"Home Movies" (1999) TV series 1999-2004

Creators:

Loren Bouchard
Brendon Small

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Release Date:

26 April 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy | Drama

Plot:

TV series about the life of Brendon Small, an eight-year-old visionary who, using his friends Jason and Melissa as actors...

Plot Keywords:

Friend | School | Actor | Soccer | Coach

US TV Schedule:

Tue. Dec. 29	5:30 AM	TOON	Get Away From My Mom	#1.1
Wed. Dec. 30	5:30 AM	TOON	I Don't Do Well in Parent-Teacher Conferences

Cast

Brendon Small	...	Brendon Small / ... (52 episodes, 1999-2004)
H. Jon Benjamin	...	Jason Penopolis / ... (52 episodes, 1999-2004)
Melissa Bardin Galsky	...	Melissa Robbins (52 episodes, 1999-2004)
Ron Lynch	...	Ronald Lynch (50 episodes, 1999-2004)
Janine Ditullio	...	Paula Small (47 episodes, 2001-2004)

Runtime:

30 min | Germany:22 min (13 episodes) | USA:22 min (52 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-14 | Canada:16+ (TV rating) | Canada:18+ (TV re-rating) | Australia:M (some episodes) | Australia:PG (some episodes) | USA:TV-PG (some episodes)

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Soup2Nuts

Trivia:

Only aired six episodes in its original UPN/ABC's Saturdays morning run (depending on your region). When it was picked up by Cartoon Network's Adult Swim in 2001, seven more "squigglevision" episodes from the original season were aired before transferring to Flash for the new seasons.

Goofs:

Continuity: In "Shore Leave", Coach McGuirk takes Melissa's wings while at the mall, puts them on his back, and walks away with them, but later when Melissa is back in the Fairy Princess boss's office, she has them on again.

Quotes:

Brendon: Linda, I don't dislike you, but I dislike being around you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Homestarrunner.com: Everything Else, Volume 3 (2007) (V)

Grown-up cartoon gets a second chance

"Home Movies" was one of those adult cartoons that unfortunately never survived beyond its first few episodes on UPN (after a hiatus, it was picked up by the Cartoon Network). Within that trend, there were many justifiable cancellations, most of them "edgy" -- quotes required -- and cancelled because they just tried to hard. "Home Movies" had a simple setting (hey, "The Simpsons" is just a sitcom about a family) and everyday stories; the humor resides in the mix of Woody Allen styled dialog and extra-flat animation. It has a low-key zaniness that dryly merges those two styles.

The main character is a young boy whom we should see as precocious, filming and starring in his own home movies, but he has merely traded in Legos and a skateboard for a movie camera and director's hat. Each episode is punctuated by the bizarre fruits of his labor: crime dramas, documentaries, PSAs, all with various friends and unsuspecting teachers in the cast. "Home Movies"' supporting characters, a snotty younger sibling, a supportive love interest, and the neighborhood teen metal band, work out various personality quirks you may have watched "Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist" try to cure on that other squiggle-vision cartoon.

The dialog wanders along very naturally and is one of the charms of the show. Characters will hesitate in mid-thought, abandon what they're saying, accidentally say what they're thinking, and have the classic is-it-my-turn-to-talk battle. The fact the so little gets said successfully says a lot.

Thank God it's back on the Cartoon Network! It's avoided the curse of edgy attention-seeking, maybe a spare survival under the radar will keep it from becoming too self-conscious.