Jason Ritter knows the value of preschool shows for young kids. He voices Fox’s father in the new Apple TV+ series Slumberkins, which premiered November 4. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY about sharing the series with his 3-year-old daughter, whom he shares with wife Melanie Lynskey.
“I already showed her the preview. I was trying not to tip the scales. I said, ‘Is that something that you would want to watch?’ And she said, ‘Yeah!’ In the preview, it didn’t say it was my voice or anything, it was just on the merits of the trailer alone. I’m really excited to watch it with our daughter and she seems excited, too,” Jason said.
The actor noted that Slumberkins, based on the leading children’s emotional learning brand, reminded him of the “shows that I really appreciated growing up. The idea and the understanding that kids have a very rich and complex emotional life and that there are lessons and emotions that we can help kids navigate through these things. I just love the way the show was written. I had known of the books and dolls of Slumberkins ahead of time, so I was really excited. I also thought I might get some parenting tips from recording these episodes and I sure did.”
Programming like Slumberkins is essential for kids in their formative years. Jason said it’s “incredible” to see “what sponges” kids are. “My daughter will be watching something, or we’ll tell her something. Two days later, we’ll hear her repeating it. Not just repeating it like a parrot but really understanding whatever it is and almost teaching the people around her. She’s proud to disseminate the knowledge that she’s just recently gained,” Jason told HollywoodLife.
Jason voices Fox’s dad in the Apple TV+ series. The series brings to life the characters of the beloved books while empowering the emotional wellness of children through supportive storytelling. “The world is focused on the kids and things like that, but you do get a sense from the show that there are some stresses going on in the Fox household. They’ve had to move to a smaller place for work,” he said.
The actor continued, “Another one of the episodes is about Fox’s dad having to work and not having as much time to play with the kids. He’s a great dad and loves his kids and wants to give them everything that we all want to give. But with the stresses of the world kind of inching their way in and figuring out how to navigate some of those things and make sure that the child knows that it has nothing to do with not wanting to play but that it’s an important part of life.”
Jason has done a number of voice roles over the years and calls it a “completely different experience” than live-action roles. “It feels more like whispering your secret into a bottle and then chucking it into the ocean and then it comes back years later, and there’s a whole universe filled with your words. There’s this magical element. The final thing is so much different from what the experience was that it really feels incredible,” he said.
Like millions of others, Jason is a major fan of Yellowjackets, which stars his wife. The series is currently filming season 2, and Jason posted a TikTok spoof video back in January 2022 that introduced “Steve The Orange Slices Guy.” So, will Jason wind up on Yellowjackets any time soon?
“I’ll make some calls. I’ll see what I can do. I don’t know if Steve The Orange Slices Guy has a place in the Yellowjackets universe, but I wanted to put him in there because there’s always an orange slices guy. The orange slices guy was very important to me when I was playing soccer,” Jason quipped.