Season Review: Blair Season One

We want Mo.

Mo Welch’s new TBS shorts series Blair is the near-culmination of what the modern independent cartoonist’s life is like in a post-newspaper/magazine world. It used to be that cartoonists should sketch something up, and then bring it to say The New Yorker, get it printed, get paid, then work on the next assignment. Even if the cartoon doesn’t get picked up by The New Yorker, there were a bunch of magazines and newspapers that you could then pitch to in hopes of cashing out. Eventually, a published cartoonist could compile a book of works, get a book deal, then tour comic cons in hopes of promoting their brand and meeting their fans.

Today, it’s quite a bit different. With the rise of social media, short-form cartoonists have had to adapt from being able to sell stuff to magazines to instead posting their work among a sea of other cartoonists hoping to do the same thing then hope you can sell merchandise and build a brand direct to a cartoonist’s fans. Today, these cartoonists probably get spotted by content producers looking to rake in new and unique voices and Mo Welch is a great example of that. Her cartoons speak to a legion of fans but definitely hit a soft spot for those fans that consider themselves a social introvert with a thousand thoughts running through their mind about any given thing.

Blair is in its essence, an animated adaptation of Welch’s work mostly seen on Instagram. The TBS Digital exclusive series includes 10 episodes of animated shorts running at two minutes and under broaching a litany of topics that lots of people can relate to. Like wondering what a cat is thinking or whether or not someone REALLY cares about marriage, some of these topics are taboo only to those that subscribe to their mainstream subject matter. For example, someone who pines for the days of having overtly produced engagement photos might not find Mo Welch’s brand of thinking appealing, but those that can understand that understand that loneliness isn’t always just an option, but rather, a preferred method of self-conduct, can definitely see where this show is going.

The first take a viewer might have on the “Blair” character is some obvious similarities to that of Daria, but peel away the layers on THIS onion, and you’ll see something a little different. While the producers of Daria have noted that 20 years later they see their one-time high school student married and working, the titular character for Blair is already well into her young adulthood and she appears to be even less motivated closer to the Cathy comics but less thought out. Blair is really if Daria decided to skip down the yellow brick road and discover the wormhole. The character, like in the comics featuring her namesake, is presented in black and white while all her friends are in color. Clearly, Blair’s live-in cat can give no fucks WHAT’S going on as long as she gets fed and her occasional belly rubs.

At its heart, Blair is a heartfelt glimpse of the world through the eyes of the loner. I don’t know if there’s enough exhibited to do a long form TBS series like say a Final Space, but if TBS wanted to showcase these shorts as part of a late-night alt-comedy block, Blair would feel right at home. Moreso, Blair is a true opposite to say the content you’d see on Adult Swim, a network who prides itself on belly laughs from the millennial male audience. Blair could be part of the millennial woman’s answer to Adult Swim animation, and here’s hoping that a catalyst for more content could be had as a result.

Watch Blair on TBS.com or on the TBS App.