Tubi has confirmed the development of the Breaking Bear animated comedy series for adults. Creepshow creators Cartel Entertainment and Tom DeLonge’s To The Stars Media are behind the new show, along with Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia helmer and producer Julien Nitzberg (Monsters of California). This is part of Tubi’s larger push to increase the variety of adult animation it offers. Although the name indicates otherwise, Breaking Bear is actually a satire of traditional mafia dramas like The Sopranos, with a dash of Yogi Bear thrown in for good measure.
The show follows three bear siblings who must enter the illegal drug trade to protect their cave from oil firms planning to frack in the area. As the plot develops, the bears recruit other forest creatures to aid them in their fight against oil firms, the Russian Mafia, local Hell’s Angels, and racist polar bears. In addition to DeLonge (Poet Anderson: The Dream Walker), Creepshow veterans Stan Spry, Jeff Holland, and Eric Woods make up the bulk of Breaking Bear’s executive production crew. Through Cartel, Bradford Bricken (Twelve Forever) also serves as an executive producer. Nitzberg not only created the series but also acts as the showrunner and executive producer.
Nizberg has directed a variety of documentaries and shorts in addition to producing three episodes of Mike Judge Presents: Tales From the Tour Bus, but his most well-known work is The Wild and Wonderful Whites. For the Love of a Glove, his most recent off-screen musical, has been well received, and The Beastly Bombing, winner of the Critics’ Musical of the Year Award, has garnered both praise and controversy. Despite his prominence as Blink-182’s vocalist, DeLonge has quietly established himself as a seasoned writer and producer via a series of films and documentaries.
His directorial debut, Monsters of California, includes Richard Kind, Casper Van Dien, and Arianne Zucker, and was co-written by him and Ian Miller as a “coming-of-age tale with a sci-fi twist.” In addition, he was the executive producer of Poet Anderson: The Dream Walker, which won the award for outstanding animation at the Toronto International Short Film Festival. The Cartel’s idea of a series featuring animated animals in the roles of mobsters “was an offer I couldn’t resist,” said Adam Lewinson, a chief content officer at Tubi. After the huge success of The Freak Brothers, this is the ideal project to further establish Tubi as a place to go for adult humour.
Recently, Tubi has been making a bigger deal about its adult cartoon offerings, with The Freak Brothers starring Pete Davidson, John Goodman, and Woody Harrelson as its flagship show. The platform is growing with the addition of three original animated movies from Bento Box Entertainment: Pastacolypse, Millenial Hunter, and Big Bruh. There is currently no set date for the debut of Breaking Bear.