Young Love (Based On Hair Love Short)

[SweetShop209]

Remember that "Hair Love" short shown in theaters last year? Now it's getting a tv series for HBO Max. Here are some excerpts:

Oscar-winning 'Hair Love' short film will get a TV spin-off for HBO Max

The 12-episode show will expand the story of the Young family, who won hearts (and an Oscar) in 2019.

ew.com

"The new series, Young Love, will expand the story of the Young family from the short. The 12-episode first season will focus on millennial parents Stephen and Angela, daughter Zuri, and pet Rocky "as they juggle their careers, marriage, parenthood, social issues, and multi-generational dynamics all while striving to make a better life for themselves," according to a logline description.

Matthew Cherry created Young Love and will serve as showrunner with Carl Jones (The Boondocks). "

 

[Frontier]

I loved the short! Expanding it to a full-on animated series about a young, modern, black family sounds really cool .

Plus, HBOMax could use more cartoons .

 

[Daikun]

How did they get the rights so fast? Doesn't Sony own it?

 

[RainbowCupcake]

So is this going to be an adult animated show or aimed at families like the short was?

I loved the short, but so far I'm convinced that it should just remain a short.

 

[Frontier]

So is this going to be an adult animated show or aimed at families like the short was?

I loved the short, but so far I'm convinced that it should just remain a short.

I expect it'll be aimed at families. They have Close Enough for adults.

 

[SweetShop209]

It looks like Atomic Cartoons is animating the show.

 

[Frontier]

It looks like Atomic Cartoons is animating the show.

They've done good work. I think it's in good hands .

 

[RoyalRubble]

From the Press Release:

YOUNG LOVE, debuting on Max this Fall, expands on the animated short “Hair Love,” which centered around the relationship between an African American father, his daughter Zuri, and the most daunting task a father could ever come across – doing his daughter's hair for the first time. Filled with comedy and heart, the all-new Max Original animated series Young Love is an honest look into the world of the Young family – including millennial parents Stephen and Angela, their daughter Zuri and her pet cat Rocky – as they juggle their careers, marriage, parenthood, social issues and multi-generational dynamics, all while striving to make a better life for themselves.

Voices include Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi, Issa Rae, Loretta Devine, Harry Lennix, Tamar Braxton and Brooke Monroe Conaway.

Creator and Executive Producer: Matthew A. Cherry

Executive Producer: Monica Young for Blue Key Entertainment

Executive Producers: Karen Toliver and Carl Jones

Executive Producers: Carl Reed and David Steward II for Lion Forge Animation

Studio/Prod Co: Produced in partnership with Sony Pictures Animation.

EDIT:
Premieres on September 21.

 

[SuperSuck64]

A diversity-focused kids' cartoon on Max, yeah this is totally getting screwed over as soon as the suits are allowed to.

 

[harry580]

A diversity-focused kids' cartoon on Max, yeah this is totally getting screwed over as soon as the suits are allowed to.

not to mention, the t word supporters who still angry at nfl, bud light & disney (not trying to be political but still)

 

[Goldstar!]

not to mention, the t word supporters who still angry at nfl, bud light & disney (not trying to be political but still)

That won't be a factor at all. Those people think they're the majority, but they aren't. Just a very loud and vocal minority who believe (or pretend to believe) that they're hurting these companies by boycotting them, when in reality all they're doing is giving them free publicity. I could go on, but in order to avoid getting too political, I'll stop there.

Getting back to Young Love: It's cool that we're getting another animated series with a predominantly black cast and the art and animation is beautiful, but to speak the plain truth, this show just doesn't look very interesting. It's just a show about a family, their friends, neighbors and co-workers who do stuff. There's no twist. I predict that Young Love won't last long on Adult Swim, but not for the reason SuperSuck 64 says. Young Love sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the violent, dark, stonrerrific shows on the rest of AS' lineup, assuming that it aires on AS after streaming on Max. Cartoon Network tried to have a warm and fuzzy comedy on AS once before with Baby Blues, and we saw how well that turned out.

 

[Silverstar]

Here's an interesting bit of trivia: This show is the reason that the Nickelodeon animated series Made by Maddie didn't happen.

The designs of the main characters of Made by Maddie were almost identical to the lead characters in Hair/Young Love and people immediately began accusing the Maddie creators of ripping off the latter, to the point of Nick placing their show in indefinite limbo in order to "resolve the issue". Well that was back in 2020, and we haven't seen hide nor hair (sorry, couldn't resist) of Made by Maddie ever since.

 

[Rick Jones]

I loved the original short, and I've been looking forward to see how they pull off the series for a while. I just need to keep myself aware when it actually is out there.

It's pretty much forgotten now, and sadly for good reason, but the old Nick at Nite animated sitcom Fatherhood comes to my mind when I look at the promo material. I barely even remember anything specific from that show but I did watch and record it at the time.

 

[Frontier]

Looks cute, though I feel like the animation in the short was better than the clip from the series .

 

[RoyalRubble]

From EW's Fall TV preview-

Young Love (Sept. 21, Max)

The Young family is bringing viewers home. Picking up six months after the award-winning short film Hair Love, the show follows Zuri's family as they navigate their new normal with her mom Angela (Issa Rae) back from the hospital after a health scare. "Zuri is six-and-a-half going on 30. She acts older than she is, but still looks at the world as a kid," supervising director Mark Davis says about the central character played by newcomer Brooke Conaway. With Angela back home, Stephen (Scott Mescudi) is fighting for his big break as a music producer. "[Stephen's] art doesn't necessarily align with the business. His producing partner, voiced by Tamar Braxton, has more of a business sense whereas he doesn't necessarily want to make trendy music," he explains. Loretta Devine and Harry Lennix round out the incredible voice cast.

 

[Frontier]

From EW's Fall TV preview-

Young Love (Sept. 21, Max)

The Young family is bringing viewers home. Picking up six months after the award-winning short film Hair Love, the show follows Zuri's family as they navigate their new normal with her mom Angela (Issa Rae) back from the hospital after a health scare. "Zuri is six-and-a-half going on 30. She acts older than she is, but still looks at the world as a kid," supervising director Mark Davis says about the central character played by newcomer Brooke Conaway. With Angela back home, Stephen (Scott Mescudi) is fighting for his big break as a music producer. "[Stephen's] art doesn't necessarily align with the business. His producing partner, voiced by Tamar Braxton, has more of a business sense whereas he doesn't necessarily want to make trendy music," he explains. Loretta Devine and Harry Lennix round out the incredible voice cast.

Sounds like a really cute show .

 

[RoyalRubble]

Hollywood Reporter article plus a new trailer.

 

[Frontier]

Hollywood Reporter article plus a new trailer.

Looks like a very cute show .

 

[Zanneck]

I'm all for more good shows with Black protagonists - I'll see what's up when this comes out, actually.

 

[RoyalRubble]

More comments from Matthew A. Cherry.