‘Bless The Harts’ is joining FOX’s Sunday night animated lineup. Creator Emily Spivey spoke with HL EXCLUSIVELY about casting her characters, playing ‘against the cliches’ of the South, and more.
Bless The Harts is a brand-new animated series premiering Sept. 29 on FOX. The TV show follows the Harts, a Southern family that is constantly broke and always trying to make ends meet. Through it all, they’ve got their friends, family, and so much laughter. HollywoodLife talked EXCLUSIVELY with the creator, executive producer, and showrunner Emily Spivey about the show that’s so near and dear to her heart.
The show is set in Greenpoint, North Carolina. Emily grew up in High Point, North Carolina, and she revealed there will be many Easter eggs for North Carolinians who watch. Emily also discussed casting Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Ike Barinholtz, and Jillian Bell as the voices of the Harts. She admitted “the stars aligned” when it came to casting because she “really wrote the show with all of these people in mind.”
What was the inspiration for this show was and how long has this show been in your head?
Emily Spivey: Well, it’s been in my head forever because my favorite things to write are Southern stories and feature Southern characters. Even at SNL, I loved to write Southern sketches. So from the time I was at King of the Hill, I was like, “God, this is so genius.” It’s like an Andy Griffith Show-type of feel, very humane, sweet comedy, but it’s set in Texas and Mike Judge gets to write about his hometown. So in my mind, I was always like that is the dream. When I started working with [Phil] Lord and [Christopher] Miller on Last Man on Earth and getting to know them, it became a no brainer because we were wanting to pitch a show together and then I said, “Hey, what about a King of the Hill but set in North Carolina?” That’s how it came about.
You have quite the stacked cast here with Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Ike Barinholtz, and Jillian Bell. When you were crafting these characters, did you have certain celebrities in mind?
Emily Spivey: I really did. Well, my approach was I’m just going to ask my talented friends and see how many of them are available or would be able to do it and if they’re interested. I really wrote the show with all of these people in mind. I always had Maya in mind for Betty and then Kristen and mind for Jenny. I wrote Violet for Jillian and Wayne for Ike. When people started saying yes, it was just truly a dream come true. I think it was like lightning in a bottle because everyone just happened to be available and the stars aligned for it to work out in that way so I’m just so grateful for it.
Can we expect lots of guest stars from your famous friends over the course of the season?
Emily Spivey: We’ve had some real fun ones so far. Holly Hunter is doing a voice. I love her accent. Mary Steenburgen, who’s a comedic genius and grew up with all these ladies too in Arkansas. She’s a voice on it. She plays Betty’s best frenemy on the show. Who else do we have? Stephen Root is doing a voice. Drew Tarver is doing a voice. Fortune Feimster is doing a voice.
Is there anyone that’s still on your bucket list? Maybe even someone from North Carolina?
Emily Spivey: Well, I need to have Ken [Jeong] on, first of all. I would love to have Ben Folds on. Billy Bob Thornton I would love to have on.
Is there any Southern trope or cliche that you really want to explore on the show?
Emily Spivey: What I’m trying to do is just make the characters as authentic as possible and to show different sides of Southerners. So it’s not just gun-toting, Hee Haw, back of a pickup truck. There are aspects of that, but there’s also more to Southern people than just that. So I always cite The Andy Griffith Show, but in a way that he just sort of lovingly told the stories of people he grew up with and things he observed about growing up in North Carolina. I just really am striving to do the same thing and just have it be authentic and not cliche. I definitely want to play against the cliches of it all.
Will there be Easter eggs for North Carolinians in the show?
Emily Spivey: Oh, yes. We talk about Myrtle Beach. We talk about shagging. There’s a whole episode about barbecue. It’s very slightly different and people are real passionate about which type of barbecue they like best. We do an episode about a statue that’s a monument to the founder of a big tobacco company and people want to take that statue down because it stands for smoking and cancer. I think there are a lot of things, especially people that are from the Triad. There are a lot of things that they’ll be very familiar with. The Jamestown ghost, Lydia. There’s a famous ghost story that’s based out of Jamestown and our Halloween episode is about her.
Sourse: hollywoodlife.com
