Drawn Together
Drawn Together | |
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Genre |
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Created by | Comedy Partners |
Original release | |
Network | Comedy Central |
Release | October 27, 2004 November 14, 2007 | –
Drawn Together is an American
The show's main characters are a combination of personalities that were recognizable and familiar prior to the series. Differently, Drawn Together used
After three seasons, the show was cancelled. A direct-to-video film and series finale, The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!, was released on April 20, 2010.[3]
Cast and characters
- Captain Leslie Hero (voiced by Jess Harnell): A sociopathic, chauvinistic, idiotic, perverted, anti-heroic, heteroflexible, necrophiliac and lecherous parody of superheroes, with a visual style taken from the cartoons of Bruce Timm and Max Fleischer. Being primarily macho, he is prone to occasional random fits of hysterics, akin to post-traumatic stress disorder, playing on the "tragic origin" stories of many superheroes. His character is based on the "flying brick" superhero archetype, especially DC Comics' Superman and Shazam, though he refers in one episode to his "hero cave", an allusion to Batman's Batcave.
- Wooldoor Jebediah Sockbat (voiced by James Arnold Taylor): A hyperactive, idiotic, gullible, bizarre children's show character, in the mold of SpongeBob SquarePants, who displays many of the typical reality-defying behaviors of Roger Rabbit or Looney Tunes characters.
- Princess Clara (voiced by .
- Foxxy Love (voiced by Valerie Brown from Josie and the Pussycats.
- Toot Braunstein (voiced by Tara Strong): A cuts herself with razor blades, practices poor personal hygiene, eats excessively when depressed and often instigates conflictin the house.
- Xandir P. Wifflebottom (voiced by .
- Spanky Ham (voiced by David "Puck" Rainey.[4]
- Ling-Ling (voiced by Abbey McBride): A portmanteauof "Japanese" and "Korean", as Ling-Ling's voice Abbey McBride calls it) with English subtitles.
Production
Animation style
The show's visual style is that of
The show was made by Rough Draft Studios in Glendale, California, with much of the animation done at the studio's facilities in South Korea. A gag in "The Drawn Together Clip Show" is that they show a list of all the Korean children who died animating the show.
The movie was produced by 6 Point Harness and done completely with Flash animation due to budget cuts.
Cancellation
A total of three seasons were produced. Season 3 began airing on October 5, 2006, and took a mid-season break which started on November 15, 2006. The second half of season three began airing on October 4, 2007.[5]
In March 2007, it was announced that creators Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein had left Comedy Central, and later created
The season three finale included multiple jokes about the show's cancellation. TV Guide listed this episode as a series finale and described the episode as follows: "The series wraps up with the housemates participating in a singing competition as they look back on their recent misadventures."
In March 2008, Tara Strong confirmed that the show had been cancelled,[7] and the back of the third season DVDs box refers to it as the "third and final season".
Since cancellation, the show has partial rotation late-nights, and airs uncensored on Comedy Central's
In response to the cancellation, the official page of Drawn Together in Myspace had suggested the fans call Comedy Central and convince them to make a new season.[8]
Content
This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2020) |
The plots and humor of Drawn Together are adult-oriented and laden with
Despite the show's overt and underlined sexuality, the characters' innocent and sensual sides are often the main driving force of the plot (alongside comedic
Comedy Central's original
The extensive use of stereotypes is another controversial aspect of the show, though the intent is actually to make fun of
Drawn Together is heavy with popular culture references. Animation is a major source of material; as mentioned above, many characters from comics and animated cartoons make cameo appearances and often are the subjects of parody. Numerous live-action films, TV shows, and video games are referenced as well. Reality shows are another prime inspiration, not surprising given that Drawn Together is presented as a reality show that takes place in a cartoon world. Although many of the first-season plots made extensive use of the reality show scenario, this aspect of the show has largely been de-emphasized in later episodes. The spoofing of film and television clichés is another common theme on the show; many Drawn Together stories are parodies of overused plots from TV and films.
One notable factor of the series are musical numbers. Some are parodies of real songs (i.e. in "Hot Tub", the song "Black Chick's Tongue" is a parody of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin; in the episode "Super Nanny", the song at the DMV is a riff on "Who's That Guy?" from Grease 2; in "Freaks & Greeks", the song at the end is a take on "Summer Nights" from Grease; and "You'll Really Love Being Abandoned Here" in "Alzheimer's That Ends Well" is a reference to "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" from Annie). Other songs are those written by the show's creators/writers, like "The Bully Song" from "Requiem for a Reality Show" and "La-La-La-La-Labia" in "Clara's Dirty Little Secret"). Only two episodes ("Lost in Parking Space, Part One" and "Nipple Ring-Ring Goes to Foster Care") do not feature a musical performance.
In terms of continuity, events in different episodes contradict each other, as there is a loose sense of canon. One such example is in "The Other Cousin" and "N.R.A.y RAY", in which Toot is pictured with a penis, something that is not consistent with other episodes. Another is Foxxy's various and contradictory stories about her son Timmy (one involves selling him on the black market, another involves her accidentally shooting him after believing him to be rabid, when he was really just brushing his teeth). Plots and gags are often used that do not make any type of internal sense, but are used as one-off jokes, as when Foxxy, who is in her twenties, is said to have a teenage grandson. Some episodes begin with a fake recap of events supposed to have happened in a (non-existent) previous episode. According to executive producer Bill Freiberger, "Very little on Drawn Together can be considered canon. If you try to find continuity on this show you'll drive yourself nuts. The only thing that's consistent is we try to make the show as funny as possible. And we'd never let a little thing like continuity get in the way of that."[citation needed]
Occasionally, episodes of Drawn Together are shown with less editing for content during Secret Stash, a Comedy Central program aired on weekends at 1am that showcases films (i.e. Not Another Teen Movie), comedy specials (Comedy Central Roast), and animated programs (this and South Park) with uncensored language. Though Secret Stash programs typically have the nudity still censored, Drawn Together is an exception to this. Some nudity not seen in the original broadcast is shown in the Secret Stash version, while the nudity in other scenes is censored with a caption reading "DVD only"; this is done as a way of promoting the show's DVD releases.
Voice cast
Drawn Together features an ensemble cast of veteran voice actors (Tara Strong, Cree Summer, Jess Harnell, Adam Carolla and James Arnold Taylor) and newcomers to the field (Abbey McBride and Jack Plotnick).
Three of the show's voice actors had worked with creators Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein on other projects: Jack Plotnick on
Tara Strong and James Arnold Taylor had previously worked together on the animated series Mutant League and the video game Final Fantasy X where they voiced the characters of Thrasher and Rikku (Strong) and Cannonball and Tidus (Taylor) respectively.
Principal cast member Tara Strong has stated that she deeply loves the show, as it was such a departure from the family-friendly productions that she was used to working on at the time. The only problems that she had with it were a few jokes related to Anne Frank.[7]
Originally, Xandir was to have been played by
In addition to their regular roles, the show's cast provides many of the minor roles and guest voices on the series, Summer, Strong, Harnell and Taylor in particular. In the DVD commentary for "Hot Tub", Tara Strong jokes that this is because the show does not have a lot of money to pay guest stars. Chris Edgerly appears in the majority of season one and two episodes despite not having a regular role on the series.
Critical reception
The pilot episode, "Hot Tub", was given mediocre reviews, which focused mostly on its crudity. USA Today deemed Drawn Together "the smutty offspring of Real World and Superfriends", stating that the pilot pushed the limits of taste, being overpowered by violence, sex, and disgusting subject matter.[11] According to The New York Times, "Hot Tub", while it had many good sight gags, did not go far enough in parodying reality television. The domination of Clara's racism in the story was criticized as being a weak attempt to "send up racism while still showcasing its cruel excitement". Toot's cutting was praised as a good parody of self-harm presented on reality shows, but Spanky's flatulence was considered more disgusting than humorous.[12]
The pilot episode was given an F rating from Entertainment Weekly, leading to the second-season episode "Xandir and Tim, Sitting in a Tree" having a subplot in which the majority of the housemates seek revenge for the rating. The latter episode also received an F from the magazine. Some reviewers called Drawn Together a "bizarre and highly entertaining series" which has a unique style of humor and "level of self-parody."[13]
Despite this, TV Guide named Drawn Together in its 60 Greatest Cartoons of All Time list in 2013.[14]
Episodes
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 7 | October 27, 2004 | December 15, 2004 | |
2 | 15 | October 19, 2005 | March 15, 2006 | |
3 | 14 | October 5, 2006 | November 14, 2007 | |
Film | April 20, 2010 |
Distribution
Syndication and streaming
The series previously aired on Logo TV with episodes uncensored.
In May 2019, the series began streaming on the Viacom owned streaming platform, Pluto TV on the Comedy Central Pluto TV channel. The entire series was added to CBS All Access's (now Paramount+) roster in July 2020 among other Paramount Global properties.[15]
Home releases
Season releases
DVD name | Release date | Discs | Episodes | Special features |
---|---|---|---|---|
Season One Uncensored | October 4, 2005 | 2 | 7 |
|
Season Two Uncensored |
September 25, 2007 | 2 | 15 |
|
Season Three Uncensored |
May 13, 2008 | 2 | 14 |
|
Complete Series: Party in Your Box | November 17, 2009 | 6 | 36 |
|
The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie! | April 20, 2010[16] | 1 | 1 |
|
Drawn Together: The Complete Collection | October 10, 2017 | 7 | 37 |
|
The first season of Drawn Together was released on DVD by
The set has a game called the Censored/Uncensored game: A line is given, and the viewer must decide if the line aired on television as given (uncensored), or if it had to be altered significantly or deleted (censored). Some of the censored lines appear intact in the extended DVD version of the episode. Getting at least 11 of the 19 questions correct unlocks a hidden feature, a prank phone call by Jeser and Silverstein to their agent regarding the royalties they are to receive for the DVD audio commentaries.
The song "
Season Two Uncensored was released on September 25, 2007. Like the Season One set, the set features audio commentaries by Jeser and Silverstein along with assorted cast and crew members, as well as karaoke/singalong versions of the show's songs. The set also contains, in the words of the box art, "potentially annoying" commentary on the commentary for "Terms of Endearment". The behind-the-scenes interviews in the set are the same ones that appear on Comedy Central's website, which feature each of the voice actors talking about his or her character, along with a separate interview with creators Jeser and Silverstein. Tara Strong does two separate interviews, one for each of her characters (Princess Clara and Toot Braunstein).
The set includes the controversial horse shot from "Terms of Endearment", which was not allowed to air on television.
Season Three Uncensored was released on May 13, 2008.
The censored broadcast cuts of the episodes have never been made available on DVD or any other physical media, but they are available on
Broadcast
The show aired on Comedy Central for all three seasons from 2004 to 2007.
See also
- The Joe Schmo Show, "A reality show that's not real"
- Total Drama, a Canadian animated TV series that parodies reality television.
- Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, a Japanese animation with many styling cues of American animation and inspired by Drawn Together.
- Saturday Morning All Star Hits!
- Robot Chicken
- Clone High
References
- ^ Wallenstein, Andrew. "'Drawn Together': Crass Humor, but Good Satire". NPR.
- ISBN 978-1538103739.
- ^ "Drawn Together DVD news: Release Date for The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!". TVShowsOnDVD.com. January 25, 2010. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
- ^ Goldman, Eric (November 14, 2006). "Drawn Together's Creators Face Reality - IGN". Tv.ign.com. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
- ^ "The Animated Housemates Are Back with All-New Episodes of Drawn Together on Comedy Central" (Press release). Comedy Central. September 18, 2007. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
- ^ "Breaking News - Development Update: Friday, March 23". TheFutonCritic.com. March 22, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
- ^ The Ithacan online. March 20, 2008. Archived from the originalon August 14, 2009. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
- ^ "Featured Content on Myspace". Myspace.
- ^ "Scoobie Davis Online". Scoobiedavis.blogspot.com. December 4, 2004. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
- ^ DVD commentary. "A Very Special Drawn Together Afterschool Special".
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(help) - ^ Oldenburg, Ann (October 26, 2004). "'Drawn': Animated raunch meets reality TV". USA Today. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
- ^ Heffernan, Virginia (October 27, 2004). "Cartoon Goal: Parody of Self-Parody". The New York Times. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
- ^ Mendelsohn, Jon (August 2, 2020). "Short-Lived Adult Animated Shows You May Have Missed". CBR. Archived from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
- ^ "60 Greatest Cartoons of All Time". tvguide.com.
- ^ "Drawn Together - Comedy Central - Watch on Paramount Plus". CBS. October 26, 2004.
- ^ Drawn Together DVD news: Final Box Art for The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie! Archived 2010-02-18 at the Wayback Machine. TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-30.
External links
- Official website
- Drawn Together at IMDb