Hollywood has long attempted to make racism towards white people not only acceptable but also humorous. The award for the most amount of derogatory “white people” lines, however, just might go to Peacock’s newest streaming comedy Rutherford Falls.
In âRutherford Falls,â Jana Schmieding makes most of first major role
By Matthew Gilbert Globe Staff,Updated May 13, 2021, 4:00 p.m.
Email to a Friend
Jana Schmieding (with Ed Helms) as Reagan Wells in Rutherford Falls. Colleen Hayes/Peacock via AP
The tone of âRutherford Falls,â the Peacock comedy starring Ed Helms, is gentle and breezy, but the story â a small town faces its historical mistreatment of Native Americans â has deep, dark roots. Some of the early episodes reveal a show still trying to find the right balance between the tone and the story, but by the later half-hours, everything comes together nicely. The show is also historically significant, as a rare Native-themed comedy that features many Native actors and writers.
Reginald Cunningham
Sierra Teller Ornelas knows how to tell a story. She proved it over the last five years, working as a writer and producer for revered sitcoms like
Superstore and
Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Now, the Navajo and Mexican American creative is turning to a story close to her heart as co-creator and executive producer of
Rutherford Falls. The sharp new Peacock comedy centers Native characters and challenges what we’ve come to accept as the American narrative.
Ed Helms stars as museum owner Nathan Rutherford, the namesake of a small northeast town where his family has lived for centuries. His unflappable reverence for this legacy makes him sensitive to even the slightest criticism, so when the city votes to move a statue of his ancestor from a dangerous location, he loses it. “It’s history,” Nathan nobly tells the mayor (Dana L. Wilson). “You can’t change history unless you have a time machine.” Meanwhile, his best friend Reagan Wells (Jana Schmieding),