Long Story Short creator reveals his feeling on following up critically acclaimed show BoJack Horseman

Long Story Short, the adult animated sitcom, was released on Netflix on 22nd August 2025. It is created by BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg, and follows a Jewish middle-class family through the years, in a non-linear way.

Bob-Waksberg is best known for creating BoJack Horseman for Netflix. Since the new sitcom is distinctly different from BoJack Horseman, the creative process must have been different as well. Raphael Bob-Waksberg opened up about creating the new family sitcom after BoJack Horseman in an interview with Variety.

Raphael Bob-Waksberg avoided creating Long Story Short after BoJack Horseman

If you've watched Long Story Short, you'd know that it is different from BoJack Horseman in story, tone, and even visuals. The new sitcom isn't as put-together or perfect when it comes to animation, and that is exactly what the creative team wanted.

Speaking to Variety about how he and Lisa Hanawalt envisioned the world of Long Story Short in comparison to BoJack Horseman, Raphael Bob-Waksberg said,

"We talked about making sure the show felt visually different from the other work we’ve done together, both “BoJack” and “Tuca & Bertie.” We didn’t want it to feel like BoJack himself could walk in at any moment. I think Lisa, even more so than I, really wanted that to be true. And because it is a more grounded world, we were looking for ways that it could feel a little more cartoon-y to cut against that, or hand-drawn. That was a big watchword for us: Make sure it feels like it was made by people, by hands — not by the straight line tool on the computer. So we wanted the lines to be a little wavy. We wanted the perspectives to be a little forced. We wanted the colors to be outside the lines a little bit."

What Bob-Waksberg said can be seen in the sitcom itself. When you watch Naomi, Elliot, Avi, Shira, and Yoshi through the various ups and downs of their lives, it is not only the dialogues and story that tells you who they are. The animation is done in such a way, that it immediately appears extremely humane. It is as if each frame has been hand-drawn, with its own unique imperfections.

Since it is a story about real people, and a real family with very real problems, who go through an extremely common journey, which is grief, the animation style complements the story immensely. Speaking about what he wanted the animation to portray, Bob-Waksberg continued,

"A big thing for us was feeling like we both had experiences where we see these early designs — or in her case, she draws these early designs — that are full of life and energy. Then they kind of go through the cartoon character machine, and then they lose something. We wanted to help hold onto that kind of handcrafted feeling, and make the world feel like it incorporated the happy accidents of the artists."

Long Story Short has been renewed for a second season. Both Long Story Short and BoJack Horseman are streaming on Netflix.

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Edited by Sohini Biswas