First of all, I love "Rick & Morty."
I think it's one of the funniest and best written television shows ever made.
I own a ton of "Rick & Morty" merchandise such as tee-shirts, five hour energy drinks, car fresheners, posters, slippers, even a Mr. Poopybutthole plush doll.
I'm eager to sit back and marathon this incredible series as a gift from God.
That being said, I think Netflix's "BoJack Horseman" is a little better.
A LITTLE.
Which is why even though I worship the ground that "Rick & Morty" walks on, I'm somewhat befuddled by how overwhelmingly popular it's become. Everywhere you go you'll find a store full of "Rick & Morty" merchandise you'd never think a show like that would be marketed in: Five Below, Target, and Barnes and Noble.
While I love the fact that one of my favorite shows is becoming wildly successful, I can't help but think that it's also stealing thunder from "BoJack."
I've seen plenty of good merchandise for "BoJack," but it's still not as mainstream as "Rick & Morty."
Perhaps that makes sense too: Even though "Rick & Morty" is all about being crazy and absurd, it still takes less risks and is less serious than "BoJack," therefore it's more appealing in the mainstream media.
This is why I've decided to point out 5 reasons why I think "BoJack" is a better show than "Rick & Morty" despite not being as popular.
And keep in mind: I am not taking any shots at "Rick & Morty," I love it to death!
I just think "BoJack" is SLIGHTLY better, the way I think The Beatles are slightly better than The Rolling Stones.
More Focus on Character Development
By the time Season 5 premiered on Netflix in 2018, BoJack Horseman branched out into a show of five main characters with each having their own storyline.
The title character, BoJack Horseman, of course, a washed-up alcoholic 90s TV star struggling with loneliness and depression.
His agent and ex-girlfriend (a cat), Princess Carolyn, who struggles with finding her true purpose in life and tries to start her own family.
Todd Chavez, a mid-twenties human who lives with BoJack as his roommate despite being toyed by him often. His wacky misadventures make for hilarity.
Mr. Peanutbutter (a dog), another 90s TV star but the opposite of BoJack in personality. His overwhelming optimism often conflicts when a real and complicated situation enters into his life.
And Mr. Peanutbutter's wife, Diane Nguyen, the ghost-writer of BoJack's biography who also struggles with depression and tries to fight through the disgusting patriarchy as a 3rd wave feminist.
All five of these main characters go through numerous peaks and valleys every season and are often at odds with each other.
I'm not saying that "Rick & Morty" doesn't have character development either, but most episodes start and end with the two main characters reset as their default selves.
Rick: A old genius asshole dragging Morty on adventures.
Morty: An insecure, scared, and often angry boy trying to get everything together.
Richer Timeline
It's funny to say this because "Rick & Morty" is all about time-traveling and alternative realities that make for a far more complex timeline.
Even so, "BoJack's" timeline and character history is incredible. Every season has certain stories or flashbacks to show why the characters are the way they are, going all the way back to when BoJack's mother was a kid during World War II.
From his mother's traumatic childhood to his parents meeting, to his rise of success in Hollywood (now Hollywoo) and betraying his best friend to save his career, BoJack's life of loneliness and depression was destined decades before he was even born.
Other flashbacks throughout the series give insight at how main characters became who they are such as Princess Carolyn's childhood struggles to make it out of poverty and Mr. Peanutbutter's cycle of relationships that always fall apart inevitably.
Even though the show is mainly about the BoJack's life from 2014 and beyond, the flashbacks fill in the blanks for each decade going back to the 1940s.
Even More Absurb Humor
You think "Rick & Morty" has absurd humor?
How about "BoJack's" absurdity? The kind of jokes and references you never expected to be mentioned on a regular basis.
The Halloween in January Store
Character Actress Margo Martindale
Secretariat dodging Vietnam by making an arrangement with President Nixon.
Hundreds of Spaghetti Stringers being delivered at Mr. Peanutbutter's house at the start of season three and becoming useful at the end of it.
"Did you know Avatar came out in 2009?"
WASSUP BITCHES?!
WHAT ARE YOU DOINNN HERE?!
"Everything is literally a metaphor"
KILL DAT FETUS
Whale strippers
Diisneyland
That's just the surface of some of the most ridiculous but brilliant jokes I've ever heard.
Tackles Heavy & Uncomfortable Issues
Abortion.
Sexual Assault.
Mass Shootings.
"BoJack Horseman" doesn't just make references to these situations, they dedicate entire episodes to them.
And somehow, they still manage to put in clever and funny jokes without being too offensive. You walk away from those special episodes having a better understanding about these deep-rooted issues in our country and around the world that otherwise seem unsolvable.
If there were a consistent theme and story for each season, it would be BoJack's constant fight with depression, and everything he does to help it.
If you never had depression or don't know enough about it, this show is perfect in getting inside the mind of someone who does in BoJack, showing just how hard it is to get out of it.
"Rick & Morty" does confront issues as well like divorce and family life, but that still gets pushed aside for it's spectacle adventures. "BoJack" takes time to look at them while still entertaining us.
"BoJack" Has Real Consequences
While "Rick & Morty" does show absurd consequences to absurb actions, it can still be fixed with a deus ex machina situation such as reversing the sequence of events, leaving a planet in disarray, or simply quitting one reality and entering another to start over.
Unlike a 30 minute sitcom where everything works out in the end (like the show BoJack starred in the 90s, "Horsin Around") the action BoJack and other characters take have long-lasting consequences that go beyound seasons.
BoJack has made many mistakes each season, from turning on his best friend and business partner, Herb Kazzaz, when the television studio fired him, to nearly sleeping with the teenage daughter of an old friend in New Mexico, to sleeping with his best friend's childhood sweetheart, to going on a drug spree with his old TV co-star and her dying because of it.
These characters and relationships aren't solved in the next episode, they all have to deal with them like people in real life and learn to live with them.
