‘The Big Door Prize’ Is the Best Comedy Series You’re Not Watching
When we last left the residents of Deerfield, the fictional Midwest town at the center of the strange occurrences in The Big Door Prize, everyone was zapped of energy—in some cases, quite literally. The Season 1 finale of Apple TV+’s existential comedy ended with a key character in the hospital after being electrocuted while trying to destroy a MORPHO machine, a photo booth-like contraption that tells you your life’s true potential. The rest of Deerfield’s population is just as exhausted (though, luckily, not under medical care) after spending the show’s first season comically upending their comfortable lives because the mysterious MORPHO spat out a little blue card with one vague word printed on it.
The results of this small-town chaos yielded one of 2023’s most unexpectedly delightful new series, which had much more to say about adult life and the nuances of our neuroses than a certain sickeningly upbeat Apple TV+ show. Quirky Deerfield dwellers like Dusty (Chris O’Dowd), his plucky wife Cass (Gabrielle Dennis), Cass’ arrogant mother Izzy (Crystal R. Fox), and toupéed restaurateur Giorgio (Josh Segarra) struggled to understand what their MORPHO cards meant, often finding that one word could conjure endless potential outcomes. These bite-sized, intertwining character studies were a novel joy, albeit one that had limits. Even though last season’s finale packed more than a few twists, repeating the same storytelling pattern would create viewer fatigue fast. One can only watch so many scenes of self-discovery before a show starts dipping into sickeningly saccharine Ted Lesso territory.
But The Big Door Prize was always smarter than most of its comedy contemporaries. Where Season 1 found unusual ways to balance its philosophical dissections of human life with intelligent, character-driven humor, Season 2—which premieres Apr. 24—expands its reach. The new batch of episodes brings Deerfield’s residents together after spending so much time solo, trying to figure out what their MORPHO cards meant. This season stresses the importance of community when we’re disoriented, and sharply dissects how humans use interpersonal relationships to grow alongside one another. It’s another blissful, perfectly paced 10 episodes that hit the hardest when you least expect them to, the kind of television that insists upon the intelligence of its viewer, rather than itself.