When BoJack Horseman introduced the season 2 subplot in which the movie studio planned to use BoJack's likeness for the upcoming biopic Secretariat in case they liked it more than Horseman himself, it was supposed to be nothing more than a satirical joke on Hollywood's ruthlessness. Eight years later, they were seemingly ahead of the curve.After it was announced that Hollywood had plans to use AI to use an actor's likeness to save themselves money, fans of BoJack Horseman were quick to point out that the Netflix show had called this happening in 2015 when they made that very joke in "Brand New Couch."DiscussingFilm's Twitter account first broke the news about Hollywood's plans with Artificial Intelligence. "The studio’s A.I. proposal to SAG-AFTRA included scanning a background actor’s likeness for one day’s worth of pay and using their likeness forever in any form without any pay or consent." Clarkisha Kent's Twitter Account then pointed out that BoJack Horseman made a joke about this before it even happened, saying, "I’m literally crying because this is nearly bar-for-bar on what was said in an episode of BoJack Horseman. When I tell you these studios are CARTOONISHLY EVIL."
In the show, producer Lenny Turteltaub used the AI more as a precaution in case BoJack did not work as the film's lead and would preferably use the AI to fit what he was going for with the movie. BoJack left the film's set because he didn't like that the movie - which he initially saw as a passion project - wasn't what he wanted it to be. After he left, the film ultimately decided to use the version of him scanned from Artificial Intelligence, which in part led to the film being a hit. Of course, the joke then wasn't so much about actors being expendable as much as it was that BoJack should have trusted the film's production.
Again, it was all supposed to be a satire on how Hollywood can easily dispose of actors if they get the chance to, but now we have proof that it turned out not to be a joke. During its heyday, BoJack Horseman was good at calling out some of Hollywood's dark truths that previous shows would not have touched. Before #MeToo exploded, the show pointed out that male celebrities never faced any repercussions career-wise despite objective proof of their shady past or that living the life of a famous actor ostracizes you in society more than anything else. These clever commentaries made BoJack Horseman one of the best of its time.
Even better, BoJack Horseman proved to be much like The Simpsons when they inadvertently predicted the future during their golden age. It may seem like a distant memory now, but the show predicted Donald Trump's presidency, video chats, and smartwatches, and they unintentionally predicted that 9/11 would happen. It seems like the most clever shows are somehow the ones that know something that we all don't.
BoJack Horseman can be streamed on Netflix.