The Commercial Appeal

Bingeing ‘Buried by the Bernards’

Highlights from the madein-memphis Netflix series

- John Beifuss

What did I do on the first day of the great Memphis freeze-out?

I binged “Buried by the Bernards.”

“Buried by the Bernards” is a Netflix “reality” series set at a Memphis funeral home.

As with most examples of such documentar­y-style programmin­g, the show earns the quotation marks that identify its genre. Its relationsh­ip to “reality” is actual, in that it chronicles the real activities of a real Memphis funeral-home family, and provisiona­l, in that several of its situations have been contrived or amplified for dramatic or comedic appeal.

“Buried by the Bernards” puts the “home” in “funeral home.” In the tradition of its forebears on such reality-abundant channels as TLC and Bravo, the show mixes domestic and workplace situation comedy, soap opera and we-can-work-it-out family drama, as we watch “the bickering but big-hearted Bernards” — to quote the official Netflix synopsis — “manage their budget-friendly funeral home while helping grieving families say farewell."

To be specific, the business is R. Bernard Funeral Services at 2764 Lamar, which since 2017 has earned nationwide attention for the novelty of its drivethrou­gh viewing window (left over from the building's

previous incarnatio­n as a bank), which enables mourners to pay their last respects from the convenienc­e of their automobile; and for a local television commercial in which mortician Kevin Miller enacts the role of a corpse that pops out of its coffin when it is galvanized to reanimated life by the shocking news of the funeral home's low prices.

In addition to rascally "Uncle Kevin," the cameraread­y and naturally funny extended Bernard family

consists of harried father and ostensible funeral home head, Ryan Bernard; Ryan's bossy mom and the show's know-it-all "grandma," Debbie Bernard; stylish older daughter Deja, pregnant with her second child; daughter Raegan, a collegebou­nd St. Agnes Academy senior; and earnest young staff mortician Tavion Robinson. It's this cast of characters that makes "Buried by the Bernards" less a reality series and more a traditiona­l wacky family sitcom, a kinship that occasional­ly is obliquely acknowledg­ed: In one episode, Ryan compares himself to Fred Sanford, and even quotes Aunt Esther ("Fred, you fish-eyed fool!").

Easily digestible at 23 to 26 minutes in length, the eight episodes of "Buried by the Bernards" — which became available on Netflix on Feb. 12 — were shot in early 2020, just before the COVID-19 lockdown put as swift a halt to traditiona­l film production — and traditiona­l funeral services — as it did to the rest of society. This means that the coronaviru­s pandemic that has made daily death counts a way of life in the United States is never mentioned, even if it, inevitably, is in the back of the mind of the viewer.

In any case, "Buried by the Bernards" is likely to bring much more attention to Memphis — and to attract more viewers — than did the recent NBC drama "Bluff City Law," and at a fraction of the production cost (and with much less advance hype). It also offers a portrait of Memphis that feels more honest, for better or worse.

Here are some observatio­ns from my binge:

You can't keep a good man (or a dead man) down

The show wouldn't exist without the viral success of the funeral home's 2017 television commercial, so it's no surprise that the ad's comical corpse, Kevin Miller, is the scene-stealing breakout star if not the actual lead of the Netflix series. (The show recognizes this conflict during an episode in which Kevin intrudes and steals the spotlight while Ryan is trying to give some college students a tour of the business.)

Razor-thin, with a voice that combines the gravel baritone of the late "Shaft" lead guitarist Charles "Skip" Pitts with the hyperbolic squawl of Chris Rock's "Lil Penny," Uncle Kevin — variously known as "Unc," "Kev" and "K-bone" — is a veteran mortician, true, but he's also a jokester and hustler with a self-described "strictly pimpin'" fashion sense that he augments with funereal flair: His choice of vehicle is a $600 used hearse. "You gotta respect the hearse," he says, before paraphrasi­ng Al Kapone: "You gotta whoop that thing."

Morbid curiosity

The Bernards may be likable and colorful, but the show wouldn't exist if they operated a hardware store. The relatively taboo nature of the family business — people, generally, don't like to talk about death — provides the pretext for incidents that aim at the funny bone, the gag reflex and the heart (when Deja delivers her daughter, Ryan comments: "For once, we get to celebrate a life entering the world instead of a life leaving the world").

But although Ryan and the others take their jobs seriously and talk about serving the bereaved as a privilege and responsibi­lity, the program generally plays the family trade for laughs, as when the girls — in a recurring gag — express squeamishn­ess about the embalming process.

In one episode, Kevin is talked into attending a makeup class with a bunch of young women so he can update his "old school" ideas about beautifyin­g corpses for open-casket funerals; in another, he uses the hearse to pick up Raegan at school. "Are there bodies in there?," Raegan asks. Responds Unc: “No body. No body in there but me and you."

In episode 4, Ryan enters his mother's office with the type of urn that normally is used to store the "cremains" of the deceased, and tells Debbie: "That there is the future." He says he wants to order "another cremation machine," because "we even got Black folks coming here doing cremations. You know they don't get cremated." Responds the disinteres­ted Debbie: "I'm doing my crossword puzzle."

But, inevitably, it's unfiltered Uncle Kevin who most often reminds viewers the Bernards aren't barbers or barbecue chefs. "Man, you got to have some guts to do this job right here," he says. "I done seen the worst of the worst of the worst... Decomposed, head blown off, arm blown off... Maggots, worms... Head might be over there, body over there, and you gotta go get the head.. But I love this business, y'all."

Best supporting mortician

If Uncle Kevin is the primary scene-stealer, young mortician Tavion is the star waiting in the wings: the character whose apparent sincerity makes him perhaps the most interestin­g if underutili­zed figure on the program.

In episode 4, "New Kid on the Block" (probably referred to in the editing room as "the Tavion episode"),

Tavion explains that he's wanted to work in the business ever since he was 4 years old, when he hung around the coffin at his mother's funeral service, "as if I was the undertaker."

"I love working on dead people," he says. "When I was a little kid, I always wanted to be a mortician. I was maybe like 10 years old, man, I used to go in my sister's room, get all of the dolls, and I used to lay 'em in a little cardboard box as if it was an embalming table, and I buried 'em outside in the yard..." Believe it or not, Tavion somehow makes these words see more sweet than weird.

Memphis?

For local viewers, the Memphis-recognitio­n factor is occasional­ly amusing — or bemusing — in ways that will be lost to the wider audience. For example, in the made-to-sitcom-order fifth episode, “Daddy Daughter Day,” Ryan attempts to “bond” with reluctant diva daughter Deja by taking her fishing.

“The number one stress-reliever in the world is fishing,” Ryan asserts. Counters Deja, who suggests a visit to the spa, instead: “It's nothing relaxing about touching a squirmy worm and some stanky fish."

As Ryan and Deja trek “back to nature" for their fishing trip, Deja totters through the muck on fashionabl­e stack heels. Comments Ryan: “See, that's how they get killed in them Jason movies, slowin' down. You better keep up.” He also warns his daughter to be on the lookout for bears; meanwhile, Deja invokes the 2003 movie "Wrong Turn," in which a group of college students lost in the woods are dismembere­d and devoured by cannibals.

The episode is played for laughs, but you have to be from around here to recognize just how truly un-remote this ol' fishing hole is: The location is Shelby Farms.

Memphis!

As with "Bluff City Law" and other programs shot here, "Buried by the Bernards" employs montages of rapidly edited shots of Memphis tourist attraction­s and other signature locations to connect scenes; viewers get peaks at the "MEMPHIS" sign on Mud Island, the Tom Lee statue, a Tops barbecue restaurant and more.

But although we see Graceland, Sun

Studio, Beale Street and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the program is almost entirely devoid of Memphis music; after all, licensing the rights to recordings costs money, and a prime attraction of "unscripted" television for its producers is that it's cheap.

However, Memphis' other attraction — food — is much in evidence.

In one episode, Debbie goes to The Rendezvous, for a date arranged through social media. In another episode, Ryan and Uncle Kevin take a hearse for a test drive through the drivethrou­gh window at Corky's, and then fret when they spill barbecue chicken sauce on the upholstery; the hearse's stretch-size later proves convenient when Tavion and Kev go to Young Avenue Deli to pick up "The Really Really Big Sub."

And during the climactic episode, "Who's the Boss?," the family goes to Chickasaw Oaks Plaza to eat at Mahogany Memphis, where Raegan announces her college choice.

Dad hopes Raegan will pick the University of Memphis, and at the start of the episode he gives his daughter Tiger gear, to encourage her.

Spoiler: She picks Memphis. This means she'll be around in case "Buried by the Bernards" earns a second season. But if the show doesn't return, perhaps it's nice that Ryan Bernard — who is presented as the classic sitcom father, a patient and much-harassed voice of sometimes fuddy-duddy reason and an eye of calm in the family storm — gets the last word. His is the final voice heard, after the final credits at the end of the final episode, when he declares: "Go Tigers."

 ?? COURTESY DEBBIE BERNARD ?? The family behind Memphis' R. Bernard Funeral Services — Kevin Miller, Ryan Bernard, Debbie Bernard, Deja Bernard and Raegan Bernard — will star in a Netflix series debuting in February.
COURTESY DEBBIE BERNARD The family behind Memphis' R. Bernard Funeral Services — Kevin Miller, Ryan Bernard, Debbie Bernard, Deja Bernard and Raegan Bernard — will star in a Netflix series debuting in February.
 ?? RAY PADILLA ?? Deja Bernard, Kevin Miller and Raegan Bernard at the Netflix's "Buried by the Bernard's" watch party. on Friday, February 12, 2021.
RAY PADILLA Deja Bernard, Kevin Miller and Raegan Bernard at the Netflix's "Buried by the Bernard's" watch party. on Friday, February 12, 2021.

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