Netflix launches ‘Tuca and Bertie’
Netflix introduces two series exploring female friendship. It says something when the trippy cartoon about two talking birds is the more emotionally engaging story.
Lisa Hanawalt, a force behind the brilliant “BoJack Horseman” has created “Tuca and Bertie,” a manic, vibrant cartoon about two 30-something friends who happen to be birds in a wildly imaginative anthropomorphic city.
Tuca (voiced by Tiffany Haddish) is a chatty, free-spirited toucan. Bertie (Ali Wong) is her former roommate, a neurotic songbird who has stifled her creative bent with a boring day job.
As the action begins, Tuca has just left their shared apartment so Bertie can move in with Speckles (Steven Yeun), a nice-enough boyfriend we all know isn’t good enough for her. It’s a good thing Tuca lives just downstairs.
“Tuca” pretty much pulses with weird energy and odd characters. As easy as it might be to dismiss this as a “stoner” cartoon, it’s not terribly different from old “Betty Boop” cartoons that depicted cars and houses as living entities, throbbing to its hopped-up jazz score. It also possesses the freedom of a fairy tale, where no one thinks twice about gingerbread dwellings or talking frogs.
In lesser hands, the brash, self-absorbed Tuca might be overbearing. But she’s aware of her limits and offers the right sounding board for the tentative Bertie. “Tuca and Bertie” pulls off a rare feat. Sure, the girls are strange, and their neighbor is a chain-smoking hipster houseplant. But I already care about them!
› Christina Applegate (“Married With Children”) and Linda Cardellini (“Freaks & Geeks,” “ER”) star in “Dead to Me,” a dark Netflix series that — while squeezed into a half-hour sitcom format — is anything but comedic.
Still seething with rage after her late husband’s hit-and-run accident, Jen (Applegate) slowly comes to welcome the entreaties of the far more free-spirited Judy (Cardellini), a woman with her own tale of bereavement. Despite their different temperaments
and the sadness of the situation, both performers share an easy chemistry.
Not content to leave it at that and explore an odd-couple friendship (think “Grace & Frankie” for Gen Xers), “Dead” asks viewers to sit for at least one twist too many. These dark turns make us question the motivations of at least one character and our own reasons for watching this show.
› “ScreenTime: Diane Sawyer Reporting” (8 p.m., ABC) explores concerns
from parents and experts about the many hours that people, particularly the young, spend on their devices and social media, where “selfie” culture and the need to be “liked” by strangers is paramount.
› “At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal” (8 p.m., HBO, TV-MA) examines the decadeslong abuse by team doctor Larry Nassar.
Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin .tvguy@gmail.com.