COMIC-CON @ HOME HIGHLIGHTS & RECAP

Comic-Con @ Home has returned for another year (thanks COVID) and has given fans like us an exclusive sneak peek of what’s coming up for our favorite shows. And no stranger to Comic Con is the Fox Animation Domination block.

THE SIMPSONS returns for its 33rd season with a musical episode guest starring Kristen Bell as Marge’s singing voice. And no it’s not just one song. It’s like Central Park levels of musical. An exclusive clip of Treehouse 32 was also revealed. But unlike the previous Treehouse’s having three anthology segments, this one is having five. A two-parter was also revealed to air in November, being a love better to hit television series Fargo. Finally, Al Jean teased that romance may come to stick in Moe’s life and another upcoming episode that will star Rachel Bloom will explore the greatest tragedy Homer has ever faced.

The Simpsons airs new episodes starting Sunday, September 26 at 8/7c. Season 33 consists of 22 episodes. The show was renewed for a thirty-fourth broadcast season as well, bringing the series up to 757 episodes.

Watch the panel here!

FAMILY GUY is about to enter its 20th season and has a huge cast of guest stars. Those include Patton Oswalt, Chris Parnell, Sam Elliott, Kenny Loggins, Leslie Uggams, Justin Hartley, Peter Macon, Jay Pharoah, and Zachary Levi. In this year’s Comic Con virtual panel, the cast and crew play a game of Family Guy trivia to see who can answer the most about the show. A highlight reel of scenes from upcoming episodes was also released.

Family Guy airs new episodes starting Sunday, September 26 at 9:30/8:30c. Season 20 consists of 20 episodes.The show was renewed for a twenty-first broadcast season as well, bringing the series up to 412 episodes.

Watch the panel here!

The Emmy-winning BOB’S BURGERS is returning for its 12th season on the Fox network this fall and Loren Bouchard and co are excited to share several things. First, Loren Bouchard shared about the upcoming movie, which was already delayed twice.

“We still don’t have a date but I do, of course, want to tell the fans, we’re working on it,” he said. “My every waking moment is spent on the movie and it’s coming. They have to put it out. We’re going to be in theaters – that’s my pledge. I think really soon, we’re going to start releasing trailers, art, clips, all the little things that are such a pleasure for us to release into the world. I can guarantee it will be the best movie we could possibly make. We are leaving no stone unturned.

The crew describes it as a “musical, comedy, mystery, adventure and a kind of coming-of-age story.”

Beyond the film, Bouchard shared that he looks to release a theater-bound short film titled “My Butt Has A Fever,” which was created pre-pandemic, but was indefinitely shelved due to the pandemic.

Loren Bouchard teased some of the episode titles which include “Crystal Mess,” “The Pumpkining,” “Driving Big Dummy,” “Seventween Again,” “Beach Please,” “Stuck in the Kitchen With You,” “Gene’s Christmas Break,” “Loft in Bedslation,” “FOMO You Didn’t,” “Touch of Evaluations,” “Video Killed the Geneo Star,” “Ferry on My Wayward Bob and Linda,” “Spider House Rules,” “Clear and Present Ginger,” and “Asprout a Boy”, all to air in the twelfth season.

Finally, he also teased there is a two-parter episode at the end of the season. “We’re doing a two-parter at the end of next season. And a significant amount of the episode takes place within Tina’s erotic friend-fiction.”

Fans of Bob’s Burgers can look forward to a music album from seasons 7-9 being released soon by Hollywood Records (Disney) on August 20, and then a month later, they will get to watch season 12 on the Fox network.

Bob’s Burgers airs new episodes starting Sunday, September 26 at 9/8c. Season 12 consists of 22 episodes. The show was renewed for a thirteenth broadcast season as well, bringing the series up to 261 episodes.

Watch the panel here!

THE GREAT NORTH returns for its sophomore season this fall and creators and sister duo Lizzie and Wendy Molyneux are very excited to share for fans what’s in store for the upcoming season. Like The Simpsons‘ season 33 premiere, the second season premiere of The Great North will be a musical episode, focused on Judy. An short animatic of the season premiere was shown at the panel as well. They also showed a short clip of a season 1 carryover “Yawn of the Logging Dead Adventure”, which is a Halloween-focused episode. Because of this, season 2 does not have its own Halloween episode. However, Wendy and Lizzie revealed they are doing Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, and possibly, the next. The sisters love that they now get to be part of the Halloween Animation Domination block, remembering the days when everyone would tune in to watch The Simpsons‘ legendary Treehouse of Horror. All four shows are airing Halloween episodes this year, including Family Guy, which has not had a proper Halloween special since season 15.

At the end of the panel, the Molyneux sisters shared a huge ensemble list of over 50 guest stars that will be voicing characters in season 2. They include: Martha Kelly, Alouisius Hooch, David Herman, Ray DeWilde, Tim Jennings, Tim Bagley, Reggie Watts, Kelvin Yu, Brooke Dillman, Julio Torres, Michelle Badillo, Wyatt Cenac, Charlie Kelly, Margaret Cho, Ariel Tweto, Paul F Tompkins, Ziwe Fumudoh, Danielle Gaither, Patti Harrison, Jon Gemberling, Rob Delaney, Mindy Sterling, Ron Funches, Sean Clements, Patti LuPone, Ken Marino, Drew Droege, Tiffany Smith, Chris Garcia, Guy Fieri, Kevin Avery, Jaime Moyer, Ashley Nicole Black, JK Simmons, Andy Daly, Gabe Delahaye, Nicole Byer, Lisa Rinner, Sarah Baker, Mark Proksh, Keiko Agena, Adam Godley, Jenny Yang, Lennon Parham, Karen Sheedy, Missi Pyle, Gary Cole, Judith Shelton, Timothy Olyphant, Pam Grier, Andrea Savage, Lindsey Stoddart, and Tuc Watkins.

Fans of The Great North, Bob’s Burgers, and Central Park should not be hyped for a crossover episode. Loren Bouchard, who was also on the panel, stated that it is not happening. Wendy Molyneux explained, “From my point of view, you live inside these realities – people say, ‘oh I’ll just binge watch it over and over again,’ for Bob’s [Burgers], Central Park and all that. And you don’t really want to break the reality by crossing the streams.”

Loren followed up, “Yeah that’s my thought to. You know, if you’re a doctor and your patient wants more and more morphine, at a certain point – even though morphine feels really good – you have to say no, and you have to explain it, and they still look at you like, ‘give me the morphine!’ So I feel like that’s what happens with crossovers, it’s like this fever. They want the crossover, and I hate being this guy, but I will back [Wendy] up, and I will say this: we try so hard for so many days of our year, our working lives, trying to basically believe these character are real and these worlds are real. We know it’s made-up, we know we’re writing, but it’s pretty close to a little religious exercise where you actually imagine they’re real. What would they do? What would they say? And so, somehow, when you cross a show with another show – I’m sure there are people who can do it, and I guess it works in the Marvel universe or whatever – but for me it just screams, ‘Oh it’s just a TV show.’ And I think even though the fans want it – and they feel the pleasure of, ‘Oh imagine that guy was talking to that guy!’ – it’s still this thing that I personally will try to explain how you shouldn’t have that. It’s not good for you, it could potentially kill the whole enterprise.”

Now it’s always possible that these three shows take place in the same universe and we may see a cameo of the characters in another show in the future, but don’t expect a full-blown Simpsons/Family Guy crossover. It’s for the best.

The Great North airs new episodes starting Sunday, September 26 at 8:30/7:30c. The show was renewed for a third broadcast season as well, bringing the series up to 57 episodes.

Watch the panel here!

DUNCANVILLE is about to finish airing its second season, but that doesn’t mean they have things to not look forward to in the coming episodes. Mike Scully revealed that Ninja the Gamer will be a guest star in the season 3 premiere episodes. But there’s also news for the rest of season 2. The crew teased a few clips from the next upcoming episode titled “Off to the Braces”, which is airing August 16. Kimberly gets her braces removed for the first time and Mr. Mitch sings a song about parsley. The season only has three episodes left, and is scheduled to conclude on August 30 as a continuation of an episode in season 1. Fans should be really excited for these upcoming three episodes and the next season which is scheduled to air next year.

Duncanville airs Mondays at 9:30/8:30c. Season 3 is scheduled to air sometime next year. A total of 39 episodes have been ordered over the span of three seasons. I’ll keep you updated when there is a premiere date.

Watch the panel here!

Finally, HOUSEBROKEN, the newcomer on Fox’s Animation Domination block, also has something in store. Co-creator Clea DuVall explains how the show was developed. The cast then answered questions about their characters and described what they are like. Unlike the other panels, they don’t have any new footage to show you, but the panel does give people who haven’t seen the show before a good overview. If you haven’t watched the show yet, it may be in your best interest to watch this panel first to see if you’d like it or not.

HouseBroken airs Mondays at 9/8c.

Watch the panel here!

HOUSEBROKEN renewed at Fox?

The Fox network has given HouseBroken a season 1 finale date of August 30, ending after 11 episodes. That being said renewal is almost guaranteed for the freshman animated series, as the season is ending short of its order. The Fox network has always heldover episodes to future seasons for their animated programming, as two of the season 1-produced episodes will air in the second season. The show continues to perform decently on the network averaging a 0.3 demo over the span of the first season. It is also a top performer on digital platforms such as Hulu and FOXNOW. I expect an official announcement to arrive within the coming days, but season 2 is basically going to happen given this status.

This is no surprise, as the Fox network is pushing hard into primetime animation on the network. All of the network’s new animated series on the new incarnation of the Animation Domination block have been renewed for season 2, showing the network’s commitment to animated shows. Duncanville and The Great North also have been picked up for season 3. Now, don’t expect a season 3 of HouseBroken to come so easily, as the network gave Bless the Harts an early renewal back in 2019 but refused to order more episodes the following year. HouseBroken is going to have to prove that it can remain a stable player against the cost to make the show.

HouseBroken is produced by Kapital Entertainment. It is created and executive-produced by Gabrielle Allan, Jennifer Crittenden and Clea DuVall. Sharon Horgan, Clelia Mountford, Aaron Kaplan, and Dana Honor also serve as executive producers. However, Dana Honor had exited Kapital last week, wanting to spend more time with her family. The series is animated by Bento Box Entertainment.

Are you excited for the likely season 2 of HouseBroken?