Netflix’s original animated series BoJack Horseman is a little more dramedy than sitcom, while cleverly incorporating the show-within-a-show that the titular character, Mr. Horseman, once starred in during his heyday. Yes, I pun occasionally. As does the show, which appeals to base humor and sociopolitical satire simultaneously, wrapped up with a distinctly adult-orientated bow. Our antihero is a narcissistic addict has-been surrounded by self-sabotaging friends (and frenemies), whose voice talents include heavy hitters like Will Arnett (who also lent his voice to the more kid-friendly The Lego Batman Movie), Amy Sedaris (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Alison Brie (Community) and Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad).
From the mind of creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg ( Undone ) together with his high school friend, production designer Lisa Hanawalt ( Tuca & Bertie ) — who initially passed on the opportunity, but eventually came around — BoJack Horseman was pitched around before finding its home at Netflix at the end of 2013, giving them only 35 short weeks of production time for season one. But what the team accomplished was some of the best TV of the 2010s. Or so says TIME and Vanity Fair...One expects sitcom-style comedy of a half-hour show, which is precisely what Bob-Waksberg doesn’t give the audience in BoJack Horseman — at least not in an expected way. It throws our assumption of that Hollywood happy ending right off course, spiraling the viewer into the depths of despair right along with BoJack at times. He wallows in self-pity, attempts to better himself at other times, but stays the course when it comes to not enacting changes that would improve his overall life and well-being. His commitment issues and addictive personality (to drugs and alcohol, as well as self-sabotaging behavior) drive the plot. What is most indicative of BoJack’s state and the larger commentary of the show is his addiction to watching old episodes of the sitcom he starred in, Horsin’ Around. This show-within-the-show represents everything BoJack clings to: the past and a set of ideals that just don’t exist in his reality — or ours, the writers seem to be saying. It’s all a construct made to make us feel better; like a little endorphin hit, which is why we need to watch those reruns again and again and again...
"For a lot of people, life is just one long kick in the urethra," BoJack tells an interviewer in the pilot. "And sometimes, when you get home from a long day of getting kicked in the urethra, you just want to watch a show about good, likable people who love each other — where, you know, no matter what happens, at the end of 30 minutes everything’s gonna turn out OK."
For someone who makes vodka smoothies for breakfast and apparently can’t say no to people because he wants everyone to like him (yet acts like the other word for donkey to everyone in his life), you really can’t help but hope for a character arc in the series that sees everything "turn out OK." Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. Not for BoJack, and not for his TV alter ego on Horsin’ Around... Which is revealed in the BoJack Horseman pilot and should’ve been our red herring for how the show we’re watching would end... if we’re paying close enough attention and don’t have our sitcom-colored glasses on. Another structure subversion, but more importantly, right on point with the series’ themes of existentialism. Diane tells Bojack right there in the pilot that he is "responsible for your own happiness."
Aside from depression and addiction, the show also tackled other major issues such as racism, sexism and trauma with an uncomfortably realistic lens, despite its cartoonish appearance... This is possibly why it was even more disconcerting to watch.
We were introduced to the anthropomorphic world of Bojack Horseman in 2014 and for six critically acclaimed seasons, BoJack (Arnett), Todd (Paul), Princess Carolyn (Sedaris), and Diane (Brie) graced our screens as animals and humans living in harmony in Hollywood, like there was nothing weird about it. I mean, there’s definitely something in that subtext, considering the issues tackled by the show. Just like how Lululemon is "Lululemming" and BoJack’s editor Pinky Penguin is a penguin who works for Penguin... It’s all very meta and funny, sure, if it weren’t for the underlying reality. Which BoJack seems to nail on the head when referencing his arch-nemesis, Mr. Peanutbutter (voiced by Paul F. Tompkins): "He’s so stupid he doesn’t realize how miserable he should be."
Bojack Horseman feels a little The Simpsons, The Newsroom, and Californication all at once, with the Critics Choice Television Awards deeming it Best Animated Series four times and the Emmy® Awards nominating it twice for Outstanding Animated Program for its clever originality.
Thankfully, Netflix graciously gave Bob-Waksberg the heads-up before canceling the series, giving the writers room time to bring the show to its natural conclusion at the beginning of 2020. Good thing, because who knows what would’ve befallen BoJack during the pandemic...