Every week we’re bringing you recommendations for great movies or TV shows streaming on Netflix. This week’s selection is…
“BoJack Horseman” Created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Starring Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Paul F. Tompkins, and Aaron Paul; Run time: 25 minutes; Originally aired August 22, 2014; Rated TV-MA.
Netflix has had a pretty successful run so far with their original programming, from “Arrested Development” to “Daredevil,” it’s been more hits than misses. While I’ve enjoyed their contributions to popular culture, most of what they’ve offered has been on the safe side of entertainment. “Arrested Development” was a known entity with a built in fan base, “Daredevil” is a known entity with a superhero pedigree and the backing of the increasingly successful Marvel Studios. Even lesser known Netflicks originals like “Hemlock Grove” are safely inside the vampire/werewolf/monster camp that will always bring a certain number of views. “BoJack Horseman,” to me, feels like their first real step into experimental territory, the first real gamble they’ve taken, and it’s paid off.
“BoJack Horseman” takes place in a fictionalized version of Hollywood (later called Hollywoo after BoJack steals the D from the Hollywood sign in a grand romantic gesture and everyone just sort of goes along with it) where human beings live along side anthropomorphized animals. There’s no real explanation as to why these creatures exist, there was no strange experiment, no nuclear disaster, in this world they simply exist and that’s okay.
Unlike many animated series, the story doesn’t reset after each episode, instead it follows the titular character, an almost forgotten star of a 1987 sitcom. At the series’ outset it has been almost twenty years since the cancellation of “Horsin’ Around” a family comedy about a horse-man bachelor who adopts three orphans and forms an unconventional family. BoJack now has to learn how to deal with his waning popularity while trying to find meaning and happiness. Essentially it’s about a man who’s past his prime and not quite sure if he has any purpose. While it seems silly on the surface, it actually deals with some pretty heavy concepts such as addiction, depression, and questionable sexual activity. Unlike shows like “Family Guy” or “The Simpsons” what makes “BoJack Horseman” unique is the way that it deals with these topics and makes you genuinely care about the characters, despite how ridiculous they are.
You find yourself rooting for BoJack even though he’s objectively a despicable person. In an interview with Cartoon Brew the show’s creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg was asked how he created the character and the show.
“I was very isolated and lonely and didn’t know anybody, but I was living in this gorgeous house up in the Hollywood Hills. I had a friend of a friend of a friend who let me stay in their closet, basically, in this magnificent house. I remember standing out on this deck and looking out over Hollywood and feeling like, “Oh my god, I am on top of the world. But I’ve never been more lonely and isolated.” And from that sort of sprung the idea for this character who had gotten every opportunity but still can’t find a way to be happy. And that was BoJack.”
That idea is the essential nugget upon which the rest of the series is built. It’s about how depression isn’t reserved for the poor and ill, it is a demon we all must face at one time or another and even those who seemingly have it all can be buried by it.
Season one centers on BoJack’s relationship with a ghost writer working on a memoir which BoJack believes to be his last shot at regaining the spotlight and changing the public perception of him as a nefarious has been. It also introduces his admiration of Secretariat as a role model and inspiration. Season two centers on BoJack getting his dream role as Secretariat in a biopic and whether or not public admiration is really enough for him to be happy.
Despite its admittedly heavy material “BoJack Horseman” manages to stay funny in a gallows humor sort of way by putting a magnifying glass on these issues and exaggerating them to the point of hilarity. Season one had initially mixed reviews but the second half of the season was more positively regarded. Season two hit Netflix last week and thus far has received almost unanimously positive reviews. It will make you ask hard questions, it will make you laugh, but mostly it will just entertain you.