From its theme choice and opening style to its raunchy animal hijinks, Netflix’s ‘Mating Season’ wears its ‘Big Mouth’ heritage openly—while trying to win you back with surprisingly warm relationships and an all-star lineup.
The first moments of “Mating Season” don’t ease you in—they slide you straight into the same kind of dirty momentum that made “Big Mouth” a late-night staple. A familiar vibe hits fast: the theme song. Elvin Bishop’s “Fooled Around and Fell in Love. ” plays over real-life footage of animals having sex. It’s the kind of opening that says, right away, don’t expect restraint.
And creators who helped build that signature tone are back behind this new animated Netflix series. “Mating Season” comes from Big Mouth series creators Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett. So when you trade awkward preteens for talking animals. the surface-level promise is simple: similar innuendo. similar pacing. and a lot more animal-on-animal chaos.
Josh (Zach Woods) is introduced as a giant brown bear—supposed to be intimidating—but his confidence has been wrecked by a cheating girlfriend. Ray (Kroll). a raccoon who never stops trying to score with anything that moves. becomes his best friend and the clearest engine of the show’s nonstop cravings. Early on, the series makes its rules obvious: animals don’t stick to their own species. Ray even gets awkwardly stuck to a skunk.
The show keeps widening the cast. Fawn (June Diane Raphael). a deer who falls easily. gets her heart stomped on by cheaters and people who can’t commit. Her best friend is Penelope (Sabrina Jalees). a fox in search of same-sex love—though she doesn’t know how to find it. Put the four of them together and you get a sitcom-style setup where the trouble lands. then the group retreats to hash it out at their favorite bar. fittingly called The Watering Hole.
The humor is every bit as blunt as you’d expect, and the show doesn’t pretend otherwise. Sexual situations show up constantly. and the series goes further than “Big Mouth” felt it could with its younger human characters. Where “Big Mouth” had to hold back a bit. “Mating Season. ” using a wildlife cast. can “get away with just about anything. ” building jokes around the characters involved.
It can also be a little hard to shake the sense that this specific style of animated raunch is no longer shocking on its own. The movie “Sausage Party” even tackled similar territory long before “Big Mouth. ” and after the success of both projects. foul cartoon characters “bumping uglies” doesn’t feel like a new idea anymore. Still. the series does something important to keep it from feeling purely familiar: it dials restraint into the structure of the comedy. Once you go over the line. there’s no coming back. and “Mating Season” leans into that with rapid gags and one-liners designed to top what came before—without acting desperate for attention.
Big moments also land because the show treats its relationships as more than scaffolding for jokes. Josh and Ray play like brothers with nothing in common. while Fawn and Penelope raise each other up rather than tear each other down. For a series that is otherwise anything but, that balance is unexpectedly grounding.
That warmth is helped along by a roster of cameos that brings recognizable faces into the forest. Timothy Olyphant’s Dylan is a recurring character, the ex-boyfriend Fawn can’t let go of. Jason Alexander plays Fawn’s father, a buck with a younger girlfriend whom he brings to his ex-wife’s funeral. The list also includes David Duchovny, Jack McBrayer, Sarah Silverman, Aidy Bryant, Vanessa Bayer, Mark Duplass, and many others. Even with the bizarre conflicts—Ray’s wild mom. and an early commune situation involving Josh and a quick devolving situation—the show keeps returning to the same idea: character chemistry is what keeps the laughs sticking.
None of this amounts to a reinvention. “Mating Season” doesn’t reinvent the wheel. and fans of “Big Mouth” have seen much of this emotional and comedic engine before. But because it doesn’t need shock value to survive. it can move faster toward what it wants to do—following four hilarious. easy-to-root-for characters trying to figure everything out. By the end of Season 1. they still haven’t succeeded. which leaves room for hope that Netflix will bring them back.
“ Mating Season” is now available to stream on Netflix.
Netflix Mating Season Big Mouth creators Nick Kroll Andrew Goldberg Mark Levin Jennifer Flackett animated series Zach Woods June Diane Raphael Sabrina Jalees Elvin Bishop Fooled Around and Fell in Love Timothy Olyphant Jason Alexander David Duchovny Sarah Silverman Aidy Bryant Vanessa Bayer Mark Duplass streaming
So wait it’s basically Big Mouth again but with animals?? Netflix really has no shame lol.
I didn’t even read the whole thing but the title sounds dumb. Like why are they making porn for bears and raccoons? Big Mouth already did all that, just different fur.
The theme song thing though… putting real animals having sex behind a comedy intro is kinda insane. Also “warm relationships”?? That part felt like they’re trying to sell it like it’s wholesome but it’s not.
I think the whole point is animals don’t stick to their own species right? That sounds like they’re making it about cheating and identity or whatever, but then it says same-sex love and I’m like ok did I miss the context. Also Zach Woods plays a bear??? I’m confused how this is supposed to be funny instead of just gross.