Told through the eyes of a busker named Birdie, the musical series tells the story of the Tillerman–Hunter family who live in Edendale Castle in Central Park. Patriarch Owen, who is the dorky manager of the park, his wife Paige, who is a journalist constantly stuck with writing fluff pieces and hopes to write a real story, their daughter Molly, who loves drawing comics about herself and a boy she has a crush on, and their son Cole, an emotional young boy who loves animals. Their lives change when an elderly heiress and entrepreneur named Bitsy Brandenham, and her constantly abused assistant Helen, plot to buy up all the land in Central Park and turn it into more condominiums, shopping stores and restaurants as a way of getting back at the world. The Tillermans must also deal with their own issues and save the park.
Cast
Main
Kristen Bell and Emmy Raver-Lampman as Molly Tillerman, Owen and Paige's daughter; Cole's sister; she likes drawing her own comic books about herself as a hair powered superhero named Fista-Puffs who fights crime alongside a hero named Kite-Boy.
Tituss Burgess as
*Cole Tillerman, Owen and Paige's son; Molly's brother; an emotional boy who wants Bitsy's dog, Shampagne, as he shows more affection and care for him than his own owner does.
*Kelleth Vanbeaceler, the author of The Squirrel Quarrels.
Daveed Diggs as Helen, Bitsy's assistant; she is constantly abused by her employer and hopes to one day inherit the Brandenham fortune for herself.
Josh Gad as Birdie, a busker at the park and the show's narrator who gleefully talks about the events while also offering friendly, albeit occasionally annoying, support for Owen.
Kathryn Hahn as Paige Hunter, Molly and Cole's mother; Owen's wife; a reporter for a not very notable New York newspaper who wants to report on real stories and not fluff pieces so that she can prove her worth.
Leslie Odom Jr. as Owen Tillerman, Molly and Cole's father; Paige's husband; the park manager who wishes that he had more respect from his family and that the park, which he worships, was treated as carefully as he does.
Stanley Tucci as Bitsy Brandenham, a business entrepreneur who wants to replace Central Park with a bunch of condos and retail space for personal reasons. She is the owner of Shampagne, a Shi-Poo that she unknowingly abuses and Cole is unhealthily obsessed with.
Recurring
H. Jon Benjamin as Mayor Whitney Whitebottom, the mayor of New York City who is in league with Bitsy.
Eugene Cordero as Brendan Brandenham, a boy that Molly secretly has a crush on and who often flies his kite in the park. Molly fantasizes him as her superhero partner Kite-Boy. He is the grand-nephew of Bitsy Brandenham and opposes her plan to buy Central Park upon learning about it.
David Herman as Dmitiry, a Russian oligarch that Bitsy hopes to get in league with.
Brian Huskey as Doug, Paige's co-worker.
Janelle James as Fran, another park ranger.
Phil LaMarr as Randy, another park ranger.
Rory O'Malley as Elwood, a park ranger and Owen's partner who always seems in over his head. He has a pet worm named Diane.
Tony Shalhoub as Marvin, Paige's boss.
Fred Stoller as Leo Shallenhammer, a member of the Central Park League.
Guest
Fred Armisen as
*Esposito, a sanitation engineer manager.
*Zoom Abromavich, a movie tour guide whose tours often involve obscure films or deleted scenes of films.
Ed Asner as Ambrose Brandenham, Bitsy's older brother.
Stephanie Beatriz as Enrique, Cole's friend who shares his interest in the fantasy novel series The Squirrel Quarrels.
Danny Burstein as Dick Flake, a fishing enthusiast.
Ester Dean as Hazel, Molly's friend and lab partner.
John Early as Augustus, Shampagne's dog therapist.
Ron Funches as Danny, a boy who challenged Molly to chess.
Christopher Jackson as Glorious Gary, a local skater in Central Park.
Jessica Lowe as Anya, the wife of Zack and daughter of Dmitiry.
Audra McDonald as Ashley, a likability consultant.
Andrew Rannells as Griffin, another busker and the replacement narrator for the episode "Rival Busker" after Birdie previously gave away a spoiler to Paige.
Robin Thede as Anita, an auditor that Bitsy hires to further sabotage the park.
Kelvin Yu as Sheng, another park ranger.
Episodes
Production
Development
Central Park was developed by 20th Century Fox Television and was originally eyed for the Fox Broadcasting Company, which had been looking to develop more animated series. The Walt Disney Company subsequently announced its intention to acquire 21st Century Fox, the parent of 20th Century Fox Television, excluding the Fox broadcasting network. After the Fox network decided to pass on Central Park, 20th Century Fox Television, which was about to change ownership, began shopping the project, sparking a heated bidding war among Apple, Netflix, and Hulu. On March 12, 2018, Apple announced it had given the production a two-season straight-to-series order consisting of twenty-six episodes in total. The series was created by Loren Bouchard, Nora Smith, and Josh Gad. Executive producers for the series include Bouchard and Gad with Kevin Larsen serving as producer. Production companies involved with the production include Bento Box Entertainment and Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and 20th Century Fox Television distributes and owns the show. On July 27, 2018, it was announced that Regina Hicks was joining the series as an executive producer and co-showrunner alongside Bouchard and Gad, but credits show her only being listed as a consultant. Former King of the Hill writer Sanjay Shah and former The Office writer Halsted Sullivan serve as the series' showrunners.
Casting
Alongside the initial series announcement, it was reported that Gad, Leslie Odom Jr., Tituss Burgess, Kristen Bell, Stanley Tucci, Daveed Diggs, and Kathryn Hahn had been cast as series regulars. On July 24, 2020, Emmy Raver-Lampman was cast as Molly Tillerman, the mixed-race protagonist originally portrayed by Bell.
Music
Each episode includes about four original musical numbers sung by the cast. In total, the first season alone includes 46 original songs. Gad joked he had to "beg, plead and barter to get four songs an episode." The songs in the first two episodes were written by several songwriters, including Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson, Bouchard, Smith, Davis, Sara Bareilles, and Brent Knopf. Songs in future episodes were written by such artists as Fiona Apple, Meghan Trainor, Cyndi Lauper, Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, Darren Criss, Utkarsh Ambudkar and Aimee Mann. The songs from the first two episodes were made available by Hollywood Records on streaming services the day the show premiered.
Track listing
Reception
Central Park has received critical acclaim from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 92% based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 7.44/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "With warmth, wit, and a pitch perfect ensemble, Central Park is a joyously hilarious musical love letter to the Big Apple." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Accolades
Controversy
In June 2020, it was announced Bell, who is Caucasian, would no longer voice the role of Molly, who is biracial, with the role being re-cast with a person of color, with Bell instead voicing a new role. Previously, Bouchard defended this casting at a January 2020 TCA panel, stating that Bell "needed to be Molly, she was always going to honor that character. We couldn’t make Molly white or Kristen mixed race, so we had to go forward." Bouchard has since apologized for that statement. In July 2020, Emmy Raver-Lampman was recast to voice the role of Molly.
