Schmigadoon! EP Reveals Season 1 Episode Order Was Trimmed — What Was Left On The Cutting Room Floor?

If Schmigadoon!'s Season 1 finale felt like a race towards the finish line, well... that's because it was.

During a curated Twitter Q&A Monday, series co-creator Cinco Paul revealed that the Apple TV+ comedy originally had an eight-episode order. But alas, that order was ultimately cut down.

"The original plan was actually for 8 [episodes], but for various reasons we had to squeeze that down to 6," he tweeted. "Painful, but had to do it. I'm happy with where we landed, but I'm also happy some of you wanted more!" (TVLine has reached out to Apple for comment on the reduced order.)

During the Q&A, Paul also disclosed several behind-the-scenes tidbits, including which storylines they were forced to truncate, if not do away with entirely. He also provided his thoughts on a potential Season 2. What follows is a roundup of those answers...

While the satire is largely inspired by 1940s musicals, the Schmigadoonians are living in the 1910s. "The baseline is c. 1918, Music Man's year," Paul revealed.

After his one-night stand with Melissa at the end of Episode 2/beginning of Episode 3, the town rapscallion all but disappeared — but why? Schmigadoon!'s extreme Aaron Tveit deficiency was a "casualty of the move from eight to six episodes," Paul answered, before disclosing two additional storylines that were ultimately scrapped: "Originally [Danny] and his shady friend were looking for knives so they could rob Josh and get the [money] Danny thought he needed [in order to build a life with Melissa]. It was a whole thing."

A second tossed storyline involving Danny amounted to a throwaway line — but one that would have completely upended Emma and Carson's lives. "There was serious discussion that [Danny's confession in the finale] was that he was Carson's dad," Paul said. "But ultimately it made him too much of a jerk and we loved Emma and Carson too much as their own unit." (Instead, the carnival barker  revealed that the ring toss is completely rigged.)

"Due to scheduling (made worse by the pandemic) we could only get Jane [Krakowski] for a few days," Paul said. As for why the 30 Rock vet was credited at the start of every episode, the showrunner explained: "I wanted the credits to feel like an old MGM movie, so we credited all of our stars in every episode" — hence why Martin Short was also listed in the opening credits for every single episode, despite making only a cameo in Episode 1. (Read our Krakowski post mortem here.)

Flashbacks to Melissa and Josh's pre-Schmigadoon life were preceded by title cards that utilized a typeface similar to the one used by NBC's long-running legal franchise. "It just might be a little nod to all the musical theater folks who've worked on that show over the years...," Paul tweeted. (And there have been plenty.)

"My concept for the show has always involved more than one season," Paul said. "But that's all I can say for now..." The EP offered up the same sentiment in a previous interview with TVLine, in which he maintained that Season 1 has "a beginning, a middle and end," but "it could continue... there is more." The ball is now in Apple TV+'s court.

MORE SCHMIGADOON! COVERAGE:

Episode 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6