Apple TV animated show Central Park has come to an end after three series, Josh Gad has confirmed.
Josh Gad may be better known as the voice of Olaf in Disney’s blockbuster Frozen franchise (with two more films on the way, by the sounds of it), but in the last few years he created, co-wrote and starred in animated musical sitcom Central Park for Apple TV.
The show followed the Tillerman-Hunter family, as seen from the viewpoint of the narrator Birdie. When Bitsy Brandenham, an elderly heiress, plots to buy up all the land in Central Park and develop it, the Tillermans must deal with their issues and save the park.
The voice cast included Emmy Raver-Lampman, Tituss Burgess, Daveed Diggs, Josh Gad, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr, Stanley Tucci and Kristen Bell.
Josh Gad created the show with Nora Smith and Bob’s Burgers founder Loren Bouchard, with the two shows sharing the same animation and art style. But Central Park is – as you’ve probably gleamed from the title of this article – shutting its doors.
The news was confirmed by Josh Gad on social media. In response to an an enquiry from a fan, he declared of Central Park that “sadly, it’s done”. Presumably the cost of the show, requiring such a regular supply of musical numbers, didn’t help it in the end. That said, three seasons isn’t a bad run in the current scheme of things.
The show featured a plethora of original songs, many of which were written by pop stars like Cyndi Lauper, Meghan Trainor and Aimee Mann, with others penned by noted musical theatre writers like Alan Menken and Glenn Slater.
All three series of Central Park are available to watch on Apple TV. Savour them, though, because without a fairly dramatic fan campaign, we’re not going to be getting any more.
More as and when we hear it. But, in truth, we’re not expecting to hear anything, so this sentence was not our finest work.