Home Movies (season 1)
Encyclopedia
The first season of the animated sitcom Home Movies
originally began airing in the United States
on the television network
UPN
on April 26, 1999, with the episode "Get Away From My Mom
." Co-founders Brendon Small
and Loren Bouchard
, along with Tom Sydner, served as writers, executive producers, and directors
for the season. The season utilized Sydner's signature "squigglevision
" animation style, though it would change to a more "conventional" style in subsequent seasons.
The series follows the life of 8-year-old Brendon Small, who writes, directs, and stars in several homemade film productions that he creates with his friend Melissa and Jason. Brendon and Melissa's soccer coach, John McGuirk, is an alcoholic who constantly becomes involved with the kids' lives and gives them bad advice on life. Brendon's mother, Paula, meanwhile, is divorced and juggling her children, her job as a creative writing
teacher, and romantic life.
The main cast for the season consisted of Small, H. Jon Benjamin
, Paula Poundstone
, and
Melissa Bardin Galsky
. Poundstone's role was recast after six episodes and given to Janine Ditullio
as a replacement. The first five episodes of the season demonstrated a writing style known as "retroscripting
," consisting of the cast completely improvising the storyline and animation being produced afterword.
UPN decided to schedule the season in the timeslot following Dilbert
on Monday nights, hoping to help give Home Movies a higher Nielsen rating. Despite this, the pilot episode received all-time low ratings and the network called the crew in order to inform them that it was the lowest program they had broadcast in the timeslot in its televised history. The ratings continued to be incredibly low and UPN canceled the series after only five episodes. Despite this, Khaki Jones, Cartoon Network
's Vice President of Original Series, was a "huge fan" of the series and was able to get it picked up on the channel's Adult Swim
block, reopening production on the season. These episodes include Jonathan Katz
, Ron Lynch
, Sam Brown
, Paula Plum, Richard Snee, Mitch Hedberg
, Eugene Mirman
, Laura Silverman
, Larry Murphy
, Will LeBow, Bill Braudis
, Jen Kirkman
, Kelly Kimball and Amy Roeder.
The complete season DVD
was released by Shout! Factory
on November 16, 2004, and featured all thirteen episodes and an assortment of bonus features.
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on November 16, 2004. Other than all thirteen episodes of the season, the DVD included several bonus features, including interviews with the cast and crew, animatics, an animation gallery, commentary tracks on ten episodes, and two short films created by Small and Benjamin.
Home Movies (TV series)
Home Movies is a dialogue-driven American animated series that originally aired from 1999 to 2004. The plot surrounds eight-year-old Brendon Small , who makes films with his friends Melissa Robbins and Jason Penopolis in his spare time...
originally began airing in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on the television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
on April 26, 1999, with the episode "Get Away From My Mom
Get Away From My Mom
"Get Away From My Mom" is the pilot episode of the American animated sitcom Home Movies. It originally aired on United Paramount Network on April 26, 1999. In the episode, eight-year-old Brendon Small discovers that his mother, Paula, is set to have a date with Brendon's soccer coach, the lazy,...
." Co-founders Brendon Small
Brendon Small
Brendon Small is an American sitcom writer/producer, actor, comedian, voice actor, composer, and musician...
and Loren Bouchard
Loren Bouchard
Loren Hal Bouchard is a writer, director, producer, composer, and voice actor for several animated TV shows and a co-creator of Home Movies . He is also the creator of Bob's Burgers-Biography:...
, along with Tom Sydner, served as writers, executive producers, and directors
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
for the season. The season utilized Sydner's signature "squigglevision
Squigglevision
Squigglevision is a patented method of computer animation in which the outlines of shapes are made to wiggle and undulate. Tom Snyder of Tom Snyder Productions invented the technique, which his animation studio Soup2Nuts subsequently popularized in several successful animated series.Compared with...
" animation style, though it would change to a more "conventional" style in subsequent seasons.
The series follows the life of 8-year-old Brendon Small, who writes, directs, and stars in several homemade film productions that he creates with his friend Melissa and Jason. Brendon and Melissa's soccer coach, John McGuirk, is an alcoholic who constantly becomes involved with the kids' lives and gives them bad advice on life. Brendon's mother, Paula, meanwhile, is divorced and juggling her children, her job as a creative writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
teacher, and romantic life.
The main cast for the season consisted of Small, H. Jon Benjamin
H. Jon Benjamin
Henry Jon Benjamin , known professionally as H. Jon Benjamin and Jon Benjamin, is an American actor, comedian and writer best known for his voice-over roles as Jason and Coach McGuirk on Home Movies, Ben on Dr...
, Paula Poundstone
Paula Poundstone
Paula Poundstone is an American stand-up comedian.- Early life :Poundstone was born in Huntsville, Alabama, and her family moved to Sudbury, Massachusetts. Poundstone attended Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, but dropped out to pursue a show business career...
, and
Melissa Bardin Galsky
Melissa Bardin Galsky
Melissa Bardin Galsky is an American voice actress, writer, and producer for several animated sitcoms from the Soup2Nuts company. She was associate producer and talent coordinator for Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, but is best known for playing the character Melissa on the show Home Movies,...
. Poundstone's role was recast after six episodes and given to Janine Ditullio
Janine Ditullio
Janine Ditullio is a comedy writer, voice actress and stand-up comedienne, currently writing for the late night television talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.-Career:...
as a replacement. The first five episodes of the season demonstrated a writing style known as "retroscripting
Retroscripting
Retroscripting is a term for two techniques used in movie and television programs.-Plot outline:A retroscripted script contains a plot outline and leaves dialogue deliberately vague for interpretation by the actors through improvisation...
," consisting of the cast completely improvising the storyline and animation being produced afterword.
UPN decided to schedule the season in the timeslot following Dilbert
Dilbert (TV series)
Dilbert is an animated television series spin-off of the comic strip of the same name, produced by Adelaide Productions, Idbox, and United Media and distributed by Columbia TriStar Television...
on Monday nights, hoping to help give Home Movies a higher Nielsen rating. Despite this, the pilot episode received all-time low ratings and the network called the crew in order to inform them that it was the lowest program they had broadcast in the timeslot in its televised history. The ratings continued to be incredibly low and UPN canceled the series after only five episodes. Despite this, Khaki Jones, Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (United States)
Cartoon Network is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting which primarily airs animated programming. The channel was launched on October 1, 1992 after Turner purchased the animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1991...
's Vice President of Original Series, was a "huge fan" of the series and was able to get it picked up on the channel's Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
block, reopening production on the season. These episodes include Jonathan Katz
Jonathan Katz
Jonathan Paul Katz is an American comedian, actor, and voice actor who is best known for his starring role in the animated sitcom Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist...
, Ron Lynch
Ron Lynch
Ron Lynch is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He has appeared in a number of movies and television shows. He has worked as a voice actor for several animated shows, including Home Movies and Tom Goes to the Mayor, and has made guest appearances on Dr...
, Sam Brown
Sam Brown
Sam Brown may refer to:* Sam Brown , singer/songwriter, daughter of the singer, Joe Brown* Sam Brown , artist and author, noted for his explodingdog web site...
, Paula Plum, Richard Snee, Mitch Hedberg
Mitch Hedberg
Mitchell Lee "Mitch" Hedberg was an American stand-up comedian known for his surreal humor and unconventional comedic delivery. His comedy typically featured short, sometimes one-line jokes, mixed with absurd elements and non sequiturs...
, Eugene Mirman
Eugene Mirman
Eugene Boris Mirman is a Russian-born American comedian, writer, and filmmaker. Mirman currently plays Yvgeny Mirminsky on Delocated, and voices Gene Belcher for the animated comedy Bob's Burgers.-Early life:Mirman was born in Russia to Jewish parents...
, Laura Silverman
Laura Silverman
-External links:...
, Larry Murphy
Larry Murphy
Lawrence Thomas Murphy is a former Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He currently serves as an analyst and sideline reporter for the Detroit Red Wings on Fox Sports Detroit, and a studio analyst on NHL Network.-Playing career:...
, Will LeBow, Bill Braudis
Bill Braudis
Bill Braudis is a comedy writer and voice actor from Boston, Massachusetts who has also done stand-up comedy. He started in stand-up in 1981. He has appeared in several Soup2Nuts programs, being in the main cast of Science Court and Hey Monie!. He also appeared in the first episode of Dr. Katz,...
, Jen Kirkman
Jen Kirkman
Jennifer "Jen" Kirkman is an American stand-up comedian, television writer and actress, best known for her appearances on E!'s late-night talk show Chelsea Lately and the web series Drunk History...
, Kelly Kimball and Amy Roeder.
The complete season DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
was released by Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...
on November 16, 2004, and featured all thirteen episodes and an assortment of bonus features.
Episodes
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DVD release
The DVD boxset for season one was released by Shout! FactoryShout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...
on November 16, 2004. Other than all thirteen episodes of the season, the DVD included several bonus features, including interviews with the cast and crew, animatics, an animation gallery, commentary tracks on ten episodes, and two short films created by Small and Benjamin.
| The Complete First Season | ||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
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| November 16, 2004 | ||||
See also
- Home MoviesHome Movies (TV series)Home Movies is a dialogue-driven American animated series that originally aired from 1999 to 2004. The plot surrounds eight-year-old Brendon Small , who makes films with his friends Melissa Robbins and Jason Penopolis in his spare time...
- List of Home Movies episodes