American anthology TV series
| Cake |
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| Genre | Psychedelic
Anthology series
Adult animation
Comedy |
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| Country of origin | United States |
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| Original language | English |
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| No. of seasons | 5 |
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| No. of episodes | 47 (+8 specials) (list of episodes) |
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| Executive producers | Michelle Simunovic
Monina Verano |
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| Producer | Julia Grimm |
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| Running time | 22 minutes |
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| Production companies | SLAQR
FXP |
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| Network | FXX |
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| Release | September 25, 2019 (2019-09-25) –
December 9, 2021 (2021-12-09) |
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| Dicktown |
Cake is an American live-action/adult animated anthology television series that premiered on FXX on September 25, 2019. The series features an assortment of short-form comedy.
The second season premiered on March 5, 2020.[1][2] The third season premiered on July 9, 2020.[3] The fourth season premiered on March 11, 2021.[4] The fifth season premiered on September 30, 2021.[5]
Premise
The episodes of the series consists of multiple short segments, both live action and animated. Each episode contains a season length "anchor" miniseries with various other shorts filling out the remaining time. The first season has been described by the creator as similar in tone to 500 Days of Summer with the second season having a more traditional comedy vibe. Highlights of the series include "Oh Jerome, No", "Quarter Life Poetry", "Drifters", "Two Pink Doors" "Shark Lords" and "Walt".[6]
Broadcast
International release
In Canada, instead of airing on the Canadian version of FXX, the first three seasons were released on Disney+ via the Star hub on February 22, 2021.[10] In Latin America, the series was released on Star+ on August 31, 2021.[11] In Australia and New Zealand, the first four seasons are currently available to stream on Disney+.[12] In Denmark, the first five seasons were added to Disney+ on February 23, 2022.[13]
Reception
Critical response
Steve Greene of IndieWire described Cake as an "ideal variety series for TV in its current form," writing, "Through it all, most — if not all — of “Cake” occupies a valuable middle ground of surreality that lets these creative visions flourish. The series standout element, Alex Karpovsky and Teddy Blanks’ “Oh Jerome, No” is an ongoing catalogue of anxieties and tiny successes and missed opportunities of the titular New Yorker (Mamoudou Athie). There’s a very specific way that Athie responds to the ups and downs of Jerome’s misadventures, but that constant push and pull between expectation and reality is what “Cake” is built on. So as the battle for streaming supremacy escalates and platforms look for totemic properties to build viewership around, let’s hope that there’s room for shows like “Cake” that don’t conform to one easy definition or one corner of the audience. Even with a tiny slice, life’s better with more flavors."[14] Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter called Cake an "intriguing mishmash of live-action and animation," saying, "Interesting micro-story? Sure. Funny? Sometimes. Original? Meh. But maybe that’s how Cake will go each week — viewers get presented with a grab-bag of visual goodies and if they don’t like one thing then something else will be right behind it. On some level this plays into people being on their screens — especially phones — for shorter amounts of time and thus (possibly?) wanting shorter bits. There’s a whole company — Quibi — spending a ton of money betting on that concept. But it’s difficult to pull off. At least in a half hour like Cake, it’s less about searching for just the right quick bite and more about waiting to let it roll onto your screen, with no rules about what it will look like or what it will mean. It’s certainly worth checking out future episodes to see if the concept works."[15]
Accolades
