MTV Animation
MTV Animation is the animation department of the television network MTV. The department's parent company is MTV Entertainment Studios, which is owned by Paramount Global. MTV Animation gained substantial popularity in the 1990s, with many of their largest successes including the original broadcasts of Liquid Television (1991–1995), Beavis and Butt-Head (1993–1997), Daria (1997–2002), and Celebrity Deathmatch (1998–2007). Of the animated shows that aired, Beavis and Butt-Head and Daria ended up being the most successful, with both shows developing a cult following.
Re-runs of MTV's completed animated shows aired on MTV2 and The N throughout much of the 2000s. There were some attempts by MTV Entertainment Studios to revive original animation production in the 2010s, but they never materialized. MTV Animation currently remains a subsidiary of Paramount Global.
History
In 1991, MTV debuted its first full-length animated series,
In an interview for the Beavis and Butt-Head Do America DVD, Mike Judge described MTV Animation as being very ad hoc: Beavis and Butt-Head didn't have an art director until the film was made, so until the film they'd never considered color palettes from scene to scene. In the same interview, art director Yvette Kaplan said "everything was overlapping... we never had the luxury of one part [episode] finished" before another episode was finished.[1]
As Beavis and Butt-Head was wrapping up production, MTV was looking to create an animated show that catered more to girls and a more intelligent audience. Comedy writer Glenn Eichler and producer Susie Lewis Lynn had both previously worked on Beavis and Butt-Head and were tasked with co-creating a spin-off. The result was the animated series Daria (1997–2002), which centered around the character Daria Morgendorffer. Daria ended up being one of MTV Animation's biggest successes, with MTV airing 65 episodes of the series across five seasons from March 1997 to June 2001. Daria also included the full-length television movies Is It Fall Yet? and Is It College Yet?, which aired on MTV in August 2000 and January 2002, respectively. The DVD set Daria: The Complete Animated Series was released in May 2010, containing all 65 episodes, both movies, and a multitude of extras—including a script to an unaired Mystik Spiral pilot episode written by Eichler. However, much of the licensed music on the DVD release was taken out due to licensing costs. Eichler planned on writing and producing a spin-off series that centered around Daria character Trent Lane and his band, Mystik Spiral. However, the halting of animation production at MTV in 2002 prevented the spin-off from materializing.
Many MTV animation productions do not survive a single season and in some cases are canceled before completion. Productions including
In 2011, MTV would return to adult animation. Its first production was a relaunch of Beavis and Butt-Head, which premiered in October 2011; this was quickly followed by
Future and recent resurgence
In August 2020, ViacomCBS's Entertainment & Youth Group launched a new strategy to expand its adult animation units.[6] This upcoming unit will produce various animated shows under the revitalized MTV Entertainment Group. Plans for Beavis and Butt-Head (reboot) and Daria (spinoff film) have been announced for Comedy Central (and Paramount+), as well as an animated sequel revival series of Everybody Hates Chris order by Comedy Central and is slated to premiere in 2023. It also produced the Clone High revival seasons on at Max (formerly HBO Max) premiered on May 23, 2023, at the relaunch of the platform.[7] MTV Animation Inc. remains a subsidiary of Paramount Global.
Productions
Television series
Title | Creator/Developer(s) | Premiere date | Finale date | Co-production with | Network | Note(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MTV Animation | ||||||
1990s | ||||||
Beavis and Butt-Head | Mike Judge | March 8, 1993; October 27, 2011 |
November 28, 1997; December 29, 2011 |
MTV Production Development |
MTV | Spun-off from Liquid Television. Created by Mike Judge, creator of King of the Hill. |
The Head | Eric Fogel | September 1, 1994 | March 1, 1996 | Fogelmania Productions | ||
The Maxx | Original character: Bill Messner-Loebs |
April 8, 1995 | June 19, 1995 | Image Comics | Based on the comic book series of the same name. | |
Æon Flux | Peter Chung | August 8, 1995 | October 10, 1995 | Colossal Pictures Mook Animation Luk Film |
Spun-off from Liquid Television. | |
Daria | Glenn Eichler Susie Lewis |
March 3, 1997 | June 25, 2001 | Heyday Media | Spun-off from Beavis and Butt-Head. | |
Cartoon Sushi | Danny Antonucci Keith Alcorn |
October 17, 1997 | June 23, 1998 | A.k.a. Cartoon | ||
Celebrity Deathmatch | Eric Fogel | May 14, 1998; June 10, 2006 |
October 20, 2002; March 30, 2007 |
Fogelmania Productions
The Comedy Company (2006-2007) Cuppa Coffee Studios (2006-2007) |
MTV (1998–02) MTV2 (2006–07) |
|
Station Zero[8] | Tramp Daly | March 8, 1999 | April 6, 1999 | Possible Worlds C-Traze Studios Upfront Entertainment |
MTV | First MTV weekday cartoon |
Phred on Your Head Show[9] | Amy Friedman | July 26, 1999 | March 31, 2002 | Noggin LLC Tricky Pictures Possible Worlds |
Noggin | Animated for MTV's sister channel, Noggin. |
Downtown | Chris Prynoski | August 3, 1999 | November 8, 1999 | MTV | ||
2000s | ||||||
Shrimpton O'Small | 2000 | N/A | Unaired pilot for Nickelodeon | |||
The URL with Phred Show | Amy Friedman | September 10, 2001 | March 31, 2002 | Noggin | Animated for MTV's sister channel, Noggin. | |
Spy Groove | Michael Gans Richard Register |
June 26, 2000 | July 13, 2002 | MTV | ||
Fish 'N' Clips | September 29, 2000 | VH1 | Pilot | |||
Undergrads | Pete Williams | April 1, 2001 | August 12, 2001 | Decode Entertainment
|
Teletoon MTV |
First MTV cartoon co-produced with Teletoon. |
Clone High | Phil Lord and Christopher Miller Bill Lawrence |
November 2, 2002 | April 13, 2003 | (Season 1)
Nelvana (Season 1) MTV Entertainment Studios ShadowMachine (Season 2-present) |
Second MTV cartoon co-produced with Teletoon. | |
3-South | Mark Hentemann Steve Callaghan |
November 7, 2002 | January 3, 2003 | Hentemann Films
Warner Bros. Television Animation
|
MTV | |
Where My Dogs At? | Aaron Matthew Lee Jeff Ross |
June 10, 2006 | July 29, 2006 | Enough With The Bread Already Productions 6 Point Harness |
MTV2 | |
The Adventures of Chico and Guapo | Orlando Jones P. J. Pesce Paul D'Acri |
July 29, 2006 | MTV Remote Productions One Red Room |
|||
Friday: The Animated Series |
Ice Cube | June 24, 2007 | July 8, 2007 | New Line Television Cube Vision |
Adapted from the Friday film series. | |
MTV Entertainment Studios | ||||||
2020s | ||||||
South Park | Trey Parker Matt Stone |
March 10, 2021 | present | South Park Studios
Comedy Partners
|
Comedy Central | Originally started in 1997. |
Fairview | Stephen Colbert R.J. Fried |
March 9, 2022 | March 30, 2022 | Spartina Productions Licht Media Solutions RJ Fried Worldwide Late Night Cartoons, Inc.
CBS Studios
|
||
Beavis and Butt-Head | Mike Judge | August 4, 2022 | Judgemental Films 3 Arts Entertainment |
Paramount+ | ||
Clone High | Phil Lord and Christopher Miller Bill Lawrence |
May 23, 2023 | Max | |||
Jodie | Grace Edwards | TBA | Awesome Inc. |
|||
Ren & Stimpy | Original characters: John Kricfalusi |
TBA | Comedy Partners |
Comedy Central |
Other MTV animated series
Title | Creator/Developer(s) | Premiere date | Finale date | Co-production with | Network | Note(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1980s | ||||||
Stevie and Zoya | Joe Horne | 1987 | 1989 | MTV | ||
1990s | ||||||
Liquid Television | Japhet Asher | June 2, 1991 May 15, 2014 |
March 6, 1994 June 12, 2014 |
Original series: |
MTV | Revived for the internet in 2014. |
The Brothers Grunt | Danny Antonucci | August 15, 1994 | April 9, 1995 | a.k.a. Cartoon | Created by Danny Antonucci, creator of Ed, Edd n Eddy. First MTV cartoon to features theme song vocalist. | |
2000s | ||||||
Video Mods | Tony Shiff | September 16, 2004 | July 22, 2005 | Big Bear Entertainment IBC Entertainment |
MTV2 | First animated show for MTV2 |
Wonder Showzen | Vernon Chatman and John Lee | March 11, 2005 | May 19, 2006 | PFFR Productions |
||
DJ & the Fro | Dave Jeser Matt Silverstein |
June 15, 2009 | July 2, 2009 | MTV Production Development |
MTV | Second MTV weekday cartoon |
Popzilla | R.J. Fried Tim Hedrick Jared Miller Kevin Pedersen Dave Thomas |
September 27, 2009 | October 16, 2009 | MTV Production Development |
||
2010s | ||||||
Good Vibes | David Gordon Green Brad Ableson Mike Clements |
October 27, 2011 | December 29, 2011 | Werner Entertainment Rough House Pictures Not the QB Pro. Six Point Harness Good Humor Television |
MTV | |
Greatest Party Story Ever | January 14, 2016 | December 22, 2016 | Four Peaks Media Group Den of Thieves ShadowMachine Cartuna |
Theatrical films
Title | Director | Release date | Distributor | Co-production with | Note(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America | Mike Judge | December 20, 1996 | Paramount Pictures | Judgemental Films |
MTV's first and only theatrically released animated feature to date. |
Streaming service original films
Title | Director | Release date | Distributor | Co-production with | Note(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
South Park: Post Covid | Trey Parker | November 25, 2021 | Paramount+ | South Park Studios | |
South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid | December 16, 2021 | ||||
South Park: The Streaming Wars
|
June 1, 2022 | ||||
Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe | John Rice Albert Calleros |
June 23, 2022 | Judgemental Films Titmouse, Inc. 3 Arts Entertainment |
Sequel to Beavis and Butt-Head Do America. | |
South Park: The Streaming Wars Part 2
|
Trey Parker | July 13, 2022 | South Park Studios | ||
South Park: Joining the Panderverse | October 27, 2023 | ||||
South Park (Not Suitable for Children) | December 20, 2023 |
Television films
Title | Director | Release date | Distributor | Co-production with | Note(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Daria: Is It Fall Yet? | Glenn Eichler Peggy Nicoll |
August 27, 2000 | CBS Media Ventures | Heyday Media | Based on Daria. |
Daria: Is It College Yet? | Karen Disher |
January 21, 2002 |
References
- ^ Beavis and Butt-head Do America DVD (2006 version): Making Of feature
- ^ TV Guide: "Exclusive: MTV Developing Another Animated Series with Beavis and Butt-head Producers"
- ^ Deadline: Animated Comedy ‘Good Vibes’ Cancelled By MTV After One Season
- ^ Making It #61: Thomas Middleditch, 58:25 to 59:09
- ^ "Mike Judge: 'Beavis and Butt-Head' Trapped in Limbo". CraveOnline. Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
- ^ Goldberg, Lesley (August 5, 2020). "Grant Gish to Oversee Adult Animation Unit at ViacomCBS". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
- ^ "Are we ready for the big Generation X animation comeback?". the Guardian. August 10, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
- ^ "POP NOTES". The Washington Post. March 7, 1999. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
- ^ Kilmer, David. "DMA, Possible Worlds and MTV Animation put Phred on your head". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on March 28, 2002.
{{cite magazine}}
: Cite magazine requires|magazine=
(help)