Bob's Burgers-style cartoon coming to Apple TV Plus – and it's a musical

central park
(Image credit: Apple)

Apple TV Plus is gearing up for a brand new animated series from the creators of Bob's Burgers, called Central Park. 

The musical comedy (yes, musical) will premiere sometime between June and August this year, and features an all-star voice cast including Josh Gad, Leslie Odom Jr., Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Tituss Burgess, Daveed Diggs and Stanley Tucci.

The new Apple TV Plus series follows the Tillermans, a family that lives in Central Park, New York.

A synopsis from Apple reads: "Owen, the park manager, and Paige, his journalist wife, raise their kids Molly and Cole in the world’s most famous park, while fending off hotel heiress Bitsy Brandenham and her long suffering assistant Helen, who would love nothing more than to turn the park into condos."

Cartoon competition

While an animated musical comedy may sound novel, it's not a huge surprise that Bob's Burgers creators Loren Bouchard and Nora Smith would want to explore this medium; after all, Bob's Burgers is well known for including quirky musical numbers at the end of each episode, and characters frequently break into song.

It's the first Apple TV Plus animated series to be geared towards adults as well as older children, and could prove a rival for Netflix titles like Big Mouth, Disenchanted, and Final Space.

Apple TV Plus beat Netflix at the Screen Actor's Guild awards on January 19, when Jennifer Anniston won the award for Best Female Actor in a Drama Series for her work in The Morning Show

The award was widely expected to go to Olivia Coleman, for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix's The Crown – and while Apple TV Plus subscribers are nowhere near the size of Netflix's numbers, the fledgling streaming service is proving that it can compete with the big dogs, at least in terms of critical acclaim. 

That being said, The Crown still won Best TV Drama overall, so it's a little early for Apple to start celebrating its victory over the world's biggest streaming platform

Olivia Tambini

Olivia was previously TechRadar's Senior Editor - Home Entertainment, covering everything from headphones to TVs. Based in London, she's a popular music graduate who worked in the music industry before finding her calling in journalism. She's previously been interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live on the subject of multi-room audio, chaired panel discussions on diversity in music festival lineups, and her bylines include T3, Stereoboard, What to Watch, Top Ten Reviews, Creative Bloq, and Croco Magazine. Olivia now has a career in PR.