The wait is almost over with the Season 2 premiere of City Island on July 5th. The hit PBS KIDS short series from Future Brain Media stars a cast of anthropomorphic characters led by lightbulb Watt and kite Windy, voiced by Kimia Behpoornia (Abbott Elementary) and Kimiko Glenn (Orange is the New Black). I got to speak with series creator and Future Brain co-founder Aaron Augenblick about the new season, the inspiration behind City Island, and some of the guest stars viewers will hear this season.
(PBS KIDS/Future Brain Media)
Alex: Congratulations on the launch of Season 2 of City Island. Most of your career has been spent in adult animation. What inspired your venture into animation for kids?
Aaron Augenblick: This year is actually my studio's 25th anniversary. I went to the School of Visual Arts. I worked briefly for MTV on a couple of shows like Daria and Downtown, and left pretty quickly because I felt like I wanted to have more of an indie studio. I just love animation, and I had a pretty good idea of the type of animation I wanted to do. For the majority of my studio's existence, we've been doing a lot of adult stuff. We were one of the more early influential voices on Adult Swim and places like Comedy Central and, eventually, Netflix. I would say my adventures in kids' entertainment started a little bit pre-pandemic. It was around my 20th anniversary when I was looking at the studio and all the animation we made, and I had an existential question. “What do I want to do now that I haven't done before?” The majority of my influences were all kids' cartoons that I watched growing up. Looney Tunes and Disney. Roger Rabbit was a really big influence on me. Jim Henson, The Muppets, Sesame Street. I also loved older cartoons. I've always been a huge Max Fleischer fan. I love Betty Boop. I love Popeye. I love UPA. I've always loved kids' cartoons, but they mainly influenced our adult stuff. So I was like, “Why don't I try making an actual kids' cartoon, rather than making these parodies of kids' cartoons? Why don't I try making a real one?” My partner, Dan Powell, and I, at the time, were just colleagues, and I mentioned doing a kids' company, and he said, “That's a great idea. Let's do that.” So we collaborated together and opened a company called Future Brain. City Island is actually a show by Future Brain, which is a sister studio to Augenblick Studios.
Alex: Were you a Schoolhouse Rock kid? Or were there any specific sources of inspiration for City Island?
Aaron Augenblick: I think the biggest influences are probably other PBS KIDS shows like Sesame Street and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Shows that created an imaginative, fun, exciting, and energetic world while still having very meaningful content in place. That was the biggest influence, the idea of doing a show that could be about a living city, about what it's like to be a member of a community. How does a community work? Who are the people that are helping out to make our lives better? That was an early influence, but at that point, I didn't even know it was civics yet. I just knew it was about community. When the show was picked up by PBS KIDS, they said, “This feels a lot like civics, because you're so interested in the people that make the city work, the geography of your world, and all these places and people and things that live in a city.” I was like, “Okay, now I have to learn about civics,” because everything I know to this point has been animation. The initial inspiration was largely Sesame Street. There's a lot of Richard Scarry in the show as well.
Alex: The art direction feels like a children's picture book to me, and I definitely felt the Richard Scarry influence. Were any of the characters inspired by the doodles you were making as a child?
Aaron Augenblick: Those characters were created after the show idea. As soon as we started the company, the very first thing I did was get in a room with all of my favorite creative people and say, “What is the kids' show that you've always wanted to see? What is your dream kids' show that you've never gotten to either draw or watch?” When we went around the room, when it got to me, I said, “My favorite shows are all anthropomorphic shows.” I love shows like Sesame Street, where anything could be alive, anything could talk to you, and at any moment, something could pop out of a trash can and start talking to you. Also, Fleischer cartoons may be the kings of anthropomorphic cartoons, where, at any moment, the sidewalk says something or the car winks at you. I always loved that. Initially, my pitch was, what if there was a city where the entire city were a lot of objects that were alive, and the city itself was the main character of the show, and it could be called City Island? People were like, well, that sounds pretty fun, but who would the characters be? I was like, well, if we're going to have a character in the city, it could be a little light bulb named Watt, and he could glow when he has a good idea, and then his friend could be a kite named Windy. Boom! I thought of it on the spot, and it has never changed. I hadn't even thought of it before; I just kind of threw that out there, and it stuck. Even though I draw all the time, I think the first drawings of Watt and Windy were by Gemma Correll, my art director. I am an animator myself. I do love to draw, but I am such a fan of Gemma Correll and her comics. The second I came up with the idea, I was like, “This is too big for me, I have to see what Gemma would think of doing something like this.” So I contacted Gemma, and she did a bunch of sketches. It actually started there.
Alex: As a Brooklyn-based studio, I have to imagine that ideas for City Island come to you all the time as you walk around the city. How often does happenstance inspire a plotline?
Aaron Augenblick: Almost every episode. I mean, New York City is a living city, and it's incredibly surreal every day. The city itself, whether it's a trip on the subway, riding my bike in the Greenway, walking up the stairs inside a building, looking outside a window, people taking out the trash, wondering where the bus goes at night, there's just constant activity in New York. It's such a living city that all you have to do is look around, and you get episode ideas. What's nice about a city is that it's a microcosm of any community. All the things you might find in any town, city, or country around the world are pretty much in New York City. One of the initial concerns from PBS KIDS was we want to make sure that this show is relatable to all kids, wherever they grow up, whatever their economic background is, whatever their environment is, whatever their family structure is like. Luckily, New York City has so much variety and diversity and different environments within the city that we can cover an episode that takes place in the suburbs, in a high-rise building, at a baseball game, in a park, or on boat rides. We have boat rides, bridges, taxi cabs, bicycles. All these different things are here, so we can really show the variety of experiences any kid might see.
Alex: I'm assuming there's an education curriculum guru on the show for the civics lessons. Can you talk about making sure you've got the education component that is the goal of the show, but also delivering something entertaining?
Aaron Augenblick: When we're brainstorming a new season, the first conversation I have is with my curriculum advisor, Liz Hinde. She literally wrote the civics curriculum for PBS KIDS. I met her early on when we decided to make it a civics show. I find her so brilliant and inspiring that I always make her the first stop in brainstorming for the season. We get together and have conversations about civics, social studies, geography, economics—all these topics. Liz will bring up an idea, and I'll ask, “Oh, is that kind of like…?” For instance, when she talks about economic trading, I might compare it to a swap meet at a school. She’ll say, “Yeah, it is kind of like that.” I might then say, “So, are you saying that everything has a different worth to different people? Like someone might have a comic book they love, but to someone else, it’s worth more or less.” And she’ll say, “That’s perfect.” We have these discussions where Liz talks about big social studies, civics concepts, and philosophical ideas, and we explore how to integrate them into stories and comedy. I walk away from those meetings with a list of ideas. For example, we might do a story about economics at a swap meet or about differing points of view based on how all the kids see something differently. At its heart, City Island is a very philosophical show. It's a fantasy world where all objects are alive, and while it's not actually the United States, it is a democracy. We're talking about big philosophical ideas about communities.
(PBS KIDS/Future Brain Media)
Alex: Co-viewing is a major trend in kids’ media, and Bluey has really changed the landscape of kids’ media. City Island feels tailored to both kids and their parents. What are those conversations like in the storyroom?
Aaron Augenblick: It’s crucial to us that the show is genuinely funny for all ages. The goal is for City Island to be a show that little kids can watch with their older siblings, parents, and grandparents, with everyone finding something to laugh at. My favorite moments were watching Sesame Street with my parents and all of us laughing. The Muppet Show was so funny for everyone, and later, shows like The Simpsons had my whole family laughing together. The idea is that watching a show can be a shared experience, hopefully sparking questions and interest in the community. For instance, seeing an episode about a swap meet might make a child wonder if their school could have one. Or seeing Watt and Windy raking leaves in the park might inspire similar activities. PBS KIDS shows aim to influence life beyond the screen. I still think about things I learned from Sesame Street because it was so powerful to make something both entertaining and meaningful at the same time.
Alex: Was there anything you learned on Season 1 that shifted your approach to Season 2?
Aaron Augenblick: We learn a lot with every episode. Over the course of the first season, we've really honed in on the structure of the show. We approach it very traditionally, using a three-act structure and ensuring each episode has a solid character arc and some sort of discovery. Through the various episodes in season one, we really learned how to tell a City Island story. What's great about that is, in the second season, once you've laid that groundwork, it becomes more playful. You know the structure and what the "sandwich" is supposed to look like, but now you get to experiment with the ingredients. We know our characters well: Watt is an ambitious little kid who often bites off more than he can chew, and Windy is a thoughtful girl who’s more interested in learning about others than assuming she knows everything. With these personality traits established, we can start to play with them. For me and most writers, there’s a point when the show takes on a life of its own. It stops feeling like you're telling the characters what to do and starts feeling like they’re telling you what they want to do. In the writer's room now, we have a pretty good sense of how Watt would react to various situations. So, we play with that—throwing different challenges at him, or exploring what happens if he behaves against character, or if he's more honest about something we've seen him do before. All of it is a learning experience. The show is a learning experience for kids to watch, and it’s a learning experience for us as we create it. Many of the social studies and civics concepts are things we learn about while making the episodes. Our goal is to stay very tapped into making a really fun show.
Alex: You’ve attracted an incredible voice cast for the series, which includes a lot of performers from New York’s theater and comedy scene. Is that a function of being a Brooklyn-based studio, or is that the clout of being a PBS KIDS show that attracts top talent?
Aaron Augenblick: It's both, and it helps that I've been making comedy animation in New York City for over two decades. We definitely have connections with some of the funniest people in the country, which is a huge advantage. It was a unique choice for us to have adults voicing the characters on our show—something not common on PBS KIDS. Most of our voiceover connections are in the comedy and improv world, so it felt natural and works well with our writing style. PBS KIDS is beloved by everyone. When we approach actors and say we want them to voice a character for a PBS KIDS show, they usually respond enthusiastically, eager to be part of it. Just look at shows like Sesame Street and Arthur—it seems like every celebrity has been on at least one of those shows. Many people grew up watching PBS KIDS, so by the time they're adults, they're excited to contribute to a PBS KIDS cartoon. We've had incredible talent on the show, including Camilla Cordero, Kimiko Glenn, James Adomian, and James III. This season, we have guest stars like Rachel Bloom, Rosie Perez, and Ali Stroker. All of these people add to the fun and richness of the characters on City Island.
Alex: With music having such an important role in the show, can we expect to hear Rachel Bloom sing in her episode?
Aaron Augenblick: Rachel Bloom does an incredible song that I’m so excited about. We had an idea for an episode with a new character. Since plants are alive in our world, I thought it would be really fun to have a character named Venus Flytrap, who is the biggest pop star in the world. We immediately thought of Rachel Bloom because she’s both hilariously funny and an incredible singer. She agreed to do it, and we have an amazing musical sequence, along with a very fun interaction where Watt gets to hang out with the biggest pop star in City Island.
Alex: I’m ready to fight Ticketmaster for tickets to see Venus Flytrap. Now, the statistics behind Season 2 are mindblowing. 20 shorts, 585 new characters, more than 400 locations. Having talked to other animation showrunners, I’ve heard a lot about how challenging it can be to maintain a database of assets or a show bible. How do you keep track of all that?
Aaron Augenblick: I think it’s rare for a cartoonist to be the owner of the company, the creator of the show, and also the showrunner. The fact that I handle all of these roles, including drawing the show myself, is unusual. I’m always leading the show in creative directions and don’t like to place limitations on ourselves when developing episode ideas. Of course, I run a small studio, so we always need to be economical and stay on budget. But we push the edges as far as we can. The team works incredibly hard because they believe in the show. It’s a bit of extra work, but it pays off because the show feels substantial. New York City is a big place, so City Island has to feel big. One of my main influences for the show was to avoid making a traditional sitcom. I didn’t want every episode to start in the living room or school room. Instead, I envisioned a show that feels more like an adventure, with each episode set in a different location and featuring new characters. City Island is designed to be explorational, with each episode offering new experiences and discoveries alongside the characters. It’s a challenging task that requires a lot of hard work, but having experience in the field provides us with many tips and tricks to create an ambitious show on a modest budget.
(PBS KIDS/Future Brain Media)
Alex: With so many characters, do you have wild card voice actors who you know you can trust to create a voice that fits?
Aaron Augenblick: Every one of my voice actors—Kamiya, Kimiko, James, and Branson Reese—is incredibly versatile. They end up doing multiple voices in each episode because we often have 20 to 30 speaking parts. Sometimes, it might just be a traffic cone saying, “Hello, word on the street is this.” With so many one-liners and small roles, it’s the most economical approach to have a few highly versatile actors handle a wide range of voices. This allows us to manage our resources efficiently while still bringing a lot of variety to the show.
Alex: You and the writers must have conversations about the rules of the world regarding what can and can’t be alive. Where is the line between what can and can’t come to life?
Aaron Augenblick: In City Island, we have a lot of rules and engage in constant philosophical discussions. Our main rule is that nothing in City Island has a central nervous system. For example, if we have an animal character, it might be a soda can named Fizz who acts like a dog. We use anthropomorphic objects extensively, so any object can potentially be a character. That said, it’s about organized chaos. It’s important not to have every single thing in every shot be alive, as it would be overwhelming. We focus on bringing objects to life that are meaningful to the situation—those that add something funny or push the story forward. Our goal is to use the ability to make anything alive in a way that enhances our storytelling.
Alex: PBS KIDS works hard to meet kids wherever they are. City Island is short-form, which is very effective for today’s youth, but they also like to interact with the characters through games and classroom content for educators. Do you have a lot of involvement in those extensions of City Island?
Aaron Augenblick: Yes, luckily, City Island has been successful for PBS KIDS, which feels really great. It's one of the most-watched shows, and the digital shorts are being viewed more than ever, which is exciting. PBS KIDS is brilliant at ensuring that all kids can watch their shows in a variety of formats, wherever they are. Whether kids are watching on television, tablets, or phones, PBS KIDS makes sure their content is accessible and safe. Due to the success of City Island, we're expanding our reach and want kids to experience even more. We're working on two video games that will be released this year, which is very exciting. We're also developing albums with the show's music and merchandise, so you’ll be seeing a lot more City Island throughout the year. We’re also wrapping up a season of music videos. We’ve produced 10 new music videos, each with an important topic, but they’re also just great, funny songs. These music videos will be airing soon, and the new season of City Island starts on July 5th.
Alex: I’m looking forward to City Island global domination, and an episode where the camera zooms into outer space and we see that Earth is another character. I really appreciate your time and congratulations on all the success.
New episodes of City Island release on Fridays on PBS KIDS starting July 5th.