Fans of Bob’s Burgers rejoice: Loren Bouchard, creator of the long-running animated comedy set in a diner, has signed a deal with Apple to create two seasons of a new series. Central Park will be the first animated showed purchased by the maker of Apple TV.
The action of the musical comedy will revolve around a family of Central Park caretakers whose adventures save not only the park and New York City — but also the world.
This is just one of many programs Apple has in development, even though the company has yet to spell out exactly what it’s going to do with all this content. Topics of shows it has committed to range from one about Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors to a comedy starring Kristen Wiig and a sci-fi drama from Battlestar Galactica producer Ronald D. Moore. Steven Spielberg is even on board with an Amazing Stories reboot.
At the South by Southwest conference today in Austin, Texas, Apple senior VP Eddy Cue made vague statements on the topic. He told CNN that Apple is “all in” on TV. He promised that the company would bring “a few surprises,” to the video game, but didn’t say much more.
Central Park is a bit frozen
Bouchard will write Central Park with Nora Smith and Josh Gad (perhaps best know as Olaf from Frozen), according to Variety. The show will star Gad along with Kristen Bell (Anna from Frozen) and other actors.
There will be 24 episodes. When these will begin appearing is not known, not surprising considering the mystery surrounding all Apple’s plans for its shows.
Not coming to Netflix or Disney. Maybe.
While Central Park is definitely a part of Apple’s plans, Cue indicated today that buying Disney or Netflix is probably not.
When he was asked at SXSW whether such a billion-dollar deal was being hashed out in back rooms, Cue responded with gushing generality. “The good news is both Netflix and Disney are great partners of ours and have been with us from the beginning,” he said. “Generally, in the history of Apple, we haven’t made huge acquisitions.”
Of course, anyone paying close attention will note that Cue didn’t deny the rumors of a megamerger. His response only implied that one wasn’t likely. And with almost $300 billion in cash and nearly $1 trillion in market capitalization, many are wondering if Apple is in the market for some big acquisitions.
