Kristen Wiig, Carol Burnett, Laura Dern, Allison Janney, Ricky Martin—need I say more? Palm Royale is a comedy and casting feast! Wiig stars as Maxine, ex-pageant queen and society-obsessed newcomer to Palm Beach, Florida. She knows she wants to get featured in the Palm Beach Daily News, aka the Shiny Sheet, which to her looks to be the elite of the elite, but no one around her seems very open to acceptance. Her husband is a Delacorte, which Maxine hopes would boost her to primo status in Palm Beach society, but alas—the women around here have no intention of letting a newbie come to town and make nice.
Dern plays feminist Linda who can’t quite shake her rich upbringing, and Allison Janey plays Evelyn, Linda’s vicious socialite stepmother who seems to want everyone around her to be miserable.
The comedy is real here, folks. Wiig makes sure that all of Maxine’s errant errands are thought-provoking and silly. Ricky Martin as Norma’s (Carol Burnett) caretaker is brilliant, and Burnett herself as the invalid turned villain deserves fireworks. This series hits it out of the park and into space, quite literally. Watch it or risk losing a chance at cultural relevance! (10 50-min. episodes)
—Anna Starkey
