• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, May 5, 2023

Earlier this week, a top exec at Peacock made the refreshing comment that Peacock eschews the reliance on dark comedies and apocalyptic dramas that seem to preoccupy the other big streamers.

“We make entertainment that is entertaining,” said Susan Rovner, chairman of entertainment content for NBC Universal television and streaming, at the Peacock NewFront on Tuesday.

The TV Blog’s interpretation of this was that she feels the word “dark” is not synonymous, on its face, with “entertainment.”

Fans of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic TV dramas are free to disagree here. Even the TV Blog has reviewed some of these shows favorably -- most recently “The Last of Us,” which has emerged as somewhat of a phenomenon on HBO Max.

At the same time, the TV Blog has wondered in past columns if the preponderance of these kinds of end-of-the-world dramas on our TV networks and SVOD services represents a pessimistic worldview that is rampant today.

Or to put it another way, have producers and their viewers evolved into Chicken Littles who cannot stop clucking that the sky is falling, and actually enjoy doing it? 

The subject arises again this week and next with the arrival of two more post-apocalyptic series -- one a drama and the other a comedy, thank heaven.

The comedy is called “Mulligan,” so named from the word used in golf to signify an extra stroke in the aftermath of a poor one that is not counted on a scorecard.

In the show, the word refers to the efforts of a handful of survivors following an apocalyptic alien attack to “to start society over from scratch,” says Netflix, where the show will premiere on May 12. 

“It’s an opportunity to learn from humanity’s past mistakes and get things right this time. Or make the same mistakes all over again. Probably the second one,” says the show’s description.

Showrunners for the animated series are Robert Carlock and Sam Means, producers/writers at shows such as “30 Rock” and “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” Tina Fey is an executive producer of “Mulligan” and also provides one of the voices.

Other actors providing voice characterizations include Chrissy Teigen, Nat Faxon, Dana Carvey and Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe.

Judging from the photo above and others available on the Netflix press site, “Mulligan” is a decidedly light-hearted take on a post-apocalyptic world. The TV Blog looks forward to seeing it next week.

From the dark side of the apocalypse coin comes the drama “Silo,” premiering on Apple TV+ on Friday (May 5).

"'Silo’ is the story of the last 10,000 people on earth, their mile-deep home protecting them from the toxic and deadly world outside,” according to the boilerplate description on the Apple TV+ press site.

So this one has people living in this kind of vertical circular tube dug deep into the earth. On the show, the origins of this silo is a mystery.

This silo is apparently not some sort of obsolete missile silo that has been decommissioned by the United States government and now sits vacant out in the hinterlands of the American West.

In the real world, these do exist, and a number of people have somehow purchased them and made homes out of them.

These survivalists hope their offbeat homes will also serve as shelter from attacks by missiles, aliens or what have you.

As the setting for a sci-fi apocalyptic drama, the mega-silo of “Silo” seems claustrophobic. It is basically a vertical, windowless tunnel.

This scenario sounds just as airless, but it was intriguing -- and probably well-paying -- enough to attract some A-list stars such as Tim Robbins, Common, Rashida Jones and Rebecca Ferguson, who is listed high up as the star of the show.

All indications are that “Silo” will be as dark, grim and heavy-hearted as all the rest of TV’s apocalypse dramas. That makes sense, given the nature of an apocalypse.

But is “grim and heavy-hearted” entertaining in the traditional sense? It would not seem so, but what do I know?

I’m a “glass half full” kind of guy who doesn’t believe the sky is falling. And if it is, living in a silo is no solution.