ANIMATED SHOWS PROVE TO BE ESSENTIAL VIEWING
“Central Park” on Apple TV+ is quite the glorious, comforting respite from the unbelievably bleak times in which we’re living.
Surely, co-creator Loren Bouchard — who also created the beloved Fox animated comedy “Bob’s Burgers” — had no idea his latest project would serve as an almost aching example of the harmonious existence we could, and should, be having,
Set in the titular New York City park, the show follows Owen (voiced by “Hamilton” star Leslie Odom Jr.), the park’s African American manager, his white journalist wife (Kathryn Hahn) and their biracial kids, Cole (Tituss Burgess) and Molly (Kristen Bell, who recently stepped down from her role so an actress of color could play the character in the future).
As Owen struggles to keep the park clean and drama-free, he doesn’t know that rich, bitter socialite Bitsy Brandenham (Stanley Tucci) is working on a nefarious plan to replace the park with condos and retail space.
“Park” can best be described as an urban fantasia, with characters breaking into songs (some of which are written by such pop doyennes as Cyndi Lauper and Sara Bareilles), which are sometimes led by Birdie (co-creator Josh Gad), a fiddle-playing busker who also serves as the show’s fourth wall-breaking narrator.
“Park” is quite the clever, allinclusive charmer. The pilot episode kicks off with Birdie leading a chorus of people (rollerbladers, yoga enthusiasts, weed-smoking teens, etc) in singing about how welcoming the spot is — but also subtly mentioning the location was once a village for African American settlers who were ousted from their homes. (“Dark chapter,” the people sing.)
But much like how Bouchard made a quirky paean to workingclass America out of “Bob’s Burgers,” “Park” is another witty, whimsical satire where a beleaguered patriarch tries to keep his clan (and his community) from descending into chaos.
But, sometimes, chaos can lead to just how much people need to stick together. That’s the twisted, Nietzschean message underlying Hulu’s “Solar Opposites,” yet another animated sitcom that recently dropped on a streaming service.
This show plays like an anarchic, nihilistic, foul-mouthed version of the iconic “Coneheads” skits on “Saturday Night Live.” Justin Roiland, who co-created Adult Swim’s cult crown jewel “Rick and Morty” (and who also voices Rick and Morty), not only co-created this show, but also assumes the voice of Korvo, the head of a crew of aliens who crash-landed on Earth after their planet was destroyed. While the other aliens have acclimated to our planet’s surroundings, the uptight Korvo would love to get out of here as soon as possible. (These days, who could blame him?)
If “Park” is the optimistic, dreamy view of contemporary America, “Opposites” is its unruly, nightmarish flip side. Nearly every episode has Korvo and his makeshift clan (which includes Thomas Middleditch from “Silicon Valley” as his daffy sidekick, Terry) literally inciting bloody mania as their experiments and alien ways often go awry. They usually, and accidentally, leave a trail of carnage and catastrophe in their wake.
But since they live in the good ol’ U.S. of A., where self-centered people live in their own bubble and often inflict senseless damage on others, the actions of these extraterrestrial beings don’t seem so foreign.
“Opposites” does have a running subplot throughout its eightepisode first season that may remind people of the unrest that’s happening outside their front doors. A couple of the aliens have a bad habit of shrinking people who annoy them and sticking them in an elaborate terrarium enclave in their bedroom the shrunken people call “The Wall.” This environment is eventually run by a corrupt ruler called The Duke (voiced by Alfred Molina) and, in the penultimate episode (deceptively titled “Korvo and Terry Steal a Bear”), a resistance forms looking to dethrone their despotic king.
The animated insanity of “Opposites” almost serves as a whacked-out, sci-fi take on the real-life insanity that’s going on. It also may incite some viewers to get up, stand up and demand some changes so that, maybe one day, we can have the wonderful world seen on “Central Park.”
“CENTRAL PARK” AND “SOLAR OPPOSITIES”
OFFER ANIMATED RELIEF DURING TROUBLED TIMES.