Updated on December 10, 2021
“Variety” reports that Netflix’s next major animated series will be a spinoff of “Mr. Peabody and Sherman,” the genius dog and his adopted boy from Jay Ward’s “Rocky and Bullwinkle.” Younger fans might recall the duo from last year’s “Mr. Peabody and Sherman” movie. While the movie received strong reviews (it has a 79% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes), it was didn’t do very well at the box office. The film’s gone on to appear on Netflix.
The new series is titled “The New Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show,” presumably to distinguish it from the original 60s shorts. The premise, following up from the end of the movie, sees the boy and dog outed to the world as time-travelers, and deciding to turn their new fame into a talk show. Guests for said talk show include various people from history. Chris Parnell of “Saturday Night Live” will voice Peabody, while the film’s Max Charles is back as Sherman.
Twitter’s Mike C., who’s working on the show as a pre-production artist, has this to say about the show’s cast:
@anthonysnotes@my2k Penny = no. Da Vinci, Marie Antoinette, Agamemnon = yes. And many, many more!!!
— Mike C = TikiMachine (@TikiMachine) August 6, 2015
So no Penny (the most prominent female character in the movie), but some of the others from the film will appear.
While the new simplified 2D designs are something I’d like to see in action to fully gauge, the premise sounds like it’ll be amusing—“Space Ghost: Coast to Coast” meets time travel. That or the talk shows on the old 90s historical time-hopping show “Histeria!”
I’m hoping the new series will see Peabody meet some more historical people of color—the movie had them meet King Tut, plus attend what I assume’s Jackie Robinson’s first Major League baseball game. Possible individuals off the top of my head: Madam CJ Walker? Benjamin Banneker? George Washington Carver?
The new show debuts on October 9, with 13 half-hour episodes.
