TV Talk: CMU grad Josh Gad joined by college pals on ‘Central Park’

Comic actor Josh Gad, a 2003 Carnegie Mellon University grad, can draw a direct line from his days as a CMU student to “Central Park,” the Apple TV+ animated musical comedy he created with “Bob’s Burgers” veterans Loren Bouchard and Nora Smith.

“CMU gave me an opportunity to create from a very early period in in my history as a student there,” he said in a Zoom interview last week. “I was a sophomore when I wrote and did my very first show on the Purnell (Center) stage called ‘Wizard of Oz, a One Man Show with Other People.’ And two of my ‘Central Park’ co-stars were the leads of that show opposite me, Leslie Odom Jr. and Rory O’Malley. Those relationships that were fostered back then are now paying dividends all these years later, because both of them, who are now stars, I can call up and get them to commit to something as crazy and as ambitious as an animated musical series. (CMU) prepared me in many ways, some of which are unexpected.”

Season two of “Central Park” – three episodes begin streaming Friday with an additional episode dropping each Friday for five weeks (then five more episodes follow in the fall) — continues the story of park manager Owen (voiced by Odom Jr.), his journalist wife, Paige (Kathryn Hahn), daughter Molly (Emmy Raver-Lampman) and son Cole (Tituss Burgess).

In season one, wealthy Bitsy (Stanley Tucci) plotted to take over the park with help from her aide Helen (Daveed Diggs), who performs a hilarious ode to Weehawken, N.J., in the season premiere.

Season one’s overarching, serialized plot recedes into the background a bit as fumbling, fiddler narrator Birdie (Gad) relates more character-driven stories with less emphasis on serialized plot.

“We understand to a certain extent who these characters are, who they want to be and what our show wants to be,” Gad said. “That allows you to do things that you would be, frankly, insane to try in the first season of a TV series.”

That includes a six-minute violin sequence in an episode that’s not played for laughs.

“Its very poignant and beautiful,” Gad said. “Were either crazy or creatively ambitious.”

Right after season one “Central Park” underwent a recasting. Gad’s “Frozen” co-star, Kristen Bell, was one of a several white actors who stepped back from voicing non-white roles in animated series.

In season two, actress Emmy Raver-Lampman voices bi-racial Molly in a seamless transition. Gad said season two was already written when the decision to recast was made but Bell will return to “Central Park” voicing a new character in season three, which Gad said is in pre-production (Apple TV+ has yet to announce a third season renewal but because animation takes so much longer to produce, it seems likely that announcement is just a formality.)

Gad, who voices the snowman Olaf in the “Frozen” movies, said there’s been no discussion of a third “Frozen” film yet but he expects it will happen when the filmmakers come up with a new story to tell. His next Disney project is an eight-episode limited series prequel to the live-action “Beauty and the Beast” focused on Gaston (Luke Evans) and Gad’s LeFou. It films in spring 2022.

Gad said 2017’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” was an incredible experience but wasn’t necessarily wholly original since it was a faithful remake of the 1991 animated musical.

“(For a prequel series, there’s) an element of unpredictability with these characters, that are hopefully beloved, and that felt really exciting to me,” said Gad, who is creating the Disney+ prequel series with the showrunners of ABC’s “Once Upon a Time.” It will introduce a new female protagonist, LeFou’s stepsister Tilly (Brianna Middleton), who Gad predicts will become “a Disney heroine for the ages.”

‘The Good Fight’

When the covid-19 pandemic shut down TV production in March 2020, many TV shows had their seasons truncated, ending with episodes that weren’t intended to be the season finale.

“The Good Fight” was in that same boat but with multiple storylines intended to wrap with the end of the fourth season this “Good Wife” spin-off finds itself with complicated unpacking to do in its season five premiere, including send-offs for two departing characters, Adrian Boseman (Delroy Lindo) and Luca Quinn (Cush Jumbo).

Writers/showrunners Michelle and Robert King devised a clever if at times inelegant solution: The season five premiere, now streaming on Paramount+, is a string of newly filmed “previously on…” scenes that piece together what would have happened at the end of season four. The episode also catches viewers up on how the show’s characters reacted to real-world impacts (the pandemic, George Floyd’s murder, the election, the attempted insurrection) that will influence the season’s stories. It’s a novel, if initially confusing, effort to shorthand events and set the table for a new season, which begins in earnest in episode two.

The series introduces an inscrutable new junior associate, Carmen Moyo (Charmaine Bingwa, who would make an excellent Vulcan on any Paramount+ “Star Trek” series), and a self-styled “judge” (Mandy Patinkin), who opens a court in the back of a Chicago copy shop.

Patinkin is always fun to watch but through the first four episodes his arc as a disruptor to the judicial system is more entertaining than driving a dramatic storyline with stakes, something “The Good Fight” seems to be having some difficulty finding in a post-Trump environment. The show does weave Black Lives Matter and cancel culture issues into early plots but the only taut drama stems from Diane (Christine Baranski) betraying her husband, Kurt (Gary Cole), who the FBI suspects of involvement in the Jan. 6 attempted insurrection.

Kept/canceled/rebooted

HBO Max renewed ballroom competition “Legendary” for a third season.

“The Hardy Boys” will be back for a second season on Hulu in 2022.

Netflix canceled “Grand Army” and Jamie Fox comedy “Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!”

Lifetime will reboot “Highway to Heaven” as a movie series this fall starring “Seventh Heaven” alum Barry Watson as a junior high school principal who meets new angel Angela (Jill Scott).

Showtime renewed “Ziwe” for season two and “Couples Therapy” for season three.

Hulu renewed “Solar Opposites” for season four ahead of its season three premiere in 2022.

Channel surfing

Gary Cole joins the cast of CBS’s “NCIS” this fall as a new special agent, possibly setting the stage for original star Mark Harmon’s exit. … Streamer Peacock (along with apps for NBC, Bravo, NBC News, NBC Sports and Telemundo) are now available on Amazon Fire TV and Fire tablets. … Showtime’s filmed-in-Pittsburgh series “American Rust” debuts at 10 p.m. Sept. 12. … Beginning in July, premiere dates for episodes of Disney+ series shift from Friday to Wednesday; new movie releases will still be on Friday. … The Teaching Company has rebranded its Great Courses Plus as Wondrium.com, an ad-free, learning enrichment subscription video streaming service ($12.50 per month or $45 three times per year).