Ugly Americans (TV series)

Last updated
Ugly Americans
Ugly Americans 2010 Intertitle.png
Genre
Created byDevin Clark
Developed by David M. Stern
Written by
  • Aaron Blitzstein
  • Mick Kelly
  • Greg White
  • David M. Stern
  • Jeff Poliquin
  • Kevin Shinick
  • Daniel Powell
  • Bill Krebs
  • Erik Richter
  • Mike Rowe
  • Adam Stein
  • Jordan Pomaville
Directed by
Voices of
Composers
Country of origin
  • United States
  • Canada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes31 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Devin Clark (S01)
  • Colin A.B.V Lewis
  • Craig Digregorio (S01EP01-06)
  • Martin Markle
Running time22 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network Comedy Central
ReleaseMarch 17, 2010 (2010-03-17) 
April 25, 2012 (2012-04-25)

Ugly Americans is an adult animated sitcom created by Devin Clark and developed by David M. Stern. The series focuses on the life of Mark Lilly, a social worker employed by the Department of Integration, in an alternate reality version of New York City inhabited by monsters and other creatures. Daniel Powell served as executive producer and Aaron Augenblick as supervising producer and animation director.

Contents

Ugly Americans aired on Comedy Central from March 17, 2010, to April 25, 2012, with a total of 31 episodes over two seasons.

Production

Pre-production was handled at Brooklyn-based Augenblick Studios, and then the animation for the first season was produced in Flash and handled at Cuppa Coffee Studios in Toronto. The first half of the second season was handled by Big Jump Entertainment in Ottawa. The animation for the second half of season two was handled by Markle Productions and Solis Animation that are also located in Toronto. [1]

The series premiered on March 17, 2010, on Comedy Central. The series is based on a webseries by Devin Clark entitled 5 On with Alan Whiter, which was later developed by former The Simpsons writer David M. Stern. It was picked for seven episodes in May 2009 and renewed for an additional seven episodes to air in October 2010. The show's second season premiered on June 30, 2011.

On May 29, 2013, the show's producers announced the series' cancellation via the show's Facebook page, saying: "the network did everything in their power to keep the show alive by trying to find outside financing. We came very close but unfortunately some legal technicalities kept any deals from going through." The possibility of the show continuing via other mediums, such as web shorts or graphic novels, was not ruled out. [2]

On September 3, 2014, the series was revived as a mobile app game for iOS. [3]

Plot

An upbeat, mild-mannered man named Mark Lilly moves to Manhattan, which is inhabited by humans and a wide variety of non-human and demonic species. He becomes a social worker with the Social Services Division of the Department of Integration, a sub-set of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which specializes in facilitating the integration of the non-humans into the city.

Mark lives with a lazy, over-sexed zombie roommate and has a wizard co-worker and a demon boss. His succubus girlfriend, who also works at the Department of Integration, is the daughter of Satan (who is trying to bring about the end of days) and a human who "looks like Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby ".

Mark struggles to stay cheerful and politically correct while working with his bizarre and frequently dangerous companions.

Characters

Main characters

Recurring characters

Minor characters

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
1 14 March 17, 2010 (2010-03-17)November 17, 2010 (2010-11-17)
2 17 June 30, 2011 (2011-06-30)April 25, 2012 (2012-04-25)

The first episode premiered on March 17, 2010, [9] following the 14th season premiere of South Park , "Sexual Healing". It was watched by over 2 million viewers. [10] On April 21, 2010, Comedy Central announced that they had ordered 7 additional episodes of Ugly Americans, to begin airing in October 2010. [11] On December 15, Comedy Central announced that they picked up the show for a second 14-episode season, which was later expanded to 17 episodes. [12] The first 10 episodes of the second season aired in the summer of 2011 following Futurama and the remaining 7 episodes aired from March 14, 2012, following South Park .

Critical reception

Ugly Americans holds a Metascore of 60, gaining positive reviews from the likes of Entertainment Weekly and The Washington Post . [13] Variety 's Brian Lowry called it "more a triumph of design and concept than execution" and added, "Not everything works, but with its bountiful supply of visual gags, Americans is just goofy enough to be good." [14] Alex Zalben of UGO Networks, commending its mix of slapstick and intelligent humor, as well as actually building relatable characters, says the show "is easily the best animated show on Comedy Central since South Park ." [15] David Hinckley of the New York Daily News stated, "If Ugly Americans comes with a message, it is at least equally determined to just be funny, and at that task, it frequently succeeds. The variety of odd creatures keep the visual gags going, and the dialogue runs steadily toward droll." [16]

Largely due to its visual gags and morbid, offbeat humor, the series has also gained negative reception from publications such as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Deseret News . Kris King of Slant Magazine gave Ugly Americans a 50/100 rating and claimed, "The show's dry humor, mixed with a rather troubling visual style where everything is stiff and vaguely deformed, mostly just makes you feel uneasy." [17] IGN's Ramsey Isler also gave the pilot episode a 5/10, stating, "The show struggles to find some kind of funny [...] The whole thing feels more like a film student project that just didn't quite work out." [18]

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. for Cuppa Coffee Studios; Season 1 only
  2. executive producer; Season 02, episode 09 to 17
  3. for Turner Studios Animation; Season 02, episode 02 to 05; episode 10; episode 15
  4. Season 02, episode 09 to 17
  5. Season 02, episode 09 to 17
  6. Season 01, episode 12 only
  7. Season 01 to season 02, episode 5; Season 02, episode 15
  8. Season 02, episode 09 to 17
  9. Season 01 to season 02, episode 01; episode 09; episode 15 to 17
  10. Season 01
  11. Season 02, episode 02 to 05; episode 10; episode 15
  12. Season 02, episode 02 to 13; episode 15
  13. Season 02, episode 14 to 17
  14. Season 02, episode 02 to 05; episode 10; episode 15

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