Trivia / Tuca & Bertie

• Acclaimed Flop: Has a 100% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and received mostly-positive audience feedback, but Netflix passed on a second season due to low ratings. By the time it won an Annie for "Outstanding Writing," it had been canceled for eight months. This was one of the factors in [adult swim] eventually picking it up for more seasons.
• Adored by the Network:
  • [adult swim] HEAVILY promoted the second season, going as far as to set up a float in LA and New York City featuring giant inflatable versions of the characters sailing across the shore. They also threw shade at Netflix for cancelling the show after 1 season, and scheduled the premieres to air right after the premieres of Rick and Morty, which is by far their biggest show. They've also aired the show on an almost daily basis since its premiere. All of this was presumably done to make up for the lack of attention the show got on Netflix.
  • Two weeks after the series began airing on Adult Swim, TBS started airing the series giving the show extra airtime and promotion.
  • Adult Swim ordered a third season before season two finished airing.
• Channel Hop: From Netflix for the first season to [adult swim] for the second.
• Descended Creator: Executive producers Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong do the voices of Tuca and Bertie, respectively.
• Invisible Advertising: Part of why the first season received low ratings. Many Netflix users complained that it never appeared in their recommendations and those for whom it did only got them because they had watched Bojack Horseman.
• Late Export for You: The second season didn't start airing in Canada until almost a whole year after its US premiere.
• Network to the Rescue: A year to the day after its original lone season on Netflix, [adult swim] and Lisa Hanawalt announced a second season would finally be produced for 2021.
• No Dub for You: As a result to the Channel Hop from Netflix to Adult Swim, and also the lack of interest of foreign audiences on the show, the remaining seasons are shown with sub-only overseas, with the sole exception of Latin America so far.
• The Other Darrin: Tuca's older sister Terri is voiced by Taraji P. Henson in Season 1, but in Season 2 she's voiced by Natasha Rothwell instead.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Ali Wong's standup and public persona is arguably closer to the boisterous, unfiltered Tuca than the quiet, nebbish Bertie (though she admitted that she was more like Bertie in her real life).
  • Suave, commanding Pastry Pete is a far cry from Reggie Watts' deliberately awkward musical comedian stage persona. In fact, it's the first time he's played a completely fictional character.
• Production Posse: Much of the creative staff, including creator/designer Lisa Hanawalt, producer Raphael Bob-Weskerberg, director Amy Winfrey and production companies ShadowMachine and The Tornante Company, all worked on Bojack Horseman. Curiously enough, this also extend to the Latin American Spanish dub, as it was also done in the same voice acting studio (Henckahontas Studio in Los Angeles, CA) and with many members of the dub voice cast of the former working in this series.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor: Lesbian Jane Lynch voices the Butch Bisexual Coach Maple.
• Screwed by the Network: Despite a lot of praise from reviewers, it was not renewed by Netflix. A year later, the show would be rescued by Adult Swim for a second season, only for them to cancel it a second time on November 2, 2022 due to the Warner/Discovery merger.
• Those Two Actors: Before Randall Park voiced Bertie's father, he and Ali Wong both collaborated on Fresh Off the Boat and Always Be My Maybe.
• Un-Canceled: It was originally cancelled by Netflix after its first season, but was renewed for two more seasons by Adult Swim.
• What Could Have Been: The original promo image had Tuca wearing a pink shirt.
• Write What You Know: Bertie's experiences with sexual harassment were based on many unpleasant experiences Lisa Hanawalt herself had. She even admitted to excluding some of the more audacious details because they would read as too on-the-nose when presented in fiction.
• Write Who You Know: As mentioned under Author Avatar, many of Bertie's personal traits and quirks are ones that Lisa Hanawalt has admitted to having, such as getting turned on by chaste romantic comedies and her own relationship with her husband.

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