Big fan of both "Bobs Burgers" and "The Great North" so I'm not sure why it took me quite so long to get around to watching "Central Park" - another series from the same creative team, this time on Apple TV.
Owen Tillerman (Leslie Odom Jnr) is the manager of Central Park and lives at Edendale Castle with his family. His wife, Paige (Kathryn Hahn) is a reporter with a small newspaper, looking for a big story. His daughter Molly (Kristen Bell) draws comic books in which she is a superhero and his son, Cole (Titus Burgess) is obsessed with the pet dog of Bitsy Brandenhem (Stanley Tucci) a local wealthy hotel owner. They're lives are upended when Bitsy decides that it's time for Central Park to go and for high rise apartments to be in its place.
As "Bobs Burgers" has run on, the show has become more and more musically minded, with music breaks being a semi-regular idea and the shows credits often being sung by the cast. Perhaps this is the next logical step, with "Central Park" employing a cast of musical theatre performers and increasing each episode's song ratio to two or three. The other key to this is Josh Gad, who plays Birdie, the shows narrator, who speaks (or sings) directly to the audience, as well as the other characters when necessary.
Perhaps none of the characters are as well rounded as the ones in "Bobs" but there are some excellent creations, particularly Bitsy and her reluctant put upon assistant Helen, whom Daveed Diggs portrays. All of the vocal performances are really good though, as there's a wide range of guest appearances from other actors who have been in the Bouchard circle for a while. The animation style is the same as in their other two series, in that it's not particularly spectacular but it's serviceable for the comedic stories they're trying to tell.
As I write this, "Central Park" has been cancelled at the end of it's third run. Disappointing news, based on this first series, but I'll crack on with the rest and see whether this level of comedy is maintained.
Owen Tillerman (Leslie Odom Jnr) is the manager of Central Park and lives at Edendale Castle with his family. His wife, Paige (Kathryn Hahn) is a reporter with a small newspaper, looking for a big story. His daughter Molly (Kristen Bell) draws comic books in which she is a superhero and his son, Cole (Titus Burgess) is obsessed with the pet dog of Bitsy Brandenhem (Stanley Tucci) a local wealthy hotel owner. They're lives are upended when Bitsy decides that it's time for Central Park to go and for high rise apartments to be in its place.
As "Bobs Burgers" has run on, the show has become more and more musically minded, with music breaks being a semi-regular idea and the shows credits often being sung by the cast. Perhaps this is the next logical step, with "Central Park" employing a cast of musical theatre performers and increasing each episode's song ratio to two or three. The other key to this is Josh Gad, who plays Birdie, the shows narrator, who speaks (or sings) directly to the audience, as well as the other characters when necessary.
Perhaps none of the characters are as well rounded as the ones in "Bobs" but there are some excellent creations, particularly Bitsy and her reluctant put upon assistant Helen, whom Daveed Diggs portrays. All of the vocal performances are really good though, as there's a wide range of guest appearances from other actors who have been in the Bouchard circle for a while. The animation style is the same as in their other two series, in that it's not particularly spectacular but it's serviceable for the comedic stories they're trying to tell.
As I write this, "Central Park" has been cancelled at the end of it's third run. Disappointing news, based on this first series, but I'll crack on with the rest and see whether this level of comedy is maintained.
