company(s) <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Red Hour
  • Leggero/Lindhome Productions
  • Konner Productions
Release
Original network Comedy Central
Original release June 23, 2015 (June 23, 2015) –
present
External links
Official website

Another Period is an American period sitcom created by and starring Natasha Leggero and Riki Lindhome. It follows the lives of the Bellacourts, the first family of Newport, Rhode Island, at the turn of the 20th century. Lillian (Leggero) and Beatrice (Lindhome) are sisters "who care only about how they look, what parties they attend and becoming famous, which is a lot harder in 1902".[1] It is intended to be a spoof on reality shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians, while in terms of era, roughly contemporaneous to Downton Abbey and satirizing many of the same themes of class and social standing.[2]

The series was picked up for 10 episodes and debuted on Comedy Central on June 23, 2015. It is directed by Jeremy Konner, co-creator and writer of Drunk History. Ben Stiller's production company Red Hour is producing. Leggero, Lindhome, and Konner are also executive producers.[3]

It has been renewed for a second season, which will premiere on June 15, 2016.[4]

Cast

The House of Bellacourt

  • Lillian Abigail Hitler Schmemmerhorn-Fish (née Bellacourt), played by Natasha Leggero, is the second eldest Bellacourt daughter, who is often seen wearing a tiara. Once left at the altar at the age of eleven, "the height of a woman's sexual peak," her subsequent loveless and despised marriage to Victor has nonetheless produced eight "non-sons" that have "all been ripped from [her] stomach" and most of whom are named Susan. She's the "pretty, smart, funny, ambitious, nice body, soon-to-be-famous" one. Lillian is ruthlessly competitive, manipulative, and scheming; she always wants to 'win' in social circles and be seen as an icon to be envied. Hungry for fame and press, Lillian often stages dramatic scenes in order to be discovered such as false kidnapping, competing in a beauty pageant, arranging a fake funeral for her 'dead' (bribed) husband, or throwing a dog dinner party to woo her way into the "richest white people" club. Lillian is smart and resourceful, but is often thwarted by her immense selfishness and unrealistic goals. Of the two sisters, Lillian acts as the cunning leader and consistently carries around her furiously vicious chihuahua, Major Cutie.
  • Beatrice Tiffani Amber Thiessen Downsy (née Bellacourt), played by Riki Lindhome, is the youngest daughter and twin sister of her brother Frederick, with whom she carries on an incestuous sexual relationship. Though outwardly ditzy, she appears to be an idiot savant in many instances but when called out on intelligence in a woman, quickly counters with a non-sequitur, such as "Look, the day-moon!" to appease her audience. Beatrice serves as the "ideal woman" of the turn of the century. Tall, rich, and slender, she fits the mold of a woman in the Beauty Pageant, and is a talented singer, with little other interest in politics, or having her own opinions. She wins a 10/10 from the judges when asked her opinion and she worriedly wonders "Maybe I should ask a man?" Beatrice, however, also exhibits exceptional selfishness and sociopathy, stabbing and attempting to murder people without empathy. She has several (uncounted) children, and one son called "The Little Asshole" whose chloroform tolerance has been built up from being gassed to sleep. Though Beatrice goes along with Lillian's schemes, she does little to contribute or keep the plan from failing, happier to passively experience life, which seems to be her predominate function. She is also married to her gay husband, Albert, with whom she does not have a bad relationship, but values for his fashion, love advice, and because he can "make her bangs look fluffy." It is unclear if Beatrice realizes Albert is gay, although Albert is aware of her sexual relationship with her twin. Beatrice spends much of her time trying to protect Frederick, and becomes extremely jealous when Frederick pursues other women.
  • Hortense Jefferson Library Bellacourt, played by Lauren Ash, is the eldest Bellacourt sibling, originally played by Artemis Pebdani in the pilot episode. "Hore" is Lillian and Beatrice's progressive, "barren," comely, virgin, unmarried, and old maid eldest sister. Dodo and Commodore are both embarrassed by her unattractiveness and large figure, and "pray her life will be blessedly short." Hortense acts as the satire of the radical feminist, calling for women's suffrage, and is a member of the Women's Temperance League as well as the Newport Association of Gal Spinsters (N.A.G.S.). All three sisters' names demonstrate their personalities in a literal way, with Hore's being the foundations of American democracy and her innate bookishness. Hortense's lack of admirable or desirable qualities in this time period make her as ugly as her appearance (which includes a large mole and glasses). She often stretches the boundaries of what is considered acceptable for the time period, including having a relationship with a black man, aborting a child, exercising, reading, being politically active, being business savvy, and expressing an interest in a career by becoming a writer. Hortense is jealous of her two younger sisters because of their wealth, power, and position, but their vapidity and refusal to understand the importance of votes for women or appreciation of the many famous historical figures that grace their home (like Helen Keller, Mark Twain, or Sigmund Freud). Although Hortense is the most liberal character, she shares the family ruthlessness, and exposes the family to ridicule by selling their story to the papers.
  • Lord Frederick Bellacourt, played by Jason Ritter, is the illiterate twin brother of Beatrice, her incestuous lover, and heir to Bellacourt family fortune. He is the youngest child of Dodo and Commodore, and lacks any semblance of ambition as his life consists of leisure activities. He is unmarried by the age of 35, shocking his mother who has lost track of his age. He often engages in not only frivolous pastimes, but patently ridiculous scenarios like "lawn canoeing." He seems to be the genuinely dumbest child in the family, as Beatrice's equal stupidity is mostly feigned. Frederick struggles with his sexuality, as he allows his manservant Garfield to wash him thoroughly, but also enjoys sexual intercourse with his twin, and with women who are presented as potential suitors. Frederick struggles to grasp concepts such as Senate, finances, and business, and is an embarrassment to his father.
  • Commodore Bellacourt (originally Harold Bellawitz, a fur trapper[5]), played by David Koechner, is the family patriarch and "magnet magnate". The Commodore has little or nothing to do with his wife or children, and is often away on business. He regards his two daughters Lillian and Beatrice with fondness but refers to them as "cocaine sponges." He is embarrassed by Frederick because Frederick, as his only son, will inherit his empire and will likely run it into the ground. The Commodore has no regard for Hortense at all, neither good nor bad, other than larger-than-life repulsion. While the Commodore was away, he fell in love with a prostitute named Celine and offered her a job at the manor in order to be close to her and keep her as his mistress. The two regularly tryst together in the house, though their relationship remains a secret.
  • Dodo Bellacourt, played by Paget Brewster, is the family's matriarch, and mother to her four children, Hortense, Lillian, and twins Beatrice and Frederick, respectively. She begins to suspect her husband is having an affair, and delves deeper into her pre-existing morphine (e.g. heroin) addiction to cope. Her condition worsens as the series progresses, and she attempts to quit cold turkey after forcing the butler Peepers to pose as the Commodore and then having a sexual encounter in the carriage after too much absinthe at a party hosted by Leon Trotsky (Matt Besser) and Mahatma Gandhi (Ravi Patel). Dodo acts as the disgraced, unwanted older woman of the time, notoriously lonely after her selfish children are grown, and although she attempts to keep the romance with her husband alive, grows increasingly distant from him as well. She has no friends or social gatherings, and stays confined to her room or the house, mostly talking to Peepers.
  • Victor Schmemmerhorn-Fish the V, played by Brian Huskey, is Lillian's secretly gay husband, who is a twisted, awful human being that Lillian admires, but can't stand ("You think we'd get along!"). Victor married into the Bellacourt family to "stack cash", but feels he can't live "on a husband's allowance." He has a closet relationship with Beatrice's husband Alfred, but after Alfred is injured, becomes romantically interested in Dr. John Goldberg. In a pinch, Victor and Lillian can make a fierce duo, as they are both highly ambitious, manipulative, and petty.
  • Albert Downsy, Jr., played by David Wain, is Beatrice's secretly gay husband, who is having an affair with Victor. Alfred is the gentler of the two in the relationship, and acts as the stereotyped gay man obsessed with fashion, hair trends, making dessert, speaking in falsetto, and giggling. He is also fond of growing vegetables that resemble male genitalia, and giving Beatrice relationship advice about her twin Frederick. When he attempts to impregnate Beatrice (a monthly ritual), he chloroforms her and covers her face with a towel so he might fantasize about the male servants in the room.

Servants at Bellacourt Manor

  • Peepers (formerly Mitchell P. Spiritwalker) played by Michael Ian Black, is the Bellacourt butler, who was adopted and raised by a Native American family as an infant. Though the Bellacourts take no notice of his efforts, Peppers is a stickler for perfect order and hopelessly devoted to the family. Peepers is also the legal guardian of Blanche and has the ability to send her to an insane asylum at his discretion. Peepers suffers from consumption, and keeps an iron lung under his bed to help him keep breathing at night, but refuses to let his illness reflect in his work. He is also secretly in love with Dodo, and their unlikely friendship, though very unequal, is the only friend the either possesses. Peppers's devotion to the Bellacourts can drive him to commit illegal actions to protect them, having murdered Scoops LaPue for exposing the family's secrets in the Newport Looky-Loo and framed Hamish of the crime. Peepers' upbringing is used as a satirical juxtaposition to the way mainstream media treats Native American and other non-Western cultures. Peepers refuses to let his nephew try on his butler's uniform as it is "not an outfit, but a way of life," and often disrupts their native funeral services with a blatant disregard and insensitivity.
  • Blanche, played by Beth Dover, is the head housemaid. She was diagnosed with "hysteria" as a nervous disorder, and spent time in an asylum. She is easily startled because of her experiences there, and felt slighted that the orderlies raped every patient but her. Blanche is a hopeful lower class woman who has big dreams that she could work in a factory during this age of the American industrial revolution, remarking tongue-in-cheek that she couldn't wait to work on a line 15 hours a day with no food, sunlight, or bathroom breaks. Blanche is lonely, and attempts to befriend Chair before making an unfortunate enemy out of her and sent to the asylum. But once Peppers learns the truth and Chair's intention, Blanche is released and extacts her revenge.
  • Chair (formerly Celine), played by Christina Hendricks, is a new household servant who is a former prostitute and the Commodore's secret mistress.[6] Celine was renamed by Beatrice after having too pretty a name to be a servant's name. Chair spends most of her time resenting the Commodore's promise to be "kept" by him, and instead has to work much harder than she did as a prostitute for less money. Chair is wily and clever, and uses her sexuality to manipulate those around her. She woos Garfield by giving him a towel, tricks Blanche by using her dreams of a factory job against her, and even drugs Dodo to keep her from discovering her own affair with the Commodore. Chair is the dominant one in the relationship, and often makes the Commodore beg or crawl for her like a dog. Chair becomes pregnant by the Commodore and has to combat Hamish's threats of exposure and blackmail. She eventually forces the Commodore to regard her as an equal as an "upstairs woman" before Blanche discovers her treachery against the family and the servants, resulting with Chair's assumed death and the miscarriage of her unborn child.
  • Garfield Leopold McGillicutty,[7] played by Armen Weitzman, is the under butler/valet, manservant, (and later potato scrubber)[5] who was taken by Peepers from the orphanage when he was five years old to work in the manor. The Bellacourts are his only family, and he loves them with a blind devotion having known nothing else. He joyfully carries their urine and scrubs their floors, and genuinely looks forward to Frederick's bathtime, where he confesses his life serving the Bellacourts is his dream come true. Garfield is extremely naive and sweet. He makes friends with inanimate objects since he has no true friends, and falls willingly for Chair's advances out of excitement and innocence. He regards Peepers as a father, and saves his life by realizing Peepers needed the encouragement from the Bellacourts he had been craving. Garfield stands as the stock character who is "overly artless" and is later "ravished" (raped) by a visiting moneyed woman. His devastation is only laughed at by the other servants, who chortle that they all love a good ravishing and suggest it might have been his "tight outfit" or the way he had acted while he protests he had done nothing wrong.
  • Hamish, played by Brett Gelman, the groundskeeper who tends to the grounds of the mansion and performs certain other "special" duties such as kidnapping, "re-conforming to heterosexuality training," and selling women into sexual slavery.[8] Hamish has a foul, unkempt appearance. His teeth are blackened with scurvy and other plaque, and he is often doing hard manual labor or carrying human feces. Hamish is a sadist, and likes being tortured both physically and verbally (although stands in for erectile dysfunction with his overt masculinity). He recognizes Chair as a former prostitute whom he was a client to, making her life difficult. In the season one finale, Hamish ends up being framed for the murder of Scoops LaPue and is arrested.

Recurring characters

  • Roni Akurati (credited as Ronith Akurati) as Tabu, Indian boy-servant of Charles Ponzi before killing his master and swearing loyalty to the Bellacourts despite being initially turned away.
  • Jon Daly as Policeman #2 (badge #4729).
  • Josh Fadem as Falling Charlie, AKA Charlie Chaplin, an entertainer known for his clumsy falling routine.
  • Nancy Friedrich as Cornetta, a member of N.A.G.S.
  • Rich Fulcher as Mark Twain, the famous author and adventurer.
  • Moshe Kasher as Dr. Goldberg, a physician attending Albert.
  • Thomas Lennon as the Marquis de Sainsbury, arbiter of the "Newport 400" social registry.
  • Kate Micucci as Eunice, a member of N.A.G.S.
  • Missi Pyle as Celery Savoy, heiress and president of the Clambake Club, who becomes engaged to Frederick after his appointment to the U.S. Senate.
  • Will Sasso as Policeman #1 (badge #73).
  • Betsy Sodaro as Abortion Deb, a member of N.A.G.S.
  • Brent Weinbach as Scoops LaPue, society reporter/gossip columnist for the Newport Looky-Loo newspaper. When Hortense sold her family's incriminating stories to the newspaper, Scoops was believed to be the culprit and is secretly murdered by Peppers soon after.

Guest stars

Episodes

No. Title Directed by Written by Original air date U.S. viewers
(millions)
1 "Pilot" Jeremy Konner Natasha Leggero & Riki Lindhome June 23, 2015 (2015-06-23) 0.61[9]
Lillian (Natasha Leggero) and Beatrice (Riki Lindhome) prepare to entertain a Newport power broker, and new servant Celine (Christina Hendricks) adjusts to life at Bellacourt Manor and her impromptu name change: Chair. Guest stars include Shoshannah Stern as Helen Keller, Kate Flannery as Annie Sullivan, and Artemis Pebdani as Hortense Bellacourt (replaced by Lauren Ash in all subsequent episodes).
2 "Divorce" Jeremy Konner Natasha Leggero & Riki Lindhome June 30, 2015 (2015-06-30) 0.70[10]
Lillian and Beatrice brainstorm ways to rid themselves of their husbands. Frederick (Jason Ritter) gets courted by a wealthy divorcee. Garfield (Armen Weitzman) copes with a traumatic event. Jon Daly, Will Sasso and Jessica Chaffin guest star.
3 "Funeral" Jeremy Konner Natasha Leggero & Riki Lindhome July 7, 2015 (2015-07-07) N/A
Lillian and Beatrice hold a funeral for their husbands. Albert (David Wain) and Victor (Brian Huskey) try to build a new life together. Peepers (Michael Ian Black) confronts his heritage. Guest Stars: Lou Diamond Phillips, Rich Fulcher, Tim Heidecker and Moshe Kasher.
4 "Pageant" Jeremy Konner Natasha Leggero & Riki Lindhome July 14, 2015 (2015-07-14) 0.29[11]
Bellacourt Manor hosts the first beauty pageant that is for more than vegetables. Babies or women may also now enter which leads to a Bellacourt showdown. Peepers trains Chair in the art of servitude. Jack Black, Kate Micucci, Betsy Sodaro and Moshe Kasher guest star.
5 "Senate" Jeremy Konner Natasha Leggero, Riki Lindhome and Guy Branum July 21, 2015 (2015-07-21) N/A
The Commodore (David Koechner) returns home to Bellacourt Manor. Frederick prepares to become a US senator while Lillian and Beatrice sabotage a suffrage rally that is important to Hortense. Chris Parnell, Brian White, Kate Micucci, Betsy Sodaro and Nancy Friedrich guest star.
6 "Lillian's Birthday" Jeremy Konner Natasha Leggero, Riki Lindhome and Jeremy Konner July 28, 2015 (2015-07-28) N/A
An old flame pays Lillian a visit at the manor. Peepers becomes gravely ill but no one seems to notice. Hortense finds herself in a delicate condition. Exec Producer Ben Stiller guest stars as Charles Ponzi.
7 "Switcheroo Day" Jeremy Konner Natasha Leggero, Riki Lindhome and Moshe Kasher August 4, 2015 (2015-08-04) N/A
Lillian orchestrates her own kidnapping for press attention while Blanche (Beth Dover) and Peepers spend the day as members of the upper class. Rich Fulcher guest stars as Mark Twain.
8 "Dog Dinner Party" Jeremy Konner Natasha Leggero, Riki Lindhome and Laura Krafft August 11, 2015 (2015-08-11) N/A
Beatrice has a meltdown when Frederick brings home a fiancee -- Celery Savoy. Dodo (Paget Brewster) goes through morphine withdrawal. Missi Pyle guest stars.
9 "Reject's Beach" Jeremy Konner Moshe Kasher August 18, 2015 (2015-08-18) N/A
New friends invite Lillian to a beach party. Beatrice goes to Thomas Edison for forbidden experimentation. Blanche receives a mysterious letter from a factory. Meanwhile, Garfield tries to keep the family from falling apart. Rachel Blanchard, Stephen Tobolowsky and Jon Daly guest star.
10 "Modern Pigs" Jeremy Konner Natasha Leggero & Riki Lindhome August 25, 2015 (2015-08-25) N/A
Lillian and Beatrice race across Newport to try and stop Fredrick's wedding to Celery Savoy; Peepers must save the Bellacourts from destruction after he realizes Chair's true intentions, aided by Hamish (Brett Gelman). Missi Pyle guest stars.

References

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  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 episode "Modern Pigs"
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ full name revealed in episode "Dog Dinner Party"
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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