‘Ten-Year-Old Tom’: the animation series that’s about children but definitely not for children

An animated scene shows a man in a red Hawaiian shirt driving an ice-cram van. A boy in schoold uniform sits in the passenger seat, eating and ice-cream.

Tom (voiced by Steve Dildarian) and Doug (David Duchovny). Credit: Work Friends

They say your inner child should be nurtured and protected, but American animator Steve Dildarian has thrown his inner child out into the world to fend for himself, guided by questionable advice from a cavalcade of well-meaning oddball adults.

The result is Ten-Year-Old Tom, an animated series about a kid (voiced by Dildarian) who always finds himself at the centre of controversy – even if he’s doing something as innocent as raking his neighbour’s leaves. Tom’s judgement isn’t the best (he is 10 after all!), so it’s little wonder he gets himself into trouble. But Dildarian pushes every situation to extremes in this situational comedy he also writes and directs, unpacking satirical societal observations through the lens of his titular character.

An animated scene shows a boy, slightly worried looking, standing in front of a large group of people of various ages, including one show is lying on the grounds. A row of buildings can be seen behind them.

Series creator Steve Dildarian is the voice of Tom, the ten-year-old trying to navigate the world around him, often with questionable guidance. Credit: Work Friends

Tom is old enough to have a reasonably good sense of right and wrong, but young enough to be feasibly incapable of foreseeing the consequences of his actions or getting out of awkward situations. This makes him more easily led astray by morally corrupt authority figures, resulting in laughable – and usually embarrassing – outcomes. Like when Tom is sent on a remote boys’ fishing trip with local “male role models” who task him with fetching their booze on what ends up being a would-be-wild weekend away from their wives. An unannounced “lady friend” distracts Tom with the idea of making s’mores (a popular American campfire treat) and he almost burns down the cabin while trying to light the fire.

“I write each scene like what’s the most conflict-ridden person Tom can interact with and just let that build and blow up – and then it’s onto the next scene,” Dildarian has previously

said

of the concept that has become an under-the-radar hit.

And there are no shortage of problematic adults using Tom as a pawn for their selfish interests: his outspoken single mother (Edi Patterson) struggles to cope with the absence of Tom’s father and overshares amorous adventures with her pre-teen’s teachers; the highly-strung all-purpose arts teacher, Mr B (John Malkovich), takes his students’ failures as a personal insult; the burnout bus driver (Ben Rodgers) steers the kids wrong at every opportunity; Coach (Erik Griffin) does not like Tom’s work ethic, posture or demeanour; and his friend Dakota’s (Gillian Jacobs) mother (Jennifer Coolidge) thinks he’s a bad influence, so they have to keep their friendship a secret.

An animated scene shows a man standing with crossed arms behind three children sitting in chairs, each holding a musical instrument. Their expressions suggest things are not going well.

Tom (voiced by Steve Dildarian) with Dakota (Gillian Jacobs, left), Yasmin (Taylor Misiak) and Mr B (John Malkovich). Credit: Work Friends

Each episode consists of two 12-minute vignettes unfolding in Dildarian’s signature minimalist animation style. But despite the protagonist’s age and the simple-looking aesthetic, Ten Year Old Tom is definitely not made for kids – the first episode features drug-dealing, defecation and charitable fraud, to name just a few unsavoury elements.

Ten-Year-Old Tom has become a sleeper success for Dildarian, whose previous animated series, The Life And Times Of Tim, is also a quirky situational comedy. It centres on a man named Tim (again voiced by Dildarian) who finds himself in increasingly awkward circumstances.

Like Tim, Tom is semi-autobiographical, born of his creator’s wry sense of humour and sardonic worldview, with his experiences unfolding in the same snappy way Dildarian’s time as an advertising copywriter taught him to tell stories.

An animated scene shows a man in a bathrobe standing in a doorway, with a policeman behind him who appears to be cuffing the mans hands. A boy in a backpack and a policeman stand outside the doorway.

Tom regularly finds himself caught up in situations that escalate quickly. Credit: Work Friends

“There are some themes and threads throughout anything I’ve written — whether it’s a ‘me against them’ mentality or kind of peeking over the fence at a different, better life,” Dildarian

says

. “I’ve been told I’ve got a natural scepticism of things… whatever it is, it’s an underdog quality and an outsider mentality that I think is consistent.”

Is that what helps the misadventures of Tom resonate with viewers? Dildarian feels it’s because he anchors the more outlandish situations in reality. “The starting point is equally grounded, relatable and logical, then it gets crazy because of the decision-making and the advice,” he says.

The writing is shrewd and it’s Dildarian’s ability to marry the wacky with the innocent while spotlighting the pain and hilarity of everyday life that has attracted some of Hollywood’s biggest actors to work with this relatively unknown creator. Alongside regulars such as Oscar-winner Malkovich and Golden Globe-winner Coolidge, guest stars have included David Duchovny, Natasha Lyonne and Mark Proksch.

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Ten Year Old Tom airs Monday nights at 9.25pm on SBS VICELAND from 11 March. Both seasons of Ten Year Old Tom are also streaming now at SBS On Demand.