LOS ANGELES, June 28 (UPI) -- Creator Steve Dildarian said Season 2 of animated comedy Ten Year Old Tom, premiering all 10 episodes Thursday on Max, deepens the characters and world established in Season 1.
Dildarian, 53, voices Tom, who finds himself in outrageous situations often caused by parents or teachers.
"There's a little deeper dive on getting to know everyone," Dildarian told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "With each passing day, he just sees more, is exposed to more."
Season 1 had Tom inadvertently become a drug dealer and accidentally sabotage a wedding. Season 2 begins with episodes in which Tom ends up endorsing a disreputable company and stealing a neighbor's boat.
"The source material is just what's going on in the real world," Dildarian said. "There's someone doing something really wrong that they didn't see as wrong. The kids are watching and trying to absorb."
One of Tom's foils in Season 1 was his friend, Dakota's (Gillian Jacobs), mother (Jennifer Coolidge). Coolidge went from Season 1 guest star to Season 2 series regular so her character could make more trouble for Tom.
"She's the most antagonistic parent," Dildarian said. "She's pointedly got her eye on him, doesn't trust him, so it's just great fodder for storylines and letting things escalate. She's always waiting there to trip him up."
Ten Year Old Tom benefits from Coolidge's improvisational skills. One Season 2 episode sees her giving a lecture on the techniques of complaining to the manager.
"In the studio, she goes off on some pretty crazy tangents and it's always funny," Dildarian said. "The best actors on the show are when they improv in a way that you just don't see coming."
Season 2 welcomes guest stars Jason Schwartzman, Melissa VillaseƱor, Nicole Byer, Zosia Mamet, Stephanie Tolev and Rory Scovel. Dildarian said after a character is written, he and his casting directors and producers brainstorm celebrity voices.
"I'm never asking people to put on a voice," Dildarian said. "Rarely do they come in and do something other than the way they talk or what they're known for at least."
Dildarian's first animated series was the HBO comedy, The Life and Times of Tim, which ran from 2008 to 2012. Tim, who Dildarian also voiced, was a 20-something adult getting into misadventures.
Dildarian said making Tom a child gives the show more depth than Tim.
"This has got a little more meaning behind it because he is a kid who doesn't know any better," Dildarian said. "Kids are relying on the grown-ups to steer them."
The animation for Tom is more sophisticated than Tim. Dildarian said Tim's animation might have been "a little too crude," but Tom experiments with showing characters from angles other than basic frontal shots.
"I like what it does to bring a sense of reality to everything," Dildarian said. "I try to make it feel real before I make it funny. So, the artwork is a big part of that."
Other Season 2 episodes deal with altar boys and Tom's recurring issues with a plumber. Though Dildarian was never an altar boy, he said he was skeptical of the altar boys at his childhood church.
"Whenever something that has got any hint of hypocrisy in it or people doing things to put up appearances, I think I'm always sniffing it out," Dildarian said.
The plumber (Tim Robinson) returns from Season 1, as Tim's mom (Edi Patterson) still refuses to talk to plumbers. Dildarian said this skepticism about hired help comes from doing most of the household chores himself as he grew up.
"If we needed the lawn cut, I would mow it," Dildarian said. "We didn't have a cleaning lady or a landscaper. I just don't remember a lot of people coming to help us, so maybe I am naturally skeptical of them."
