“What is this, a college episode?” That is a line not uttered during “BoJack Horseman” Season 4, but it’s quite appropo to the below exclusive clip from the upcoming season, which premieres Friday, September 8 on Netflix.

In the clip below, Mr. Peanutbutter (series regular Paul F. Tompkins) has been signed up for the sort of collegiate experience we remember from classic 1980s films about college life, while also invoking the sort of mentor-mentee relationship we remember from other classic 1980s films (this time, the ones about training for victory in some sort of competition).

Why does Mr. Peanutbutter need to learn to ski? It’s an important question that gets answered in Season 4, along with a lot of other unresolved issues left hanging at the end of Season 3, such as Princess Carolyn’s (Amy Sedaris) decision to become a manager instead of an agent, Diane’s (Alison Brie) new blogging job, and, oh yeah, what happened to the titular Mr. Horseman (Will Arnett) after he left L.A.?

“BoJack Horseman” is Emmy-nominated this year for Best Character Voice-Acting, thanks to Kristen Schaal’s heartbreaking work in last season’s “That’s Too Much, Man!” Fingers crossed, one of the best shows currently being made gets more awards attention next year. Check out the clip below, as we all get ready to continue the journey with these characters on Friday.

For more clips of “BoJack Horseman” S4, please visit Netflix.com/BoJack. “BoJack Horseman” Season 4 premieres Sept. 8 on Netflix. 

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Tuesday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best show currently on TV?” can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: What is your most anticipated returning show of the fall season? Why?

Liz Shannon Miller (@lizlet), IndieWire

There’s a lot I’m very excited about returning: “BoJack Horseman” Season 4, as just one example, is truly extraordinary. But I’m fascinated by the thought of what “Mr. Robot” Season 3 is going to be like, given the crazy political environment it was created during. The latest trailer teased a lot of exciting developments about the new world order descending upon the hacker drama; plus, it’s a show that always has at least one big secret up its sleeve. Of everything coming out this fall, it seems like the most unknown quantity, which means, good or bad, I can’t wait to see what happens.

Caroline Framke (@carolineframke), Vox

The quality of new fall shows is generally so bleak that I’m pretty much only anticipating returning shows with anything approaching enthusiasm. But if I have to pick one, the show I’m most excited about getting back is “The Good Place.” Even in a TV season packed with creative shows like “Atlanta” and “Fleabag,” “The Good Place” was such a bizarre and beautiful surprise that it quickly became my favorite. The expertly deployed twists and final reveal make the show particularly rewarding upon a re-watch (I’ve probably seen the first season four times through now), but now I’m dying to know how Season 2 is going to deal with them all moving forward. The more TV I watch, the more genuinely thrilling it is to find a show like “The Good Place” that makes me admit I have no earthly clue where it might go, but that I trust it, anyway.

Also: Ted Danson gets to play a fully evil character now, which is gonna be great.

Kristen Bell, William Jackson Harper, Ted Danson, “The Good Place”

Colleen Hayes/NBC

Erik Adams (@ErikMAdams), A.V. Club

The initial chapters of “The Good Place” charmed the shirt out of me last fall, the middle passages produced some benchin’ high-concept comedy, and then the season finale pulled off one complicated mind-fork of a twist. By turning the world of “The Good Place” upside down, that finale opened up all manner of possibilities within a show that had already, in the span of 13 episodes, expanded exponentially on its “admitted to the wrong afterlife” premise. It also performed a maneuver I typically roll my eyes at—a comedy with a strong ensemble ending a season by scattering the members of that ensemble to the winds – but since the goal of Season 2 seems to be reuniting Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and sweet, dumb, “pre-successful” Jason, it’ll feel less arbitrary and have more narrative verve than when, say, “Girls” moved Hannah Horvath to Iowa for a few weeks. And on top of all that, I just want the show’s joke-telling style back in my life: The creatively covered-up cursing, the setups that elegantly fold into their own punchlines, Ted Danson’s immortal overseer delighting in human behavior and ingenuity.

Eric Deggans (@deggans), NPR

I’ve often thought of NBC’s “This Is Us” as a litmus test for cynicism. Folks with a little more, shall we say, jaundiced view of entertainment and showbiz seem angered by the show’s earnest, obvious emotionalism in ways that viewers looking for a good cry might not share. So mark me among the rubes who can’t wait to have his heartstrings pulled once again by the complicated, multiracial and multigenerational stories at the heart of the most successful network TV drama of last year. The obvious obsession among some fans is knowing exactly how patriarch Jack Pearson dies. But that story, for me, is a side dish – wonderful if it’s delicious, but if it’s just okay, that’s fine, too. Instead, I want to see how Randall deals with the mom who betrayed him (I’m also secretly hoping the Gods of Makeup somehow transform Mandy Moore’s old age prosthetics into something more realistic-looking); whether Kate will finally put jokester boyfriend Toby out of our misery and how they will work in flashbacks featuring Ron Cephas Jones as Randall’s now dead biological father. Most of all, I want creator Dan Fogelman to work out such a cool cameo for Sylvester Stallone that all the snarky writers who tossed off snide pieces about shark jumping when Sly’s appearance in the second season was announced will have to eat substantial helpings of crow. Hey, an earnest TV critic can dream.

Larry David, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”

HBO

Alan Sepinwall (@sepinwall), Uproxx

The answer to this depends, I suppose, on what’s meant by “most anticipated.” There are a lot of returning shows where I’ve already seen many screeners: the new “BoJack Horseman” season is wonderful, “Top of the Lake” makes a triumphant return, “Better Things” has made a leap in its second season, etc. So if I have anticipation for those shows, it’s more about other people getting to see them, and then all of us talking about them, since I’ve seen most (or in some cases, all) of each new season. Then there are other shows that I know will make me happy when they return, like “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Speechless,’ but that last aired episodes in May, and thus don’t feel like they’ve been gone long enough to qualify.

So let’s go with one where I not only haven’t seen any new episodes yet, but haven’t seen any episodes, period, in six years, and didn’t expect to ever see any again: “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” This is one of TV’s greatest comedies, and at its best makes me laugh harder than Larry David’s other show. It’s not always perfect, as evidenced by that hit-or-miss 2011 season that for a long time seemed like it would be the last one ever, but its highs are so high that the lows feel at worst like minor inconveniences — the sort of thing Larry and Jeff would complain about on the golf course — to get to the genius. I have high hopes for the new batch, if only because David didn’t need to do this — there had to be some idea, or series of ideas, strong enough for him to even bother doing this much work again — but even if most of them are faint echoes of what Curb used to be, if there are one or two episodes as brilliant as “Palestinian Chicken” or “Mister Softee,” it’ll still be one of my favorite TV experiences of 2017.

Allison Keene (@KeeneTV), Collider

There are several returning shows that I’m curious about this fall, in terms of whether or not they’ll get back to their former glory (“Mr. Robot,” “The Flash”), if they’ll use a reset to propel the show into new territory (“Arrow,” “Outlander”), or if they’ll still feel as wonderfully homey in their new seasons (“Poldark,” “The Durrells in Corfu”) as they have in years past.

But the series I’m the most excited for is “Top of the Lake: China Girl.” The first season was such a haunting take on what could have easily been just a small-town crime story. But through Elisabeth Moss’s exceptional work as a deeply conflicted detective and director Jane Campion’s atmospheric examination of rural New Zealand culture (and one unforgettable women’s camp!), the show became one of the most engrossing, heartbreaking, and sometimes oddly humorous I’ve ever encountered. When I heard that there would be a second installment, I couldn’t wait to see where Campion and Moss would take us next. Though I haven’t binged through the screener episodes yet (having handed off the review to a colleague), I think I might actually wait and savor it week by week — a rare treat.

Elisabeth Moss and Alice Englert, “Top of the Lake: China Girl”

Lisa Tomasetti/SundanceTV/See-Sa

Joyce Eng (@joyceeng61), TVGuide.com

I’ve already sung its praises here, but “Great News’” renewal was the only one I legit screamed out loud about in May. It was only improving toward the end of its first season and I’m just stoked that it has a chance to fine-tune its nutty, silly voice. Plus, you can’t go wrong with Tina Fey and Reid Scott coming on. But let’s not overlook the real win: more Nicole Richie. We are not worthy.

Damian Holbrook (@damianholbrook), TV Guide Magazine

Of course I am excited for all of my superhero shows to get back to saving the day. “Gotham” is going full-on “Batman Begins,” and if “Legends of Tomorrow” can keep up the fun it had last season, it’s third round could be a total scream. The ensemble works perfectly now. “The Flash” has a lot of promise with the decision to put Candice Patton’s Iris in a bigger team role. Both women are ready for it, as are the fans. “Supergirl” never fails to make me happy and “Arrow” is finally free of the Lian Yu flashbacks, so fingers crossed we can put them behind us and move on—plus, Katie Cassidy back as Black Siren? Sign. Me. Up.

But the non-cape show I am most intrigued by-slash-excited about is “Star.” The non-“Empire” spin-off will be crossing over at the start of Season 2, and that means Queen Latifah’s Miss Carlotta versus Taraji P. Henson’s Cookie Lyons and if you’re not down for that, you should take a seat and shut it. “Star” was an odd bird last year. Part social commentary, part fantasy fulfillment and soapy enough to earn a cliffhanger-packed finale, the gritty musical fable left us wondering so much: Would pregnant Alex (Ryan Destiny) really keep the baby if her man was paralyzed? How could Cotton (the amazing Amiyah Scott) avoid all sorts of jail time for stealing all that money to pay for her gender-reassignment surgery? And would anyone miss awful Eva or Hunter after being shot to death during the, um, act by the hitman after Jahil (Benjamin Bratt)? TBH, the only redeeming quality Hunter had going for him was his abs and Eva, please, that monster should have been killed with fire five minutes after arriving in Atlanta. So yeah, clearly, I am deeply invested in this one. Do not judge.

Pamela Adlon, “Better Things”

Beth Dubber/FX

April Neale (@aprilmac), Monsters & Critics

The popcorn TV lover in me says Netflix “Stranger Things” for the sheer chills, thrills, and spectacle of it. My absurdist heart says “Curb Your Enthusiasm” on HBO, as Larry David returns after a long hiatus.

But the grown up, female me is really waiting on FX’s “Better Things,” simply because of the loose ends they left Sam Fox with from Season 1. I’ve cheated and seen the first two episodes. So good! I’ve mentioned before that Pamela Adlon’s character is highly relatable and it’s just one of those shows that hit the right chord. This dramedy is rooted in heavy situations that Sam usually maneuvers her way through. It’s adult, and quite heartfelt at the same time. I love the cast chemistry, the writing and how Adlon mucks through it all.

Tim Surette (@timsurette), TV.com

It’s a pretty lean fall season, isn’t it? But who cares as long as “Nathan For You” is back? Comedy Central’s absurd experiment into human nature, terrible business and the creeping loneliness of Nathan Fielder is unlike anything else on television. You’d think the schtick – dweebus tries to help small businesses with bad out-of-the-box thinking – would get stale, but Fielder somehow manages to slightly transform his show to give it new meaning each season. I expect nothing to change in Season 4.

“BoJack Horseman”

Netflix

Daniel Fienberg (@TheFienPrint), The Hollywood Reporter

“Fall season” kinda implies broadcast networks and I think the returning broadcast show I’m most anticipating is “The Good Place,” which had a really good first season, but hasn’t been on for half-a-year at this point and that was following a really twisty finale. If “fall season” can refer to anything, though, I’ve got to say that the only returning fall show that was in my Top 10 last year and the year before was Netflix’s hilarious ode to ’90s sitcom stardom and equine depression “Bojack Horseman,” which is following up on a third season that included a couple of the finest individual TV episodes of the past decade and since I’ve seen the entirety of the fourth season already, I know it’s worth looking forward to and will almost certainly be my “best TV show currently on the air” pick for next week. [Special honorable mention to “Better Things,” which had a damn good first season and, based on the few episodes I’ve seen for S2, is on the verge of making that next step to greatness.]

Ben Travers (@BenTTravers), IndieWire

After a stellar first season — that could have worked beautifully as a close-ended limited series — “Search Party” is returning for a sequel season in November, ripe with possibility for what’s next. Sarah Violet-Bliss and Charles Rogers crafted a twisty, hilarious, and ultimately shocking first season, bending genres as viewers watched Dory (Alia Shawkat) search for the missing Chantal along with her posse of less-enthused (but very funny) friends.

It was a helluva journey, but one wonders what the game-changing finale will do to Season 2: Will it be darker? More dramatic? Open to more bold risks or keen to draw the story back down to Earth? It could really be anything — the IndieWire staff marveled at the idea of starting over, with the actors playing new characters in a similar, but fresh mystery — and that’s exciting with this much talent involved. Bring on November 19.

Q: What is the best show currently on TV?*

A: TIE: “The Bold Type,” “Halt and Catch Fire,” and “Twin Peaks” (two votes each)

Other contenders: “American Horror Story: Cult,” “Insecure,” “The Lowe Files,” “People of Earth,” “Survivor’s Remorse” (one vote each)

*In the case of streaming services that release full seasons at once, only include shows that have premiered in the last month.

[Editor’s Note: The following review of “BoJack Horseman” contains spoilers for Season 4. For a spoiler-free review, click here.]

“Where’s BoJack?” The question at the center of Netflix’s Season 4 marketing efforts is treated differently in the series itself. Yes, at the onset of the new episodes, BoJack is missing. No one knows where he is; not his former roommate, Todd (Aaron Paul), not his former crush, Diane (Alison Brie), not even his best friend, Channing Tatum (no footage found): The would-be Oscar nominee and former TV star isn’t even in the first episode, sans for a botched voicemail recording heard by Diane.

But Season 4 tackles its central query from an aptly existential angle: Where is BoJack? Throughout Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s excellent animated series, BoJack has always been drifting. Facing and fearing a confusing world, he’s trapped in a circle of meaningless self-destruction. He drinks and parties as means to relieve pain, even when those same habits cause more harm.

His life is a mystery he desperately needs to solve, and Season 4 reframes the events of past seasons as honest, but failed efforts to crack the case. In Season 1, he looks for love in all the wrong places. Season 2 finds him trying to ignore his problems under a false veil of positivity, while last season sees him discover the shallow rewards of unearned recognition. He’s tried to fill the gap in his soul with work, shortcuts, and other people, but Season 4 sees him taking the time to examine just that: time, and its ravaging effects on the mind.

Time, Time, Time

Days fly by at the speed of life in Season 4. The opening episode picks up three months after BoJack disappeared and runs through events over the course of a month. Updating the audience on past events — Mr. Peanutbutter is running for governor, and Diane is writing for a blog called Girl Croosh — and progressing the current story, Episode 1 speeds through 30 days in less than 30 minutes.

Episode 2 goes even faster. Whole seasons pass as BoJack renovates his grandfather’s house. From all that time, he learns not to build a mosaleum to the past and decides to move back to Los Angeles in order to move forward with his life. But Season 4 continues to toy with time’s elasticity, from the 10 days spent trapped in Mr. Peanutbutter’s collapsed house during Episode 7 to the false future presented in Princess Carolyn’s tragic solo tale in Episode 9.

Ultimately, BoJack gets a pass. Time cuts him some slack and instead of forcing early fatherhood upon him — or robbing him of decades as a father — the woman he thought was his long-lost daughter turns out to be the sister he needs right now. BoJack’s father was Hollyhock’s father, not BoJack, as she proves to be the baby Henrietta gave up for adoption on Beatrice’s insistence. In the final scene of Season 4, Hollyhock calls BoJack and says, “I never needed a dad, but I’ve never had a brother?”

Framed as a question and answered in BoJack’s excited smile, the line drives home his progress. While BoJack admitted earlier in the season how terrified he was of being responsible for another human life, a sister — a family member he’s not responsible for, but can still be friends with — is exactly what he needs. Hollyhock is like a baby step toward a better life; toward maturity, accountability, pride, and happiness. She’s not a lover he can drive away or a daughter he can screw up. She’s just…present, in his life, for good.

The Best Episode of Season 4

The relationship runs in direct contrast to what we saw in the penultimate episode — the season’s strongest entry, and one of the best “BoJack” episodes to date. Episode 11 dives head first into BoJack’s mother and her fractured relationship with time. Dementia-afflicted and nearing her death, Beatrice had responsibility thrust upon her before she was ready, and she — as well as BoJack — paid the price.

Beatrice was a child raised to dislike her father and, later, men in general. Her dad burned all of her things when she got sick, including a doll she thought of as her baby. He also subjected Beatrice’s mother to electroshock treatments because, to paraphrase a direct quote from the series, as a man, he wasn’t conditioned to deal with women’s emotions.

Whether the distrust and dislike was as bluntly evoked as the series’ dialogue (a.k.a. Beatrice’s memory) made it out to be, or just horrifyingly scarring in its intentions, the next two major men in her life did equal damage. BoJack’s father knocked her up, proposed because of the pregnancy, and then spent the rest of his life mooching off of her family money and cheating on her. Then came BoJack, an innocent child who nonetheless served as a living reminder of Beatrice’s sacrifice. He wasn’t worth it — not to her, not at that price.

Beatrice was a woman who had a fling — just like BoJack’s many, many one-night stands — and it cost her more than it ever cost her son. She became bitter and angry, living and unloved life. Could she have handled it better? Perhaps, but Season 4 emphasizes the damaging role institutionalized sexism plays on framing Beatrice’s hopeless perspective.

[Editor’s note: The below contains major casting and minor plot spoilers for all of “BoJack Horseman” Season 4.]

The general rule with the “Hollywoo” satire “BoJack Horseman” is that you can assume any famous person mentioned by name is probably playing themselves. But beyond that, the show has a knack for lining up a fearsomely talented guest voice cast beyond its already stunning ensemble to play some of its most compelling roles, and Season 4 brought in an impressive array of new and semi-returning faces.

We’ve assembled the below guide to this year’s new characters, for that moment when you say to yourself “Wait, was that…?”

A few returning faces worth spotlighting

Katrina Peanutbutter, played by Lake Bell

Lake Bell is always a treat as Katrina, and Season 4 gave her plenty to do.

Stefani Stilton, played by Kimiko Glenn

We barely met Stefani during Season 3, but Season 4 let her and her website Girl Croosh prove eerily accurate about the state of blogging today.

Jessica Biel, played by Jessica Biel

“The fire wants not for justice! The fire only desires to be fed!”

Also playing themselves

Felicity Huffman, played by Felicity Huffman

From “American Crime” to “Booty Academy”? There have been worse Hollywoo career moves.

Zach Braff, played by Zach Braff

“I tried gay at theater camp!” Poor Zach Braff. Wish I Weren’t Here ’17, indeed.

Tim Gunn, played by Tim Gunn

Sitting next to Tim Gunn in this screenshot is also Sharc Jacobs, played by Marc Jacobs, whose fashion show Todd has just blundered into. But Tim Gunn is the more recognizable face.

iOvulate, voiced by Harvey Firestein

Every woman has times of the month when their lady parts sound like the “Hairspray” star.

Paul Giamatti, played by Paul Giamatti

There is no doubt that Giamatti wins the Emmy for “American Dead Girl: The Sarah Lynn Story” next year.

Sir Mix-A-Lot, played by Sir Mix-A-Lot

The perfect judge, because he cannot lie.

David Chase, played by David Chase

Apparently, before creating “The Sopranos,” David Chase paid his sitcom dues by creating “Mr. Peanutbutter’s House.”

Vincent D’Onofrio, played by Vincent D’Onofrio

D’Onofrio got recast because he truly was too rad to be a dad.

Newcomers

Hollyhock Manheim-Mannheim-Guerrero-Robinson-Zilberschlag-Hsung-Fonzerelli-McQuack, played by Aparna Nancherla

Hollyhock was the emotional core of Season 4, and Aparna Nancherla — seen recently in “Crashing,” “Master of None,” and “Love” — brought her to life beautifully.

Woodchuck Woodchuck-Berkowitz, played by Andre Braugher

After four seasons of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” we know that Andre Braugher is hilarious. Seeing him in animated form just double-confirms it.

Crackerjack Sugarman, played by Lin-Manuel Miranda

The “Hamilton” star got to both sing and break our hearts as Beatrice’s tragic older brother.

Honey Sugarman, played by Jane Krakowski

The “30 Rock” star’s voice was almost instantly recognizable, especially after she said “iced cream.”

Joseph Sugarman, played by Matthew Broderick

Matthew Broderick’s even tone truly sold the period-appropriate but truly horrific things he said to his daughter and wife.

Eddie, played by Colman Domingo

Seen recently in “The Birth of a Nation,” “The Knick,” and “Selma,” Colman Domingo had some great moments as a dragonfly who won’t fly.

Lion Musician, played by Keith David

It’s almost shocking that Keith David hasn’t been heard on “BoJack” before — the man is a voice acting legend.

Courtney Portnoy, played by Sharon Horgan

The brilliant writer was alarmingly believable as a vapid starlet.

Marcie, played by Kathy Najimy

The former president of BoJack’s fan club has had an amazing career, going all the way back to the 1991 film “Soapdish.”

Tilda Madison, played by Archie Panjabi

The Emmy winner played a very aloof cat — which, based on her performance on “The Good Wife,” almost feels like typecasting.

Lead Ant Soldier / Parrot / Phoebe, played by Ginger Gonzaga

A lot of actors on “BoJack” play multiple roles, but Gonzaga managed three different supporting parts in one episode. She might be most familiar from recent work on “Togetherness” and “I’m Dying Up Here.”

Ant Queen, played by RuPaul Charles

Fierce.

Miles, played by Hannibal Buress

Whether or not he was a truly decent guy, Miles did seem to really like Hollyhock initially. And who better than the super-chill Buress to sell that?

Poppy and Mimi Stilton, played by Martin Short and Patti Lupone

The parents of Ralph Stilton (Raul Esparza) might not have been cool with their son dating a cat, but they were voiced by the perfect representation of the upper class.

Ruthie, played by Kristen Bell

The year 2121 (at least as seen through Princess Carolyn’s imagination) has its oddities, but Ruthie herself seems sweet, at least as voiced by “The Good Place” star.

Yolanda Buenaventura, played by Natalie Morales

The “Middleman” and “Grinder” star played the Better Business Bureau employee and new friend of Todd’s. (She’s the coolest.)

Flip McVicker, played by Rami Malek

The “Mr. Robot” star played a writer who doesn’t trust email. There’s a crossover idea there, for sure.

“BoJack Horseman” Season 4 is streaming now on Netflix. 

Your favorite depressed talking horse is set to return. Netflix just announced that “BoJack Horseman” has been picked up for a fifth season, meaning we’ve yet to see the last of the ’90s sitcom star whose present day veers between the profound and the profane — often within the span of a single episode. The streaming service announced the news with a quick video, which you may avail yourself of below.

Presented as a series of text messages from “clingy netflix exec,” it reads thusly: “Hey BoJack, it’s Netflix. We would have called but we remember how angry you got last time because we interrupted your nap…anyway, big news! You’re back for a Season 5! So keep up the good work and see you on set soon!”

Will Arnett stars as the talking horse of the title, with a supporting voice cast that includes Aaron Paul, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, and Paul F. Tompkins. All four seasons have consisted of 12 episodes, so one might reasonably conclude that the fifth is likely to as well.

We’ve all been there. You’re feeling a little under the weather (after catching a cold or catching too many shots at the bar, you know, whichever reason it may be), and you hear your mother’s voice in your head: “Stay in bed,” she says. “Get your rest. I’ll just turn on the TV for you, so you can relax.”

Lying in bed is generally awesome, but when you’re not feeling great, it can be more of a bitter experience than a sweet one. You’re sweltering under the covers until you kick them off and freeze to death. You can’t get comfortable because of the itchy sheets or baggy pajamas. You need to rest, but you need a distraction. The solution? A good TV show to accompany you and your grogginess!

Life (and all its knacks) can sometimes prevent us from keeping up with our favorite shows, or even prevent us from getting into the ever-growing library of new shows coming out. Therefore, plowing through that show you stopped watching for a while, or getting into that new show you’ve been meaning to watch for months, can be a terrific idea to ease your way out of being sick. But would certain types of shows actually make you feel better? Will others make you feel even worse?

IndieWire’s TV Editor Liz Shannon Miller and TV Critic Ben Travers share their thoughts on the matter in this week’s Very Good TV Podcast. From newbies like HBO’s “The Deuce” to classics like NBC’s “Friends”, Liz and Ben ponder which shows can make you feel a little “over” the weather when you’re chained to your bed with a box of tissues next to you (or maybe a bucket). Why does David Simon feel like an invigorating shot of adrenaline and comedies are too much to take? Listen to the whole podcast in the link above to find out the shows that you should watch (or avoid) while convalescing.

Don’t forget to subscribe via Soundcloud or iTunes, and follow IndieWire on Twitter and Facebook for all your pertinent TV news. Check out Liz and Ben’s Twitter feeds for more, more, more. Plus, don’t forget to listen to IndieWire’s other podcasts: Screen Talk with Eric Kohn and Anne Thompson, as well as Michael Schneider’s new podcast, Turn It On, which spotlights the most important TV of each week.

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Tuesday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best show currently on TV?” can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: Who is your favorite voice actor for animated characters on TV? Why?

Dave Trumbore (@DrClawMD), Collider

My knee-jerk reaction was either Kevin Conroy or Mark Hamill for their roles as Batman/Bruce Wayne and The Joker, respectively, because “Batman: The Animated Series” is always on my mind. But thinking a moment more, my favorite voice actor (and arguably the best in the biz) is Frank Welker.

His name might not be a household one, but with over 800 credits and nearly 50 years in the industry, Welker’s voice definitely is. If you’ve ever heard Fred Jones or Scooby-Doo, Hefty Smurf, Abu in Disney’s “Aladdin,” various lion roars in Disney’s “The Lion King,” or any number of superheroes/supervillains, cartoon animals, Transformers, G.I. Joes, you name it, you’ve heard Frank Welker. He’s an absolute staple of animation nostalgia and contemporary cartoons. Welker’s still active today and hopefully will remain so for years to come.

“Archer”

FXX

Damian Holbrook (@damianholbrook), TV Guide Magazine

Everyone is saying H. Jon Benjamin, right? They better be. Because even though he sounds pretty much the same on “Bob’s Burgers,” “Archer” and even as the can of fruit on “Wet Hot American Summer,” Benjamin’s droll, slightly nasally intonations are exactly what make those characters sing and I cannot imagine anyone else bringing them to audible life. The fact that he is able to give petulant, sexually dynamic superspy Sterling Archer a distinctly separate identity from the broken man that is Bob Belcher with only a slight alteration to his normal speaking voice is really some kind of voodoo.

I also worshipped former “SNL” writer Paula Pell as Gadget Gal, the randy, old-school superhero who was zapped back into her 25-year-old body on Hulu’s now-canceled “The Awesomes.” She sounded like a ’40s movie star crossed with Jane Lynch at her Sue Sylvester best, which made her inappropriate tales of carnal activity rants of staccato beauty.

Joyce Eng (@joyceeng61), TVGuide.com

Can I say Tom Petty? Too soon? I don’t watch a lot of animated shows, so I’m really not well versed in this area. If I were a kid, I would say the whole cast of Rugrats. Right now, I’ll give it to Jessica Biel for her exemplary work on “BoJack Horseman.” Yeah, part of why it works so well is the deliciously barbed material itself and the infrequency in which she appears (can’t have too much of a good thing), but her delivery, self-awareness and total “I’m game”-ness are downright un-Biel-ievable.

“Scooby-Doo”

Hanna-Barbera

Daniel Fienberg (@TheFienPrint), The Hollywood Reporter

I’m not sure if the “is” in the question has to mean “active and living.” If that’s the case, appropriate nod to all my favorite “Simpsons” vocal stars, especially Hank Azaria, even if Apu is just one of several problematic characters on his CV. Oh and kudos to Will Arnett, who doesn’t exactly do a wide range of voices, but does BoJack Horseman magnificently. Ditto there with Kristen Schaal, who does her own voice with dazzling and surprising versatility. But I have to be an old man here and say that there’s no point in looking beyond the classics like Daws Butler (Yogi! Huckleberry! Snagglepuss!) and June Foray (Rocky!) and Bill Scott (Bullwinkle!) and Paul Frees and, of course, Mel Blanc who maybe doesn’t necessarily count if you view a lot of his work as being in theatrical shorts (whcih one needn’t). The question didn’t ask for “best,” though. Rather it asked for “favorite.” So I guess I’ll land on Don Messick, the original Scooby-Doo as my answer for now.

Diane from “BoJack Horseman,” Reverse Giraffe from “Rick and Morty”

Netflix, Adult Swim

Liz Shannon Miller (@lizlet), IndieWire

It’s hard not to admire the hell out of Justin Roiland, who did amazing work during “Rick and Morty” Season 3, especially in “The Ricklantis Mixup,” which was basically a one-man show for the man behind the voices of both Rick and Morty. Alison Brie has also really proven her talents as a performer on “BoJack Horseman,” where she not only plays the lead role of Diane but a variety of additional supporting characters, including Vincent Adultman, Cow Waitress, and BoJack’s former castmate Joelle.

But really, when it comes to voice acting, the Greatest of All Time (modern-day, non-Mel Blanc/June Foley edition) has got to be Keith David, whose distinctive baritone has appeared in hundreds of animated series for the past few decades, both as a narrator and as a character actor. (We’ll always fondly remember his starring work on the Disney syndicated series “Gargoyles” in the 1990s.) In just the last year, David could be heard playing key roles in “Adventure Time,” “BoJack Horseman,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Rick and Morty,” and more beyond that. His impact on modern animation cannot be understated.

“Family Guy”

FOX

April Neale (@aprilmac), Monsters & Critics

I have to give Seth MacFarlane a nod and major props for baby Stewie from “Family Guy,” quite possibly my favorite animated TV character. His “Stewie” lines and delivery are perfection and make the entire series work. Overall, TV animation isn’t for me at all, but MacFarlane is masterful in this genre and was born to voice characters. I love his speaking voice and he’s a great singer too!

“Samurai Jack”

Cartoon Network

Todd VanDerWerff (@tvoti), Vox

Kristen Schaal, for a while there, was voicing characters on “Bob’s Burgers,” “Gravity Falls,” and “BoJack Horseman,” who were all very different, even though Schaal essentially used her speaking voice for all of them, and it was amazing how much they all seemed like completely different characters. There are a handful of voice actors capable of this (her “Bob’s Burgers” castmate H. Jon Benjamin being another), but Schaal, to me, took it to some other level.

Of course, that’s not to besmirch the many, many, many, many great voice actors who do do lots of different voices. I could point out any member of “The Simpsons” cast, or talk about Billy West, or touch on Tom Kenny, or the list goes on. But I want to do a shout out to Phil LaMarr, whose work as Jack in “Samurai Jack” anchored one of the great animated series, with only a handful of lines per episode. And then, to top that, he was also Hermes on “Futurama,” and he’s voiced a huge number of characters in shows like “Justice League Unlimited” and several “Star Wars” cartoons, where the audience has a very firm idea of what that character should sound like, and he delivers every time. I’m always happy to see his name scroll by in the credits.

“The Simpsons”

FOX

Alan Sepinwall (@sepinwall), Uproxx

It’s hard many weeks to not just pick “The Simpsons” or some element of it as my answer to these questions. That’s what happens when you’re the best TV show ever made, and have done so many things for so long that you can apply to most any Best TV (Fill-in-the-Blank) question. Most times, I try to do something else, with the understanding that the real answer is usually in some way “Last Exit to Springfield.” This week, though — with apologies to the many brilliant ’50s and ’60s voice artists that I’m sure Fienberg is citing — I have to go with Dan Castellaneta’s work, primarily as Homer, but also as Krusty, Barney, Abe, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby, Squeak-Voiced Teen, Gil, and, yes, Poochie. (Maybe especially Poochie.) Some other Simpsons voice actors have a bigger and/or more diverse cast of characters, but if not for the range of silliness, pathos, and sheer likability that Castellaneta brings to Homer, would the show have lasted 5 years, let alone be closing in on 30? I’m smiling just thinking about his deliveries of lines like, “Twenty dollars can buy many peanuts!” or “The bee bit my bottom! Now my bottom’s big!” or his entire explanation of why he pulled the gummy Venus de Milo off the babysitter’s butt. And if you are ever lucky enough to watch a Simpsons table read, you will see that Castellaneta winds up embodying Homer’s entire physicality; it’s not just the voice, but him.

Ben Travers (@BenTTravers), IndieWire

Though undoubtedly a popular choice, the first time I remember being utterly flabbergasted when discovering a voice actor’s identity was after someone told me Mark Hamill played The Joker in “Batman: The Animated Series.” (I think I discovered this following a screening of “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm,” which came a good year into watching weekly episodes of the TV show.) To this day, I remain utterly stunned. How can the timid voice of a young, slightly whiny, rather boring Luke Skywalker be the same one giving such exuberant, malevolent life to Batman’s greatest foe? Even after seeing Hamill go back-and-forth, it’s hard to believe, and yet Hamill’s voice acting career has gone above and beyond just the Clown Prince of Crime. He’s a talent deserving all his praise, and a favorite of mine who continues to surprise me.

Q: What is the best show currently on TV?*

A: “Halt and Catch Fire” (four votes)

Other contenders: “Better Things” (two votes), “BoJack Horseman,” “The Good Place,” “The Lowe Files” (one vote each)

*In the case of streaming services that release full seasons at once, only include shows that have premiered in the last month.

217 women and gender-nonconforming people working in animation have written an open letter demanding an end to sexual harassment in their industry. The letter, which can be read in its entirety on the Los Angeles Times website, was sent to executives at major animation studios on October 19, including Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros., Cartoon Network, Sony, and DreamWorks.

“In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, many of the women who work in animation have begun discussing more openly issues that we have dealt with quietly throughout our careers,” the letter says. “As we came together to share our stories of sexism, sexual harassment and, in some cases, sexual assault, we were struck by the pervasiveness of the problem.”

The letter concludes: “We resolve to do everything we can to prevent anyone else from being victimized. We are united in our mission to wipe out sexual harassment in the animation industry, and we will no longer be silent.”

The over-200 signatures include some of the biggest names in animation such as Wendy Molyneaux, writer and producer of “Bob’s Burgers,” and Rebecca Sugar, creator of “Steven Universe” on Cartoon Network. Other names include animators on hit shows “The Powerpuff Girls,” “Adventure Time,” and “BoJack Horseman,” among others.

The letter arrives not only in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, but also on the heels of Nickelodeon firing “The Loud House” creator Chris Savino after allegations of sexual harassment. Cartoon Brew first broke the news that at least a dozen women had reportedly accused Savino over the last decade.

A Nickelodeon spokesperson issued the following statement: “Chris Savino is no longer working with Nickelodeon. We take allegations of misconduct very seriously, and we are committed to fostering a safe and professional workplace environment that is free of harassment or other kinds of inappropriate conduct.”

Nickelodeon is still planning to air “The Loud House” Season 3 in early 2018 as originally planned. Head over to the Los Angeles Times to read the full letter.

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Tuesday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best show currently on TV?” can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: What is the best TV show — former or current — that handles mental illness well?

Joyce Eng (@joyceeng61), TVGuide.com

“Bojack Horseman,” especially Season 4, is almost peerless when it comes to a raw, honest portrayal of mental health. His depression and anxiety aren’t deployed as plot devices like we’ve seen plenty of times elsewhere; they’re just part of him and none of it is rubbed in your face. He’s allowed to be, break down, self-destruct, and the show never offers quick fixes or easy answers. “Stupid Piece of Sh*t” is a brutal depiction, even if you don’t suffer from depression or anxiety, of a self-loathing inner voice that may never go away.

Eric Deggans (@deggans), NPR

So many recent TV series have tackled mental illness or featured characters struggling with such issues, that I think the answer to this question often comes down to which shows an individual critic likes. Top of my list, is the first couple of seasons of “Homeland,” in which Claire Danes’ CIA agent Carrie Mathison struggled with bipolar disorder she was trying to keep hidden from her superiors at the agency. Later, the series would take this struggle to a ludicrous extreme, but it was compelling early on to watch her try utilizing her mania to be productive and effective without completely losing control…as she eventually did. My next favorite series to handle such issues, “Marvel’s Jessica Jones,” gave a us supremely damaged heroine suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and the aftermath of continual sexual assault. The show’s unfolding narrative was a brilliant take on a super powered person fighting mightily to survive the ultimate abusive partner – with all the depression, drinking, self-destructive behavior and anger we see in real-life cases.

“Legion”

FX

NBC’s “This Is Us” has done a wonderful job depicting Randall Pearson’s mental breakdowns and the toll they have taken on him and his family; USA’s “Mr. Robot” has presented the ultimate unreliable narrator in Elliot Alderson, who fools himself with elaborate delusions. But I’m most struck by FX’s “Legion” – a TV show which tried to render visually what it would look like to be inside the head of a severely delusional person, who just happens to be a super-powered mutant with a sentient parasite living inside his mind. Each week, the visuals and depictions of the world inside the mind of David Haller grew trippier and more adventurous, as director/creator Noah Hawley offered a mind-bending take on mental illness from the perspective of a person who can force reality to follow his mercurial visions.

Daniel Fienberg (@TheFienPrint), The Hollywood Reporter

I’m not sure from “mental illness,” so I’m approaching this question from a “mental health”/”mental wellness” perspective and I feel like I want to, as usual, mention a lot of shows that do things well in this arena. “The Sopranos,” of course, did a spectacular job of dealing with the reasons people go to therapy and the personal understanding therapy might have even for people in the most extreme of situations. “Hannibal” was a dark and twisted glimpse into the mind of somebody falling apart for a variety of reasons and “Twin Peaks,” in its finest moments in both of its runs, did something similar, namely capturing how it feels to be inside an unsteady head and psyche. Maria Bamford’s “Lady Dynamite” does something similar on the comedic side, as did Mike White’s increasingly superb “Enlightened.” “Rectify” was a sublime look at coping with trauma, looking for outlets and avenues of release, trying desperately to find healing through family and spirituality. “The Jinx” is non-fiction, but surely non-fiction should count as well when it does a job this astounding of glimpsing into the mind of a narcissistic sociopath?

OK, so for my actual answers, I’m going with one new and one slightly older: For the new, I’m amazed each season by the contrast “Bojack Horseman” achieves between puns and animal-driven silliness and a true respect for and honoring of clinical depression and its slippery slope. And for the slightly older, I believe I’ve given it as an answer for a different question in the past, but Dennis Potter’s “The Singing Detective” goes so deeply into an uneasy mind it almost makes “Hannibal” look quaint and conventional. Michael Gambon’s performance at the center of “The Singing Detective” is maybe the great TV portrayal of mental unrest. It’s astounding.

Liz Shannon Miller (@lizlet), IndieWire

Right now, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” is digging in hard on the story of Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) and her escalated depression, and it’s fascinating to see a show commit to this degree on the issue. Things are escalating to an intense degree following last Friday’s cliffhanger, and it’s unclear how the show will approach the next key steps. But for a show that features plenty of irreverence, it’s always taken Rebecca’s mental health incredibly seriously. Some have been turned off by the way it confronts the word “crazy” every week, but it’s doing a lot to challenge the way we think about that word, the stigma associated with it, and the millions of people around the world coping with these issues.

Damian Holbrook (@damianholbrook), TV Guide Magazine

So many shows have tackled mental illness and gotten it right — “You’re the Worst,” “Party of Five,” “Mom” — while an equal amount have gotten it so wrong. Yeah, “Black Box” and “13 Reasons Why,” that shade is all yours. But the one that has snuck up on me is “The Magicians.” Early in the series (maybe the pilot?), Jason Ralph’s Quentin has just ended a stay in a psych ward before learning that his depression may be remedied by actual magic. So he goes off his meds, begins attending the enchanted Brakebills University and is supposed to be healed. That seemed, well, crazy irresponsible. But slowly, it became clear that no, Q was not going to be “fixed” by realm-jumping visits his favorite fantasy world, Fillory, or his budding abilities. He saw, and in turn so did viewers, that his depression and self-loathing and fears were all still alive under the surface. Even in a place like Brakebills, where he was surrounded by like-minded enthusiasts, Quentin still felt lost and at times worse than before once he realized that he’s not the best magician or the Chosen One. Poor guy can’t even been the star of his own story, and dealing with that was painful enough to land him back in the hospital. Since the first season, the facts of the character’s condition haven’t been as in the forefront, but they’re always there, in Ralph’s Eeyore eyes and the show’s ongoing reminders that magic is no easy way out of the darker corners of life.

Jason Ralph, “The Magicians”

Carole Segal/Syfy

Alan Sepinwall (@sepinwall), Uproxx

The best TV show ever made about therapy is one of the few to make that its primary subject: HBO’s brilliant, challenging half-hour nightly drama “In Treatment,” starring Gabriel Byrne as a therapist who would spend the bulk of each episode in session with a different patient, then at the end of the week would go to see his own shrink. But while Paul and some of his patients could perhaps be diagnosed with depression, “In Treatment” for the most part was less interested in mental illness than in seeing Paul talk his patients through their various problems, or seeing him fail to help.

So for the purposes of how this question was phrased, I’m inclined to name a couple of shows primarily about depression, one current, one past. The current one is “BoJack Horseman,” which — in the unexpected, surreal context of an animated showbiz satire about a washed-up ’90s sitcom star who happens to be more horse than a man (or more man than a horse) — tells painfully specific and honest and raw stories about clinical depression and all the ways it can lead one of its victims to hurt both themselves and the people who care about them. (Netflix’s “Lady Dynamite” is also terrific in how it marries absurd comedy with frank discussions of Maria’s bipolar disorder.) The past one is “The Sopranos,” which is about a whole lot of things, but is first and foremost about a guy going to see a psychiatrist for help with a crippling level of depression he inherited — by nature and by nurture — from his equally depressed mother. I just rewatched the entire series for a book project I’m working on, and the care and attention that show gives to tracking the impact of Tony’s illness on himself, his wife, his kids, and even the likes of Big Pussy and Paulie Walnuts, is astounding. The mob stuff was added to make the core idea more commercial, but it’s the way it grapples with his condition that makes it an all-timer.

April Neale (@aprilmac), Monsters & Critics

“Legit” on FX with Jim Jefferies. Why? I interviewed the entire cast including the mentally disabled actor who played Rodney. The show dealt head-on with not only mental illness but all forms of disability. The show dealt with severe depression beautifully. Jim’s best friend’s Steve (Dan Bakkedahl) grappled with it, as did brother Billy (DJ Qualls) who showed the levels of frustrations dealing with severe cerebral palsy. Steve and Billy’s mother (Mindy Sterling) was also coping with her sons’ depressive illness. It was a raucous and wild comedy with complete heart, and I miss it terribly.

Gabriel Byrne, “In Treatment”

HBO

Todd VanDerWerff (@tvoti), Vox

There are a lot of great comedies out there that deal with mental illness beautifully, in that sort of funny-sad texture that makes everything from “BoJack Horseman” to “You’re the Worst” to “Lady Dynamite” worth your time. Weirdly, dramas have had a harder time with mental illness. I actually like the portrayal of Carrie on “Homeland,” for the most part, but in later seasons, it too often feels like the show hauls her mental illness out in order to get Claire Danes awards nominations. I also love the work of Hugh Dancy on “Hannibal,” but it’s hard to say he has a “mental illness” when his condition is entirely made up and sort of an all-purpose stand-in for every mental illness. “UnREAL” would be another great candidate, but for its mess of a second season, and “Mr. Robot” would perhaps be my choice for its beautiful portrayal of talk therapy.

But then I saw the words “beautiful portrayal of talk therapy” and realized it could be only one thing: “In Treatment.” This is not a series that deals in flashy mental illnesses. No, it’s a story about how hard it is to grind your way through psychiatric sessions, how having a breakthrough can sometimes be a setback, how your therapist might not be listening to you after all. The series’ unconventional airing schedule — for its first two seasons, it aired multiple nights per week, with half-hour episodes each night — has kept it from finding the wide audience it might have, but at its best, the series was like observing a tiny, one-act play, with great, great actors at its center. (I still stan for Mia Wasikowska because of her work in the first season.) And anchoring everything was Gabriel Byrne with one of my favorite TV performances ever, a quiet, still pond amid the thicket around him. In Treatment was like no other show I’ve seen before or since, and I still hope all involved find their way back to making another season.

(Bonus points for “Enlightened,” another series that was a little vague when it came to psychiatric diagnosis but that absolutely captured the feeling of tipping out of your own brain and into some unfamiliar territory. Plus, it’s another HBO entry!)

Ben Travers (@BenTTravers), IndieWire

Though seconding (or fifthing) the praise for “BoJack Horseman” and “In Treatment,” I think I’ll use the majority of my space to discuss “You’re the Worst.” What struck me so deeply about Gretchen’s Season 2 arc wasn’t that the comedy had the courage to tackle something so serious (impressive, to say the least), nor that Aya Cash’s performance so deftly blended the humorous and horrific aspects of clinical depression (Emmy voters be damned); it was that Stephen Falk’s series didn’t present an easy fix.

In Season 4, Gretchen isn’t cured. She’s still dealing with her disorder daily. The show knew what it was taking on with this subject and didn’t cast it aside after a season-long arc. Jimmy (Chris Geere) “staying” at the end wasn’t a magical cure, but a romantic recognition. With the help of a tremendous (but grounded) therapist (played by the tremendous and heavenly Samira Wiley), Gretchen has been given better tools to improve her life. But it’s still part of her life. Understanding mental illness is very much about accepting it, and “You’re the Worst” did a magnificent job of helping audiences grasp that understanding.

Q: What is the best show currently on TV?*

A: TIE: “Better Things” and  “Star Trek: Discovery” (three votes each)

Other contenders:  “The Mayor,” “Mr. Robot,” and “The Rundown With Robin Thede” (one vote each)

*In the case of streaming services that release full seasons at once, only include shows that have premiered in the last month.

“BoJack Horseman” on cable television? It could happen. Distributor Debmar-Mercury is currently shopping rerun rights to cable buyers, Variety reports. The move is highly unusual for a Netflix original series and could result in the first domestic syndicated property for the streaming giant.

Last year, Sony Pictures Television, which has the global distribution rights to “House of Cards,” shopped that show to broadcast and cable networks for off-network consideration, but ultimately a deal has yet to be hammered out. Like Sony and “Cards,” one of the reasons “BoJack” is able to attempt syndication is because producer Tornate Co. retained off-network rights to the series when it was first sold to Netflix.

As Variety notes, “BoJack” debuted at an early stage of Netflix’s transition into original content when the company wasn’t as strict about acquiring all global rights to its series. Nowadays Netflix buys out the entire syndication window on its programs, meaning “BoJack” may be the first and last Netflix original to be syndicated for quite some time.

“I’m very proud of ‘BoJack Horseman.’ Who knew a washed up sitcom star, who happens to be a horse, would drive the best reviews of any television show or movie in which I have been involved in my career?” said Tornate head Michael Eisner. “This business is all about who you work with creatively. Thank goodness (creator) Raphael Bob-Waksberg walked through my door.”

Debmar-Mercury chiefs Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein told Variety that part of the reason they’re shopping rerun rights to the series now is because “cable buyers are in need of fresh comedy series.”

“In an era when addictive, laugh-out-loud comedies are in short supply, ‘BoJack Horseman’ delivers what cable networks have been missing,” Marcus and Bernstein said.

“BoJack Horseman” has aired 48 episodes to date across four seasons. The show has already been renewed by Netflix for Season 5.

When “Rick and Morty” writer Jessica Gao wrote the episode “Pickle Rick” last season, she created a character named Dr. Wong, with an eye toward casting an Asian American actress in the part. But then Susan Sarandon suddenly became available, and the Oscar-winning actress was tapped for the role instead.

Adding insult to injury: The character’s last name stayed the same, which meant a white actress ultimately played family therapist Dr. Wong.

“The whole point of writing a character like Dr. Wong was because I wanted there to be an Asian character on ‘Rick and Morty,'” Gao said. “And I also specifically wanted to give a job to an Asian actress.”

While Hollywood’s embarrassing practice of tapping white actors to play characters of color has at least become a hotly discussed issue in the live action world (think Emma Stone in “Aloha” and Scarlett Johansson in “Ghost in the Shell”), things are more clouded in animation, where the practice is also still common.

Among the white actors currently playing characters of color are writer Mike Henry, who created and voices Cleveland Brown, an African-American character on “Family Guy” (and the four-season spinoff “The Cleveland Show”); Alison Brie as Diane Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American writer, on “BoJack Horseman”; and Hank Azaria, the star behind Kwik-E-Mart owner Apu Nahasapeemapetilon for 29 seasons on “The Simpsons.”

“I think people sometimes take issue with individual cases because they love a certain character or a certain show, but this conversation is really about the systemic lack of representation for people of color,” Gao said. “I think people are more conscious of it. But change is very slow.”

A long overdue discussion is finally starting to happen at these shows, spurred by the growing realization by showrunners that they’ve missed the point of representation. Including characters of color is the first step — but casting those roles with white actors doesn’t really fulfill the promise of inclusiveness.

Apu, voiced by Hank Azaria

Fox/Shutterstock

At the recent Television Critics Association press tour, Azaria told reporters that “The Simpsons” was mulling how to address the future of Apu and what the show might do differently with the character. “The idea that anybody, young or old, past or present, was bullied or teased or worse based on the character of Apu on ‘The Simpsons,’ the voice or any other tropes of the character is distressing,” he said.

The fact that Apu is voiced by a white actor is just part of the problem, as many viewers have also cringed over the years at the stereotype of a South Asian man. “The Simpsons” executive producer Al Jean told IndieWire that he recently watched the documentary “The Problem with Apu,” in which comedian Hari Kondabolu interviewed celebrities of South Asian descent about the negative impact that the character has had on them.

“We’ve talked about it,” Jean said of his writers’ room. “Some people are offended by the character and I take that very seriously. Others really love the character. It’s a difficult choice. I don’t want to offend people but we also want to be funny. We don’t want to be totally politically correct. That has never been us. It’s given us a lot of thought.”

In his film, Kondabolu says he’s often told to “let it go” — but he feels like he’s been “letting it go” for 28 years. “I have always loved ‘The Simpsons,'” he said on screen. “It shaped me into the person and the comedian that I am today. I know Apu is one of the smartest characters on ‘The Simpsons’ — granted the bar isn’t very high — but it’s not why people liked him. They just liked his accent.”

Jean said “The Simpsons” has made an effort in recent years to cast more actors of the same ethnicity as their characters. For example, Kevin Michael Richardson (“The Cleveland Show”) is now a regular.

“It’s a complex issue,” he said. “‘Bob’s Burgers’ has men playing women. Six of our main regulars are women and have been, from the beginning, playing boys. No one’s got a problem with that. I think in the future it will be more people of the same ethnicity playing those characters. But also as someone who also hopes that rules continue to be broken, I’d hate to see it be a really hard and fast strict rule. On our show, Kevin plays characters who aren’t African American. Believe me, I’m very aware of the issue. I don’t want to hurt people’s feelings.”

“Family Guy” executive producer Rich Appel said he believed animation was “color-blind, sex-blind, ethnicity-blind,” and noted that Cleveland was based on a guy that Henry knew with a distinctive voice. “No one does it as well as Mike,” he said. “That character was born with that voice.”

As a bit of an acknowledgment that it was unusual to have Henry playing a black character, the rest of “The Cleveland Show’s” cast was African-American, including Richardson, who also played a white next-door neighbor in addition to Cleveland’s son Cleveland Jr. But Appel said, “If we write a character who’s a certain ethnicity, the odds are we’re going to cast that ethnicity.”

Echoed fellow executive producer Alec Sulkin: “I would say we’re generally aware of it. If we’re creating a character that’s a certain ethnicity, I think our instinct now is certainly to look for an actor or actress of that ethnicity to play it.”

Both “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy” were created decades ago, when whitewashing wasn’t as prevalent a Hollywood topic as it is now. That doesn’t excuse it, but it does explain why some producers on more recent animated shows have perhaps felt like they got a pass — if those shows did it, there was an implicit OK for others to do the same.

Cleveland, voiced by Mike Henry

Fox/Shutterstock

“They’re cartoon characters, they’re drawn, you can make them look however you want,” Gao said. “So it feels like it’s arbitrary, who the voice is behind it. And I think that none of this would really be an issue at all if there were more actors of color who get work. But because in every aspect of acting, white actors dominate and there are so few roles for actors of color, that that’s why it’s an issue. It wouldn’t be an issue if there were plenty of roles for everyone. But there aren’t.”

On “BoJack Horseman,” creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg said that an Asian-American actress had actually been cast originally in the role of Diane Nguyen, and had even voiced the show’s first four episodes. But that actress (whom Bob-Waksberg prefers not to name) was contractually obligated to another series — and when that show was renewed, “BoJack” had to replace her. In his haste, Bob-Waksberg opened the casting up to white actresses.

“The truth of the matter is, when you open it up to white actors, there are many more of them,” he said. “And that’s a sad thing about our industry, but a truth. The white actors have had the opportunity to have the experiences over and over again. So we brought in Alison Brie, and she checked all these boxes of experience and could do all of these different things with the character.”

But even at the time, Bob-Waksberg admitted that it felt “a little weird to me. I was definitely aware that that was an issue and that was a problem. But if you look at animation, the precedence feels a little different. I allowed myself to become convinced that this was not as big of a deal in animation. And now I’m not so sure that that is true.

“Part of the issue is, when it comes to animation you convince yourself, anybody can play anything, so it doesn’t matter,” he said. “Will Arnett is not a horse, but he plays a horse. This is what acting is. But I think if you are saying that, and if you are then casting all white people in your main cast, as I did, it betrays that. It’s more of an excuse than a truth. There’s no reason that BoJack couldn’t have been played by an Asian actor. If we had an all-Asian cast except for the person playing Diane, this would be a very different conversation right now.”

Diane, voiced by Alison Brie

Netflix/Shutterstock

Bob-Waksberg was aware of concerns over whitewashing on “BoJack Horseman” and made an effort to improve inclusion in subsequent seasons, and by Season 3 mandated that at least one voice actor of color play a role in each episode. But even then, he realized that wasn’t enough — and like those older shows, he also feared that he was setting a precedent that future animation showrunners might follow. That’s why he’s wanted to have a more open dialogue on this issue, including on social media.

“I think a lot of times this idea of the utopia of color-blind casting leads to laziness or feels like an excuse to not pay attention,” he said. “You need to be more conscious of it than just saying, ‘well, anyone can play anything so it doesn’t really matter.’ I think it does matter. Then you become part of the problem. I would hate the idea that when someone’s casting the next show they look at ‘BoJack’ and they say they can cast a white person as an Asian person and it doesn’t matter. Because the truth is, I think it does matter. This idea of the appearance of representation without true inclusion is not actual representation. In fact, it can be more harmful than helpful.”

Bob-Waksberg said he learned a lot just by listening to Gao on “Whiting Wongs,” the podcast she launched with “Rick and Morty” co-creator Dan Harmon about race and TV writing. That podcast came out of conversations Gao had with Harmon after the disappointment of seeing Sarandon take the Dr. Wong role.

When Sarandon was cast, Gao suggested that Dr. Wong’s name be changed, and “nobody seemed to care. So I went to Dan and he very genuinely asked me why it was important. Not in a flippant way, but because he genuinely didn’t understand why I cared about it so much. So I had this long conversation with him where I talked about why representation is important and how different it is when you grow up never seeing yourself reflected in media.

“It’s so important the few times that a character is written to specifically be a person of color, those opportunities and those characters are so few and far between that it’s so important that those characters are cast in a way that respects their ethnicity,” she said. “There are people who argue, after the Susan Sarandon casting, ‘Why would you be unhappy that she would take the role?’ But it’s bigger than that. It’s more about what this one role means. It’s not like there are multiple Asian American characters on ‘Rick and Morty’ and we lost one out of 100 so it’s not a big deal. We lost one out of one, the only one so far. And that’s why it’s such a big deal… The whole point was to have representation.”

The answer sounds simple, but requires action by showrunners and others in power: Elevating writers of color to more decision-making levels. “Where the cut off happens is when you start looking at the position of power, the people who have their own shows, the executive producers, the showrunners, the story editors in animation, which is different from live action story editors,” Gao said. “That’s where you start seeing that it’s overwhelmingly men and overwhelmingly white men. I think that tells you that it’s a systemic issue and not an individual basis… I think it’s definitely better now than it was 10 years ago. I think people are more conscious of it. But change is very slow.”

To pun or not to pun; for some, that’s not even a question. On the funniest comedies on TV right now — including “The Good Place,” “BoJack Horseman,” “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and “Bob’s Burgers,” to name just a few — that figure of speech is enjoying a heyday of double meanings and sound-alike wordplay.

For “BoJack Horseman” creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg, there is no off switch on the pun machine that is his mind. (“Mindpunter,” coming to Netflix soon!)

“I personally always have an app running in the back of my brain working on puns,” he told IndieWire. “Sometimes when I am talking to someone they will get annoyed with me when they realize I’ve stopped listening because I am working on a pun, and they will roll their eyes and say, ‘Okay, what is it?’”

He doesn’t seem to be alone in this compulsion. “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” co-creator Aline Brosh McKenna explained what it’s like to work with writer Jack Dolgen, who joins co-creator Rachel Bloom and Adam Schlesinger to write the series’ clever and catchy songs.

“It seems to me what happens is like, somebody said something, and then Jack’s eyes go distant. And then he has it, and then he has to say it,” said Brosh McKenna. “Sometimes he apologizes before he says it, but a lot of times he says it, and then those have worked their way into the show.”

Earlier this year, “The Good Place” writer Megan Amram told IndieWire, “I have a true mental illness of only thinking in puns all the time. I feel like [creator Mike Schur] gave me the gift and the curse of writing an episode that had a bunch of different fake stores in it.

“I got to the part where I was going to write in all the different store names for different types of food,” she said. “I was like, ‘Megan, don’t spend more than hour. Don’t spend more than an hour on this. You don’t need to spend a day writing pun names.’ Then, flash-forward to I was in a coffee shop working on truly hundreds of pun names for six hours or something.”

As proof, Amram shared on Twitter a curated list of some of the punny store names she dreamt up:

here's an abridged version of the full list of food puns i turned in with my first draft of tonight's #TheGoodPlace episode pic.twitter.com/x335NYNN09

— Megan Amram (@meganamram) September 29, 2017

Pun-fairly Maligned

It’s a great time to be a pun on TV, but not everyone appreciates them. As long as there have been puns, there have been pun detractors. The much maligned form of wordplay has been criticized throughout time by scholars who deem puns the lowest type of humor and sometimes even borderline offensive or criminal.

Way harsh, historical Paul Bettany!

That divisive reaction is just part and parcel of punning though. The realization of a pun can create delight or disgust because it tickles the brain differently in each person. Intrepid punsters understand that laughter is not always the expected result, and that’s a risk worth taking.

“There’s an interesting things about puns that you don’t laugh at them,” observed Brosh McKenna. “When you make a pun people look like they’re angry at you. They just groan.”

Dolgen added, “Usually when you pitch in a room, you’re pitching a joke with the goal of getting a laugh. When you pitch a pun in the room, I’m not looking for a laugh. In a way, I’m just looking for people to wish I was gone. I have a general benchmark on how to judge a good pun or not. I think puns range on a scale of one to 10 with one being sort of the dumbest, stupidest thing you could think of, and 10 being the most sort of brilliant and kind of intellectually enlightening. I think you want either a one or a 10, and the closest you get to five, the worse you are. So five ends up being sort of general dad humor.”

This resistance to crowd-pleasing is yet another sign that those who create puns have to be independently minded and not swayed easily by delivering run-of-the-mill pap. Say what you will about puns, but chances are that if they elicit such a visceral reaction, you aren’t bored.

Smart TV

Although puns may get a bad rap for not challenging the intellect, the heavy use of puns on acclaimed TV shows lately appears to indicate that the opposite might be true. Puns don’t automatically make a show smarter, but they do appear to be a good indicator of how much effort a show puts into its craft and storytelling. If a show truly adores puns, that can be the mark of great TV.

Neurologically speaking, hearing, and understanding a pun requires both sides of the brain. The left hemisphere processes the linguistics and meaning of the word first, while the right side kicks in to recognize there’s a secondary meaning. It’s a bilateral process. Or is it bi-literal?

Curiously enough, there is a medical disorder that is associated with compulsive and excessive bad punning. Witzelsucht is a set of rare neurological symptoms characterized by a tendency to make puns, or tell inappropriate jokes or pointless stories in socially inappropriate situations. This disorder is most commonly seen in patients with frontal lobe damage. While the pun-happy writers on these shows (presumably) don’t have this disorder, their brains very well might be designed to make the processing between the two hemispheres work better in tandem.

The CW’s “iZombie” also makes numerous puns, often death-related

The CW

Dolgen is the go-to punster on staff at “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” ready with a funny name when needed. When Brosh McKenna texted him asking for possible names for menstrual cups that would be featured on the show, he came up with a list within minutes.

“He texted me back right away,” she said. “Fill It Up Menstrual Cups, Mensipation Cuplamation Menstrual Cup, Mensi-B-Gone, Cup-A-Flow, The Prima Donna, Easy Catcher, The Refill Jill, Fill the Daffodil. We ended up picking Beaver Dam. But you know, not to say anybody could come up with the Mensipation Cuplamation. Not everybody’s brain works like that.”

Dolgen’s penchant for puns is also an asset when he writes lyrics for the show’s numerous songs — two of which have received Emmy nominations.

“Aline accurately pointed out that asset as a disorder, and that contextualized that for me,” said Dolgen. “I really started to understand myself a lot better and the way in which I functioned in the world. I have to apologize to them because sometimes I just have to say a pun that came to mind, and it isn’t relevant to anything, and it’s not gonna help us do the job we’re trying to do in the moment. But it has to come out of me! It’s like having a fart that if you hold it in, it’s just gonna be toxic.”

Bob-Waksberg concurred, although far less pungently. “You can’t save a pun, no more than you can display a butterfly while also keeping it alive,” he said. “Every pun is born to its moment and expires just as quickly.”

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While white actors playing characters of color is still a problem in live action, it’s even more common in animation.

Vincent Adultman isn’t the only voice Alison Brie handles on “BoJack Horseman.” He’s not even her primary role on the Neflix series (that would be Diane Nguyen). But the character who’s either one awkward looking man or three very coordinated children is so convincingly portrayed by Brie, she can’t shake him when creating new voices.

“I feel like the problem with doing Vincent Adultman — which came very naturally to me, and I have a lot of fun doing it — is that when I try to find voices for other characters, you’re always like, ‘I hear Vincent Adultman. It’s too nasally,'” Brie said at an FYC event for the series Tuesday night. “When I was doing drunk Diane in an episode, you were like, ‘You’re veering into Vincent Adultman, so that’s a problem.'”

On the show, BoJack repeatedly says the businessman who “went to the stock market today” and “did a business” is “very obviously three kids stacked on top of each other under a trench coat,” but every other character just sees an adult man named Vincent. (Get it?) Creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg, who joined Brie, Paul F Tompkins, and supervising director Mike Hollingsworth on the panel, did not disclose the character’s “secret” identity, but he and Brie did discuss how she came to earn the role that sounds like a prepubescent boy.

“How did I get cast as Vincent Adultman, Raphael?” Brie said. “Basically my experience working on the show is like, I get the script, I read Diane, I come to work, I go in the booth, and they say, ‘Hey… can you also do the voices of Worm No. 2, and Cow Waitress, and Vincent Adultman?’ And then I just go, ‘Uh…I don’t know?’ And then I kind of play with voices in the booth until Raphael goes, ‘No, that sounds like something you’ve done before.’ ‘No, it’s too Olivia, it’s too Olivia.’ And then we find it.”

“Well — Paul also — you two are kind of the two in the cast where I just throw everything at you,” Bob-Waksberg said. “Will [Arnett] is mostly just BoJack, and BoJack’s dad. Amy [Sedaris] is just Princess Carolyn and Aaron [Paul] is just Todd. Occasionally they’ll do other stuff [laughs] but it’s not good.”

Brie then asked if that was true, surprised that she and Tompkins were the only main cast members repeatedly called upon to do multiple voices. (Bob-Waksberg also voices characters, including the inept assistant-turned-agent Charley Witherspoon.)

“I always feel like the table reads are the audition for those extra characters,” Tompkins said. “For the table reads, we cover a lot of additional voices that we don’t do in the show. So a lot of the time I’ll do an extra voice at the table read and then I don’t get to do it for the show, and I think, ‘I guess I didn’t do a good job.'”

“Often, with both of you, there will be a new character and I’ll say, ‘OK, the main thing I need for this character is just to not sound like any other characters you’ve done before,” Bob-Waksberg said.

But what Tompkins said he looks forward to most is when he’s subbing in for a well-known voice and has to approximate their voice as closely as possible; a comment that inevitably led to a fan-favorite pseudo-impersonation of one Andrew Garfield.

Appearing in multiple episodes across Season 1, Tompkins voiced Garfield after the Oscar-nominated actor turned down the role.

“This was before we actually thought we could get people,” Bob-Waksberg said. (“BoJack Horseman” has wooed real-life celebrities like Jessica Biel, Felicity Huffman, Zack Braff, and Character Actress Margo Martindale to play themselves in the series.) “So we wrote this part for Andrew Garfield, we went out to Andrew Garfield, he said, ‘No, thank you,’ and they asked me, ‘Well, do you want to change it and actually go after someone else?’ And I said, ‘No, it has to be Andrew Garfield!'”

“One of the reasons it had to be Andrew Garfield was because of this joke that I loved — that we ended up cutting from the episode because we had, like, four pages of Andrew Garfield material, and the episode was not about that at all, and you’ll see why this joke got cut because it’s not a good joke, but I loved it — but I wanted him to introduce himself to people by saying, ‘Hello, I’m Andrew Garfield: The Amazing Spider-Man. [pronounced Spid-er-man] Or as you Yanks refer to him, ‘The Human Spider.’ And I don’t know why that delighted me, but I thought that was so funny. And that’s why it had to be Andrew Garfield — unless we could get Tobey Maguire.”

Needless to say, they could not, and Tompkins subbed in magnificently. As for Brie, she still wants to voice more characters and make a lasting mark — like with Vincent Adultman — even with the demands from her creator… and questionable support from her husband, Dave Franco.

“Sometimes there are voices where I’ll take a big swing for a smaller role — like in this season, the governor’s wife, and you’ll be like, ‘Just do a normal voice,'” Brie said to Bob-Waksberg. “But they sound too Diane, so I’ll be like, [very big] ‘Whaddya mean?’ and I was watching the episode where the character’s in a scene for the first time with my husband, and the voice comes on and he goes, ‘Oh my God.’ And I was like, ‘That’s me. I came up with it. Isn’t it cool and unique?’ And he was like, ‘It’s something.'”

Comedy Central has been caught horsin’ around. The cable network announced Thursday that it landed the off-network rights to “BoJack Horseman,” the acclaimed Netflix series created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg and starring the voice of Will Arnett.

“BoJack Horseman” will continue to be available on Netflix, which will debut the show’s fifth season on Sept. 14. But this means the show will now also be available for the first time on linear TV and accessible to cable subscribers who don’t have Netflix. Comedy Central has acquired all current seasons of the series — which has so far produced 49 episodes over four seasons — to run this fall.

Comedy Central plans to air “BoJack” on Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. ET, starting Sept. 26. The show will be paired with “South Park,” which will debut its 22nd season starting that night. Comedy Central’s cc.com and network app will also carry selected episodes.

The network plans to run full, unedited episodes off the clock to accommodate for longer episodes. But in some dayparts (such as mornings) it will need to make trims to fit in the time slot. But Comedy Central isn’t planning on making any content trims or changes.

“Comedy Central has a long history of using potent satire to help make sense of trying times, so ‘BoJack Horseman’ is a perfect fit in our lineup,” said Tanya Giles, General Manager, Comedy Central. “We’re thrilled to be the first to put ‘BoJack’ on linear TV, and who better than an animated horse to teach us a thing or two about humanity?”

“BoJack” represents a rare example of a streaming show that has later been made available on linear TV. Streaming services generally now hold on to global rights on their shows, including programs produced both in-house and by outside studios. But there are exceptions, particularly with older shows and acquisitions. (Don’t expect to see many more deals like this, given the more recent move by streamers to lock programming rights up for all platforms.)

Amazon’s “Transparent” was sold to Sundance TV, while Lifetime acquired repeats of Amazon’s “Catastrophe.” Sony, which held off-network distribution rights to “House of Cards,” had made plans to take that show out, but it never struck a deal — and now, in light of the firing of star Kevin Spacey, such a move is unlikely.

Like many of those other shows, “BoJack Horseman” isn’t owned in-house by Netflix, which allowed producer The Tornante Company to shop the repeats. Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury signed on as distributor, and a deal was ultimately struck with Comedy Central through Viacom Program Acquisitions Group.

“’BoJack Horseman’ has been a groundbreaking show, defining the best in adult animated comedy just as ‘South Park’ was before it,” said Michael Eisner, founder of The Tornante Company. “It is very fitting that the two shows will air back to back on Comedy Central.”

“BoJack Horseman,” which first premiered on Netflix in August 2014, frequently tops critics’ lists, including at IndieWire. Arnett, Aaron Paul, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie and Paul F. Tompkins voice the show’s key characters, while Bob-Waksberg, Steven A. Cohen, Noel Bright, Arnett, and Paul are executive producers.

Here’s a promo created by Comedy Central to mark the news:

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Tuesday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best show currently on TV?” can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: What current show (airing in the past year through now) do you find the most difficult to watch?

Marisa Roffman (@marisaroffman), Give Me My Remote

I’m sure I’m not alone, but “Handmaid’s Tale” is really, really, really rough to watch. It’s not that it’s bad — it’s very well done—but the outside world makes it painful to sit through. I have to be in a very specific mindset to get through an episode.

Joyce Eng (@joyceeng61), GoldDerby

This will probably be a popular answer, but I have no desire to finish Season 2 of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Is it still impeccably shot? Yes. Is the acting still aces? Yes. (Yvonne!) Is it a chore to sit through? YES. It’s not just the relentless torture porn, but its refusal/inability to commit to anything and take the story anywhere interesting now that it’s operating without the book’s blueprint. Every time the show starts flirting with something, it would retreat (yeah, I know what happens in the finale) and spin its wheels until it indulges in the next rape or torture or murder sequence. It feels weird to say, but there are no stakes anymore because nothing really happens except bad stuff and more bad stuff. So if they really want this to run for 10 years, put me out of my misery now.

Liz Shannon Miller (@lizlet), IndieWire

Weirdly, my answer isn’t “The Handmaid’s Tale.” For some reason, I find it at times kind of soothing to immerse myself in that world, one just at least slightly worse than our current situation?

Honestly, on a basic logistical level, it’s subtitles that are always a trial for me, just because it involves a big shift in my viewing habits. I enjoy foreign language shows, but it does require a different level of commitment and that’s hard and that’s what she said and then I feel guilty for many, many reasons.

That said, can’t wait for the new season of “Narcos”! Love those guys!

The Arm, “Twin Peaks”

Showtime

Eric Deggans (@deggans), NPR

During a panel at the TV Critics summer press tour last week, a panelist spoke derisively about television that felt like homework while watching it and I sympathized. Certainly, it can be fun to keep track of complex storylines, and it’s wonderful to experience a piece of television that is so dense that you find new insights on repeated viewing. But I think shows like HBO’s “Westworld” and FX’s “Legion” fall into the trap of being too clever for their own good at times, making it so difficult for audiences to follow the evolution of their stories that many people check out.

I had similar issues with Showtime’s “Twin Peaks” revival, which was often so surreal I couldn’t tell if David Lynch was creating something brilliant or pulling off the biggest con in the history of scripted television. Ultimately, I decided for myself, that however artistically elevated his work might be, it wasn’t speaking to me as a viewer and felt too isolated by its own aggressively weird and purposefully unpredictable vision.

But as annoying as some of these works can be, their saving grace is that they are striving for excellence and they don’t talk down to their audience. So my ultimate pick for the most difficult watch, are shows that land at the opposite end of that spectrum – so-called reality TV series that are highly contrived, rooted in simple stereotypes and completely lying to their audiences about how things happen on their shows. Among these, “The Bachelor” is the highest profile and most egregious – though its low-rent cousin “The Proposal” is also making my nose hairs burn during the summer. These shows are tough to watch because they’re not only complete nonsense, but they encourage a unique hypocrisy among viewers, who pretend they’re in on the contrived nature of the show while completely reacting to the storylines, characters and outcomes as if they were genuine. These shows are tough for me to watch because I’m constantly reminding myself to be critical of their messaging and meaning, even as they lull me into getting involved emotionally in the scenarios they present.

Damian Holbrook (@damianholbrook), TV Guide Magazine

I would have to say “Roseanne.” It was hard to watch on several layers: I deeply disagree with her views and didn’t want to reward her antics and allies with ratings that would generate her more money and therefore influence. That created so much discomfort. As a professional, I should watch, and as a human, I should resist!

But then, the show itself was wonderfully funny at times and so much of the cast was tremendous. I mean, Laurie Metcalf on a weekly basis is Manna from heaven and who would be crazy enough to deny themselves that joy? Was I going to let the problematic star steal away the pleasure of watching other, enjoyable actors do their thing?

It was also a major TV news story, the reboot that came back bigger than anyone expected despite all of the baggage, past and present, that it brought with it. People flocked to it, perhaps just to see what Roseanne Barr would say under the guise of “Roseanne Conner.” In the end, I found myself voting with my remote and left “Roseanne” behind mid-season. Then she showed her true colors (again) and solved any issues I would have had about giving the show a second chance for Season 2.

Alan Sepinwall (@sepinwall), Rolling Stone

There’s different kinds of difficult. There are a lot of sluggishly paced dramas that take me at least twice as long to watch as their running time because my patience ebbs frequently enough for me to take a Twitter break, in the hopes that they will somehow move more quickly when I return. (Spoiler: they never do.) The increasingly bleak and angry state of the world inspired me to stop watching most of the late-night comedy shows, which once upon a time felt cathartic and are now just a new thing to fill me with rage at their targets. (This is not a knock on John Oliver, Sam Bee, et al, who were still doing great work when I stopped; just my desire to limit how much time each week I’m exposed to certain subjects in the news.)

But for sheer “Why am I still watching this?” discomfort, the easy winner has to be “The Handmaid’s Tale.” On a technical level and on a performance level, it’s one of the very best shows on TV, but it is by design an absolutely grueling and miserable place to visit once a week. (Or more: at one point I had to watch five episodes in a day to meet a magazine deadline. I strongly advise against trying this at home.) With almost any other show as well-crafted as “Handmaid’s” usually is, the thing that happens at the end of Season 2 has been frustrating but not enough to chase me away permanently. With this one, it was enough to provide license to walk away from a show that makes me miserable, despite how great so much of it is.

Tim Surette (@timsurette), TV.com

I finally found time (thanks summer!) to tear through the fourth season of “Bojack Horseman,” and HOOBOY that was hard to watch. Not in the “UGH why is this a TV show?” sense, but the “Why is a cartoon horse leaving me quaking on the floor like I have PTSD?” sense. When it isn’t bombarding viewers with puns, “Bojack” excels at pulling all the dirty stuff up and airing it out for all to see, and the arc about Bojack’s mother, grandmother, and grandfather went as deep as anything on TV has. We now expect each season of “Bojack” to go dark, but it still doesn’t make it easier to watch knowing that it’s coming.

Kaitlin Thomas (@thekaitling), TVGuide.com

A few months ago my answer to this question would have been “The Americans,” a show I loved deeply but always found myself struggling to watch because I needed to be in the right frame of mind to do it. Once there I could easily binge five episodes in a row without breaking a sweat. But “The Americans” is over, and now my answer is “The Bold Type,” and it’s for a completely different reason: it’s bad.

After a solid freshman season that gave many twentysomething women the opportunity to see themselves thoughtfully portrayed on TV, the show’s second season has struggled in the wake of a showrunner change. Each episode feels like an after-school special; one week it’s an episode all about gun ownership, another week it painfully tackles white privilege. This is all good in theory, but in execution, it’s all told through the lens of a frustrating character who’s become less and less interesting as the show has progressed. It’s not even that I hate Jane or think Katie Stevens’ portrayal of the character is lacking — I actually really like Katie Stevens (RIP “Faking It”) — it’s that the storylines are so tired and preachy that they’re adding nothing new to the conversation. And to tell them all through Jane’s perspective is hella tiring. This is no longer a charming show that offers positive role models for women and it’s a chore to watch. And it bums me the F out.

Daniel Fienberg (@TheFienPrint), The Hollywood Reporter

A good show, even with tough subject matter, is always easier to watch than a bad show, even if it’s pretending to have fun or exciting subject matter. Ergo, even if “The Handmaid’s Tale” hits too close to home sometimes, I find it easier to watch 10 “Handmaid’s Tale” episodes than one, padded and pretentious “Westworld” episode. The answer to this question is always probably “Criminal Minds,” one of the worst shows ever made and 40 minutes of weekly pain, but mostly I avoid doing that. “Westworld” I still watch for no good reason, and a 90-minute episode of that? Good lord. So many absurd, whispered monologues about the nature of identity and free will.

April Neale (@aprilmac), Monsters & Critics

Difficult to watch from an “it’s so boring” perspective: NBC’s “Chicago P.D.” because really, it might as well be “Chicago Med”, “Chicago Fire” or Chicago deep dish pizza because it’s doughy, thick-as-a-brick Dick Wolf-created overhyped empty calorie viewing that puts me in an instant coma. The series is a churn of “been there seen that” formulaic arcs so overdone and quite frankly as far from “riveting” (as NBC describes it) as a TV show can get. You want riveting? Tune into BBC America’s “Killing Eve” or Netflix’s “Ozark.”

Difficult to watch because of the depth of “how many things are so wrong right now” perspective: HBO’s ”Vice News’” boots on the ground reporting (especially the in-depth reports turned in by Gianna Toboni and Isobel Yeung) on the frustrating and gutting environmental, social, cultural and political subjects that seem to have little to no solution to fix anytime soon.

Diane Gordon (@thesurfreport), Freelance

For me, it’s a tie between “Who Is America?” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Sacha Baron Cohen is hard at work satirizing America’s variety of messes but the show is hardly a comedy. I know that’s the point but the overall effect of the show is that it’s tedious to watch. Each episode feels like the longest half-hour ever.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” became torture porn in Season 2, yet managed to include a strong performance from Yvonne Strahovski as Commander Waterford’s wife. I’m still at a loss as to how they did that as the writing was uneven. June/Offred’s intentions and motives became increasingly muddy as the season progressed, and her actions at the end of the season seemed out of character. It made for an unsatisfying ending to a painful-to-watch season. I still think the show’s themes are important but the next season has to find some kind of balance.

Todd VanDerWerff (@tvoti), Vox

I find all current TV shows difficult to watch. The endless onslaught of new programs that I’m supposed to care about for professional or personal reasons has reached a sheer level of overwhelmingness that I can hardly comprehend. I would like to request that Hollywood stop making new TV shows, so I can maybe have a couple of seconds to watch this cool new Hungarian series some guy was telling me about. Thank you, Hollywood.

Ben Travers (@BenTTravers), IndieWire

Setting aside shows I have to cover but otherwise would never, ever watch, as well as the many I enjoy watching but would prefer to skip in favor of books, movies, hiking, travel, and reruns of “Friday Night Lights,” I’d have to go with “Better Call Saul.” I’m not a naysayer in terms of the AMC prequel’s quality, and time has proven my ability to not just admire, but enjoy programs others find relentlessly sad. Yet the image presented right at the start — of Gene sitting alone and terrified in his home — is unshakable. That’s the future “Better Call Saul” is approaching, and witnessing a good man’s rise and fall when we know everything he’ll lose is simply too much for me. Investing in his fate as well as the fate of other characters whose endings are known isn’t rewarding enough, or perhaps I’m too scared, as well.

Q: What is the best show currently on TV?*

A: “Sharp Objects” (five votes)

Other contenders: “Animal Kingdom,” “Big Brother,” “Castle Rock,” “Casual,” “Detroiters,” “GLOW,” “Somebody Feed Phil,” “Succession” (one vote each)

*In the case of streaming services that release full seasons at once, only include shows that have premiered in the last month.

1. “BoJack Horseman” Season 5 (available September 14)

Why Should I Watch? “BoJack Horseman” is the story of a horse who used to be a TV star, isn’t all that famous anymore, and now just gets drunk all the time to keep living in the past. This, in an of itself, is a pretty funny premise. Sure, Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s animated series can delve into existential darkness with the same force of a “Mad Men” or a “True Detective,” but it remains a comedy throughout — frames are filled with visual jokes, interstitial transitions are quick, silent puns, and the charming character design always evokes a light, calming tone. How the great series balances its heavy material with laugh-out-loud comedy makes it uniquely powerful, as well as a must-watch, year after year.

Bonus Reason: “BoJack Horseman” has been on every single best-of-the-year list IndieWire has written (No. 10, No. 5, No. 1, and No. 5, respectively). It won top honors in 2016, and it’s never seen a significant drop-off in quality. There’s no reason to think Season 5 won’t be one of the year’s most resonant programs, so do yourself a favor, and put this at the top of your to-do list.

2. “Maniac” Limited Series (available September 21)

Justin Theroux in “Maniac”

Michele K. Short / Netflix

Why Should I Watch? Ha! Fooled ya! Dedicated fans of this column (as if there are any) likely noticed the promo image up top isn’t of “BoJack Horseman”; typically, the picture matches the most anticipated series of the month, but September is special. There are too many exciting shows to play things by the book, so consider the prominent placement of Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s underrated gem a reminder of its excellence and the extra photo of “Maniac” a signal to IndieWire’s above-average enthusiasm for Cary Fukunaga’s return to television.

Bonus Reason: OK, pretending IW’s endorsement isn’t enough, there are endless reasons to sample “Maniac.” For one, it’s Fukunaga’s first trip back to the small screen since “True Detective.” For another, it’s Emma Stone’s first TV show and an amazing cast in general: Jonah Hill, Sally Field, and the ex-International Assassin pictured above, Justin Theroux. Get jazzed, people. This trip — about two broken people who test the promise that new pills can fix their minds — is going to be worth taking, no matter why you get on board.

3. “American Vandal” Season 2 (available September 14)

“American Vandal”

Netflix

Why Should I Watch? “American Vandal” started satirizing true crime series at the peak of their power, and — lucky for viewers — the faux docuseries proved just as good at taking the genre down a peg as the genre has proven efficient at exposing flaws in the criminal justice system. After an Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning first go, the only questions was: Can Season 2 do it again? Short answer: Yes. Documentarians Peter Maldonado and Sam Ecklund take their investigative skills to an elite Catholic school where they’ll try to answer: Who is the Turd Burglar? That’s right. Co-creators Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault, as well as showrunner Dan Lagana, wisely decided to move from dick jokes to poop jokes, and the results are as squeamish as they are hysterical.

Bonus Reason: Need more? Why not a whole review? IndieWire’s Steve Greene got the early scoop on Season 2 and gave it a rave. Read on, and don’t worry: It’s spoiler-free.

4. “The Good Cop” Season 1 (available September 21)

Tony Danza in “The Good Cop”

Michele K Short/Netflix

Why Should I Watch? “The Good Cop” is built from intriguing pieces which could fall into place as easily as they fall apart. On the one hand, Tony Danza is back on TV! Sure, the former “Who’s the Boss?” star has popped up over the years in everything from “Broad City” to the too-quickly-departed Seeso series, “There’s…Johnny!”, but “The Good Cop” puts him on a widely accessible service in a broadly appealing comedy. And then there’s his partner-in-crime, Josh Groban. The crooner has also spent the last decade or so sneaking into random roles through shows like “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” but playing a cop — and the son of Danza’s former cop, Tony Sr. — offers him his first series regular role and at least one of his first significant challenges.

Bonus Reason: Who doesn’t like an odd couple comedy? Tony Sr. (Danza) is a street-wise wild card kind of guy; a former NYPD officer who never played by the rules. Now, he’s mentoring Tony Jr. (Groban), a new NYPD detective who’s a little too by-the-book on and off the street. Together, perhaps they’ll make for one good cop, but you won’t know unless you watch! (OK, maybe this critic is trying to sell himself on a show he has to watch & review. Thank you for indulging me, and make good choices out there, guys.)

“BoJack Horseman” is poised to become Netflix’s longest-running comedy. But if this first look at the latest chapter is any indication, we’re in for a little more introspection than even “BoJack” fans are used to.

Last season, BoJack (Will Arnett) found an unexpected new family member in Hollyhock (Aparna Nancherla). With Season 5, BoJack’s return to the small screen finds the rest of the usual cast of characters back in their own personal journeys: Princess Caroline’s learning the ropes of a new job, Hollyhock is off away from Chez Horseman, and Mr. Peanutbutter is back as a working actor, just like his equine pal.

This season is headed to Netflix later this year, but as announced last month, “BoJack” repeats will air on Comedy Central in the fall. (Time will tell if this is all a secret plan for a “Hollywoo Stars and Celebrities: What Do They Know? Do They Know Things? Let’s Find Out!” live-action spinoff.) In the meantime, that BoJack “Ugh” getting repeated over and over again is like the animated anthropomorphic horse version of the “A Serious Man” trailer.

In addition to the legendary work from Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Paul F. Tompkins, Aaron Paul, and Alison Brie, Season 4 guest stars Natalie Morales, Abbi Jacobson, and Rami Malek are back too. Among the new additions to this year’s cast include Stephanie Beatriz, Hong Chau, and more.

Watch the full trailer (including a truly horrifying handface version of Todd?!) below:

“BoJack Horseman” Season 5 premieres September 14 on Netflix.

It’s funny, how a show that might be about a totally dysfunctional talking horse might be a pretty good role model for how to approach life. “BoJack Horseman,” the Netflix animated comedy soon to premiere its fifth season, is a show unafraid to take chances, to try new things, to acknowledge criticism, and to work to get better — all factors that speak to humanity operating at its very best.

Set in a brightly colored, not-really-that-satirical version of Hollywood, where anthropomorphized animals mingle with humans and no one feels like they’re living their best lives, “BoJack” is a show that has always used comedy to present viewers with real musings about life, especially as reflected through the stories we tell ourselves. Sure, it may be a TV show about a talking horse-man, but it’s a show about a talking horse-man whose early sitcom success bought him a house but not happiness, and whose addiction issues and other dysfunctions continue to haunt him, and also adversely affect the people in his life.

As with seasons past, much of Season 5’s plot revolves around whatever the latest development in BoJack’s career might be: In this case, as set up by the end of Season 4, this year’s focus is on the grim and gritty detective drama “Philbert,” greenlit to series by the website WhatTimeIsItRightNow.Com (and yep, the URL works), which as you might expect has some points to make about the nature of grim and gritty prestige TV in John Landgraf’s newly-anointed “gilded age of television.”

“BoJack” definitely has its fun with this element of the storyline over the course of the season, especially with Rami Malek reprising his role from Season 4 as tortured showrunner Flip McVicker. (Casting the star of “Mr. Robot” as the creator of a complicated and dense drama is a meta delight that’s incorporated beautifully into the narrative, with some brilliant jabs targeted towards TV nerds.)

“BoJack Horseman.”

NETFLIX

But it also, at a key point, takes a hard look at the meaning of that fun — what it costs its characters, what it says about the world we live in. In the beginning, “BoJack Horseman,” much like BoJack the man who is also a horse, has struggled with the question of what it means to be a good person. But Season 5 advances the question one step further: What if you know you’ve done bad things… but still want to be good?

This is drawn out with the show’s signature commitment to experimentation on every possible level, leaning on its episodic structure to create breakout formats and new approaches to the show’s established traditions. Some of these experiments are more subtle than others, such as one episode where three supporting characters’ points-of-view are given the spotlight. But as in seasons past, the constant shifting in approach is a true blessing whether bingeing or not; the distinction between each installment ensures that each episode stands out.

Meanwhile, it is an almost inevitable fact that the #MeToo movement makes its impact on the season, capturing a number of nuances to why women speak out — and why they don’t. But its primary impact plays into the show’s ongoing, yet ever-evolving, engagement with these questions of morality, of choices made and regretted.

Because yes, there are signs of characters legitimately trying to move forward; again, no spoilers, but everyone, including BoJack, faces important relationship shifts and new complications in their professional and personal lives.

That said, how they approach them varies wildly, and Season 5 witnesses some real darkness as lines are crossed on no shortage of levels. A commonly accepted definition of insanity is the idea of doing the same thing, over and over again, and expecting a different result. But while it’s insanity to keep repeating your actions and expecting change to miraculously happen, it’s also the trap made possible by the sort of self-delusion that BoJack (the guy) can’t seem to escape.

“Bojack Horseman”

Netflix

Each new season has always made a point of delivering on the familiar established tropes (Mr. Peanutbutter really needs to find a new sign-maker), while never being afraid of callbacks to jokes from seasons back, even just for a one-shot visual gag. Sometimes, to be honest, certain riffs can feel a little overplayed (such as the “Are you a…” rambles). But what also keeps happening each year is the continued evolution of the ensemble, building out their backstories in new and fascinating ways, making these two-dimensional cartoons some of the deepest, best-developed characters on television.

It helps that the voice work remains unmatched, with notable new guest stars including Stephanie Beatriz (who at certain points totally steals the season), Hong Chao, Daveed Diggs, Issa Rae, Brian Tyree Henry, Wanda Sykes, and Bobby Cannavale. And the main cast remains in top form — there’s one episode in particular where, if Will Arnett doesn’t get a 2019 Emmy nomination for his 25 minutes of voice work, we should just burn Hollywoo[d] to the ground.

But as extraordinary as the voice cast might be, it’s the quality of the storytelling which keeps our fascination. Even in the episodes which revel in delightful full-fledged farce, there is such depth of feeling to “BoJack,” such investment in its message. But the show’s beating heart also still somehow manages to stay engaged with its big ideas. You can hate its characters for the mistakes they make or the lines they cross, but their humanity feels truly real. Even if they’re not, technically, human.

Grade: A

“BoJack Horseman” Season 5 premieres Friday, September 14 on Netflix. 

[Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for “BoJack Horseman” Season 5, including the ending.]

BoJack Horseman is holding himself accountable, and so is “BoJack Horseman.” By the end of another remarkable season, the eponymous horse on two feet walks himself into a rehabilitation facility with the help of his friend, Diane (voiced by Alison Brie). BoJack (Will Arnett) spends Season 5 trying to get better, but his best efforts are undermined by unavoidable circumstances (his mom dies) and past mistakes (nearly sleeping with a teenage girl). Near the end of the new episodes, he snaps and chokes his female co-star, Gina (Stephanie Beatriz). So he’s lucky to have a friend remaining who can usher him toward getting help.

In a way, Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s series didn’t have such a friend. Of course, it never committed any narrative sin as heinous as what BoJack has done, but it only received encouragement despite traversing rocky terrain. The Netflix original has been critically hailed in each of its five seasons. Aside from freshman year, which was sabotaged by critics (like this one) who didn’t know what to make of the first six episodes, the dark comedy has earned enough raves to justify shifting to autopilot; to keep following its drunk, narcissistic antihero without second-guessing what, exactly, viewers were taking away from his increasingly distressing adventures.

“BoJack” Season 5 is built around personal accountability. As meta and insightful as ever, Netflix’s best series mirrors the growth of its star by accepting controversial associations and taking measures to make sure it doesn’t become the very thing it satirizes. This year, that “thing” is explicitly “Philbert,” BoJack’s new detective drama that’s so dark it uses “darkness as a metaphor for darkness.” But it’s also issues of representation and normalization brought on by comparing “BoJack” to series made about (or by) problematic men. It may be clear to some what separates “BoJack,” “Mad Men,” and “Breaking Bad” from series about bad men doing bad things for the sake of looking cool, sounding cool, or otherwise appealing to audiences for the wrong reasons, but Season 5 reinforces those barriers until they’re basically impenetrable.

So it’s befitting that to kick off a season of accepting past errors, Bob-Waksberg gave an honest interview to Slate’s Inkoo Kang on the series’ “original sin”: casting a white actress to play an Asian-American character. The controversy surrounding Diane has been circulating for some time, but the creator first addressed the issue head-on in 2018, both on Twitter and in interviews. Given the journey Diane takes to Vietnam in Season 5, “BoJack” is prepared to address representation issues like it hasn’t in the past — certainly dozens of articles will address how well the episode works from perspectives more valuable than mine — but there’s decisive action taken beyond her character throughout the new season.

“BoJack Horseman”

Netflix

In the opening episode, BoJack starts to notice similarities between himself and his character. “I don’t like Philbert,” BoJack says. “He’s a drunk, he’s an asshole. I don’t want to be him.” Of course, he has to be — it’s his job — but the show doesn’t. “BoJack Horseman” doesn’t have to be “Philbert,” and even when the characters begin to reflect each other’s worst vices, “BoJack” draws clear lines between what it’s doing and what “Philbert” becomes. At one point, Diane even draws a chart for BoJack to outline the dangers of normalizing bad behavior.

In fact, every time “BoJack” holds up that mirror and acknowledges the comparisons, it further distances itself from the problem. When Diane draws the chart, she’s trying to illustrate why Vance Wagonner (Bobby Cannavale) — a character who starts as a Mel Gibson stand-in but ends up representing so many more bad men — shouldn’t be allowed back into Hollywoo’s good graces. But when Vance isn’t cast in the show, it quickly becomes clear that the problematic person is BoJack himself. Diane hears the tape recording of BoJack discussing how he almost slept with a teenage girl (which dates all the way back to the end of Season 2), and as she starts to wrestle with who BoJack really is, the audience is reminded of his many serious slip-ups.

Meanwhile, BoJack’s quest for self-improvement repeatedly hits road blocks. His job won’t let him get any distance from his dark side. He’s attracted to a co-worker who doesn’t want to date him seriously (at least, at first). His mother dies. Hollyhock (Aparna Nancherla) forces him to confront his pill addiction by accidentally dumping them down the toilet, and, oh yeah, BoJack is addicted to painkillers. Painfully ironic and real, the very crutch BoJack leans on to help him through these hard times turns into his primary vice. Not only does it send him driving head-first into traffic (in order to have a legitimate excuse for more pain pills), but soon he’s so hopped up on drugs he can’t distinguish between role and reality.

It’s then that BoJack snaps. In a blackout from overdoing his meds, he can’t stop himself from choking Gina even after the director yells cut — BoJack and Philbert have blended into one maniacal criminal. And as so often happens for rich and famous men, he’s let off the hook. Gina won’t press charges (and even defends him on camera) because she doesn’t want to be defined by his story. She’s finally being recognized for her acting, and she knows if she goes after her assaulter, she’ll always be known for that instead of her work. Another woman’s career would be lost because of a man’s violence.

“BoJack Horseman”

Netflix

It takes seeing all that for “BoJack” Season 5 to really hit home, just like it takes Diane actually watching “Philbert” to understand why it’s so harmful. “I made him more vulnerable, and that made him more likable, which makes for a better TV show, but if ‘Philbert’ just makes it easier for dumb assholes to rationalize their behavior we can’t put it out there,” she says. It’s exactly why “BoJack” tells this story: to exemplify the dangers of normalizing bad behavior by openly engaging with the issue head-on. “BoJack” doesn’t normalize such behavior. If anything, it goes out of its way to show the drastic consequences of BoJack’s actions. But it can still be very, very funny, and people who watch just for laughs may skirt over some of its more salient points about responsibility. By letting BoJack off the hook with Gina, the show (again) forces its character to take responsibility for his actions.

Again, Diane gives a speech, and again, she’s right on the mark. “No one is going to hold you accountable,” she tells BoJack outside the rehab center. “You need to take responsibility for yourself.” The series has done exactly that already — you could say Season 5 has been in rehab all along, but let’s not. It’s been self-evaluating in a way few people were demanding, yet none should be surprised to see. Bob-Waksberg’s comedy is constantly, persistently, and keenly in tune with its own identity, just as BoJack struggles to be. He’s been obsessed with being loved, then being seen as good, then being good, and only now is he starting to realize “there’s no such thing as ‘bad guys’ and ‘good guys,'” as Diane says. “You’re never going to be ‘good’ because you’re not ‘bad.'”

The speech actually drew to mind another moment from Season 2 — its motto, if you will. “Every day, it gets a little easier,” the bearded monkey jogger tells BoJack. “But you gotta do it every day — that’s the hard part.” The most BoJack can hope for is trying to be a better person; an honest effort toward self-improvement is all anyone can really ask of anyone else. It’s what we so often don’t see from famous men who keep repeating the same mistakes, or refuse to acknowledge mistakes when seeking forgiveness. BoJack is on the right path now, and yes, he’s been there before. But seeing the effort makes all the difference in being able to identify with his journey and empathize with his struggle.

Before he checks into rehab, it’s hard to separate BoJack and everything he’s done wrong with someone like Vance Wagonner. But it’s not hard to see the difference between “BoJack” and “Philbert.” It’s done the work to get better, even when it was already great.

“BoJack Horseman” Season 5 is streaming now on Netflix.