While this wasn't the last hurrah for its production company, this was the last hurrah for its animation style, well, on a visual basis at least. If Y2K killed one thing, it was squigglevision apparently, it started strong in the 90s and gradually decomposed to nothing, sorta like a band scooped up by a corporation for promotions and dying off in relative obscurity some time after. Anyone remember Sev?
Stay tuned for some moderate irony and questions on how a network views teenagers with O'Grady.
Background
O'Grady was the last show to make use of the art direction presented in prior shows by Tom Snyder Productions. By then it had rebranded to Soup2Nuts following an acquisition by Scholastic. This came out in 2004, about two months or so after Home Movies wrapped, so this was certainly the last for what the company used to be.
On the irony bit, O'Grady was made for The N (remember that network?), and it was the last for the studio in this incarnation. What's the irony? The last show produced by the company during the Tom Snyder Productions era was The Dick and Paula Celebrity Special for FX.
Both shows were aired on niche networks, produced for niche audiences and were the last shows produced for their respective incarnations (reminder, in terms of overall style.)
As this was a Soup2Nuts production, we got the endearing mainstay H. Jon Benjamin in the mix, along with another mainstay since Home Movies Melissa Bardin Galsky. Also as a rarity, this show features a celebrity in a major role. Celebrities were relegated to guest appearances, especially in Dr. Katz, the most you got out of Home Movies was Emo Phillips.
The man of the hour here is Patrice O'Neal, who is perhaps better known as a cautionary tale relating to bad choices on Type II Diabetes.
If Girlstuff/Boystuff did air on The N, this was The N's second cartoon overall, but their first original.
Plot
Like Dick and Paula, this show has a mundane framework with a gimmick, but unlike that show, the gimmick is used to its full potential and maintains relevance to the plot. Four highschoolers attend a school in a town with a curse, where various oddities happen called the weirdness. It could be anything, whether students multiply thanks to fits of anger, or music suddenly playing out of nowhere to manipulate the mood.
Our leads here are honestly not as generic as I expected them to be, as it comes with the territory of many teen cartoons. Kevin is a more self-aware and honest slacker type, but perhaps on a lower ebb compared to others. We have the progressive Beth, the vain Abby and the good natured Harold.
One thing I find kinda interesting is that they place the worser of the two in the lead roles, a rarity and a nice change given how we strip those kinds of characters of any other dimensions to make us root for the heroes who ironically come off as the obnoxiously popular while the people we're supposed to hate get so maligned it just leads to an endless cycle of mixed feelings and questioning who is truly the villain.
#IStandWithVictoriaBest
The characters work off well against one another, but can keep it together well enough to prevent it from feeling forced. Only conflict is a difference in opinion and the situation whether or it has an impact. The weirdness is prevalent, but not common enough to be a major hinderance.
By this point, retroscripting was abandoned, which improved the overall flow. Retroscripting worked better when the situation was fit for it, but it seemed Dick and Paula tainted the prospect with a lack of a major focus and a piece of the actual actors. Home Movies took to scripting since season 2, but mainly ironed out improvised dialog, something that shows here as well.
Compared to Girlstuff/Boystuff which felt like a manufactured take on teen life, this feels a bit more genuine thanks to its gimmick, just seeing weird stuff happen to some insignificant teenagers. It strangely has a more natural flow to its dialog. Plus no lingo.
Art Style
Something wrong happened, either that or The N were heavily convinced teens enjoyed ugliness. This show feels like a visual mockery of prior Soup2Nuts shows with how asymmetrical everything looks, what even is the point of having the mouth pass the cheeks? Now sure, it stands out, but I'm just confused. Home Movies was consistent between its first and later seasons, why the change?
Best case the artists pulled a Matt Groening and hastily drew concept art for this show for fear of losing the rights to another.
It kinds functions like South Park if done in flash in certain areas.
But who am I kidding? This still looks a hell of a lot better than Girlstuff/Boystuff, this was bound to have a better reason.
Overall
I liked this better than The Dick and Paula Celebrity Special, for the sake of making do with a gimmick and a better flow. This is also technically the best cartoon on The N, it was a hell of a lot more bearable than Girlstuff/Boystuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtfzUtCGakg
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