The show’s creators riff on their new season, including Beef’s expanded search for love, erotic mermen, where ranch dressing comes from, and the difficulty in animating large, puffy white anatomically correct cumuli, as the series returns for its post-NFL post-season run this Sunday, February 18, on FOX.
From revelations of the Alaskan roots of ranch dressing’s origin story, to cloud penises and erotic mermen, sisters Wendy and Lizzie Molyneux promise a fun-filled ride with The Great North’s fourth season, which picks back up this coming Sunday on FOX now that the NFL takes a long-needed break.
“I think everyone in America would love to see an erotic merman performer,” says Wendy. “That’s something that can unite us all. And I think we've all been wondering where our greatest resource for ranch dressing comes from. So, look forward to that.”
20th Television Animation’s animated comedy, The Great North, created by Bob’s Burgers writers Wendy and Lizzie, debuted on FOX in January 2021. It follows the Tobin family, headed by single father Beef, living in the fictional town of Lone Moose, Alaska. Beef’s life is centered around his four children: the sensitive and optimistic oldest child, Wolf, openly gay baker Ham, artistically inclined 16-year-old Judy, and stoic youngster Moon. Beef’s deep love for his family has been a cornerstone of the series as the kids go through the ups and downs of relationships, navigating new schools and a new town, finding their paths in life, and trying not to get eaten by Pizzly bears on prom night.
But, in Season 4 “The Great Fourth,” at long last, the Molyneux sisters get to spotlight Beef’s love life and “getting him back out there,” in their words.
“Season 4 is interesting in that we have a little bit more of an arc for Beef and his love life with dating and relationships and all of that,” says Lizzie. “So, I think you'll see a bigger change for him this season. We gave him a little bit more to do in the romance area.”
“Risky Beefness Adventure,” the second episode of Season 4, will air Sunday, February 18, marking the beginning of Beef’s journey into the dating scene. It also addresses the conflict between Judy’s desire to be sex-positive and open-minded, while being so mortified after hearing of her dad's sex life that she winds up breaking the kitchen table with her bare hands. Throw in the killer whale dance number and it’s a riveting chapter in The Great North series.
“We also have – and I think this is breaking news – Jane Lynch joining the cast in a role that we shouldn't reveal because it would actually be a spoiler,” says Wendy. “But she's going to be checking into Lone Moose for a longer stay. So, we're really excited about that because working with Jane is an absolute dream and something everyone should do every day just to lift their spirits. I mean, she would be too busy if everyone worked with her every day, but I feel like it's the least she could do.”
Neither Wendy nor Lizzie revealed whether Lynch’s character becomes a love interest for Beef, but they were very eager to share the grueling efforts that came with introducing their latest controversial character to the series: the cloud penis, voiced by Jack McBrayer, which makes its debut in Episode 2.
“We spent an absolutely absurd amount of time trying to create a penis made of clouds that appears in the sky,” shares Wendy. “I mean, you would be surprised how difficult it is to get a penis made of clouds through standards, but we did it and if we do nothing else in our lives, we can look back on that and shed a tear, feeling pretty proud of ourselves. And with the penis played by Jack, it’s like all the creative forces came together to create a penis made of clouds that could clear standards on broadcast television. I'm not saying we'll definitely get a Peabody or a Nobel, but I think we'll be in the conversation.”
Wendy’s argument for advocating for her and Lizzie’s beloved cloud penis was that it was a far better alternative than gruesome murder. We agree.
“It's just funny sometimes to get very specific notes on silly things for a silly cartoon, and, meanwhile, over on a crime show on CBS, they're like, ‘This woman has had her tits chopped off,’ and that can go on the air as long as she was murdered,” says Wendy. “A silly sky penis gets note after note and it's just funny because I'm a parent too, and I would rather get this silly sky penis than the cavalcade of murdered ladies. But, to each their own. People love murdered ladies. It's what makes the crime genre go round.”
Wendy also noted that she and Lizzie have ambitions to create an episode that takes place entirely inside a butt crack, further enforcing the creatives’ statement that there is a noticeable increase in exuberance surrounding the new season.
“I do feel like there's more liveliness and excitement throughout the animation and music and everything you'll see in Season 4 because there was a sense of excitement and joy about getting back in a room with our writers after the strikes,” says Lizzie. “And I think that carried through into production as well. I think you can feel it. The episodes feel light and fun, and that energy is just there in a way that is hard to put your finger on. Obviously, everyone worked so hard from Season 1 to 3 and did such a fantastic job, but I feel we all got a chance to shine even more in Season 4 because that reinvigoration was there.”
It also helps that there are few limits to what Wendy and Lizzie will do with the show, be it clown fights, a rise of lumber-zombies, father-daughter diarrhea days, haunted reindeer sausages, and, of course, the catastrophic effects of global warming and trauma from being abandoned by a wife and mother.
“Especially with family stories, we haven't shied away from some more difficult topics like Kathleen Tobin's drinking problems, abandonment issues, sibling fighting, all of that stuff,” says Lizzie. “We like to take on bigger issues that I think real people and real families deal with, but it's always about just finding that funny way in and coming around at the end to our family that does deeply care about each other and is going to stick together. I think that safety net being in place is always helpful when you're taking on topics that are maybe a little tricky or can feel a little heavy.”
Wendy adds, “We have a great cast that makes up this family that is funny but deeply flawed, and I think it resembles a lot of families out there. Mom's gone, and it's what, in the 70s, you would call a ‘broken family,’ and I think absolutely everyone's living in one of those in some form or another, even if they're not talking about it. There's comfort in seeing something that reflects everyone. There's diversity across the cast in age range, marital status, sexuality, and all of that. Hopefully, you can find a little bit of yourself in the show and a family that you can belong to. Not in a corny way. In a way where they will still make fun of you.”
But the comedy writing sisters do draw a line at satire directed toward someone’s identity.
“We don't go after people about their sexuality or gender identity or things like that,” says Wendy. “And we don't go after fat people. I'm a fat person. I'm not coming for myself. I like shows that do satire. I like to watch them. That's not what I enjoy writing about that much. Our show doesn't really do social satire, so we just don't find ourselves making fun of those topics. It was never a Bob's Burgers thing. But I don't think that's self-censoring. We just write what we enjoy.”
In other words, they don’t ‘punch down,’ because that's too easy.
“That's a much shorter way of saying it,” admits Wendy. “But if I wanted to not speak at length, I wouldn't have become a writer. If I wasn't going to go on and on and on and on, I would've chosen a different profession.”
As the animated television industry continues to strive for some equilibrium coming out of the pandemic and industry strikes, and as days where series are canceled at the drop of a hat become more frequent, the Molyneux sisters credit their show’s success to their caring less if the show does well on the business side and caring more about loving what they’re making. They admit the sentiment is corny. But that doesn’t make it less valid.
“We are ambitious about the show but, given how crazy the industry is right now, if you're not having fun making the thing, it loses its point because you've got shows that can just disappear off the air, never to be seen again,” says Wendy. “You really have to, and I know it sounds corny, enjoy the moment of making it. Enjoy being in the room and enjoy coming up with the jokes. Enjoy looking at the incredible drawings that the artists do. We don't know what the future holds for the industry or how long a show might go on. So, you have to enjoy the process of making it and that's what makes it enjoyable to the viewer. Ultimately, they can feel what was happening when the show was being made. So, for the audience to enjoy it, you have to enjoy it too.”
Sharing as many spoiler-free details as they could about what to expect in the new season’s upcoming episodes, Lizzy and Wendy tease “fun people returning, some fun music, great new songs, and some of our main cast singing as well.”
“And we got America's sweetheart, John Hamm, guest starring on the show,” says Wendy. “So, we've got a character named Ham and John Hamm. We're trying to corner the Ham market.”
Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment. Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.
