Tuca & Bertie is a uniquely filthy and mature treat -- and the rare show that takes women in their 30s seriously

Variety

"There are precious few TV shows that take thirtysomething women and their thirtysomething problems seriously," says Caroline Framke of the Netflix animated comedy starring Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong as animated birds. "Onscreen, women are more often slotted into the roles of sexy teen, sexy and/or hapless twentysomething, and that ambiguous post-40 'of a certain age' designation that somehow encompasses half a lifetime. The thirties timespan, an especially crucial time for women figuring out what they want and can reasonably achieve, rarely gets the attention it rightly deserves — let alone from the wild and extremely male-dominated world of adult animation. This, among about a thousand other things, makes Tuca & Bertie a rare treat of a show." She adds: "Comparing Tuca and Bertie themselves to Ilana and Abbi of Broad City would be reductive; describing the show Tuca & Bertie as the spiritual continuation of Broad City, which ended with its pair of codependent friends learning to prioritize their own needs alongside each other, is not."

ALSO:

• Tuca & Bertie plays out like a feminist fairy tale about the many and complex joys of female friendship
• What’s both lovely and impressive about Tuca & Bertie is how real the show feels — even with its talking animals and surreal scenes
• The breasts are everywhere: The world of Tuca & Bertie is thoroughly carnal, with the features of the city are curvy and organic
• Tuca & Bertie feels like the manic lovechild of BoJack Horseman and Broad City: "This is a cartoon for grown-ups—not just because of the boobs, but because of the extraordinary sensitivity with which it deals with issues like office humiliations and existential anxieties and complicated relationships"
• Tuca & Bertie feels like a classic sitcom (Laverne & Shirley!) set in a surreal dreamscape
• Tuca & Bertie is not Bojack Horseman: "It's a lighter, looser, more fanciful series, one in touch with a far wider emotional palette, one in which joy and emotional release are actually possible"
• Creator Lisa Hanawalt wants men to hate-watch Tuca & Bertie: "I don't just want women who already agree with me to watch it. I don't want to just preach to the choir. I want men to get comfortable with the idea of women being funny and gross."
• Hanawalt used her experience working on BoJack Horseman to distinguish her series and make it more diverse: “As an artist and as someone who has my own personal style, I was always like, ‘Why can’t we have plant people? Why can’t inanimate objects come to life?’”