New Animated Comedy From 'Bob's Burgers' Creator 'Central Park' Gets 'Frozen's Kristen Bell, Josh Gad Back Together
Apple TV continues to expand its stable of series programming with animated musical comedy Central Park starring Frozen favorites Kristen Bell and Josh Gad.
Central Park already landed a two-season straight-to-series order with a total of 26 episodes.
Central Park
According to a report from Deadline, Central Park is an animated musical comedy about a family of caretakers who both live and work in the titular park. The family ends up saving the park and the world.
Some of the biggest draws of the upcoming series is its accomplished cast and crew. Besides Bell and Gad, the show's voice actors and actresses include Leslie Odom Jr., Titus Burgess, Stanley Tucci, Kathryn Hahn, and Daveed Diggs.
Central Park also comes from the creator and executive producer of the Emmy-winning Bob's Burgers Loren Bouchard. He cowrote it with fellow Bob's Burgers executive producer Nora Smith and actor-writer Gad.
Bouchard and Gad are both executive producers of this new show, while Smith is onboard as a consulting producer. Kevin Larsen is also a producer.
Developer 20th TV is also behind other renowned animated projects such as Bob's Burgers, The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, and King of the Hill.
Apple Branches Out
Due to its proven personnel, the show was pursued by major streaming networks Netflix and Hulu before Apple won the bid for its rights from 20th TV.
Central Park marks the first animated series for Apple and the first 20th TV project to make it on a streaming platform. It also joins the Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston morning show drama as the only two series that received a two-season order from the streaming network.
Apple is gearing up to be a major player in original programming by amassing an impressive slate of series as of late.
Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue touched on the subject at the SXSW in Austin, even without revealing how the company is planning on releasing these content to audiences worldwide. While he would not confirm whether they are interested in buying a platform like Netflix or Disney, he points out that both of those are their partners and they've traditionally chosen their acquisitions carefully.
"We're completely all in," Cue says about Apple's future with entertainment content, according to Hollywood Reporter. "We're not after quantity. We're after quality. We don't try to sell the most smartphones in the world, we don't try to sell the most tablets. We try to make the best ones. Great storytelling is what's important."
