Animated series Firebuds premieres on Disney Channel and Disney Junior Wednesday, Sept. 21. The show features a crew of first-responder kids and their talking vehicle sidekicks. 

Craig Gerber created the show, and the inspiration came from his son Beau. Beau was 3 when the idea was first hatched. 

“He was obsessed with fire trucks,” Gerber told B+C. “He’d carry around a toy fire truck like it was his best friend. It got me thinking, how excited would he be if a fire truck came to life?”

One of the children on Firebuds is named for Beau, though the character spells his name Bo. Bo, Violet and Jayden are all children of first responders. Each kid has a toy vehicle, known as their roommate, that they keep close to them. Bo has fire engine Flash (“wears his heart on his fender,” Gerber said); Violet has ambulance Axl (“a bit reckless,” Gerber said); and Jayden has cautious police car Piston (“never met a rule he didn’t want to follow,” said Gerber). 

Bo’s father is Filipino and his mother is Jewish. Violet is Japanese and is adopted, with two mothers. Jayden is Black and his parents are police officers. 

Gerber’s other shows include Elena of Avalor and Sofia the First. 

There are some big names in the voice cast, including Padma Lakshmi of Top Chef as Chef Pavani; Melissa Rauch of The Big Bang Theory (and NBC’s Night Court reboot) as Beth; Oscar Nuñez of The Office as Chef Fernando; José Andrés, who runs World Central Kitchen, which delivers food to people in disaster-stricken areas, as Chef Al; Pamela Adlon of Better Things as Principal Kagan; “Weird Al” Yankovic as Latch; and Lisa Loeb as Laura. 

Regarding Laksmi, Gerber said he has seen every Top Chef episode. “When we started having characters that were going to be chefs and going to be food trucks, she popped into mind,” he said. 

With respect to Yankovic, Gerber has been a fan since childhood (“I was one of those kids buying ‘Eat It’ on a cassette tape,” he said). He has long wanted to do a show about a traveling troubadour (“don’t ask me why,” he said), and the parts of an Airstream trailer and the musician who rides in it came up in Firebuds. “We wanted to find someone who can sing, and someone who could also be very funny, who inspires both laughs and pathos,” Gerber said. “Weird Al was the perfect choice.”

Yankovic is the pessimistic trailer (“an oil can-half-empty kind of guy,” said Gerber), and Loeb is the musician. “We have two folks who are actual, real musicians voicing these characters,” Gerber said. 

The show’s music, with hints of rock and jazz and funk and some flute tossed in, is distinctive. Beau Black is the series songwriter and Frederik Wiedmann is the composer. “I always want to put forward songs that stand on their own as songs,” Gerber said. “I want the parents to be able to enjoy these as legitimate songs.”

Disney Television Animation produces Firebuds. Episodes can be streamed on Disney Plus. 

Each episode features two 11-minute stories that showcase teamwork and volunteerism, and celebrate first responders. “I want kids, and adults, to be inspired by the selflessness that the Firebuds and their parents show,” Gerber said, “and then bring that out to the world.” ■

As FX comedy Better Things approaches its series finale, Pamela Adlon — creator, star, showrunner, executive producer, director — spoke with B+C about wrapping up five seasons of the critically adored series. The Better Things finale is on April 25. She detailed how she interacts with superfans, the unsung members of the Better Things crew, and saying goodbye to her TV family. An edited transcript follows. 

B+C: Tell me about a fan of the show, like a superfan, that you ran into on the street or in the airport, somebody that just had a unique connection to the show. 

Pamela Adlon: It happens all the time. I mean, people are so impacted by the show. It's like I have a responsibility. When they see me, they can’t articulate how they feel. I usually just give them a hug, because there's really nothing you can say. 

It doesn't happen unless I talk — nobody knows who the fuck I am unless they hear my voice. Then it's a dead giveaway.

B+C: What’s it like leaving your TV family — your TV daughters, your TV mom? Is that difficult?

PA: Because I've seen two of my kids move out of my house since I started this show, and the transitions we’ve all made in our lives, and losing some relatives and friends, that’s been my practice for this. So I don’t feel melancholy or sad. I feel extremely grateful, like I’ve had this privilege to be able to have this time and this platform to create this show and make it with all these wonderful people. I adore them. I feel, I mean, like Celia [Imrie, who plays Phil] is so close to me, and she knows my mom and they love each other, and so we're all linked in some way forever.

B+C: Is there an unsung member of the cast, of the crew? Somebody that just doesn't get acclaim they deserve?

PA: The people that are just so huge to me include Forrest Stangel, my camera guy who has been with me since the beginning; Alaina [McManus], who runs my camera department; Jessica [Elliott], who’s my costumer; Richard [DeAlba], who's my hair guy, and Ralph [Abalos, hair]. 

It's all the people who keep the show going with me. My writers every season. But there's no way I can express what it's like to have Jess go into my trailer with me, figure out what we're wearing — ‘Oh my God, what just happened in the scene before?’ ‘OK, well, you were wearing that because that was this day’ — and just running through the whole scenes. And then Babette Stith, who's my script supervisor, who keeps me going and keeps my head on straight and gives me shit and we have our little meals together. And my first ADs, Sally Sue [Beisel-Lander] and Maria [Mantia]. Those are the people that just are the most unsung, really, behind the camera, and just keep my morale up and protect me.

B+C: In terms of being a director, who do you consider an influence?

PA: Every single thing that I see influences me. I have TCM on like 24/7.

Probably as a filmmaker, my biggest influence is John Cassavetes, just because of the fluid, organic, raw … Just the time that he takes, the way people talk, the scary intimacy that he told stories with, was a big deal for me.

B+C: Do you ever think about the Better Things legacy?

PA: If I think about legacy, it's just that it's always going to be there for people. 

I really worked hard to make the show an international show. It's not an American show, it’s not a show just for women, it’s not a show just for moms — there’s something for everybody in there. And it’s like a lifestyle tool, a love tool, a blueprint for better... It's like Better Homes and Gardens magazine, but just like in a cool aesthetic. ■

Part 1

FX comedy Better Things is preparing its series finale as season five winds down. Pamela Adlon stars as Sam Fox, a single mother of three daughters. She’s also showrunner and executive producer, and has directed every episode from season two onwards.

If the critics are any kind of judge, Adlon does all those jobs quite well. Better Things has a stunning 98% score on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. 

Season five began in late February and The Better Things finale is on April 25. Celia Imrie, Mikey Madison, Hannah Riley and Olivia Edward are also in the cast. 

Adlon spoke with B+C about her extraordinary workload on Better Things, what’s next for her, and what kind of legacy the show might leave behind. An edited transcript follows. 

B+C: Tell me about the stress, the fatigue of starring, producing and directing a show.

Pamela Adlon: And writing and showrunning?

B+C: And writing and showrunning. 

PA: And being a single mom of three? And taking care of my 84-year-old mom?

B+C: All that. What's that like?

PA: It’s a privilege. It really is. Women are multitaskers by nature. People would ask me early on, ‘What’s that like?‘ And what I would say is, ‘I’m there anyway, I’m in it, so I might as well do these other things.’ And, as one of my friends said the other day, ‘You really like to be in control. You need to control.’ 

It’s weird to say, but it was almost like a break for me because my life was so … It feels out of control when you are a single parent, and so much is out of your control. So it was very centering for me [to run Better Things], which took the exhaustion away from it. 

I think the biggest challenge was being away from my kids when I was in production when they were so much younger.

B+C: Would you have that many roles on another project? It doesn’t sound like you’d back away from that kind of challenge next time around. 

PA: No, I don’t think I would. But for me, it was about the collaboration with my network that made it work. I don’t know that anybody else would have given me that grace, and that’s a huge part of it. Just them being accepting and allowing me to do the show the way I wanted to.

B+C: Do you see yourself doing another TV show?

PA: Oh yeah. I love making television.

B+C: What sort of show do you have in mind?

PA: I’ve got several things in development, developing other people and stuff like that. I like all genres. I guess I would be least interested in doing a show about a single mom of three girls.

B+C: Obviously, you’re not going to say much about the Better Things finale, but tease me a little — what can you say about it?

PA: What can I say about the finale? Well, I want to leave people feeling hopeful and kind of give a reflection of the series and all of the characters as a whole. It’s a nod to the fact that I didn’t wrap things up with a bow a lot, or ever, in the first few seasons, just letting you figure it out. It’s like a goody bag of my show: Thank you for coming, thank you for being with us for five seasons. Here’s your goody bag.

B+C: Are you studying other series finales and seeing how they dismount?

PA: No, but that would've been a good idea, Mike. That's so funny. Stupid, stupid, stupid! People asked me, when I did King of the Hill, ‘Well, what was it like being a 12-year-old boy from Texas?’ And the day that I went to that audition, they handed me the sides and they said, ‘You’re a 12-year-old boy from Texas.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, shit. I should have watched [1973 film] Badlands last night. Something to prepare.’

B+C: Do you have another series finale that you just love, where you think they just absolutely nailed it?

PA: If I think about a finale, I think about Six Feet Under. I loved it so much. It makes me want to watch the whole series again, just to see the finale.

B+C: What are you watching for fun these days?

PA: Succession. I love Succession. I love that shit. I'm waiting for that second part of Ozark’s finale season. I'm excited for Killing Eve. I'm excited to see Abbott Elementary. 

B+C: The current season of Better Things has a number of references to Ukraine. How did that come to be?

PA: In the first episode, Sam and Marion go to this genealogy guy, which is based on the Finding Your Roots [episode] that I did. I found out that my people on my father's side are from Ukraine and I didn't know that. So I put it in the show, and then all of a sudden …

We came before this madness that’s happening. But it was not lost on us. We were like, ‘This is crazy.’ I mean, when we were shooting, this was last year, and so now it‘s kind of unbelievable. ■

Part 2

FX has ordered season five for comedy Better Things, and inked a new overall deal with Pamela Adlon, the executive producer, director and star. Season five is expected to air in 2021. 

The deal agreement covers all scripted and unscripted programming exclusively for FX, as well as potentially other divisions of Walt Disney Television.

“We are truly honored to work with Pamela,” said Eric Schrier, president, FX Entertainment. “She is one of the most talented artists in the business, which is exemplified through her work as a producer/showrunner, actor, writer and director.  The most recent season of Better Things was its best yet and we’re excited about what's to come in season five, as well as all of the future projects we are working on together.”

Critically adored Better Things is the story of Adlon’s Sam Fox, a single mother and working actor with no filter, raising her three daughters, played by Mikey Madison, Hannah Alligood and Olivia Edward in Los Angeles. 

CNN’s Don Lemon and Pamela Adlon of FX’s Better Things headline this year’s Promax conference, which will have a very different look because of COVID-19 and new demands for diversity.

Because of the pandemic, the conference will take place online. The Promax Virtual Experience is July 7-9.

The day one speaker is Lemon, who in addition to anchoring CNN Tonight, is host of the Silence Is Not an Option podcast. He’s followed by Verna Myers, VP, inclusion strategy at Netflix, who is scheduled to speak about “Overcoming Bias and Disrupting Institutional Racism: From Neutrality to Action.”

Jeanine Liburd, BET’s chief social impact officer, is the opening speaker on day two.

On day three, Adlon opens with a talk about “Being Better, Doing Better.”

Other speakers on the program are from Hulu, Showtime, Nickelodeon, BET, Disney, Discovery, FX, TNT, Fox and Pepsi.

CNN’s Don Lemon and Pamela Adlon of FX’s Better Things headline this year’s Promax conference, which will have a very different look because of COVID-19 and new demands for diversity.

Because of the pandemic, the conference will take place online. The Promax Virtual Experience is July 7-9.

The day one speaker is Lemon, who in addition to anchoring CNN Tonight, is host of the Silence Is Not an Option podcast. He’s followed by Verna Myers, VP, inclusion strategy at Netflix, who is scheduled to speak about “Overcoming Bias and Disrupting Institutional Racism: From Neutrality to Action.”

Jeanine Liburd, BET’s chief social impact officer, is the opening speaker on day two.

On day three, Adlon opens with a talk about “Being Better, Doing Better.”

Other speakers on the program are from Hulu, Showtime, Nickelodeon, BET, Disney, Discovery, FX, TNT, Fox and Pepsi.