There have been tons of animated shows that have appeared in primetime and on network TV since the dawn of The Simpsons, and pretty much all of them were quickly scrapped. It's unfortunate, really, as there have been several which were exceptional. The two best would have to be Clerks, based on the Kevin Smith movie, and Mission Hill, from two writers/directors from the Simpsons' stable, Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. Mission Hill is based a little more in reality and, while a comedy, the humor arrives more from real life situations rather than broad satire, pop culture references or jokey dialogue. Not that the show doesn't contain any of those types of comedy, mind you. The story involves two brothers, one a slacker/hipster who is living in the city, Mission Hill, doing menial work and the other a geeky high school student. When their parents move to Wyoming, the younger brother moves in with the older one and his two roommates. According to the nice extras on the DVD set, Oakley and Weinstein were very ambitious with the series. They were planning ten years into the future before the plug was pulled. The show aired on the WB network, which hadn't yet defined itself. They only aired five episodes, I think. I like this show a lot particularly because I see myself and my friends in the characters. The writing on the show is top-notch, and the plotting is exceptional for a show where each episode only lasts 22 minutes. My favorite episodes include the one where the older brother, Andy, infiltrates MTV's The Real World. Anyone who watched the first three seasons of that show will find this one hilarious. There's one episode which eerily predicted 9/11 (not the actual terrorist attack, but rather the mood that permeated the country immediately afterward). Perhaps the one that most people around here would hook onto is (unfortunately) the show's final episode, where the younger brother, Kevin, discovers the world of cinema. There are copious references to Bergman, Preston Sturges and Plan 9 from Outer Space. The show also contains perhaps the most three dimensional gay male couple that has ever been seen on television. This is a show that I really wish would have gotten more of a chance. Unfortunately, I can't recommend buying the DVDs, as there is at least one episode where the sound is entirely screwed up. They also weren't able to attain all the rights for songs they originally used. This particularly harms the Real World episode; the way it ends now, with the changed soundtrack, doesn't even make sense. Still, if you're interested, it's worth putting on your Netflix queue or something.
Review of Mission Hill
