Television series

Girls5eva

Name: Girls5eva
Genre: Comedy, Music
Released: 2021
Cast: Sara Bareilles, Paula Pell, Busy Philipps, Renée Elise Goldsberry

Comedy
Light-hearted

Girls5eva follows four women in their forties, once a one-hit girl-group phenomenon, trying to relaunch after decades of day jobs and disappointment. It's a joke-per-second sitcom with real musical numbers, satirizing the music industry's disposal of women over thirty while celebrating friendship that outlasts fame. Executive-produced by Tina Fey's shop, it's fast, silly, and unexpectedly moving about ambition that doesn't expire with youth.

TVMaze rating

2.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy sharp, big-hearted comedy about washed-up performers still chasing one more shot, with pop songs that are genuinely catchy and a cast that plays the silliness completely straight.

Skip it if you want a tidy, self-contained laugh per episode, since the appeal leans on running jokes and the slow build of the characters' relationships across the season arcs.

What it asks of you: Short episodes of roughly half an hour, three seasons, and a steady attention to who these women are as well as the gags; it rewards staying put rather than skimming.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt2015

Same creative engine as Girls5eva — density of jokes per minute is almost violent, and it turns trauma and reinvention into pure comic fuel with a similarly upbeat, delusional heroine.

But The tone is even more cartoonish and rapid-fire, which can feel exhausting if you wanted Girls5eva's slightly gentler emotional core.

30 Rock2006

The sitcom that trained this cast and crew — absurdist, showbiz-savvy, endlessly quotable — packed with throwaway gags so dense you'll want to rewind just to catch them all.

But No music, no aging-pop-star plot — it's the DNA, not the sequel, so the specific girl-group satire is missing.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend2015

Original songs that lovingly demolish nearly every pop and musical-theatre genre while tracking one woman's messy, very funny reckoning with who she actually wants to be.

But It's a full hour with heavier psychological terrain — mental illness, obsession — so it asks for more patience than a breezy half-hour.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Girls5eva

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Go-Go's2021

Girls5eva's plot is a joke; this is the true story it quietly rhymes with — an all-female band who wrote their own songs, broke big, and got squeezed out by an industry that didn't know what to do with women over thirty.

The real all-female rock band who fought their label, their sexism, and each other, told with startling candor about what actually happens to women in music once youth stops selling.

But There's no punchline here — it's a sober reckoning with real damage and broken friendships, not a lighthearted romp.

Schmigadoon!2021

Another musical-comedy stuffed with real, songbook-quality numbers, this time roasting golden-age musicals instead of pop stardom, but carrying the very same loving-parody, big-hearted spirit throughout.

But If you're not already fond of old MGM musicals, some of the specific jokes will sail past you.

Hacks2021

A sharper, more dramatic cousin — an industry veteran and a much younger writer navigate ageism and reinvention in comedy, with real bite under the laughs.

But It trades ensemble warmth for a tighter two-hander and leans further into drama than farce.

The Other Two2019

Same industry-satire muscle, aimed at a viral pop star's family instead of a girl group, with the same rapid, specific, faintly cruel jokes about fame's machinery.

But It's colder and more cynical about ambition — less warmth between its characters than Girls5eva gives its foursome.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping2016

A feature-length mockumentary demolition of pop-star ego and the whole industry around it, with songs so catchy you'll be annoyed by how much you're enjoying them.

But It's a single two-hour joke rather than a season of character work, and the satire is broader, meaner.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping poster

Pitch Perfect2012

If you just want the simple pleasure of women singing together and being funny about it, this is the gateway drug — silly, tuneful, low-stakes fun.

But It's aimed at a much younger crowd and has none of the middle-age bite that makes Girls5eva sing.

Spice World1997

Pure, dumb, gloriously self-aware girl-group comedy straight from the actual '90s — nostalgic proof that this genre has always known exactly how ridiculous it really is.

But It's a nostalgia artifact more than a great film — thin plot, all vibes, best enjoyed a little drunk.

A Mighty Wind2003

Same skeleton as Girls5eva — a faded act with one big hit is reunited decades later for one more show — but told as a Christopher Guest mockumentary about folk music instead of pop, and twenty years earlier.

A gentle, improvised mockumentary about washed-up folk musicians forced to reunite, so dry and specific it makes Girls5eva's whole premise feel like it's always existed.

But The comedy is quieter and more deadpan — no big musical numbers, and it rewards patience over punchlines.

Josie and the Pussycats2001

The corporate machine turning a scrappy girl band into disposable pop product, laughed at directly onscreen — the same industry Girls5eva satirizes from decades later and the other side of the contract.

A gleefully trashy teen satire about a garage band manufactured wholesale into pop stardom, complete with literal subliminal advertising jokes — dumber, louder, and weirdly prescient.

But It's aimed squarely at early-2000s teens and wears its camp on its sleeve — no emotional depth, just noise and neon.