Uncle Grandpa

Last updated

Uncle Grandpa
Uncle Grandpa logotype.svg
Genre
Created by Peter Browngardt
Creative director Casey Alexander
Voices of
Theme music composer Mike Conte
Tommy Meehan
ComposersMike Conte (S1)
Tommy Meehan (S2-5)
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes153 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
ProducersRossitza Likomanova
Audie Harrison (S1, S5)
EditorTom Browngardt
Running time11 minutes
Production company Cartoon Network Studios
Original release
Network Cartoon Network
ReleaseSeptember 2, 2013 (2013-09-02) –
June 30, 2017 (2017-06-30)
Related
The Cartoonstitute
Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?
Secret Mountain Fort Awesome
Steven Universe
OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

Uncle Grandpa is an American animated television series created by Peter Browngardt for Cartoon Network that ran from September 2, 2013 to June 30, 2017. [1] It is based on Browngardt's animated short of the same name from The Cartoonstitute . Uncle Grandpa is also a spin-off of Secret Mountain Fort Awesome , which was in turn a spin-off of The Cartoonstitute short. It was produced by Cartoon Network Studios. [2]

Contents

The show is a surreal action-adventure comedy that relies extensively on visual gags and catchphrases. Creator Pete Browngardt has cited the work of cartoonists Don Martin, Gary Larson and Robert Crumb, as well as Golden Age–era animators such as Tex Avery and Max Fleischer when it came to developing the style of the show. Each 11-minute episode is presented in a unique format, consisting of a main seven to nine-minute story, some short bumpers typically composed of a quick visual joke, and an original short that focuses on the show's side characters.

Cartoon Network renewed the series for the fourth and fifth seasons: [3] first splitting the second season [4] (of 52 episodes) into two halves, which respectively became the second and third season, then dividing in half the already announced third season into the fourth and fifth season (of 26 and 23 episodes, respectively), which served as the final seasons. [5] [6] [7]

The series premiered on Cartoon Network on September 2, 2013. While the pilot was nominated in 2010 for a Primetime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program, the show itself was awarded in 2014 for the work of Nick Edwards in the category of Outstanding Individual in Animation. Kevin Michael Richardson was also nominated for a Annie Award in 2016 in the category of Best Voice Acting for an Animated TV/Broadcast Production for his work as Mr. Gus in the show. The show on itself received mixed reviews from critics, with praise toward the show's animation and visual humor, while also receiving criticism for its pacing.

Plot

Uncle Grandpa is a magical shapeshifting person that stops by children's houses every day to see how they are doing. The children he visits have a problem of their own and Uncle Grandpa tries to help them through a series of chaotic and surreal misadventures. He is a clowny sort of person who sometimes eats inedible objects (paper, and mostly books). He drives/lives in a UG-2000 model robotic RV known as the Perpetual Persistence and is accompanied by a talking red fanny pack named Belly Bag, a green dinosauroid named Mr. Gus, a static photographic cutout of a tiger named Giant Realistic Flying Tiger, and an anthropomorphic pepperoni pizza slice named Pizza Steve. He greets everybody using “Good Morning.”

Characters

Main

Main characters from the series; from left to right: Uncle Grandpa and Belly Bag, Pizza Steve, Mr. Gus and Giant Realistic Flying Tiger (bottom) Uncle Grandpa.png
Main characters from the series; from left to right: Uncle Grandpa and Belly Bag, Pizza Steve, Mr. Gus and Giant Realistic Flying Tiger (bottom)

Recurring

Human children and adults

Pilot

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
Pilot 32008March 15, 2012 (2012-03-15)
1 52September 2, 2013 (2013-09-02)February 26, 2015 (2015-02-26)
2 26March 5, 2015 (2015-03-05)December 15, 2015 (2015-12-15)
Crossover April 2, 2015 (2015-04-02)
Shorts 14July 9, 2015 (2015-07-09)July 21, 2017 (2017-07-21)
3 26December 16, 2015 (2015-12-16)July 1, 2016 (2016-07-01)
4 26July 1, 2016 (2016-07-01)December 15, 2016 (2016-12-15)
5 23December 16, 2016 (2016-12-16)June 30, 2017 (2017-06-30)

Specials

Christmas Special

The first-season episode "Christmas Special" was aired in December 2014. A double-length Christmas special, it centers on Uncle Grandpa who reluctantly agrees to disguise himself as his brother Santa Claus, after the latter character injures a leg. The episode received mostly praise in international publications, [9] [10] [11] and in the United States it was viewed by 1.5 million. [12] Cartoon Network developed a browser game adaptation named Sneakin' Santa to promote the episode. [13] The episode was well received by the critics during its respective Christmas season.

Say Uncle

A crossover special between Uncle Grandpa and Steven Universe was aired as an episode of the latter series' second season in April 2015. [14] Conceived of by the creator of the latter series, Rebecca Sugar, [15] the episode has Uncle Grandpa teach Steven how to bear a shield from his gemstone. Nearly two million viewed the episode, [16] which received acclaim from critics. [17] [18]

Guest Directed Shorts

The second-season episode "Guest Directed Shorts" was aired in June 2015 and consists of three animated shorts. The first short, directed by M. Wartella, has Uncle Grandpa using time travel in order to find the best hamburger; the second, by Pendleton Ward, has Pizza Steve beatboxing with Uncle Grandpa in the park; and the third, by Max Winston, has the RV gang getting trapped in Uncle Grandpa's claymation mind after their television set breaks down. Wartella is known for his work on the animated series Superjail! and Mad , while Ward is the creator of Adventure Time ; Winston is a professional stop-motion artist. [19] [20] The episode was viewed by 1.3 million. [21] The episode was very well received by the critics, while Winston's short was nominated for best television production at the 2015 edition of the Annecy Film Festival. [22]

Uncle Grandpa Babies

Uncle Grandpa Babies first appeared as a short in the 2014 episode "Grounded" as a faux Cartoon Network ad that presents a series called "Uncle Grandpa Babies" and claims to be made by the same creators of Adventure Time (Pendleton Ward) and Steven Universe (Rebecca Sugar). One year later, a full episode based on the babies saving America from a foreign country's missile launch aired on August 20, 2015.

In light of the special premiering, reruns of Baby Looney Tunes returned to Cartoon Network.

Production

The Uncle Grandpa pilot was created by former Chowder storyboard artist Peter Browngardt, who first pitched the idea to Cartoon Network in 2006. Browngardt, who grew up the youngest in a large family of eight children (his eldest brother Tom would go on to work as the show's film editor), based the character upon the various and often eccentric relatives who would often drop by and visit them, as well as aspects of his own personality. The style of the show was inspired by his love of comics and Warner Bros. Cartoons. The pilot was produced in 2008, then aired online in 2009 on Cartoon Network Video as part of The Cartoonstitute . [23] Akin to the Regular Show pilot, the Uncle Grandpa pilot was successful, but it too have been green-lit into its own series. [23]

In 2011, the TV series Secret Mountain Fort Awesome (based on the creatures that appear in the original short) aired on Cartoon Network, but was not as well-received as the other Cartoon Network shows at the time, and was eventually put on hiatus in February 2012. [24] Despite the failure, Secret Mountain Fort Awesome went on to win several awards, including the coveted Crystal Award for "Best Television Production" at Annecy International Animated Film Festival, the first United States-based production to do so. [24] This helped boost Browngardt's profile in getting Uncle Grandpa greenlit as a series. [24] Another factor that contributed to the launch of the show was the redesign of the character by John Kricfalusi, The Ren & Stimpy Show 's creator. [25]

On July 27 and 28, 2013, Cartoon Network aired a sneak peek of the series as part of Big Fan Weekend, along with Clarence and Steven Universe . [26]

On August 17, 2022, it was announced that HBO Max would be removing several series, including Uncle Grandpa. [27]

International broadcast

In India, it aired in 2015 on Cartoon Network India and it airs still now on Cartoon Network HD+. In Canada, it premiered on September 2, 2013 on Cartoon Network. [28] It also premiered on Cartoon Network channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland on April 14, 2014 [29] and in Australia on May 5, 2014. [30] In the Middle East, it premiered on July 6, 2014 on Cartoon Network Arabic.

Home media

DVD releases

Region 1
DVD titleSeason(s)Aspect ratioEpisode countTotal running timeRelease dates
Tiger Trails116:912132 minutesDecember 16, 2014
Good Mornin' [31] 116:912132 minutesApril 7, 2015

Accolades

YearAwardCategoryNominee(s)Result
2010 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Short-format Animated Program [32] Peter Browngardt, Janet Dimon, Robert Alvarez, Rob Renzetti, Craig McCracken, Brian A. Miller, Jennifer Pelphrey, and Rob Sorcher (for the "Uncle Grandpa" pilot from The Cartoonstitute )Nominated
2014Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Individual in Animation [32] Nick Edwards (for episode "Afraid of the Dark")Won
2015 Annecy International Animated Film Festival TV seriesMax Winston and Peter Browngardt (for "Total Reality" from Guest Directed Shorts ) [33] Nominated
2016 Annie Awards Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production Kevin Michael Richardson (as Mr. Gus, for episode "Uncle Grandpa at the Movies") [34] Nominated

Comics

On April 30, 2014, Kaboom! and Cartoon Network announced that Uncle Grandpa comics were in the works. Issue 1 was released on October 15, 2014. [35]

See also

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References

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  8. ↑ "The Last American". vimeo.com. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  9. ↑ "The world's magical Uncle and Grandpa returns to save Christmas". The Malaysian Insider. December 5, 2014. Archived from the original on January 24, 2015.
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  13. ↑ "Play the New Uncle Grandpa Game, Sneakin' Santa". Turner Broadcasting System. December 1, 2014. Archived from the original on January 24, 2015.
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  16. ↑ Metcalf, Mitch (April 3, 2015). "Top 25 Thursday Cable Originals: April 2, 2015". Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on April 8, 2015.
  17. ↑ Thurm, Eric (April 1, 2015). "Exclusive Steven Universe Clip: Uncle Grandpa Comes to Town". The A. V. Club. Onion. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.
  18. ↑ Kaiser, Vrai (April 3, 2015). "Steven Universe Recap: 'Say Uncle'". The Mary Sue. Abrams Media. Archived from the original on September 22, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
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  22. ↑ "Uncle Grandpa – 'Total Reality'". Annecy International Animated Film Festival. Archived from the original on June 6, 2015.
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  31. ↑ [ citation needed ]
  32. 1 2 "Uncle Grandpa: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences – Emmy". Emmys.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
  33. ↑ © CITIA. "Annecy > Programme > Index". annecy.org. Archived from the original on June 6, 2015. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  34. ↑ "Annie Awards Nominees". annieawards.org. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  35. ↑ "Preview: Uncle Grandpa #1 - Comic Book Resources". comicbookresources.com. Archived from the original on May 14, 2015. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  36. ↑ "CNSP 豪華！日米お爺ちゃん大活躍！でんぢゃらすじーさん邪/アンクル・グランパ". Cartoon Network (Japan). Archived from the original on May 2, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
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