Derry Girls: One of the funniest and most endearing of all streaming comedy series

Lisa McGee's series Derry Girls (Seasons 1 and 2, on Netflix) has no profound message and is hardly cutting edge but it stands simply as one of the funniest and most endearing comedies on streaming or TV. Too bad it's almost completely under the radar; perhaps that's because the series, set in Derry (Northern Ireland) in the mid-1990s, is so heavily accented and mull of local slang that it absolutely requires closed-caption subtitles, at least for American viewers. That said, almost every episode of the series is laugh-out-loud funny. The setting: a group of 4 girls and 1 guy (he's the English cousin of one of the girls and the only guy enrolled in the otherwise all-female Catholic day school in Derry), each of whom exemplifies a comic "type": The Type A leader, the hysterical worry wort, the rule-breaker, and the dimwit, and the interactions of the girls in the group (plus the guy, forever trying to prove that he's "not gay") keep the show moving along. The real scene-stealer however is the dour and cynical head of the school, Sister Michael - and there's also plenty of hilarious interplay among the adults, in particular the father and grandfather of the "leader" (Erin) - the grandfather blaming everything on the timid son-in-law (a little bit like Oliver Hardy, blaming every "mess" on his counterpart). The second season ends with what seems to be a wrap, President Clinton's visit to Derry after the IRA ceasefire - and it's really one of the funniest episodes (along with the attempt to organize a family camping trip), but seems to put a close to this excellent show. By and large, there's not much of a through-story - each episode is more or less independent of the others - but all of them are funny and concise, with great dialog - even if you have to read most of it.