Reddit AMA Recap: The Producers of “Mission Hill” remember the series

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They were on a Mission to make you remember.

Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein stopped by the /r/adultswim Reddit thread for an AMA to help honor 15 years of the network, where the guys spoke fondly of their days producing Mission Hill. While Josh was relatively quiet, Bill was FULL of news. For starters, he’s working on three projects, two of which I’ve never heard of. Also, he tells us why we didn’t get any more Flower Teen despite the fact that the TripTank series was excellent. The former Simpsons producer was VERY open about stuff and we’re all better for it.

 

On how Mission Hill would be presented today

(Bill Oakley) There is no set answer for this. It is a little difficult because the show was so “of its time”, meaning late 90’s. I am not wild about doing it as a period piece but also not wild about “updating” it because imagine Andy and Jim as “millennials” yuck. One suggestion somebody made is to show us where the characters are now, Andy being over 40 and Kevin being 33 in today’s world. And possibly even doing two versions, one where things went well for them and one where they did not.

On Bill Oakley’s favorite episodes

It’s the two-parter where he loses his job at the waterbed place and then with Jim’s help gets the job in advertising. I think my favorite moments might be in that episode too like when Gus and Wally help Andy do his resume and when he uses that piece of styrofoam coffee cup for a fake tooth and then it blows out and Beardley says “don’t forget your, er, tooth”

On how “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” was decided

(Bill) Josh and I thought it should be Barney because we wanted to retire the character and send him to jail for several seasons. However Jim Brooks thought, wisely, that it should be a member of the family. He suggested Maggie. Josh and I didn’t like that it was an accident, though, and David Mirkin suggested that she dart her eyes at the end to imply that maybe she did it on purpose. That’s the short version of how it came together.

It was Comedy Central’s idea NOT to produce more Flower Teen for TripTank

(Bill) I am not. Unfortunately Comedy Central did not think Flower Teen was in the correct tone for TripTank and I did not want to adjust the tone so I declined to do a second season. My experience with the team at Shadow Machine was superb but honestly I never had anything to do with any of the other segments, I only wrote and produced Flower Teens which was a terrific experience.

On what Bill Oakley is working on right now

(Bill) I have three pilots I am writing/producing all of which I am very excited about. *Working with comic book genius Tommy Lee Edwards on an animated show for Fox starring Andy Samberg *Working with the guys from “It’s Always Sunny” on an animated show for FX Studios *Working on a live-action/animated pilot with the Yo Gabba Gabba guys for Amazon

Read more Reddit AMA here.

About John Schwarz

John is the Chief Editor and Founder of Bubbleblabber.com. While at first a part-time project, Bubbleblabber quickly grew into a full-fledged operation and officially became a company in 2014. When John isn't running a business full-time, he likes to go to concerts with your mother.