Anthology series and movies are an effective way to cover a ton of diverse material in a short amount of time, but they’re also a smart way to scout out new talent and ideas. Some of the most successful ventures started out as short segments that were a part of a larger variety show, anthology, or whole. Hulu’s holiday-themed animated anthology, The Paloni Show! Halloween Special! highlights 13 emerging voices in the animation industry. The Paloni Show succeeds as an eclectic collection of chaos, but in the case of some of these stories it’d be a true shame if this is the last that they’re seen. Not everything in The Paloni Show could sustain the spin-off treatment, and in fact some of these ideas are completely antithetical to the concept. However, it’s still an entertaining exercise to consider each of these shorts, not on their individual merits, but rather their maximum spin-off potential.
All of the material in The Paloni Show makes its mark, but in the end it’s really just “Megahex, Devil’s Night, “The Dreston,” the overarching Paloni family framing device, and possibly “The Creek Down the Street and Slaughter Cafe with serious spin-off potential, whereas other shorts like “The Killer Bathtub,” “Slashtronaut,” and “Banana Party” are so singularly focused on a gag that it’s hard to picture them expanding beyond anything other than these few-minute shorts without serious overhauls and expansions. Even some of the better sequences like “Bet It Was Becca” and “An Alien Halloween Claymation” are more stylistic showpieces than story-driven segments and any spin-off would be predicated on these odd characters in repeatedly foreign scenarios. Nevertheless, here’s a ranking of all of the segments in The Paloni Show according to how effectively they’d work as full-length spin-offs.
14. “The Killer Bathtub”
Rafillo’s “The Killer Bathtub” might be the most visually exciting of all the segments in The Paloni Show, but it’s a one-note idea that really has nowhere else to go. It’s gorgeous and reminiscent of the expressive animated shorts from MTV’s Liquid Television, but it plays like a demo reel, not a premise to build a series upon.
13) “Slashtronaut”
Jacob Hair’s “Slashtronaut” delivers cute, gory goodness, but it feels like an Adult Swim interstitial or a piece of Inter-Dimensional Cable, not a series onto itself. It’s a fun piece and the only reason it’s not at the complete bottom of the list is that the titular slashtronaut is still alive at the end and technically able to inflict more carnage to new visitors.
12) “Banana Party”
Daniel Cole’s “Banana Party” makes the most out of its short runtime and it’s certainly entertaining. However, the whole concept is so baked into Halloween that it’s difficult to picture it in any other context. Not only that, but it dilutes the weirdness of this one-off mayhem if a show were to explore all of the inner workings of this hypothetical banana beast cult.
11) “Camp Death Lake”
Echo Kellum and Nate Caywood’s subversive love letter to the slasher genre is a cute concept, but it’s another idea that’s strengthened through its brevity. Repeated trips to “Camp Death Lake” that focuses on different victims could work, but it’s hard to not picture this quickly wearing thin. The story is already in its strongest state.
10) “Bet It Was Becca”
Much like with “The Killer Bathtub,” Jaime Rodriguez’s “Bet It Was Becca”is gorgeous to behold, but still guilty of being more style than substance. At least in this case there’s an appealing protagonist to latch onto with the many-mouthed Becca. Granted, a whole character would need to be developed here, but the character design is engaging enough to justify that work. There are more fish out of water horror genre series happening and it’s hard to argue with one if it consistently brings “Bet It Was Becca” level visuals to the table.
9) “Shitty Beetlegeuse”
“Shitty Beetelgeuse” by Myke Chilian and Jordan Harris is one of the weaker segments in The Paloni Show that doesn’t offer audiences much to grab onto. However, the playful mischief of the eponymous creature could definitely breed future antics. That’s not to say that this would make for a worthwhile or original series, but it’s a formula that’s endlessly replicated for a reason. Weirder shows have lasted for longer.
8) “Rightbehindyouton”
Joel Haver’s “Rightbehindyouton” is another segment that largely falls flat in the grander context of The Paloni Show. Joel Haver still manages to create a distinct community and an even more well-defined protagonist in the form of its eccentric mayor. “Rightbehindyouton” is short-sighted on The Paloni Show, but it easily feels like the beginning of the trademark shenanigans that fuel a Tom Goes to the Mayor style absurdist experience. This absolutely could have worked on Adult Swim 15 years ago.
7) “Plopsie And Friends”
There’s a strong formula in place for what Sydney Heller and Olivia DeLaurentis are doing with “Plopsie and Friends,” their live-action mock children’s entertainment. The only problem is that this juxtaposition of extremes has already been done to what’s arguably close to perfection by PFFR in Wonder Showzen. Plopsie and company look great and it’s easy to picture this show also adorning Adult Swim’s lineup. It would work, but it’s unlikely to scratch any new surfaces here.
6) “An Alien Halloween Claymation”
Lee Hardcastle is a stop-motion claymation master and a full weekly TV series in this style would probably be his undoing. However, that doesn’t mean that it still wouldn’t be an absolute delight. There’s a lot of ground that’s covered in “An Alien Halloween Claymation,” but it hardly seems like this scrappy vigilante extraterrestrial hunter has done all that’s possible with this premise. Weekly adventures where different aliens and Cryptids are demolished in creative ways is a must. it’s the closest the world may get to Claymation X-Files.
5) “Slaughter Cafe”
There’s a very abrasive, gross look to David Firth’s “Slaughter Cafe” that’s not for everyone, but that’s exactly the point. Clacky’s, a cannibal cafe, looks anything but hospitable, yet there’s an odd appeal to this scrappy family business. If nothing else, it’s not difficult to picture numerous workplace comedy scenarios that come out of Clacky’s. It could even embrace Bob’s Burgers original cannibal cuisine angle that got sanded out of the development process. It somehow feels like “Slaughter Cafe” would have been the perfect companion piece for Angela Anaconda on its Saturday Morning FOX Kids programming block.
4) “The Creek Down the Street”
Michael Cusack is an incredible talent who’s proven himself to deliver big with simple ideas, like in YOLO: Crystal Fantasy, Koala Man, and even the Rick and Morty-centric Bushworld Adventures. Despite all of this, “The Creek Down the Street” is incredibly bare-bones, even for Cusack. All that’s present here is his trademark small talk silliness, but there’s no doubt that he’d find a way to make an extended version of this work, just like he has with his other series.
3) The Paloni Family Frame Narrative
Leroy, Reggie, and Ceruce Paloni are an everyday family with a penchant for hosting specials. The Paloni Show treats these three as the glue that keeps everything held together and moving along. However, they undergo their own arcs and blossom into their own by the end of the 60 minutes. It would seriously be a surprise if Hulu doesn’t return to the Palonis for another holiday anthology. That’s not to say that these figures are solely tied to Halloween. In fact, they run through so many Halloween staples that a Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Valentine’s Day celebration seems most likely for the Paloni family’s future.
2) “The Dreston”
Brian Wysol is such an exciting talent to come out of animation and if the world can’t have more Hot Streets than a series based on “The Dreston” would be the next best thing. Supernatural oddities occur in the titular apartment complex, which is already a solid framework to develop a series. It’s the martial arts, sci-fi, horror hybrid you never knew you needed. Brian Wysol has already been vocal about wanting to flesh out “The Dreston” to something bigger, which makes it one of the best bets for a Paloni Show segment to get the spin-off treatment.
1) “Megahex, Devil’s Night”
If any of the stories for The Paloni Show deserve to get the spin-off treatment, it’s Simon Hanselmann’s “Megahex, Devil’s Night,” but to Hanselmann’s credit he’s been building the Megahex brand and telling stories in this world for the better part of a decade in graphic novels. In this respect, it’s extremely exciting for Hanselmann to receive this opportunity and he already had hundreds of stories that involve Meg, Mogg, Owl, and Werewolf Jones, all of which aren’t characters that are restricted to the Halloween season. “Megahex, Devil’s Night” works as the perfect proof of concept that this hilarious, acerbic comedy series can translate over to animation.
The Paloni Show is streaming now on Hulu, check out our review here.