Everyone needs a little catharsis, especially in 2020. Apparently, Netflix agrees, as shown by their upcoming unique comedy event Death to 2020. Showcasing "expert" commentary on what some call "the worst year ever," this special brings together an all-star cast to really give 2020 a piece of their minds.
Netflix just released a trailer for Death to 2020 and it looks to frame this year of everything and nothing with commentary from fictional professionals, each giving their educated takes on real footage and events that happened throughout the year. "A year whose story couldn't be told until now, because it was still happening." Well, the experts may be fake, but the people playing them certainly aren't, and what a cast they've wrangled.
Showcased in a new trailer, Death to 2020 will feature stars like Samuel L. Jackson (Marvel's own Nick Fury), Leslie Jones (2016's Ghostbusters), Hugh Grant (Love Actually), Lisa Kudrow (Friends), Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley), and even Tracey Ullman, among plenty of other familiar faces. While they will all be playing characters, the events they react to will be very real. To give an idea of what sort of material audiences can expect, the trailer features a quote from Jones' character, saying "I'd say it was a trainwreck and a s***show, but that would be unfair to trains and s***."
Coming appropriately from the creators of Black Mirror, Death to 2020 structures itself as a collection of talking head interviews performed throughout the year, commentating on 2020's lowest and even further lowest points. The project was revealed earlier this year as a 2020 mockumentary from Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, the minds behind Black Mirror. Through their production company Broke and Bones, the two plan to bring their poignant view of the world and its future to this new project, allowing audiences to laugh through the tears and/or cry through the laughter.
A special like this seemed inevitable as it became more and more clear that the events of 2020 weren't going to ease up anytime soon. It's a certain facet of human nature that allows people (or perhaps requires them) to deal with adversity through laughter. It's one of the reasons the concept of "dark comedy" tends to be so popular. So when given an opportunity to provide audiences with that much-needed release, while at the same time capitalizing on it, well one can hardly blame Netflix for snatching it up the moment it was presented.
Considering that Cyberpunk 2077, a dystopian sci-fi action game, somehow offers up a less bleak vision of the future than the present people are currently living through, something as cathartic as Death To 2020 might be just what people need to finally say "goodbye and good riddance" to this year.
Death to 2020 will be available on December 27 on Netflix.
Source: Deadline