Three networks had a bidding war to win the rights to turn Angus Oblong's characters into a series: Fox, the WB, and ABC. Warner Bros. won the bidding to turn Oblong's characters into a series; and thus, the series was submitted to the WB. The show was produced by Film Roman, Oblong Productions, Jobsite Productions and Mohawk Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, and the theme song for the series was composed and performed by They Might Be Giants. This was the only animated series to date to have been produced by Bruce Helford under Mohawk.
A total of 13 episodes were produced. All thirteen episodes of The Oblongs were released on DVD on October 4, 2005.
Setting and premise
The series focuses on the antics of a mutant family who live in a poor valley community. As a result of pollution and radiation exposure, they are all either disabled, deformed, or mutated. The pollution is the direct result of the lavish lifestyle of the rich community known as "The Hills", whose residents exploit and harm the valley residents with absolutely no regard for their safety or well-being.
Bob Oblong (voiced by Will Ferrell) – Born with no arms or legs, Bob works at a poison factory called Globocide. Despite his deformities, he is very chipper and has a happy-go-lucky attitude. He is married to Pickles and is the father of Biff, Chip, Milo, and Beth. He mostly uses his mouth for tasking and moving his torso in ways that can help him get around.
Marie Kay "Pickles" Oblong (voiced by Jean Smart) is a chain smokingalcoholic who was originally a Hill resident but moved to the valley after marrying Bob. Due to the hazardous atmosphere of The Valley, all of her hair has since fallen out (something which is usually hidden by an extremely tall blonde beehive wig), and she is now regarded as an outcast by her former Hill friends. While not bitter about losing her privileged life, she often expresses disdain towards her self-centered former neighbors in the Hills. She is the mother of Biff, Chip, Milo, and Beth, whom she loves dearly as much as she does her husband.
Biff Oblong and Chip Oblong (voiced by Randy and Jason Sklar respectively) are 15-year-old conjoined twins who are attached at the waist and share a middle leg. Biff is a hard worker obsessed with sports while Chip is more laid back. It is frequently implied that Biff is gay and attracted to their unnamed gym teacher.[4]
Milo Oblong (voiced by Pamela Adlon) is the youngest son who is afflicted with numerous mental and social disorders. Despite his afflictions, he is a very forthright and benevolent boy, though he envies the Hill lifestyle and wishes to rise above his economic status. He has a single hair sticking up on his head, a squint in one eye, and wears a shirt that says "NO".
Beth Oblong (voiced by Jeannie Elias) is the youngest child and only daughter, she has a warty, elongated growth growing out of her head. Despite her appendage, she is shown to be better adjusted than the rest of her family.
Recurring characters
Helga Phugly (voiced by Lea DeLaria) is an overweight, toad-like girl who holds the delusional belief that she is pretty and popular.
Creepy Susie (voiced by Jeannie Elias) is a melancholic goth girl who speaks with a deadpan French accent and appears to float instead of walk as her legs are never shown.
Peggy Weggy (voiced by Becky Thyre) is a girl who has one breast and lacks a lower jaw, causing her to spit and talk with a lisp. Despite her deformities, Peggy is cheerful and upbeat.
Mikey Butts (voiced by Jeannie Elias) is a boy saddled with a dangling, doubled posterior.
Milo Oblong gets transferred to public school after his father Bob is taken off his job's insurance for filing too many claims and falls for a beautiful, popular girl named Yvette who's really an alien. Meanwhile, Bob tries to find a second job to pay the medical bills.
In an attempt to calm his hyperactivity, Bob and Pickles let Milo care for an injured Scottish terrier, but when the dog proves to be a bad influence on Milo, he's forced to give the dog up for adoption.
3
"Milo Interrupted"
Kelly Armstrong
Ben Kull
April 15, 2001 (2001-04-15)(The WB) September 29, 2002 (2002-09-29)(Adult Swim)[9]
After a Hill kid chucks a rock at the window of Mr. Bergstein's house, the mayor hires a Bible-thumping, gun nut named Mrs. Hubbard to investigate the Valley for dysfunctional families and juvenile delinquents when the Valley kids are accused of the incident. Meanwhile, Milo discovers that Helga's parents are missing and must care for her, making Bob suspect that Milo is abusing drugs.
4
"Bucketheads"
Joe Horne
Scott Buck
April 22, 2001 (2001-04-22)(The WB) October 13, 2002 (2002-10-13) (Adult Swim)[11]
Milo becomes an unlikely trendsetter for the Hill kids after Pickles sends him to school with a bucket on his head, but the fame goes to Milo's head when Milo sets out to create his own line of offbeat attire.
Pickles wins the chance at a shopping spree from a cigarette company, but when she passes out after smoking one too many cigarettes, Pickles decides to quit smoking (and drinking alcohol after inadvertently setting her finger on fire) and becomes a thrill-seeker after knocking out a woman during Tae-Bo class.
Bob Oblong becomes depressed after learning all his suggestions to make Globocide better have been used as kindling for the factory's furnace. Meanwhile, Milo creates an energy drink called "Manic", and is named "The Corporate Messiah" by the higher-ups at Globocide.
7
"Flush, Flush, Sweet Helga"
Monte Young
Jace Richdale
May 13, 2001 (2001-05-13)(The WB) September 1, 2002 (2002-09-01) (Adult Swim)[17]
When Milo and his friends get caught crashing a Debbie birthday party, Helga ends up losing Debbie's locket and goes in the sewers to retrieve it, only to be stuck in the Valley's sewer pipes, and the Hill people don't see it as a problem -- until a failed attempt to get Helga out results in the Hill people annexing The Oblongs' house (which isn't affected by Helga being stuck in the pipes) for water.
8
"Disfigured Debbie"
Joe Horne
Joey Soloway
May 20, 2001 (2001-05-20)(The WB) August 11, 2002 (2002-08-11) (Adult Swim)[19]
Pickles gets arrested for neglecting Beth after trying to rescue her from a giant Venus flytrap and is sentenced community service by working as a den mother for a vaguely lesbian Girl Scout-esque troop called "The Little Amazons."
An accident involving Insani-Glue and Milo getting chased by Biff and Chip results in Milo getting stuck to Biff and Chip's back, which cuts into their training for the two-man triathlon against Hill kids Jared and Blaine. Meanwhile, Beth feels left out and begins sticking herself to others.
Bob gets his genitals crushed by a stripper wearing clogs during his best friend's bachelor party. When he confesses to Pickles that they can't have sex for two weeks, Pickles begins wondering whether or not her marriage to Bob is real. Meanwhile, Milo becomes an insomniac when Pickles and Bob stop having sex.
Bob gets his jaw injured at his company's theme park, and at the advice of company attorneys, is given a robotic body with the arms and legs he never had, which gives him the confidence to quit his job and become a lifeguard.
Biff and Chip get their driver's licenses and crash Bob's car during a drag race. Biff and Chip then buy Bob a new car at a police auction, and come across the Mayor's bribe money, which they spend on themselves, despite nightmarish harassment from city officials.
Broadcast
The show premiered on April 1, 2001, on The WB but failed to find an audience. On May 20, 2001, The WB aired "Disfigured Debbie", the second episode produced, as the season finale, leaving five episodes unaired. Reruns of the first eight episodes, and the five remaining episodes, premiered on Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim, from August 4 to October 27, 2002, and the entire series was rerun on the block until December 26, 2015.
In Canada, the series aired on Teletoon as part of "Teletoon Unleashed". In Australia, the show premiered on the Nine Network on December 8, 2001,[26] however due to insufficient ratings, it was withdrawn after one episode,[27] but was eventually shown in a late-night/early morning time slot. The series aired from November 5, 2004 to September 29, 2006, on TBS's late-night programming block, Too Funny To Sleep. The series aired on TBS again from April 15, 2013 to February 20, 2015.
Home media
The entire series was released on two-disc DVD set in the United States on October 4, 2005.
"It's an Oblong World" – The show's concept, characters and casting, "The Art of the Oblongs" Angus Oblong-guided tour of his original artwork for the series, and "An Oblong Picture Book" – Angus Oblong drawings gallery.[29]
Awards and nominations
The Oblongs won the Artios award in 2001 for Best Casting for Animated Voiceover – Television Mary V. Buck Susan Edelman.[30]
References
^Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Company. pp. 593–594. ISBN978-1476665993.
