TV Tuesday: One Mississippi

Last week, my husband was out of town, and I was couch-bound for a few days, hitting both physical and emotional lows for various reasons. I was missing our TV time together in the evenings and looking for something to watch on my own. I settled on One Mississippi, a warm, funny, wholly unique show on Amazon, and I ended up finishing its two seasons in under a week. I love this show!

One Mississippi is a half-hour drama/comedy based in part of the real-life story of its star, Tig Notaro, who plays herself on the show. Tig is a gay radio host who lives in L.A. and returns to her hometown in Mississippi for her mother's funeral. She is just recovering from breast cancer and dealing with other health issues as well. Her step-father, Bill, and her brother, Remy, still live in her childhood home. Tig stays on for a while after her mother's funeral to help sort through her things and to give herself time to grieve and recover from her own recent challenges.

Bill is a hilariously rigid man, who likes things done in a certain way (the right way) and has never been warm or affectionate toward Tig and Remy...but you can tell that he cares underneath that gruff exterior. Tig's mom, seen in flashbacks, was just the opposite - the bubbly free spirit to Bill's stability. Tig misses her mother terribly; they were close, and her mom always seemed to understand her. Remy is kind of like a full-grown little boy, still living in the attic of his parents' house, working as a high school history teacher and enjoying Civil War reenactments in his spare time. Rounding out the initial cast are Tig's girlfriend back in L.A. and a young woman named Kate who works at the local radio station and helps Tig produce her show when she decides to keep recording in Mississippi.

This is one of those shows that just grabs you right from the first episode. It's a wonderful cast, and Tig is especially warm and welcoming, with a sense of (often dark) humor that makes her radio show such a hit. You just wish you could sit down with her in the local coffee shop and get to know her in real life! Tig's character is very open and honest, though there is an old family secret that all of them are struggling with and don't talk about much. The show deals with some very difficult topics - death, cancer, and chronic illness pop up in the very first episode - but always with a sense of humor and heart. It is both moving and at times, laugh-out-loud funny, mainly due to Tig's deadpan delivery of hilarious one-liners that tell it like it is. Tig being openly gay in the ultra-conservative, religious deep south is an obvious source of conflict and humor, but this ensemble cast makes you care about each and every one of them.

And the music! I almost forgot to tell you about the wonderful soundtrack to this show. Tig's radio show generally follows the formula of her telling a story about herself or her childhood (often humorous) and then playing music that fits the theme. The music she chooses is almost always great indie stuff that I have never heard before but instantly like. In fact, after watching a few episodes one night and loving the song that played with the credits at the end, I clicked over to Amazon Music and listened to the playlist, Music from One Mississippi. Wonderful songs to accompany the wonderful stories.

I loved this show and watched it in 2-3 episode binges. I actually missed the characters and thought about them when it wasn't on! I only just realized when I started this review that the last episode I watched at lunchtime today was actually the last episode of season two. I'm so sorry it's over already! Word is that season three is still up in the air, so please watch this funny, heartwarming, extraordinary show right away and let Amazon know you want more! You can follow One Mississippi on Twitter and Facebook, to help show Amazon how many fans it has.

One Mississippi is an Amazon original program, so it is available exclusively on Amazon Prime. I also just discovered (just this moment!) that there is a documentary about Tig on Netflix called Tig - I am definitely going to be watching that, too.

Have you watched One Mississippi yet or seen the documentary Tig? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below.