Interview with Teenage Euthanasia Creators and Executive Producers Alyson Levy and Alissa Nutting

Join Swimpedia in our conversation with Teenage Euthanasia creators and executive producers Alyson Levy and Alissa Nutting, as we discuss everything from their history with PFFR to the mother-daughter relationship at the core of the series. 

Teenage Euthanasia Season 2, which premieres on Adult Swim tomorrow night at midnight and next day on Max, focuses on the Fantasy family as they run a funeral home, Tender Endings, in the mildly apocalyptic near-future of Florida. After giving birth to Euthanasia “Annie” Fantasy as a teenager, Trophy Fantasy ran away from home, leaving Euthanasia in the care of Baba and Uncle Pete. However, in Season 1, Trophy returned as a corpse, only to come back to life with magical death powers, giving Euthanasia a second chance at having a mom. Tune in for more wacky and bizarre mother-daughter adventures along with the rest of the wonderful cast!

Swimpedia: Hey, how's it going?

Alissa Nutting: Good!

Alyson Levy: Great, yeah!

Swimpedia: Well, thank you for taking the time to meet with me to spread the word about the upcoming premiere of Teenage Euthanasia Season 2. Over at Swimpedia we’re longtime fans of PFFR. Personally, I definitely watched Wonder Showzen in that too young of an age, and I don't know if there's an appropriate age to watch Final Flesh, but I've watched that as well.

Alyson Levy: There’s no appropriate age.

Swimpedia: And we loved Season 1 of Teenage Euthanasia. So, I'd like to start here by asking you both how the series came together in the first place? And what has it been like working with Adult Swim and PFFR?

Alyson Levy: Why don’t you [Alissa Nutting] take this one since I’ve answered this one a lot.

Alissa Nutting: Well, yeah, I mean, so Alyson, and I really started in 2016.

Swimpedia: Wow!

Alissa Nutting: We so wanted, you know, a half hour animation that centered around a female, you know, teenage character. And we knew that also, you know, we wanted sort of dominant female characters who speak dialogue. And so those are big hurdles. You know, they can be they, you know, we were at it for a long time. But, after several animatics, yeah, we were able to get a series order, and we're really excited because this season is 10 episodes long. Season 1 was just seven--

Swimpedia: Awesome!

Alissa Nutting: Yeah! So, um, you know, we really felt, you know, so, so many things just clicked into place this season and the show looks so good. So, we're just really, really excited and delighted to be back.

Swimpedia: Yeah, that's awesome!

Alyson Levy: And in terms of working with Adult Swim, I mean, I've been working with Adult Swim since I don't know 2007. So, a really long, long time. And I mean, I, I'm a real basic cable bitch. And I hope that it lasts forever, but I don't know, we’ll be here to the end.

Swimpedia: Yeah, us too!

Alissa Nutting: Yeah I mean, it was such a formative experience for me, you know, just like, Adult Swim in college, it really sort of opened up, like my mind to the potential of, even being able, I was always, like, I'm way too weird. There's no way anything that I would be interested in or could write, you know, could end up on television. And just like seeing adults, I'd really just opened, you know, doors in, in the brain for what's possible.

Swimpedia: That’s great, and you know, we definitely appreciate you both keeping at it and getting the show on the air. It definitely seems like the hard work paid off. And then thinking about, as we kind of talked a little bit, the history of fun, unique programming from both PFFR and Adult Swim. I'm curious how you think Teenage Euthanasia stacks up to those?

Alyson Levy: Yeah, I think about that actually, a lot. Um, I'm not sure. I feel like I am really so proud of the show. And I think all of the shows have been ambitious and in like, different ways. And I think they're only all successful in their own terms, there's nothing we're comparing it to or that we're looking to. So, I hope that this does, I mean, this will be, we've had a strange run, where we've had almost no interaction with the public because of the pandemic, you know, in the way that, you know, some of the other shows have and then they've all been sort of, mostly ignored by the press, which I'm used to, but it's that's why it's lovely to have you here, but like so it's always through just meeting people. And I lately I meet a lot of people, like somebody picking me up from the airport was like, “Oh, I love Teenage Euthanasia. It's my favorite show.” Or when I was talking to a parent at the school who’s a therapist, and they were like, “Oh, I've heard of your show. My teenage patient brought it up to me.”

Swimpedia: That’s fantastic!

Alyson Levy: That to me is like, I know we're getting into the ethos and that makes me happy that there's always the sad, you know, disillusioned weirdos that will hopefully find us and we're looking for them actively, yeah.

Swimpedia: And then, now heading into the second season of Teenage Euthanasia. What were your favorite parts of the first season? And what could you do differently for the new season that fans should be on the lookout for such as the change to Atomic Cartoons?

Alissa Nutting: Yeah, it looks so beautiful. I just want to wrap my car, you know, with stills from this show I want, you know, a bedspread with stills from the show, I would love, you know, to put them on like my ceiling and mirror. It is just gorgeous. You know, and I think, it's all of like the wonderful things that we were able to achieve and accomplish in Season 1 to the next level and the next degree. I think it's just so bizarre and audacious and, you know, wild and funny.

Alyson Levy: Yeah, I mean, I think, we learned a lot about just how much the show can hold and just where it can go, it's really easy to just let it go to a million places more than you think it can. And when we write it to really push it like, oh, yeah, we're here. But this can go more and we can't wait. We're not a show to just sort of stay and wallow and let things have tons of air and ways to breathe. I mean, this probably does more than other PFFR shows have but it's still it's you really gotta it's in both of our instinct to really keep things going and even push it within the episodes all the time, and hopefully go to surprising places.

Alissa Nutting: We also really jam packed the guest stars each episode is just a clown car of guest star talent. So many incredible guest stars this season. So that is fun to watch for.

Swimpedia: Yeah! And then actually thinking about Jo Firestone’s and Maria Bamford’s characters in particular, they're really, they really bring to light this genuine mother-daughter relationship as the core of the series. Could you speak to how you structured the bond between Trophy and Euthanasia? Additionally, what influences did you draw upon to craft their connection, whether from your past work or your personal lives?

Alyson Levy: Well, I'll tell you, like, so. I mean, both Alyssa and I are mothers of daughters. And so that was a big, you know, impetus to doing you know, having a structure like that. And then our, you know, obviously, we're also daughters, but I think I get a lot of stuff for my kids in the show all the time, both things they say or situations they're in. I mean, it gets put through like, this season, there's a lot about like, sex ed and all that kind of stuff. And just seeing both of my daughters sort of go through that experience. It was really fun to kind of draw on what they're going through, it's in my house every day. And I think also just having a like a really being able to lean into the really, really bad choices that Trophy makes as a mother is really fun. Not necessarily what we're doing at home, but it just it's really cathartic to have a character like her that just beyond leans into her terrible instincts, yeah.

Alissa Nutting: Yeah, and I mean, I have a lifelong, you know, heartbreak that I've never been able to emotionally connect with my mother. So that is also cathartic to write, you know, Annie never gives up hope even though it's you know, not really gonna happen at least not the way Annie would like it to, but it does happen on Trophy’s terms at moments so that's fun to watch.

Swimpedia: Yeah, thank you, and lastly, we like to end our interviews asking about lesser-known projects that creators have worked on for Alyson especially we know you have a long history with PFFR and would love to hear about your time spent on The Heart, She Holler?

Alyson Levy: Okay, best one ever, I'm just waiting for Heart She to have its moment because I feel like Wonder Showzen like it was on it had its thing and then people got into it later. Xavier people fucking hated it, came out, hated it, now you meet people that's like their favorite show. Heart She I feel like is due its moment. And I think Jo Firestone was just telling me that when she turned on Max, it was promoting The Heart, She Holler to her. And I'm like, because I feel that was, I mean, this is so fun in its own way, they all have been, but there was something the cast of Heart She was just the greatest and we shot on a stage and we never left the stage. And it was just it was an, I don’t know, that was just such a fun show to make. We could have, we tried to convince Lazzo to let us make it into a nightly soap opera and make like 200 episodes a year. If we had just pushed harder we could have maybe done it because, I don’t know, I love Heart She and I hope people discover it because that was just one that was, I think slightly ahead of its moment. It just like, Obama was still president and people didn't see what was coming. And it I don't know I hope people watch it. It's all on, all of our stuff is available to watch, nothing is not, even Neon Joe.

Swimpedia: Well, I'm glad the algorithm is working in your favor. And well, that's all the time we have. Thank you again to both of you for taking the time to join us and we hope everyone is looking forward to the premiere of Teenage Euthanasia Season 2!

Alissa Nutting: Thank you!

Alyson Levy: Thanks!

Swimpedia: Yep, have a great rest of your day.

Alissa Nutting: You too!