Who remembers any of these?
There is no media conglomerate that has more failed animated television franchises than Viacom networks. MTV, Comedy Central, hell even CMT all have had promising franchises that only lasted one season. Well, yesterday, Viacom has announced that they plan to rebrand another failed state, this one called Spike Television. Over the last several years, Spike has transformed itself as “the network for men” to that of a network that prides itself on reality TV marathons consisting of tattoos, Bar Rescues, and little else. Actually, I like Bar Rescue…point is, the network hasn’t had an original hit in over a decade, and that includes animated comedies geared towards adults. It’s not for lack of trying as you’ll see, Spike has had at least six failed attempts at launching an animated comedy and here they are (not including acquisitions):
This series probably had the most promise of all the failed franchises. While it wasn’t that funny, Gary the Rat had a really killer voice cast which included Kelsey Grammer, Billy Gardell, and a slew of others. The creators of the series, Robb and Mark Cullen, haven’t had a shred of success either, with shit films and failed pilots galore.
Imagine if the Daily Show had both right wing and left wing tendencies, and was animated. That’s essentially what This Just In was all about. This premise could probably work nowadays given the politically charged environment we all live in now, but show creator Steve Marmel has since written for Family Guy and The Fairly OddParents, so he’s done OK without the show.
By far and away the worst adult animated comedy ever. A reboot of the brilliant Ren & Stimpy Show with NONE of Billy West returning as “Stimpy”! THAT SHOULD WORK!! Spike advertised the FUCK out of this show and still only three episodes aired because it sucked ass. And still, this series wasn’t even as bad as…
…Striperella. Actually, I’m going to give you kids a history lesson here about Stan Lee. Is he a legend? Yes, he created Marvel’s backbone of characters that are still hawked today for billions of dollars. But, Stan HASN’T HAD A HIT SINCE! That’s right! Stan Lee has not released anything worthwhile that has gone on for any sort of success, and that continues in animated TV. A show starring a girl made famous by getting skull-fucked by one of the world’s greatest drummers featuring Vince McfuckingMahon! This was almost as bad as the Stan Lee animated series created for The Hollywood Reporter.
Yep…we were supposed to get “Howard Stern: The High School Years” an animated retelling of Howard’s horrendous upbringing in the all-black neighborhoods of Rutherford, NY. The show didn’t come to pass because Spike didn’t want to pay $225000 an episode to animate the series, instead, begging Howard to go Flash. Howard balked, having preferred a hand-drawn format, and that’s why this didn’t happen.
The studio that produced such Nickelodeon classics as The Rugrats and The Rugrats along with The Rugrats was tasked with producing an animated series for Spike’s new late-night animation block. The result was a series called “Immigrants”, a series that featured two guys from Hungary who moved to LA to start new paths of life. The series was actually completed in its entirety and scheduled for a two-hour premiere block, but Viacom decided to cancel the series before it aired.