| Drawn Together | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | |
| Created by | Dave Jeser Matt Silverstein |
| Developed by | Dave Jeser Matt Silverstein Jordan Young |
| Voices of | Adam Carolla Jess Harnell Abbey McBride Jack Plotnick Tara Strong Cree Summer James Arnold Taylor |
| Composer | Eban Schletter |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 36(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Dave Jeser Matt Silverstein Bill Freiberger |
| Producers | J. Michael Mendel Claudia Katz |
| Running time | 22–23 minutes(excluding commercials) |
| Production companies | Double Hemm Comedy Partners |
| Original release | |
| Network | Comedy Central |
| Release | October 27, 2004 (2004-10-27) – November 14, 2007 (2007-11-14) |
Drawn Together is an Americanadult animatedsitcom created byDave Jeser andMatt Silverstein. It aired onComedy Central from October 27, 2004, to November 14, 2007, spanning three seasons. The series is a parody of house-based reality shows and follows the misadventures of the housemates in the fictional series of the same name. The series uses asitcom format with areality TV show setting.[2]
Drawn Together usescaricatures of established cartoon characters andstock characters. These character traits parody personalities that are typically seen in reality television shows. Comedy Central advertised it as the first "animatedreality TV series" and in some episodes the characters participate in challenges that are similar to reality television challenges. This premise is largely dropped in later episodes.
The series was cancelled after three seasons. A direct-to-video film which serves as itsseries finale,The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!, was released on April 20, 2010.[3]
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The show's visual style is that ofdigital ink-and-paint. The style was chosen both for theretro feel it gives the show and for the versatility and freedom it allows the animators, providing an environment in which it is possible to combine many different styles of animation. Another unique aspect of the show is that, where most cartoons present their characters, though animated, as real within the show's world, theDrawn Together characters retain their identities as cartoon characters even within their animated world, and they acknowledge their status as animations. The show hascameo appearances by famous characters (or in some cases, clones to avoid infringing copyright) from all across the animated spectrum. In keeping with the various animation styles for the characters, Wooldoor and Toot have four fingers on each hand, whereas Clara, Foxxy, Hero and Xandir have five. In promotional artwork for the show, Toot and Wooldoor are drawn with the standard five fingers, but in the show itself they have four. Whereas most of the characters are drawn with black outlines, Clara and items belonging to her are drawn with soft edges, a reference toDisney animation techniques, which involve "cleanup" of any black outlines. Contrasting, Toot is drawn in the grainy, high-contrast monochrome of her era's technology.
The show was made byRough Draft Studios inGlendale, California, with much of the animation done at the studio's facilities inSouth Korea. A gag in "The Drawn Together Clip Show" is that they show a list of all the Korean children who died animating the show.
The movie was produced by6 Point Harness and done completely withFlash animation due to budget cuts.
A total of three seasons were produced. Season 3 began airing on October 5, 2006, and took a mid-season break which started on November 15, 2006. The second half of season three began airing on October 4, 2007.[5]In March 2007, it was announced that creators Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein had left Comedy Central, and later createdDJ & the Fro for their sister channelMTV in 2009, and eventually signed a two-year contract with20th Century Fox Television to create new series and/or work on the studio's existing shows.[6]
The season three finale included multiple jokes about the show's cancellation.TV Guide listed this episode as a series finale and described the episode as follows:"The series wraps up with the housemates participating in a singing competition as they look back on their recent misadventures."
In March 2008,Tara Strong confirmed that the show had been cancelled,[7] and the back of the third season DVDs box refers to it as the "third and final season".
Since cancellation, the show has partial rotation late-nights, and airs uncensored on Comedy Central'sSecret Stash and onLogo.
In response to the cancellation, the official page ofDrawn Together onMyspace had suggested the fans callComedy Central and convince them to make a new season.[8]
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The plots and humor ofDrawn Together are adult-oriented and heavily loaded withshock comedy. The humor is largely raunchy, morbid and satirical in nature, its primary focus being the mockery of stereotypes and the casual exploration of taboo subject matter, such asprofanity,masturbation,paraphilia,kink,homosexuality orgay marriage,abortion,rape,incest,pedophilia,bestiality,menstruation,spousal abuse,racism,homophobia,xenophobia,antisemitism,necrophilia,terrorism,graphic violence and death. Episodes such as "Gay Bash" or "A Very Special Drawn Together Afterschool Special", for example, feature the exploration of homosexuality as a central theme. Nearly all episodes feature at least one death, and several episodes feature characters going onkilling sprees or perpetrating or becoming victims of mass murder, though the main characters subsequently returned alive and uninjured. The show breaks thefourth wall regularly; on one occasion, the show mocksAdam Carolla, the voice of Spanky Ham.
Despite the show's overt and underlined sexuality, the characters' innocent and sensual sides are often the main driving force of the plot (alongside comedicnon-sequitur moments intended to parody standard plot lines). This addsromantic comedy,melodrama,action film,war film,court drama and other genres to the pool of spoofing material. Sincere feelings the characters are forced to experience (and comic disregard thereof) seem to add integrity to the plot and imbue every episode with a genuine moral message, made more efficient by constant spoofing of moral message clichés like "character X has learned a valuable lesson".
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Comedy Central's originaltagline for the show was "Find out what happens when cartoon characters stop being polite... and start making out in hot tubs", referring to Clara and Foxxy's kiss in thepilot episode. The line is a parody ofThe Real World's tagline, "Find out what happens when people stop being polite... and start getting real." The aforementioned hot tub kiss is considered one of the show's defining images; Comedy Central based nearly all of its first-season promotional material forDrawn Together on it.[9] InThe Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!, a billboard featuring the hot tub kiss is a major plot point in the film and is the main reason why the Network Head is hunting the housemates down in order to kill them in the movie, due to the billboard being the cause of his wife and daughter's death.
The extensive use of stereotypes is another controversial aspect of the show, though the intent is actually to make fun ofbigotry. AsJess Harnell states in the DVD commentary for "Hot Tub", "Most of the racism on the show is coming from people who are so obviously stupid about it; it really isn't that threatening". (Jewish people are mocked, including creators and principal cast member Tara Strong.) Other content known to be featured on some episodes are occurrences ofnatural disasters, depictions ofdictators andsexual fetishes.
Drawn Together is heavy with popular culture references. Animation is a major source of material; as mentioned above, many characters from comics and animated cartoons makecameo appearances and often are the subjects ofparody. Numerous live-action films, TV shows, and video games are referenced as well.Reality shows are another prime inspiration, not surprising given thatDrawn Together is presented as a reality show that takes place in a cartoon world. Although many of the first-season plots made extensive use of the reality show scenario, this aspect of the show has largely been de-emphasized in later episodes. The spoofing of film and television clichés is another common theme on the show; manyDrawn Together stories are parodies of overused plots from TV and films.
One notable factor of the series aremusical numbers. Some are parodies of real songs (i.e. in "Hot Tub", the song "Black Chick's Tongue" is a parody of "A Whole New World" fromAladdin; in the episode "Super Nanny", the song at the DMV is a riff on "Who's That Guy?" fromGrease 2; in "Freaks & Greeks", the song at the end is a take on "Summer Nights" fromGrease; and "You'll Really Love Being Abandoned Here" in "Alzheimer's That Ends Well" is a reference to "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" fromAnnie). Other songs are those written by the show's creators/writers, like "The Bully Song" from "Requiem for a Reality Show" and "La-La-La-La-Labia" in "Clara's Dirty Little Secret"). Only two episodes ("Lost in Parking Space, Part One" and "Nipple Ring-Ring Goes to Foster Care") do not feature a musical performance.
In terms ofcontinuity, events in different episodes contradict each other, as there is a loose sense ofcanon. One such example is in "The Other Cousin" and "N.R.A.y RAY", in which Toot is pictured with a penis, something that is not consistent with other episodes. Another is Foxxy's various and contradictory stories about her son Timmy (one involves selling him on the black market, another involves her accidentally shooting him after believing him to be rabid, when he was really just brushing his teeth). Plots and gags are often used that do not make any type of internal sense, but are used as one-off jokes, as when Foxxy, who is in her twenties, is said to have a teenage grandson. Some episodes begin with a fake recap of events supposed to have happened in a (non-existent) previous episode. According to executive producer Bill Freiberger, "Very little onDrawn Together can be considered canon. If you try to find continuity on this show you'll drive yourself nuts. The only thing that's consistent is we try to make the show as funny as possible. And we'd never let a little thing like continuity get in the way of that."[citation needed]
Occasionally, episodes ofDrawn Together are shown with less editing for content duringSecret Stash, a Comedy Central program aired on weekends at 1am that showcases films (i.e.Not Another Teen Movie), comedy specials (Comedy Central Roast), and animated programs (this andSouth Park) with uncensored language. ThoughSecret Stash programs typically have the nudity still censored,Drawn Together is an exception to this. Some nudity not seen in the original broadcast is shown in theSecret Stash version, while the nudity in other scenes is censored with a caption reading "DVD only"; this is done as a way of promoting the show's DVD releases.
Drawn Together features anensemble cast of veteran voice actors (Tara Strong,Cree Summer,Jess Harnell,Adam Carolla, andJames Arnold Taylor) and newcomers to the field (Abbey McBride andJack Plotnick).
Three of the show's voice actors had worked with creators Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein on other projects: Jack Plotnick onAction, and Adam Carolla and Abbey McBride onThe Man Show. Two ofDrawn Together's guest stars also came from the casts of earlier Jeser/Silverstein projects: "The Other Cousin" guest starSarah Silverman (fromGreg the Bunny), and Carolla'sMan Show co-hostJimmy Kimmel, who guest-starred in "Xandir and Tim, Sitting in a Tree" and "Alzheimer's That Ends Well".
Tara Strong and James Arnold Taylor had previously worked together on the animated seriesMutant League and the video gameFinal Fantasy X where they voiced the characters of Thrasher andRikku (Strong) and Cannonball andTidus (Taylor) respectively.
Principal cast member Tara Strong has stated that she deeply loves the show, as it was such a departure from the family-friendly productions that she was used to working on at the time. The only problems that she had with it were a few jokes related toAnne Frank.[7]
Originally, Xandir was to have been played byNat Faxon, but he was fired following the first table read because the network felt his portrayal of the character was too stereotypically gay. Actor Jack Plotnick ended up being cast because he could play a gay man without resorting to stereotypical mannerisms such as thegay lisp.[10]
In addition to their regular roles, the show's cast provides many of the minor roles and guest voices on the series, Summer, Strong, Harnell and Taylor in particular. In the DVD commentary for "Hot Tub", Tara Strong jokes that this is because the show does not have a lot of money to pay guest stars.Chris Edgerly appears in the majority of season one and two episodes despite not having a regular role on the series.
The pilot episode, "Hot Tub", was given mediocre reviews, which focused mostly on its crudity.USA Today deemedDrawn Together "the smutty offspring ofReal World andSuperfriends", stating that the pilot pushed the limits of taste, being overpowered by violence, sex, and disgusting subject matter.[11] According toThe New York Times, "Hot Tub", while it had many good sight gags, did not go far enough in parodying reality television. The domination of Clara's racism in the story was criticized as being a weak attempt to "send up racism while still showcasing its cruel excitement". Toot's cutting was praised as a good parody of self-harm presented on reality shows, but Spanky's flatulence was considered more disgusting than humorous.[12]
The pilot episode was given an F rating fromEntertainment Weekly, leading to the second-season episode "Xandir and Tim, Sitting in a Tree" having a subplot in which the majority of the housemates seek revenge for the rating. The latter episode also received an F from the magazine. Some reviewers calledDrawn Together a "bizarre and highly entertaining series" which has a unique style of humor and "level of self-parody."[13]
Despite this,TV Guide namedDrawn Together in its 60 Greatest Cartoons of All Time list in 2013.[14]
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 7 | October 27, 2004 (2004-10-27) | December 15, 2004 (2004-12-15) | |
| 2 | 15 | October 19, 2005 (2005-10-19) | March 15, 2006 (2006-03-15) | |
| 3 | 14 | October 5, 2006 (2006-10-05) | November 14, 2007 (2007-11-14) | |
| Film | April 20, 2010 (2010-04-20) | |||
The series previously aired on Logo TV with episodes uncensored.
In May 2019, the series began streaming on the Viacom owned streaming platform,Pluto TV on the Comedy Central Pluto TV channel. The entire series was added to CBS All Access's (nowParamount+) roster in July 2020 among other Paramount Global properties.[15]
Season releases
| DVD name | Release date | Discs | Episodes | Special features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season One Uncensored | October 4, 2005 | 2 | 7 |
|
| Season Two Uncensored | September 25, 2007 | 2 | 15 |
|
| Season Three Uncensored | May 13, 2008 | 2 | 14 |
|
| Complete Series: Party in Your Box | November 17, 2009 | 6 | 36 |
|
| The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie! | April 20, 2010[16] | 1 | 1 |
|
| Drawn Together: The Complete Collection | October 10, 2017 | 7 | 37 |
|
The first season ofDrawn Together was released on DVD byParamount Home Entertainment on October 4, 2005. Its release was timed to coincide to be the same month as the premiere of Season Two on television on October 19, 2005. The set includes all seven aired first-season episodes. (By the time the release was finalized, it had been determined that the unaired "Terms of Endearment" would air during Season Two, so it was left off the set and eventually released as part of the Season Two set.) The profanity and nudity are intact and uncensored. Some shows also contain additional lines and scenes. Special features include audio commentary on select episodes by creators Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein along with assorted cast and crew members, in addition to deleted scenes andkaraoke/sing-along versions of the show's songs.
The set has a game called theCensored/Uncensored game: A line is given, and the viewer must decide if the line aired on television as given (uncensored), or if it had to be altered significantly or deleted (censored). Some of the censored lines appear intact in the extended DVD version of the episode. Getting at least 11 of the 19 questions correct unlocks a hidden feature, a prank phone call by Jeser and Silverstein to their agent regarding the royalties they are to receive for the DVD audio commentaries.
The song "Time of My Life" from "Dirty Pranking No. 2" had to be left off the first season DVD because of copyright concerns. The show mocked the situation in the lyrics of the replacement music.
Season Two Uncensored was released on September 25, 2007. Like the Season One set, the set features audio commentaries by Jeser and Silverstein along with assorted cast and crew members, as well as karaoke/singalong versions of the show's songs. The set also contains, in the words of the box art, "potentially annoying" commentary on the commentary for "Terms of Endearment". The behind-the-scenes interviews in the set are the same ones that appear on Comedy Central's website, which feature each of the voice actors talking about his or her character, along with a separate interview with creators Jeser and Silverstein. Tara Strong does two separate interviews, one for each of her characters (Princess Clara and Toot Braunstein).
The set includes the controversial horse shot from "Terms of Endearment", which was not allowed to air on television.
Season Three Uncensored was released on May 13, 2008.
The censored broadcast cuts of the episodes have never been made available on DVD or any other physical media, but they are available onAmazon.com's streaming service, with the original music.
The show aired onComedy Central for three seasons from October 27, 2004 to November 14, 2007.
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