livingfruitvirus
03-06-2005, 03:56 AM
Comments about the block, their shows, and so forth -
Cartoon Humour Grows Up By ken eisner
Publish Date: 3-Mar-2005
Are cartoons, like certain sugary breakfast cereals, just for kids? Not if you judge from the programmers at Teletoon, where The Detour, a block of time currently taking up late-night real estate on the Canadian network, is aimed more or less squarely at adults. Of course, adult—to paraphrase Sydney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon—is such an ugly word.
Despite, or maybe because of, the preponderance of four-letter words and three-letter innuendo in this post-Simpsons reality, animated shows appeal to the arrested preteen in all of us, or at least those who know how to find the upper reaches of the cable dial.
Initially patterned after Adult Swim, the R-rated counterpart on the U.S.–based Cartoon Channel, The Detour has quickly been proving itself edgier than a schedule full of reruns of The Family Guy and Futurama. Without so many fundamentalists loudly foaming at the gates of Canadian TV, Teletoon has been able to slip some startling shows into the after-10 p.m. zone, and it has had a hand in developing new ones of interest.
One new arrival is The Venture Bros., a sci-fi spoof about moronic fraternal twins who think they live in the 1960s and their bodyguard, who is voiced—need one know more?—by deadpan Patrick Warburton. It starts Sunday (March 13) at 10:30 p.m.
Launching in the same time slot on Monday (March 7), and repeating Fridays, is the more audacious, and substantial, Bromwell High. A coproduction between the U.K.–based Hat Trick Productions (responsible for Father Ted) and Canada’s Decode Entertainment, the series centres on the exploits of three trouble-prone schoolgirls, Keisha Marie, Latrina, and Natella, rowdy products of multicultural, working- class South London. Teachers at the school, run by the grammatically challenged Iqbal—who won the place in a poker game—are a craven, mercurial lot, bent on humiliating kids and (in the opening episode, anyway) boffing Gypsies in a nearby encampment. It’s not Scooby-Doo.
“We’re lucky to have an outlet as adventurous as Teletoon,” said Beth Stevenson, a partner at Decode and one of Bromwell’s Canadian producers. “When you look at something like Adult Swim, in the States, it’s like three or four superhero parodies at any given time.”
Known for her work on such innovative shows as Angela Anaconda, The Zack Files, and Undergrads the veteran producer called from her Toronto office to talk to the Straight about the nature of adult cartooning.
Stevenson’s company was approached by Hat Trick and U.K. “show runner” Anil Gupta, one of the main forces behind the dry-as-toast Brit hit The Office.
“They came to us for financial help, obviously, because animation is very expensive. It was going to cost about eight-and-a-half million for 13 half-hour episodes. But also because they had never done animation before and we had. It was both a right- and left-brain partnership.”
The companies began developing the show’s design style, which involves heavily outlined figures on flat, deeply coloured backgrounds, but the scriptwriters remained extremely English.
“We sit in a very fortunate place, as Canadians,” Stevenson asserts. “Despite all the U.S. exposure we live with, just by being part of the Commonwealth, we get a lot of U.K. product as well, so we do have an understanding of British humour. Bromwell High is set in a very poor district of South London, and the show does portray something about their daily lives, starting with the fact that the kids wear uniforms to what we call public school, which is quite different from here.”
Uniforms, yes, but the characters all seem to draw radically different lessons from a school exercise in tolerance in the opening episode. Just ask Latrina: “If everyone in this world would just die, except for me and Justin Timberlake, it would be such a tolerant place.”
The series is unapologetically acerbic, sometimes potty-mouthed, and decidedly unsentimental. And Stevenson says there were few concessions to regional taste.
“Teletoon has a great record of programming English shows, and we knew we had to embrace the Britishness. There are occasional moments, like in the ‘Tolerance’ episode, where someone explains that ginger hair means red, but that’s about it.
“What I think is most successful is the balance between stories involving the three schoolgirls and ones involving the adults. In South Park and other shows, you basically just stay with the kids.”
Remarkably, Canadian viewers will be getting High more than two months before it makes its U.K. bow. So far, there have been no U.S. takers for the series.
“Both Comedy Central and Spike TV have come back to us and said, ‘Basically, it’s a little too clever for us.’ They actually did put it that way. With the exception of the lovely Jon Stewart, Comedy Central is very clear about its audience. They want what they call the Mooks: the 17-to-24-year-old males who watch The Man Show. They tried Ab-Fab there and it flopped.”
Clearly, in the world of adult cartoons—and in national sensibilities—there is adult, and then there’s adult.
Glad they mentioned Venture Bros. :)
Just a couple of my own personal comments -
edgierI HATE THAT WORD! AGH! No articles or PRs should ever use that word. Or in-your-face.
On that one brief paragraph, about Adult Swim's lineup,...what the hell is she talking about? 3 or 4 superhero parodies? I can see Birdman falling into that category (slightly), and ATHF thanks to its broadbrush description given by every newspaper everywhere when in fact it isn't one. But that's about it. I can't lump Sealab or Robot Chicken or Tom Goes to the Mayor or even Venture Bros. into that category.
Known for her work on such innovative shows as Angela Anacondahehehehehehehehe
Oh, and the cost. Is that in pounds or Canadian dollars? I'm assuming CA$ simply from the source of the article. Anyway, nice to see Hat Trick getting into animation. I wasn't a big Office person but I liked what I saw of Father Ted. These foreign partnerships seem to be real commonplace in Teletoon. Atomic Betty, Undergrads, Ripping Friends, Clone High, apparently they're involved in Totally Spies now since the logo is stamped on it,....I'd imagine there would be some bickering between companies about what goes where. In this case though, something bugs me about the "we're so cool and international because we love those sophistocated brits!" comment. I don't know why.
And I lol @ the Comedy Central/Spike comment. They seem to be too good for subtle stuff nowadays and want shock value. I guess being under the same umbrella you rub off on each other. Although Ab-Fab didn't really flop. Maybe if you compare it to today's standards, but then you could also say MST3K and Dr. Katz flopped.
In short, Bromwell High probably won't make it to the US.
Cartoon Humour Grows Up By ken eisner
Publish Date: 3-Mar-2005
Are cartoons, like certain sugary breakfast cereals, just for kids? Not if you judge from the programmers at Teletoon, where The Detour, a block of time currently taking up late-night real estate on the Canadian network, is aimed more or less squarely at adults. Of course, adult—to paraphrase Sydney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon—is such an ugly word.
Despite, or maybe because of, the preponderance of four-letter words and three-letter innuendo in this post-Simpsons reality, animated shows appeal to the arrested preteen in all of us, or at least those who know how to find the upper reaches of the cable dial.
Initially patterned after Adult Swim, the R-rated counterpart on the U.S.–based Cartoon Channel, The Detour has quickly been proving itself edgier than a schedule full of reruns of The Family Guy and Futurama. Without so many fundamentalists loudly foaming at the gates of Canadian TV, Teletoon has been able to slip some startling shows into the after-10 p.m. zone, and it has had a hand in developing new ones of interest.
One new arrival is The Venture Bros., a sci-fi spoof about moronic fraternal twins who think they live in the 1960s and their bodyguard, who is voiced—need one know more?—by deadpan Patrick Warburton. It starts Sunday (March 13) at 10:30 p.m.
Launching in the same time slot on Monday (March 7), and repeating Fridays, is the more audacious, and substantial, Bromwell High. A coproduction between the U.K.–based Hat Trick Productions (responsible for Father Ted) and Canada’s Decode Entertainment, the series centres on the exploits of three trouble-prone schoolgirls, Keisha Marie, Latrina, and Natella, rowdy products of multicultural, working- class South London. Teachers at the school, run by the grammatically challenged Iqbal—who won the place in a poker game—are a craven, mercurial lot, bent on humiliating kids and (in the opening episode, anyway) boffing Gypsies in a nearby encampment. It’s not Scooby-Doo.
“We’re lucky to have an outlet as adventurous as Teletoon,” said Beth Stevenson, a partner at Decode and one of Bromwell’s Canadian producers. “When you look at something like Adult Swim, in the States, it’s like three or four superhero parodies at any given time.”
Known for her work on such innovative shows as Angela Anaconda, The Zack Files, and Undergrads the veteran producer called from her Toronto office to talk to the Straight about the nature of adult cartooning.
Stevenson’s company was approached by Hat Trick and U.K. “show runner” Anil Gupta, one of the main forces behind the dry-as-toast Brit hit The Office.
“They came to us for financial help, obviously, because animation is very expensive. It was going to cost about eight-and-a-half million for 13 half-hour episodes. But also because they had never done animation before and we had. It was both a right- and left-brain partnership.”
The companies began developing the show’s design style, which involves heavily outlined figures on flat, deeply coloured backgrounds, but the scriptwriters remained extremely English.
“We sit in a very fortunate place, as Canadians,” Stevenson asserts. “Despite all the U.S. exposure we live with, just by being part of the Commonwealth, we get a lot of U.K. product as well, so we do have an understanding of British humour. Bromwell High is set in a very poor district of South London, and the show does portray something about their daily lives, starting with the fact that the kids wear uniforms to what we call public school, which is quite different from here.”
Uniforms, yes, but the characters all seem to draw radically different lessons from a school exercise in tolerance in the opening episode. Just ask Latrina: “If everyone in this world would just die, except for me and Justin Timberlake, it would be such a tolerant place.”
The series is unapologetically acerbic, sometimes potty-mouthed, and decidedly unsentimental. And Stevenson says there were few concessions to regional taste.
“Teletoon has a great record of programming English shows, and we knew we had to embrace the Britishness. There are occasional moments, like in the ‘Tolerance’ episode, where someone explains that ginger hair means red, but that’s about it.
“What I think is most successful is the balance between stories involving the three schoolgirls and ones involving the adults. In South Park and other shows, you basically just stay with the kids.”
Remarkably, Canadian viewers will be getting High more than two months before it makes its U.K. bow. So far, there have been no U.S. takers for the series.
“Both Comedy Central and Spike TV have come back to us and said, ‘Basically, it’s a little too clever for us.’ They actually did put it that way. With the exception of the lovely Jon Stewart, Comedy Central is very clear about its audience. They want what they call the Mooks: the 17-to-24-year-old males who watch The Man Show. They tried Ab-Fab there and it flopped.”
Clearly, in the world of adult cartoons—and in national sensibilities—there is adult, and then there’s adult.
Glad they mentioned Venture Bros. :)
Just a couple of my own personal comments -
edgierI HATE THAT WORD! AGH! No articles or PRs should ever use that word. Or in-your-face.
On that one brief paragraph, about Adult Swim's lineup,...what the hell is she talking about? 3 or 4 superhero parodies? I can see Birdman falling into that category (slightly), and ATHF thanks to its broadbrush description given by every newspaper everywhere when in fact it isn't one. But that's about it. I can't lump Sealab or Robot Chicken or Tom Goes to the Mayor or even Venture Bros. into that category.
Known for her work on such innovative shows as Angela Anacondahehehehehehehehe
Oh, and the cost. Is that in pounds or Canadian dollars? I'm assuming CA$ simply from the source of the article. Anyway, nice to see Hat Trick getting into animation. I wasn't a big Office person but I liked what I saw of Father Ted. These foreign partnerships seem to be real commonplace in Teletoon. Atomic Betty, Undergrads, Ripping Friends, Clone High, apparently they're involved in Totally Spies now since the logo is stamped on it,....I'd imagine there would be some bickering between companies about what goes where. In this case though, something bugs me about the "we're so cool and international because we love those sophistocated brits!" comment. I don't know why.
And I lol @ the Comedy Central/Spike comment. They seem to be too good for subtle stuff nowadays and want shock value. I guess being under the same umbrella you rub off on each other. Although Ab-Fab didn't really flop. Maybe if you compare it to today's standards, but then you could also say MST3K and Dr. Katz flopped.
In short, Bromwell High probably won't make it to the US.