The Dick and Paula Celebrity Special review

 The Dick and Paula Celebrity Special is as close to sheer obscurity as any show could get, only way it could be even more obscure is if no episodes ever surfaced, but they did. It's a mix of a swan-song for a production company's initial incarnation, its animation style it pioneered and popularized, and part of the humble beginnings of a beloved cable network.

Retroscripective/Squigglemation

The Dick and Paula Celebrity Special was released in 1999 for a six episode season. It was the work of Tom Snyder Productions, perhaps best known for Science Court, Dr. Katz Professional Therapist and the first season of Home Movies, and not because an old talk show host was behind them (it wasn't, this is an entirely separate guy.)

This and those shows made use of a process called "squigglevision", named for the shaky outlines present on characters. It's a form of computer animation with the shaking existing for simulation purposes and to push the illusion of traditional animation. It was also very easy and cheap to produce, and that, along with the fact that it was kept entirely to one studio helped to give every show they produced a unique visual flare.

These shows also utilized retroscripting, where scenes are improvised based on an outlined premise before they are polished for final reads. This would slowly rear its head outside of squigglevision on most Adult Swim shows (owed to the fact that Tom Snyder mainstays like H. Jon Benjamin and Brendan Small were there.)

Point is, it was a unique process, maybe other shows did something similar, but this was where it was at its most popular at the time.

Perhaps one thing this show is known for is being the very first cartoon to ever air on FX, of Archer, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, American Horror Story, Sons of Anarchy, The Shield and possibly more fame. Funnily enough, FX at this point were transitioning away from reruns and flicks as their main focus, but at this point scripted programs (or just situational programs) were next to none, the most you got were variety and comedy shows. It wasn't until The Shield where FX took scripted programing more seriously, and it was as early as 2000 where they experimented with Son of the Beach.

Better yet, it seemed like FX were finding their footing and would take up anything that can either broaden their horizon or not leave a dent in their pockets. I'd claim cable viewers are a niche market at least at the time, but what do I know?

Weirdly enough, while the infamous Sammy was long lost but known well enough, this was the opposite.

The show

Set in Massachusetts, the show centers on a husband and wife talkshow team who interviews historical figures dead or alive, along with whatever oddities faced in relation to the figure. That's about it.

The fun in a Tom Snyder program is the dialog, especially since a bulk of it is improvised, and because the outlines are so air tight that it feels genuine and fitting for the show. On Dr. Katz, for those not in the know, it's basically comedians stating what's on their mind to a therapist, mixed with the therapist's daily lives. The key is a natural flow.

Home Movies got by because of how awkward it was (okay maybe it was funny, though why ditch retroscripting as the core function afterwards?)

What kills that kind of vibe here is the use of an extravagant premise, where historical figures are interviewed. You can't just glance over it, and with something like retroscripting, it can feel kinda basic, like of course it's gonna be a stitch and a joke, little nuance. They do go for the "how historical figures affect the modern world" deal, either fleetingly or mostly, but that'd be the first thing you'd expect.

I've been zoning in and out watching the show. The key to good improv is the element of surprise, or a little piece of yourself, you'd never know what you'd get with it. Here, this feels a lot more straight-forward than it should. Maybe I've seen one bad parody too many and I've been desensitized, who knows. The comedy here feels very basic, I can forgive it if it was a scripted sitcom since that just has you follow a story a lot of the time, but honestly, this is improv at its worst.

I literally felt the minutes slip away from me as I watched it, if something good happened then okay, but I wasn't interested enough to continue.

Overall

This feels like a bad cross between Dr. Katz and the educational spirit of Science Court, with little nuance. I understand if they didn't wanna do Dr. Katz again, but this didn't do any good. If this was that good, why is it not talked about more often? Every small collection has a non-valuable piece to it, and this was that piece.

This show would've worked better as an educational series for kids, where kids would interview various historical figures, keeping the talkshow setting. I mean come on, it makes sense and it'd feel more genuine, somehow. If Science Court is anything to go by they were no strangers to educational content, so why not?

After this show, Tom Snyder Productions was bought out by Scholastic and rebranded to Soup2Nuts, handling the remainder of Home Movies and upgrading still running shows in the pipeline and future productions to flash, namely Home Movies, going on to produce Word Girl, as well as one last series to have the squigglevision motif, at least in spirit.