10 Candid Moments from the "Smiling Friends" Season 3 Journey

The creators of "Smiling Friends", Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack, are not shy about expressing their love for their show and their lack of concern for public opinion, as long as they find their content humorous. Their unique take on creative freedom is reflected in their animated series, which takes a bold stand against the norm in an industry continually recycling old concepts.

The third season of “Smiling Friends” has been released on Adult Swim featuring the humorous exploits of characters Charlie and Pim, voiced respectively by Hadel and Cusack. The duo, also the creators of the show, navigate through a series of existential crises with their clientele, in a world that, beneath its outrageous veneer, echoes real-life societal issues and relationships.

In an interview with Variety, Hadel and Cusack unveiled the thoughts behind the show's production. They described their intention of creating a cohesive continuity with their episodes, each season bringing out a different flavor while preserving their brand's humor.

When it came to the content of the episodes, the creators indiscriminately drew inspiration from the chaos of everyday life and past cartoons. However, they stressed the importance of deriving ideas from a broader range of sources, noting that drawing too heavily from the animation world could result in unoriginal content.

Creatively, the writers made intentionally bold decisions, often toeing the line of appropriateness to deliver shocking and humorous bits. The characters’ actions are scrutinized and justified in a way that would establish better content reception.

The show also utilizes its incongruity to explore different genres and themes within the framework of humor. A key aspect was to avoid becoming preachy and instead incorporate thematic questions within the storyline, answering them within the optimistic spirit of the show.

Understanding their responsibility as content creators, Hadel and Cusack acknowledged their awareness of audience feedback, while maintaining their creative integrity. There is no bending to fan service; they produce content that they find amusing, sometimes intentionally agitating their audience.

The feedback, though occasionally harsh, has never swayed their creative decisions and is seen merely as an added benefit for fine-tuning their work. They reinforced the importance of staying true to their creative instincts over pandering to popular opinion.