BoJack Horseman returns as TV's most human show

BoJack Horseman is returning for a fourth season this year, and brings with it a sense of humanity that TV seems to have lost.

Not since Don Draper drove off "in a shiny car in the night" has a TV show again dared to dig deep into the human condition.

This was back in 2015 and over the past two years it feels like a vacuum has been forming on both cable and subscription TV.

Showrunners keep choosing action over script, style over content and fast-paced dialogue over necessary silences.

What we need, it seems, is for a binge-drinking, womanising, chronically depressed cartoon horse to come along and save us all from the horrors of over-stylised drama.

The critics do, and even awarded it best animated series last year. So do US writers - whose Guild picked one episode as 2016's best.

But for those who don't, the show was created by comedian Raphael Bob-Waksberg and stars Saturday Night Live alumnus Will Arnett as the voice of a washed-up horse-actor struggling to find purpose in his rich, boring, alcohol-fuelled life.

It is also laden with quick, purposely overthought dialogue and filled with pop culture references and adult jokes about sex, drugs, death and the feeling of being alone while surrounded by people.

Oh, and it also stars Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul and Glow's Alison Brie - with its soundtrack written by a member of The Black Keys.

This should be enough for BoJack to be noticed - even if it does feature a horse dressed as a man. So why doesn't it?

Putting it quite simply: BoJack needs an Emmy.

"It feels like the weirdest season to try to squeeze out awards for," its creator told Indiewire earlier this year.