Being undervalued is a feeling Roseanne Liang and her co-creators behind the hit comedy series Creamerie know all too well. Years before Liang’s show was greenlit, the director’s core acting trio of JJ Fong, Ally Xue and Perlina Lau had grown disillusioned with the types of stereotypical “Asian women” roles they were seeing on casting callouts.
Having originally met Fong at an audition for a previous project Liang had directed, she jumped at the opportunity to work with the three women on the New Zealand based web series Flat3 and Friday Night Bites. “I think they were the first to say, ‘hey, we don't really see people like us doing comedy,” explains Liang. "So that's why we devised a thing just for us to make together.”
Then in 2018, with the horror show that was American politics playing out in real time and women's rights being examined in harrowing detail on shows like The Handmaid's Tale, something stirred within the creative quartet. As Liang recalls it, “We were talking about the fact we really loved [The Handmaid's Tale], but why does it make us feel so bad?”
From these blessed fruits, grew the initial seed for what Creamerie would become.
Perlina Lau, Ally Xue and JJ Fong are back for 'Creamerie' season 2. Credit: Matt Klitscher
What followed was an unlikely post-pandemic hit - an eerily prescient encapsulation of a world emerging from a period of uncertainty and looking to the future with a newfound resilience, all wrapped up in an off-kilter comedy that fully embraced its Kiwi sensibilities.
The plot of the show picks up eight years after a mysterious virus (no, not that one) has wiped out all the world's men, and centres around three friends Alex, Phillipa and Jaime who work on a dairy farm under the watchful eye of Wellness, an organisation with somewhat shady motives.
Said motives are thrust into question when the women stumble across fugitive Bobby (Jay Ryan) whom they believe to be the last remaining man in existence, sending them on a mission to not only track down his origins, but to unlock long held secrets about their own past.
Shortly after its launch back in 2021, it became the subject of intense online discussion by fans both in New Zealand and overseas, with viewers keen to unpack the show's gender dynamics, themes of consent and bigger moral quandaries.
“That was when we realised we had something on our hands,” says Liang. “It's incredibly gratifying to try something and for people to really get it, and for them to be so excited by it that they want to talk to friends.”
The action continues in season 2. Credit: Matt Klitscher
The second season drops us straight back into the action immediately where the first left off, with our three leads and their male counterpart being held captive within the mysterious Facility, following a shocking betrayal by one of their own. Over the course of their journey to freedom, they must come to terms with fresh revelations, encounter new enemies, and stumble upon more than their fair share of trademark Creamerie weirdness along the way.
Much like season one, the show isn’t afraid to go to some dark places, and it’s this tonal tightrope that Liang and her co-writers have always been interested in walking. “These people are dealing with the traumas that we've seen them face in season one. Comedy and trauma often come at the same time. And certainly, the pandemic has taught us that there's always something horrible to laugh about when things are going wrong.”
Roseanne Liang and Marty Smith (Director of Photography) on set during filming for season 2. Credit: Matt Klitscher
As for just how much more horrible things will get Creamerie’s beloved characters in the future, Liang says herself and the writers have already mapped out the remaining plot should another season be greenlit.
“We always had a three-season arc,” explains Liang. “We are deep old friends at this point, kind of like a dysfunctional family, so with the success we have had so far, it gives us a good chance that we might be able to make more of it.”
It would be a huge shock indeed if the series was not given this success, especially in a climate where original stories from diverse voices are increasingly becoming more in demand - something Liang hopes shows like Creamerie will help demonstrate to any budding storytellers out there who may themselves be feeling undervalued.
“The fact is, there's only one person like you with your worldview, with your taste. If you find and turn your unique you-ness into a great project - there will never be a shortage of people wanting to fund it.”
Creamerie season 2 airs weekly on SBS VICELAND Mondays 9.25pm. The full season 2, along with season 1, is now also streaming .
Dive into Season 2:
STREAM FREE AT SBS ON DEMAND
Creamerie - season 2 episode 1
Or start at the beginning:
STREAM FREE AT SBS ON DEMAND
Creamerie - season 1 episode 1
