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Lizzie and Wendy Molyneux
Frozen Treat Show creators Wendy and Lizzie Molyneux give the scoop on their charming new FOX comedy The Great North.
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he Loren Bouchard TV animation empire continues to expand this month with the arrival of The Great North, a FOX primetime show exec produced by Bouchard (Bob’s Burgers, Central Park) and cocreated, written and exec produced by Wendy and Lizzie Molyneux and Minty Lewis. The hugely likable series, which carries the familiar visual stamp of Bouchard's other favorites, centers on the eccentric and lovable Tobin family who have recently moved to a small town in Alaska. The clan is led by single dad Beef Tobin (voiced by the inimitable Nick Offerman), older son Wolf (Will Forte) and his girlfriend Honeybee (Dulcé Sloan), middle brother Ham (Paul Rust), youngest brother Moon (Aparna Nancherla) and only daughter Judy (Jenny Slate). The cast also includes Judy's new boss at the mall, Alyson (Megan Mullally) and her imaginary friend Alanis Morisette, who is voiced by the famous Canadian singer herself. We recently had a chance to chat with the in-demand Emmy-winning Molyneux sisters about their fun new toon. Wendy and Lizzie Molyneux, who have www.animationmagazine.net
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been writers on Bob’s Burgers since its debut in 2011, began talking about doing a new show with Bouchard about three years ago. “It all grew out of talking with Loren about ideas for a new series, and we kind of started thinking about actors that we would love to build a show around,” recalls Wendy. “We knew Nick [Offerman] for over a decade. We had worked with him and Megan [Mullally], and I was a writer on The Megan Mullally Show. They’re kind of personal muses of mine. And Jenny Slate was someone that Lizzie and I had always admired from afar. The next question was, how do we make another show that feels and looks different from Bob’s Burgers, but has the same kind of heart, warmth and funniness — which is a very high bar. We wanted to feel like we were going somewhere completely
different, so slowly, this idea of a single dad and his family living in Alaska came together.” Lizzie says although she and her sister are still working on Bob’s Burgers and helping in the writers’ room, their dream was to build a little branch out of the Bob tree. “Before the stay-at-home months, we all worked in the same building, and many of the same team at Bento Box work on the two shows. We have the same directors and artists, and it has been a real dream come true for us.”
Sharing Life at Home Counting the sisters themselves, The Great North has an overall writing staff of 14. Altogether, about 90 people work on the show at Bento Box. “We found a wonderful group for the show,” says Wendy. “We’ve been working
‘The question was how do we make another show that feels and looks different from Bob’s Burgers, but has the same kind of heart, warmth and funniness — which is a very high bar.’ — Exec producer, writer & co-creator Wendy Molyneux
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march 21
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