[s3e2] The Bojack Horseman Show -

Fresh off the legacy of Horsin' Around , BoJack is desperate to be seen as a "serious artist." He has teamed up with Cuddlywhiskers, a Harvard-educated neurotic, to create something edgy, avant-garde, and profoundly depressing. The original pilot is a black-and-white existential nightmare where BoJack stares into a mirror for twenty minutes.

Enter the network executives. They hate the mirror. They hate the silence. They want "attitude." They want "edge" that appeals to teenagers who buy sugar-frosted cereal. Under pressure, the show begins a slow, agonizing transformation. The black-and-white film is replaced with neon lights. The existential dread is swapped for a catchphrase: "Wassup, bitches!" [S3E2] The BoJack Horseman Show

On the night of the premiere, BoJack sits in his mansion, surrounded by "friends" he barely knows. The title card flashes: The BoJack Horseman Show . Fresh off the legacy of Horsin' Around ,

"It’s about the emptiness of fame, Princess Carolyn!" BoJack shouts, nursing a scotch. "It’s high art!" They hate the mirror

The show was cancelled before the West Coast airing finished. BoJack spent the next seven years on his couch, rewatching Horsin' Around and wondering why the "serious art" felt so much lonelier than the sitcom.

"BoJack, honey," Princess Carolyn sighs, her eyes darting between her ringing phones. "The network doesn't want high art. They want the horse who says 'Whaaaat?' and slips on a banana peel. We need to find a middle ground before they pull the plug."

The screen shows BoJack urinating on a copy of the Horsin' Around DVD. The audience in the living room goes silent. On screen, the horse version of BoJack screams at a mailman for no reason. It isn't edgy; it’s just mean. It isn't high art; it’s a car crash in slow motion.