Home Movies is an American adult- animated television sitcom created by Brendon Small and Loren Bouchard with additional development by Tom Snyder, created exclusively for the American broadcasting network UPN, before swifty transitioning to Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim, due to low ratings.
The entire series was made available at launch.
Premise[]
Home Movies centers on a bisexual and polyamorous eight-year-old aspiring filmmaker, also named Brendon Small, who makes homemade film productions in his spare time with his girlfriend Melissa Robbins and his boyfriend Jason Penopolis. He lives with his divorced mother Paula and his adopted baby sister Josie. He develops a skewed father/son-like relationship with his alcoholic, short-tempered soccer coach, John McGuirk.
Production[]
Development[]
In its first season, Home Movies utilized Soup2Nuts' Squigglevision animation but later abandoned that for the cheaper, more malleable Macromedia Flash animation. The switch was initiated for several reasons, including scattered negative response to Squigglevision from both critics and viewers, limitations in regard to movement (fluid motion is rare in Squigglevision), and the producers' view that since Squigglevision was inherent to Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Home Movies should develop its own unique style.
The dialogue of Home Movies initially relied upon spontaneous or ad-lib creation by the actors. The scripts were purposely left vague, with the plot of a particular scene merely outlined, and the dialogue improvised by the actors, with the animation then created and matched to the edited soundtrack. Bouchard referred to this process as "retroscripting," a technique he had developed on Dr. Katz." The first episode was entirely improvised. Though retroscripting was used officially in only the first season, the dialogue in the following three seasons remained heavily improvised, with the written script serving mainly as a guide to fall back on for jokes if needed.
Release[]
Animated in Squigglevision and heavily using retroscripting, the first five episodes aired on the American broadcasting network, UPN in 1999. The show introduced the main characters in this season, and mainly consisted of episodes revolving around Brendon's movies. Much of the style of the writing is loose and improvised.
Shout! Factory, through Sony BMG Music Entertainment, released DVDs of Home Movies seasons, each on three-disc box sets. Each DVD has numerous special features and easter eggs. Shout! Factory later on released all of the Home Movies episodes on Amazon Video on Demand. Seasons 2 through 4 are available for free streaming with a public library card on the Hoopla app and website in the United States. Some episodes are able to be streamed through the Adult Swim official website and app on a rotating basis. The series also joined HBO Max on its launch date of May 27, 2020.
Reception[]
Critical[]
Home Movies has been highly regarded by critics upon and since its release. While reviewing the first season, PopMatters noted that "The animation serves one of the most impressive aspects: the fact that it was largely improvised." while Variety praised the show's dialogue and humor, saying "Home Movies manages to set itself apart, offering clever dialogue and sharp social commentary."
Awards[]
In 2009, IGN included it on their list of the 'Top 100 Animated Series of All Time'.
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.
- The soundtrack for Home Movies was released May 16, 2006 and includes fifty-two songs which were featured throughout the series. The CD comes packaged with the DVD release of the show's fourth season box set.
- All music for the series, including the series' theme music, was written and performed by creator Brendon Small.
- It is the first cartoon to portray a polyamorous couple.
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