But Terry, an ambitious man, has his own ideas about how to place the Minishonka people back in the center of the Rutherford Falls narrative.Īs has been the case on other Schur-produced shows, Rutherford Falls skillfully braids discussions of serious sociocultural issues with character-based comedy in ways that seem neither forced nor overly didactic. In the first episode, Reagan proposes to the casino’s manager, Terry Thomas (Michael Greyeyes), that the cultural center should be expanded as an independent entity. The modest cultural center is housed inside the Running Thunder Casino, leading slot-machine pullers to frequently pop in and get handsy with the exhibits, thinking they have entered the gift shop. Nathan’s best friend, Reagan Wells (Jana Schmieding), tries to support him, but she has her own mission: to expand the Minishonka Cultural Center, a small pseudo-museum devoted to the history of the (fictional) tribe Reagan belongs to, whose reservation is adjacent to Rutherford Falls.
But Nathan’s identity is so wrapped up in his own family tree that he can’t see the forest. “Nathan, if you haven’t noticed, this isn’t a great time for people who love statues,” the mayor notes. Wilson) suggests Big Larry be moved for safety reasons, Nathan is so appalled by the idea of displacing this sacred monument that he starts a crusade to keep the Rutherford figure right where he is. The statue, nicknamed Big Larry, stands symbolically on the spot where the town charter was signed that spot also happens to be smack in the middle of a traffic circle, which means Big Larry is constantly being hit by cars. Oh, Rutherford Falls is about another thing, too: a statue, specifically a statue of Lawrence Rutherford, the town founder and an ancestor of Nathan Rutherford (Helms), who runs the Rutherford Falls Heritage Museum and prides himself on being the last Rutherford to still live in the town with his family’s name on it. In the four episodes provided to critics ahead of the show’s Thursday premiere, Ornelas & Co. That’s a refreshing and appropriate infrastructure for a show that seeks to confront the heavy baggage this country still carries with regard to colonization and Native erasure while maintaining a tone that’s light enough to work as a comedy. Several of the cast members are, like Ornelas, Native, as are five of the writers, making Rutherford Falls one of the largest Indigenous-staffed writers’ rooms on television. Rutherford Falls was co-created by star Ed Helms Mike Schur, the creator of Parks and Recreation and The Good Place and Navajo showrunner Sierra Teller Ornelas, an alum of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Superstore. It’s also about representation, in its storytelling as well as in front of and behind the camera. That could just as easily be a description of Rutherford Falls itself, a Peacock comedy that’s about a town and, if not everything, then certainly a lot of things: white privilege, the marginalization of Native Americans, the lies perpetuated about our nation’s history, romance, friendship, and unconscious bias.
Ted from Schitt’s Creek) in his story pitch. “It’s about a town,” says Josh Cogan (Dustin Milligan, a.k.a. In the third episode of Rutherford Falls, an NPR reporter tries to sell his editors on a story about the place named in the show’s title. Wilson, and Jana Schmieding in Rutherford Falls.
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