WhenBoJack Horsemanintroduced the season 2 subplot in which the movie studio planned to use BoJack’s likeness for the upcoming biopicSecretariatin case they liked it more than Horseman himself, it was supposed to be nothing more than a satirical joke on Hollywood’s ruthlessness. Eight years later, they were seemingly ahead of the curve.After it was announced that Hollywood had plans touse AI to use an actor’s likenessto save themselves money, fans ofBoJack Horsemanwere quick to point out that theNetflixshow had called this happening in 2015 when they made that very joke in “Brand New Couch.“RELATED:Netflix’s One Piece Live Action: Every Detail Fruit In Season 1DiscussingFilm’s Twitter accountfirst broke the news about Hollywood’s plans with Artificial Intelligence. “The studio’s A.I. proposal to SAG-AFTRA included scanning a background actor’s likeness for one day’s worth of pay and using their likeness forever in any form without any pay or consent.“Clarkisha Kent’s Twitter Accountthen pointed out thatBoJack Horsemanmade a joke about this before it even happened, saying, “I’m literally crying because this is nearly bar-for-bar on what was said in an episode of BoJack Horseman. When I tell you these studios are CARTOONISHLY EVIL.”
In the show, producer Lenny Turteltaub used the AI more as a precaution in case BoJack did not work as the film’s lead and would preferably use the AI to fit what he was going for with the movie. BoJack left the film’s set because he didn’t like that the movie - which he initially saw as a passion project - wasn’t what he wanted it to be. After he left, the film ultimately decided to use the version of himscanned from Artificial Intelligence, which in part led to the film being a hit. Of course, the joke then wasn’t so much about actors being expendable as much as it was that BoJack should have trusted the film’s production.
Again, it was all supposed to be a satire on how Hollywood can easily dispose of actors if they get the chance to, but now we have proof that it turned out not to be a joke. During its heyday,BoJack Horsemanwas goodat calling out some of Hollywood’s dark truths that previous shows would not have touched. Before #MeToo exploded, the show pointed out that male celebrities never faced any repercussions career-wise despite objective proof of their shady past or that living the life of a famous actor ostracizes you in society more than anything else. These clever commentaries madeBoJack Horsemanone of the best of its time.
Even better,BoJack Horsemanproved to be much likeThe Simpsonswhen they inadvertently predicted the futureduring their golden age. It may seem like a distant memory now, but the show predicted Donald Trump’s presidency, video chats, and smartwatches, and they unintentionally predicted that 9/11 would happen. It seems like the most clever shows are somehow the ones that know something that we all don’t.
