The New Zealand short-form comedy series Good Grief is headed to AMC Networks’s IFC channel and Sundance Now streaming service starting later this month.
In addition to acquiring the exclusive US, Canada, and UK premiere rights to Kiwi comedy Good Grief, IFC and Sundance Now have also co-commissioned a second season from Kiel McNaughton and Kerry Warkia’s Brown Sugar Apple Grunt Productions Ltd.
Set in a small New Zealand town, the short-form comedy series stars sisters Eve Palmer (Jawbone) and Grace Palmer (The Brokenwood Mysteries) as lead characters Ellie and Gwen Goode, millennial sisters with very different personalities, who inherit a funeral home from their grandfather.
Unsure what to do with the funeral home — or the oddball staff that keep the place running — Ellie and Gwen are thrust into a world of embalming, emceeing, and embarrassment. Recently fired from her teaching career, Ellie starts to warm to this new job, but all Gwen wants to do is go DJ in Bali. By staring death in the face every day, Ellie and Gwen begin to confront the realities of their own life and what they want to make of it. Over the course of the six-episode first season, Good Grief finds light in the darkness, weaving both the comedy and tragedy of life into a rich emotional tapestry.
Season 1 of Good Grief is directed by Kiel McNaughton (My Life is Murder), and produced by Angela Cudd (I Am Waru) and Kerry Warkia (Find Me a Maori Bride) — all of whom will return for Season 2.
Said Eve and Grace Palmer, who co-created and co-wrote the show with Nick Schaedel:
“We’re honoured to be working with AMC Networks to bring our little kiwi comedy to an international audience. They say ‘if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry’ but we hope that in watching this dark comedy about life and death, you’ll be able to do both.”
Dan McDermott, President of Original Programming, AMC Networks, stated:
“Good Grief is a unique and quirky comedy that we’re excited to bring to audiences on both Sundance Now and IFC. After watching the first season, we were so in love with the Goode sisters that we jumped at the chance to work with Eve, Grace, Nick, Kiel and Kerry to commission further adventures with them.”
And Kiel McNaughton, founding partner of Brown Sugar Apple Grunt Productions, added:
“We are over the moon to be partnering with AMC Networks to bring more unique and underrepresented voices to audiences around the world. We can’t wait to get going with season 2.”
Good Grief: Season 1 premieres as a binge release in the US, Canada, and UK on Thursday, September 30, exclusively on Sundance Now. The North American broadcast premiere of the series begins Monday, October 4, on IFC.
Season 2 will go into production later in 2021 in Auckland city and premiere in 2022 with six new episodes, each expanded to 20 minutes.
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