Central Park: Season One

June 8, 2020 7:09 PM - Season 1 (Full Season)

From the creator of Bob's Burgers comes an Apple TV+ animated musical sitcom about a family that lives in Central Park.

So long as the season settles into a groove and manages to avoid overwhelming itself, “Central Park” looks to be a worthy successor to a landmark sitcom — even if there’s still room for improvement along the way. -- IndieWire

If it can get a better grip on its setting and give the family comedy at its heart more room amongst everything else, “Central Park” could bloom into something special. -- Variety

If the show has a chance to relax into itself, and can manage to get out of its own way, it might become a real TV bright spot. -- Vulture

posted by Etrigan (5 comments total)

I swear, I wasn't trying to find reviews that all said "Eh, it's got potential", but that's pretty much the consensus opinion, including mine (after the first two episodes). The music is getting in the way of the plot and the laughs to a much greater extent than it does in Bob's Burgers, and the long-term arcs are a change as well, but we'll see how they go.

And I don't love Kristen Bell as a biracial kid or more of Bouchard's apparent deep love of men voicing female characters.
posted by Etrigan at 7:13 PM on June 8, 2020 [6 favorites]

I didn't realise this was a musical, presumably that's why the current season of Bob's Burgers has been so light on the songs? Anyway, the first season of Bob's Burgers was also a little rough until that show found its voice, but it kind of sounds like the issues with this one might run a little deeper?

Like yeah, casting men to play female characters was already questionable in 2011, doubling down on that in 2020 is not a great look at all. Meanwhile, Bob's Burgers also did some shitty "race-blind" casting, but most of those were either one-offs or minor recurring background roles. Doing it again with a main character is pretty whoa.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:38 AM on June 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

Kristen Bell is stepping down from the role.
posted by Etrigan at 5:38 PM on June 24, 2020

Okay, episode 6 is where it clicked into place. The music worked, the plot worked, the characters worked, everything was good. If you fell away after the underwhelming first few, come back.
posted by Etrigan at 8:06 PM on July 1, 2020

I like that there is a story arc, not just standalone episodes like so many animated series.

Apparently they have recast daughter Molly in the 2nd season with the voice of Emmy Raver-Lampman.
posted by larrybob at 8:23 AM on July 15, 2021 [1 favorite]