Adult Swim, the overnight programming block on Cartoon Network dedicated to more experimental and adult-oriented animation, has debuted a new show with a tie to Bakersfield.
Adult Swim's newest animated comedy Royal Crackers follows the Hornsby family as they try to restore their family cracker company to its former stature.
For the family, each move the business makes is very high stakes, and to show creator Jason Ruiz, the absurdity is what caught his attention.
"I just thought it'd be funny to do a show for this family, like a family business, like the stakes for them were so high, but to anyone looking in from the outside, it just felt like what are you..? Who cares about this crappy cracker company?" said Ruiz.
And that's how the idea began. Once Adult Swim picked up the show, Ruiz decided to fill the story with things he loved, including nu-metal and Bakersfield.
"We wanted to pay homage to Bakersfield very, you know, kindly," Ruiz said.
Although originally from Stockton, Ruiz says he visited Bakersfield and always loved the look of the city, even basing a fictional burger spot on a fast food restaurant right here.
"I just wanted to do a show set in like a, sort of a, Arizona-y, but I didn't want to do Arizona," said Ruiz.
Bakersfield offered Ruiz the desert vibe he needed, and he says everything fell into place when he added nu-metal as a focal point of the show, with one of the main characters, Theo, as a bass guitarist trying to relive his glory days.
"Bakersfield is arguably the nu-metal Mecca. I mean, that's where Korn's from and all these nu-metal bands I grew up with, and I knew that nu-metal was going to be, oddly, a weird focal point of the show," said Ruiz.
Ruiz goes on to say that the interactions between all the characters creates real emotional moments that anyone can relate to.
"As silly as it can be, and as crazy as it can be and all that, the show has moments of very serious, emotional, deep things," said Ruiz.
Royal Crackers Executive Producer Seth Cohen says developing the relationship between the Hornsby brothers elevates the conflict and allows the audience to reflect on why we care so much about the small things.
"We want you to care and be invested because then things are funny. You know, you can take those characters super high and super low, and fight with each other and love each other, but those moments, the comedy moments, will hit harder when you care about them, and so will the emotional moments," said Cohen.
As a comedy producer for the last couple years, Cohen says he's watched funny shows, but they don't bring hard laughs. He hopes to change that for Royal Crackers viewers.
"You make an agreement with the audience like, 'Hey, we're going to bring this, and if you like it show up,' and you should never sort of violate that trust," said Cohen.
Adult Swim has already greenlit a second season of the show, and Ruiz says he hopes people continue to watch every week.
"I want everyone in the world to be watching this show because it's entertaining," said Ruiz.
The first three episodes of Royal Crackers are currently streaming on HBOMax. New episodes premiere every week on Adult Swim, Sunday nights at 11.
