Bless the Harts

Bless the Harts is an American animated sitcom created by Emily Spivey for the Fox Broadcasting Company.[2] Debuting on September 29, 2019,[3] the series is executive produced by Spivey, Andy Bobrow, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Kristen Wiig and Seth Cohen. The series is a joint production between Fox Entertainment and its former corporate sibling, 20th Century Fox Television. The animation production is handled by Titmouse, Inc., with overseas animation services by Yearim and Digital eMation in Seoul, South Korea.[4] The show's title is based on the Southern phrase "Bless your heart".[5] On October 18, 2019, the series was renewed for a second season, [6] scheduled for a September 2020 debut.[7]

Bless the Harts
GenreAnimated sitcom
Created byEmily Spivey
Voices of
Music byAndrew Sherman[1]
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes10 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
Producer(s)
  • Aubrey Davis Lee
  • Eli Dolleman
Running time22 minutes
Production company(s)
Distributor20th Television
Fox Corporation
Release
Original networkFox
Picture format720p (HDTV)
Original releaseSeptember 29, 2019 (2019-09-29) –
present (present)
Chronology
Related showsKing of the Hill
External links
Official website

Emily Spivey and Andy Bobrow served as showrunners for the series' first season. Bless the Harts loosely shares a universe with King of the Hill, which ran on Fox from 1997–2009. Spivey cites King of the Hill as her major influence for creating Bless the Harts.[8]

Premise

Bless the Harts follows a working-class family living in North Carolina. The main protagonist, waitress Jenny Hart (Kristen Wiig), struggles to make ends meet. Her artistically talented daughter Violet Hart (Jillian Bell) and mother Betty Hart (Maya Rudolph) live with her along with her boyfriend Wayne (Ike Barinholtz), and there are other recurring characters also in the series.[2] The show's creator Emily Spivey has stated that it is based on her life growing up in High Point, North Carolina and is set in the state's Triad region. The name of the show's fictional town, Greenpoint, is a portmanteau of Greensboro and High Point.[5][9]

Cast and characters

Main
  • Kristen Wiig as Jenny Hart, a single mother who struggles to make money for her family[10]. She ran out on her wedding to local wealthy legend Don Reynolds, but not before she got pregnant with his daughter.[11][12]
  • Maya Rudolph as Betty Hart, Jenny's widowed mother. In "Jenny Unfiltered" her age is revealed to be 53.[13][14] Her husband Ed, Jenny's father, is dead but is mentioned multiple times throughout the series.
  • Jillian Bell as Violet Hart,[10] Jenny's daughter who loves art. Although sarcastic and cynical, she cares deeply about her family. She is either 13 years old (according to her voice actress[15]) or a preteen (according to Betty[16]). Reynolds is her biological father.[11]
  • Ike Barinholtz as Wayne Edwards, Jenny's boyfriend. He is the comic relief character.[10] Wayne's main goal is to win Violet's approval, though he has fears that he will never live up to Jenny's wealthy ex-boyfriend. Wayne is generally well-meaning, and his inner thought monologues reveal that he actually has serious and reflective concerns about being a good parental figure, but his outward attempts at expressing this usually fail awkwardly.[11][12]
  • Kumail Nanjiani as Jesus Christ, who appears as a figment of Jenny's imagination and acts as her conscience.

Recurring
  • Mary Steenburgen as Crystalynn, Betty's arch-nemesis
  • Drew Tarver as Randy, the town oddball and village idiot, and Charles Lee, a city councilman
  • Fortune Feimster as Brenda, Jenny's co-worker and friend[17]
  • Gary Anthony Williams as Leonard, Wayne's co-worker and friend
  • Emily Spivey as Louise, Jenny's boss, whose catchphrase whenever she enters is "Doot-dih-dih-doo."
  • Oscar Montoya as David, Violet's best friend
  • Christy Stratton as Dawn, a stripper and one of Jenny's friends[18]
  • Jeremy Rowley as Jimmy Lee, a city councilman and Mayor Webb, the mayor of Greenpoint
  • Rich Blomquist as Daniel, Louise's unfaithful husband.
  • Andy Bobrow as Bud, the owner of a strip club[19]
  • Kristen Wiig as Maykay Bueller, Greenpoint's news reporter[20]

Guest

Episodes
No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code		U.S. viewers
(millions)
1"Hug N' Bugs"Pete MichelsErin WagonerSeptember 29, 2019 (2019-09-29)1BPJ031.82[24]
Jenny gets the family water shut off after her payment bounces, so she tries to sell toys for cash, not knowing her mother Betty is buying them back. Meanwhile, Wayne discovers Violet's love for art and builds a building based on her drawings, only to get permits for it denied by the city hall.
2"Can't Get There from Here"Samantha ArnettEmily SpiveyOctober 6, 2019 (2019-10-06)1BPJ012.99[25]

Jenny picks up a second job as a stripper in order to make extra cash to send Violet to art school. Meanwhile, Wayne buys ostriches with his truck on collaterial to also help Violet, only to find out that they can't lay eggs.

Note: This is the original pilot of the series.[26][27]
3"Jenny Unfiltered"Bryan FrancisRich BlomquistOctober 13, 2019 (2019-10-13)1BPJ021.47[28]
After Betty tells the family the story of her old rich boyfriend, Violet takes Betty to visit his heir (guest voiced by Holly Hunter) when he died, which doesn't go according to her plan. Jenny takes both political sides of a statue at her job in an effort to earn extra tip money, but begins to question her morals and beliefs.
4"Cremains of the Day"Michael BaylisJulia Lillis Cohen & Jeremy RowleyOctober 20, 2019 (2019-10-20)1BPJ042.79[29]
Jenny tries to honor her deceased father on his favorite holiday, Halloween, by letting go of his remains left at the family home, but doesn't think she is ready to let them go. Violet and Leonard take Wayne ghost hunting to conquer his fear of ghosts.
5"Trash Twins"Samantha ArnettJanine BritoNovember 3, 2019 (2019-11-03)1BPJ051.33[30]
At Mega-Lo-Mart, a mysterious prankster skids their car in the parking lot, splashing Jenny and Betty with dirty street water. When Betty finds out it is her nemesis Crystalynn Poole, the two conspire revenge. Wayne deals with his misbehaving 10-year old Uncle Tommy.
6"Pig Trouble in Little Greenpoint"Pete MichelsChristy StrattonNovember 10, 2019 (2019-11-10)1BPJ062.31[31]
Wayne gets upset when Jenny enters him into a BBQ festival without his permission after he loses. Violet feels bad that animals are killed for human consumption, so she debates on whether or not to become a vegetarian. Betty runs into an old friend, a famous member (guest voiced by Stephen Root) of a beach band, who invites her to go on tour, so she must decide whether to go on tour with him or leave her family.
7"Myrtle Beach Memoirs"Samantha ArnettAndy BobrowNovember 17, 2019 (2019-11-17)1BPJ081.64[32]
When Randy hides in the Last Supper for 30 days and breaks the ceiling as a result, Jenny can't go to work. So the family decides to take a vacation to Myrtle Beach, to which they can't exactly afford. When Betty caves in to a timeshare, it’s up to Wayne to get her out. With the help of Violet, Jenny enters a mini-golf competition in order to win money to pay for the trip, but struggles against the last hole.
8"Mega-Lo-Memories"Michael BaylisEmily SpiveyNovember 24, 2019 (2019-11-24)1BPJ072.68[33]
At the Thanksgiving dinner table, when the microwave breaks down, Jenny tells the story of how she got the old microwave during a Black Friday shopping sprawl at the Mega-Lo-Mart, where she meets Wayne for the first time and loses Violet. Betty runs into Crystalynn in this flashback story where both work together to get a pair of pink boots, which another shopper was hoarding.
9"Miracle on Culpepper Slims Boulevard"Pete MichelsEmily SpiveyDecember 15, 2019 (2019-12-15)1BPJ092.72[34]
Louise forces Jenny and Brenda to attend her Christmas party this year to get a bonus, making Jenny feel insecure about her own Christmas traditions when she sees how differently both of them have it. But when Louise starts crying at her own party, it’s up to Jenny to help her out. Also at the party, Betty goes gambling, and Wayne gets influenced by a local theater legend (guest voiced by Chris Parnell).
10"Tying the Not"Michael BaylisLauren McGuireJanuary 12, 2020 (2020-01-12)1BPJ102.67[35]
After Violet's room gets caught on fire, Jenny and her family have to stay at Wayne's place for a few days, where Jenny picks pointless fights with him. Remembering her fears of marriage with ex-boyfriend Don Reynolds, when Jenny finds a ring in Wayne's drawer, she angrily forces Wayne to marry her. Meanwhile, after seeing a mystery television series in which Crystalynn guest-starred, Betty attempts to expose her murder incident as a lie.

Production

In September 2018, Fox gave the production a straight-to-series order for a first season consisting of thirteen episodes. The series was created by Emily Spivey, who was also expected to executive produce alongside Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Kristen Wiig, and Seth Cohen. Production companies involved with the series were slated to include 20th Century Fox Television and Lord Miller Productions, but with the Disney acquisition of 21st Century Fox, the Fox Corporation was added as a production company (also copyright holder) later on.[2] Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Jillian Bell, and Ike Barinholtz were cast in series regular roles.[2] Mary Steenburgen and Drew Tarver were later cast in recurring roles.[14]

The fictional superstore Mega-lo-Mart, which was first introduced in the Fox series King of the Hill, makes several appearances in Bless the Harts.[13] The series debuted on September 29, 2019,[3] and was renewed for a second season on October 18, 2019.[6]

On November 27, 2019, writer, showrunner, and executive producer Andy Bobrow confirmed that 3 of the episodes in season 1 would air in season 2 as holdovers.[36]

In April 2020, the show joined the rest of Fox's Animation Domination lineup in a partnership with Caffeine for the AniDom Beyond Show, a recap show hosted by Andy Richter. The hour-long program featured interviews with guests and live interactivity with fans online, with recaps for the episodes that aired through April and May.[37] While there was no Bless the Harts episode, on May 18, 2020, showrunner Andy Bobrow joined the show with other writers from the Fox Animation Domination lineup.

Syndication

Because of CityTV's deal with Fox, the show is also syndicated to Canada[38], airing new episodes the same day and time as the United States. The show is also available to stream on Hulu, and able to purchase on YouTube and iTunes.[39]

On April 28, 2020, the Finland Fox channel had announced that they had picked up the show for syndication from 20th Television. The show debuted in Finland May 9, 2020 in Finland and is available to stream on Ruutu free with commercials.[40]

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 82% based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "With an exceptional cast and a big heart to boot, Bless the Harts's particular worldview won't be for everyone, but it fits quite nicely into Fox's Animation Domination line-up".[41] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[42]

Bubbleblabber gave the first season a 6 out of 10, stating "this first season most definitely has more misses than hits in its line up which three more episodes likely wouldn’t have helped at this point. With this extra time to work on these and future episodes while taking in reception from this season, I think the next will really benefit in the long term. Plus, it gets the rare honor of being a new Fox animated show that actually GOT a second season, which has not happened since Bob's Burgers got its first renewal at the start of the decade. Fox is thinking outside the box to keep its adult animation thriving, which hopefully means more chances for exploration in future seasons. I’ll tell you what, these Harts are quite blessed to be given the chance to be Fox’s next enduring animated series."[43]

The Parents Television Council, a frequent critic of Fox Broadcasting Company animated comedies like Family Guy, gave the first episode a negative review.[44][45]

Ratings
Bless the Harts ratings
No. Title Air dateRating/share
(18–49)		Viewers
(millions)		DVR
(18–49)		DVR viewers
(millions)		Total
(18–49)		Total viewers
(millions)
1 "Hug N' Bugs" September 29, 20190.7/31.82[24]0.10.300.82.12[46]
2 "Can't Get There from Here" October 6, 20191.2/52.99[25]0.10.201.33.19[47]
3 "Jenny Unfiltered" October 13, 20190.6/31.47[28]0.10.220.71.69[48]
4 "Cremains of the Day" October 20, 20191.1/52.79[29]0.10.201.22.99[49]
5 "Trash Twins" November 3, 20190.5/31.33[30]0.10.170.61.51[50]
6 "Pig Trouble in Little Greenpoint" November 10, 20190.8/32.31[31]0.10.220.92.53[51]
7 "Myrtle Beach Memoirs" November 17, 20190.7/31.64[32]0.10.170.71.82[52]
8 "Mega-Lo-Memories" November 24, 20191.0/42.68[33]0.00.151.02.84[53]
9 "Miracle on Culpepper Slims Boulevard" December 15, 20191.0/42.72[34]0.00.171.02.89[54]
10 "Tying the Not" January 12, 20201.0/52.67[35]TBDTBDTBDTBD

References
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