Sure to be one of the quirkier shows out this year, AMC+ series Ultra City Smiths is a satirical noir made with stop-motion animated baby dolls and featuring an amazing voice cast including Tom Waits, John C Reilly, Jimmi Simpson (Westworld), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (Dolemite Is My Name), Bebe Neuwirth (Cheers), Jason Mantzoukas (Big Mouth), Terry O'Quinn (Lost), Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh), Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Dax Shepard (Parenthood), Luis Guzmán (Boogie Nights), Damon Herriman (Justified, Underground Railroad), Melissa Villaseñor (SNL), Kurtwood Smith (That 70’s Show), Tim Heidecker (Tim & Eric), Tim Meadows (SNL), and Alia Shawkat (Search Party).
The series premieres this week and over the weekend they dropped the trailer for it, which sheds a little more light on what this world is going to look like, what the title means, and the basics of the plot which involves two detectives (Simpson and Randolph) investigating the disappearance of Ultra City's most powerful man (Kurtwood Smith). There's also a gang of baby dolls in David Bowie Aladdin Sane getups, and we do get some of Tom Waits narrations. It looks weird and fun which is just what you want from creator Steven Conrad, who gave us Amazon series Patriot and Epix's Perpetual Grace, LTD, both of which are excellent. (The animation is by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios who do Robot Chicken.) You can watch the trailer below.