If you found the sardonic anthropomorphized animals in Bojack Horseman hilarious, and Adult Swim’s comedic experiments continuously excite you, then you’ll probably love Animals — an absurdist animated series about NYC starring talking horses, rats, and pigeons. There’s just one problem: it still needs a network.
The LA Times has devoted a fairly lengthy article to the project, which “follows an anthropomorphized set of neglected urban creatures as they go about their lives—rats looking for love at a party, a chat between a Central Park carriage horse and a police horse about friends who’ve moved on to parade work.” It was created by two first-time writers, Phil Matarese and Mike Luciano, who worked at at agency and came up with the idea after observing two pigeons hanging out on a ledge. They brainstormed the pigeons having a conversation, and eventually came up with a full show.
It sounds awesome:
Animals which offers self-contained and open-ended stories, has forgotten critters of New York taking on human and surreal qualities—rats “make babies,” a euphemism for having sex that becomes less euphemistic when babies materialize instantly, in one instance ending up back at the same party where they were conceived. In the first episode, a socially awkward rat also makes a choice that is understandable and tragic.
“We like the idea of real emotions swirling, and how that can mix with a more immediate sense of comedy,” said Matarese, 25. “What can be fun and brassy about the in-your-face style of Adult Swim combines with the dichotomy of them being animals, which allows us to pull back and see how naive they are about things.”
Added Luciano, 27: “The rats are us in our late teens and early twenties. And the pigeons are us in our [future] late thirties.”
They eventually met the Duplass brothers, Mark and Jay, who signed on as executive producers, introduced them to Hollywood elite, and helped them navigate the cutthroat media landscape. They’re hoping that someone buys the show after it debuts at Sundance on Monday.
While LA Times film writer Steven Zeitchik can imagine Comedy Central and Adult Swim duking it out for the series, Mark simply hopes it gets noticed. “My high hope is that this will find a premium home and also launch their careers,” he said.
I’m not sure why Adult Swim would listen to me, but in case they want my unsolicited opinion, here it is: Buy this show, please.
