The Best Animated Series You Haven't Watched

Back in 1999, the late and largely un-lamented UPN network premiered a new animated series titled Home Movies. It was a quirky, family comedy centered on young Brendan Small. Brendan made movies on his camcorder (remember, this was 1999) with his two friends, oddball Jason and voice of reason Melissa. He lived with his single mom and his baby sister and got ill-advised life lessons from his lazy and ill-tempered soccer coach, McGuirk. Early episodes were done in the Squigglevision format made popular by Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist. The show was sweet and funny, yet had some bite due to the improv nature of the scripts. another Dr. Katz influence.

Alas, it debuted on the sixth place network with little fanfare, amid a glut of networks trying to do adult oriented animation. It was quietly cancelled after five episodes.

And yet that cartoon has had outsized influence on the animation landscape. Shows like Bob's Burgers, Archer, and Metalocalypse all can trace there roots back to here. After the swift cancellation on UPN, Cartoon Network picked up the series and it soon became an anchor of their new Adult Swim block. It ran for four seasons, giving us fifty-two episodes of the world as seen through the skewed lens of an eight year old filmmaker

It's a show I've been a tremendous fan of since day one. My fiancee (now wife) and I were both big Dr. Katz fans, so we immediately jumped on the new show from one of the producers, Loren Bouchard. It was love at first watch.

To this day, we quote lines to each other as little inside jokes. In the first episode, Brendan shows his mom one of his movies, a gritty crime thriller called Dark Side of the Law. The cop that's gone "dirty" has demands before he'll release the hostages. "Demand number one...pizza!" So, naturally, when I get asked what I want for dinner, I'll reply "Demand number one...pizza."

The humor was in the tradition of classic Peanuts strips. Kids talking about kid stuff - first crushes, bullies, failing classes, family therapy - but with a more adult tone. "You don't have to go to therapy," says his mom, Paula. "But a person like you really should." Mix into this the growing awareness that kids get that the adults in their lives aren't infallible - especially not the adults here - and you get some amazing dialogue.

Most of the best one liners go to McGuirk, the angry, drunken soccer coach who is still somehow allowed to work with children. Played by H. Jon Benjamin, you can hear the gruffness and hints of tenderness he'd later bring to Bob Belcher (although in a much different proportion. Bob is the anti-McGuirk). Although the despondency still comes through, as you can see in an episode where an actual good coach comes to work with the team. "How come you kids never carried me off the field?" Brendan answers "We tried, but you were too big." "What?" "I meant too drunk."

But the show never gets nasty or cynical. There's some world weariness, but it's leavened by the sweetness of the main trio who keep on making their movies.

The wonderful thing about the movies in Home Movies was that they were NOT straight up parodies. (For the most part. Every now and then Brendan and Co. would turn a playground jungle gym into the Mad Max Thunderdome.) Rather, they reflected Brendan's anxieties and dilemmas, at least when they weren't doing absurdist musicals about Louis Pasteur and Franz Kafka.

The songs! If you like the music in Bob's Burgers (and if you don't, what's wrong with you?) then you'll love the even more random ones that get plunked into Home Movies. There's a direct line from that Franz Kafka rock opera to the Gene's Thomas Edison musical. Plus even more obscure ones, like the Septepus theme song (a movie about a giant octopus with seven arms. Pixar, call your lawyers. Loren Bouchard is owed money) which are hilarious but will make absolutely no sense out of context. They barely make sense IN context, but the show makes them work.

Now, lucky for you, you can see all the context you want. All the episodes are now available to stream on HBO Max. Go watch them. I have so much I want to talk to you about Starboy and the Captain of Outer Space. (You'll see.)