The Art of the Sucker Punch
Encyclopedia
"The Art of the Sucker Punch" is the third episode of the first season
of the American animated sitcom Home Movies
, and the 3rd episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the UPN
network on May 10, 1999. The episode concerns a confrontation between Brendon Small and local bully Shannon, after Brendon discovers Shannon has been physically harassing his friends Jason. Brendon decides to record his preparation for the fight, as well as the fight itself, in order to create a documentary.
"The Art of the Sucker Punch" was written using "retroscripting
," where each cast member completely improvised their lines, though certain script material was provided by co-creator and episode director Loren Bouchard
. The episode was based on an experience co-creator and lead voice actor Brendon Small
had at his school in his childhood with a bully. Comedian Emo Philips
guest starred in the episode as Shannon.
In its original broadcast, "The Art of the Sucker Punch" received a 1.0/2 Nielsen Rating, continuing a streak of low ratings the series had been receiving since the pilot episode
. The episode received generally positive reviews, with multiple commentators noting its portrayal of relatable life problems.
The day of the fight finally comes, but when Brendon goes to engage Shannon, he is knocked to the ground after just three punches. Despite this, Shannon calls Brendon the next day and invites him, Jason, and their friend Melissa to his birthday party, which Brendon resentfully accepts. When the kids arrive at Shannon's party, they see that no one has arrived. Shannon laments about how his bullying ways have caused no one he knows to actually like him, and the kids sympathize with the bully. However, Shannon then reveals that there are several kids at the party, who come out from hiding spots and ridicule Brendon, Jason, and Melissa for being swindled. As their retaliation, the children steal Shannon's lawn gnome and depart from the party.
had with a school bully when he was a child. The episode, as with the other first four episodes of the series, demonstrated a writing style known as "retroscripting
," in which the cast completely improvised their lines. In order to convincingly make the child characters sound like actual children despite being portrayed by adults, recordings of the actors' performance in the episode were electronically altered.
Bouchard directed the episode, a role he filled for the entirety of the series' production run. Along with the rest of the first season, the episode was animated through the usage of "squigglevision
," a technique pioneered by the show's executive producer, Tom Sydner. The animation style consists of eight frames of looped "zigzagged" lines that stimulate the character's mouth movement. This style was used to produce the series on its incredibly low budget and allow for the actors to improvise. The animation style was eventually changed during the second season
to Flash animation, which was believed to be a more conventional style.
"The Art of the Sucker Punch" is available on the DVD Home Movies: The Complete First Season, which was released on November 16, 2004. A bonus feature on the DVD allows for an optional audio commentary
track, recorded by Small, Bouchard, and Benjamin, to play over the episode. Though generally being meant to be humorous and entertaining, the track also details actual information on the episode's production cycle.
television network on May 10, 1999. In this broadcast, the episode received a Nielsen rating of 1.0/2, which placed it as only the 114th most watched network television program of the week. In total, UPN averaged a 1.8 Nielsen rating with a 3% share of cable audiences that week. This continued a strand of poor ratings Home Movies had been receiving since its original broadcast. The pilot episode, "Get Away From My Mom
," received a Nielsen rating of 1.4/2 and placing as the 133rd most watched television program of the week. The following episode, "I Don't Do Well in Parent-Teacher Conferences," was slightly higher, with a 1.4/2 Nielsen rating again, but ranking as the 113th television program that week.
The episode has received generally positive reviews. In his book, Drawn to Television: Prime-time Animation from The Flintstones to Family Guy, M. Keith Booker cited the episode as an example of the series' prolific implication of simple, modern themes as a means of comedy. DVD Verdict reviewer David Ryan similarly wrote that the episode relied on a humor that was both easy to identify with and added a "tremendous amount of humor." Conversely, reaction to the Shannon character has been much more critical. In his review for the series' fourth season DVD, DVD Talk
's Francis Rizzo listed the character on his compilation of elements in the show he had a strong distaste for.
Home Movies (season 1)
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...
of the American animated sitcom Home Movies
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...
, and the 3rd episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the 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...
network on May 10, 1999. The episode concerns a confrontation between Brendon Small and local bully Shannon, after Brendon discovers Shannon has been physically harassing his friends Jason. Brendon decides to record his preparation for the fight, as well as the fight itself, in order to create a documentary.
"The Art of the Sucker Punch" was written using "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...
," where each cast member completely improvised their lines, though certain script material was provided by co-creator and episode director 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:...
. The episode was based on an experience co-creator and lead voice actor Brendon Small
Brendon Small
Brendon Small is an American sitcom writer/producer, actor, comedian, voice actor, composer, and musician...
had at his school in his childhood with a bully. Comedian Emo Philips
Emo Philips
Emo Philips is an American entertainer and comedian born in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove. Much of his standup comedy stems from the use of paraprosdokians and garden path sentences spoken in a wandering falsetto tone of voice and a confused, childlike delivery of his material to produce the...
guest starred in the episode as Shannon.
In its original broadcast, "The Art of the Sucker Punch" received a 1.0/2 Nielsen Rating, continuing a streak of low ratings the series had been receiving since the pilot episode
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,...
. The episode received generally positive reviews, with multiple commentators noting its portrayal of relatable life problems.
Plot
Aspiring filmmaker and eight-year-old Brendon Small discovers that his best friend, Jason, has been physically harassed by local neighborhood bully Shannon on a daily basis. Vowing vengeance on Shannon for this crime, Brendon challenges the bully to a brawl, despite lacking both the physical aptitude and knowledge to actually engage in a fight. Despite this, he starts training and records the entire training process, deciding to turn it into a documentary, implying that his actual motives behind the fight was to just create such a film about himself. Throughout his training process, several members of his community note their complete disbelief in Brendon's chances of actually coming out of the fight victoriously.The day of the fight finally comes, but when Brendon goes to engage Shannon, he is knocked to the ground after just three punches. Despite this, Shannon calls Brendon the next day and invites him, Jason, and their friend Melissa to his birthday party, which Brendon resentfully accepts. When the kids arrive at Shannon's party, they see that no one has arrived. Shannon laments about how his bullying ways have caused no one he knows to actually like him, and the kids sympathize with the bully. However, Shannon then reveals that there are several kids at the party, who come out from hiding spots and ridicule Brendon, Jason, and Melissa for being swindled. As their retaliation, the children steal Shannon's lawn gnome and depart from the party.
Production
"The Art of the Sucker Punch" was inspired by a confrontation series co-creator Brendon SmallBrendon Small
Brendon Small is an American sitcom writer/producer, actor, comedian, voice actor, composer, and musician...
had with a school bully when he was a child. The episode, as with the other first four episodes of the series, 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...
," in which the cast completely improvised their lines. In order to convincingly make the child characters sound like actual children despite being portrayed by adults, recordings of the actors' performance in the episode were electronically altered.
Bouchard directed the episode, a role he filled for the entirety of the series' production run. Along with the rest of the first season, the episode was animated through the usage of "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...
," a technique pioneered by the show's executive producer, Tom Sydner. The animation style consists of eight frames of looped "zigzagged" lines that stimulate the character's mouth movement. This style was used to produce the series on its incredibly low budget and allow for the actors to improvise. The animation style was eventually changed during the second season
Home Movies (season 2)
The second season of the animated sitcom Home Movies originally began airing in the United States on the television network Cartoon Network on January 6, 2002, with the episode "Politics." The season aired on the network's Adult Swim programming block, every Sunday and Thursday night at 9:00 p.m....
to Flash animation, which was believed to be a more conventional style.
"The Art of the Sucker Punch" is available on the DVD Home Movies: The Complete First Season, which was released on November 16, 2004. A bonus feature on the DVD allows for an optional audio commentary
Audio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
track, recorded by Small, Bouchard, and Benjamin, to play over the episode. Though generally being meant to be humorous and entertaining, the track also details actual information on the episode's production cycle.
Reception
"The Art of the Sucker Punch" originally aired on the UPNUPN
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...
television network on May 10, 1999. In this broadcast, the episode received a Nielsen rating of 1.0/2, which placed it as only the 114th most watched network television program of the week. In total, UPN averaged a 1.8 Nielsen rating with a 3% share of cable audiences that week. This continued a strand of poor ratings Home Movies had been receiving since its original broadcast. The pilot 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,...
," received a Nielsen rating of 1.4/2 and placing as the 133rd most watched television program of the week. The following episode, "I Don't Do Well in Parent-Teacher Conferences," was slightly higher, with a 1.4/2 Nielsen rating again, but ranking as the 113th television program that week.
The episode has received generally positive reviews. In his book, Drawn to Television: Prime-time Animation from The Flintstones to Family Guy, M. Keith Booker cited the episode as an example of the series' prolific implication of simple, modern themes as a means of comedy. DVD Verdict reviewer David Ryan similarly wrote that the episode relied on a humor that was both easy to identify with and added a "tremendous amount of humor." Conversely, reaction to the Shannon character has been much more critical. In his review for the series' fourth season DVD, DVD Talk
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a website for DVD enthusiasts founded in January 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman when DVDs and DVD players were first beginning to hit the market.The site started as an online forum, an email newsletter, and a page of DVD news and reviews...
's Francis Rizzo listed the character on his compilation of elements in the show he had a strong distaste for.
External links
- "The Art of the Sucker Punch" at Adultswim.com (Archive)
- "The Art of the Sucker Punch" at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...