It’s been a good but potentially bittersweet day for the creative team of Nick Kroll and Andrew Goldberg. In 2017 they, along with Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett brought the animated series, “Big Mouth” to Netflix. The raunchy comedy series about seventh graders experiencing puberty and hormones depicted as literal monsters achieved critical and ratings success for the streaming platform. Indeed it proved popular enough to warrant a spin-off series last year, “Human Resources,” about the hormone monsters themselves and their workplace. The sweet part of the news is both of the series have been picked up for an 8th and second season respectively. The bitter part is that both of those seasons will be the last.
“Big Mouth” has yet to begin it’s seventh season, so to know that it at least has another one in the pipeline is a big plus. All too often, especially as of late, many shows getting the axe are chopped before they can establish a proper finale. Rarer is the case like with “Big Mouth” or Prime Video’s “A League of Their Own,” where the series gets a proper chance to send-off their characters with a sense of finality and closure. More common is what HBO’s “Westworld“ faced, where it was canned after the fourth season with no chance for any resolution.
You could easily argue that “Big Mouth” deserves a proper send-off since its eighth season would make it the longest running scripted Netflix original outside of recurring children’s programming. That alone is something special considering how, as indicate above, it’s not easy to be a long-runner in the streaming era. And while this does mean that “Human Resources” is getting the short end of the stick, the good news is that the eighth season of “Big Mouth” will serve as a grand finale for both shows.
Along with the outstanding critical reception “Big Mouth” has received for its writing, the voice acting has also been honored with Maya Rudolph netting two Emmy awards for her performance of Connie the Hormone Monstress. Additionally, both programs have an extensive cast of A-listers in recurring and guest roles, ranging from series co-creator Nick Kroll to John Mulaney, Helen Mirren, Hugh Jackman, and Paul Giamatti playing feces, cuz why not?
The good news for Kroll and company continues beyond this though as Netflix announced a deal to continue working with them. Brutus Pink, the animation production run by Kroll, Goldberg, etc, is set to continue making content for Netflix in the form of more animated series. Given the success they’ve had so far, it’s easy to see why the streaming giant wants to keep Brutus Pink under their auspices for a while. For now though, we eagerly await to see how they close out this chapter of their work before moving on to new creative ventures!
