Baby Blues | |
---|---|
Genre |
Animated Comedy Surreal humor |
Based on | Baby Blues by Rick Kirkman & Jerry Scott |
Developed by |
Jeff Martin Peter Ocko |
Voices of |
Mike O'Malley Julia Sweeney E.G. Daily Joel Murray Kath Soucie Arabella Field Diedrich Bader Nicole Sullivan |
Opening theme | "It's All Been Done" by Barenaked Ladies |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 2 (1 unaired) |
No. of episodes | 26 (13 unaired) (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Jeff Martin Pete Ocko Rick Kirkman (co-executive producer) Jerry Scott (co-executive producer) |
Producer(s) |
Claudia Katz Karen K. Miller |
Running time | 22 minutes |
Production company(s) | Split the Difference Productions King Features Entertainment Warner Bros. Television |
Distributor | Warner Bros. Television Distribution |
Release | |
Original network |
The WB Adult Swim (episodes 9–13) |
Picture format | 4:3 SDTV |
Original release | July 28 – August 24, 2000 Episodes 9–13: January 20, 2002 – March 10, 2002 |
Baby Blues is an animated television series, based on the Baby Blues comic strip by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, produced by Warner Bros.. The first eight episodes of Baby Blues originally aired in the United States on The WB Television Network from July 28, 2000 until August 24, 2000, before the series cancellation. Five then-unaired episodes were later aired on Adult Swim in 2002. A season consisting of thirteen episodes was produced but never aired.
The animated adaptation of Baby Blues differs from the comic by having it take place when Zoe was still an infant, even though she was the older sister to Hammie in the strip at the time. In addition, it focuses on Darryl and Wanda's relationship with supporting characters created for this series, including the Bittermans (a dysfunctional next-door family with three children), Bizzy (Zoe's babysitter), and Kenny (Darryl's laid-back close friend and co-worker).
Warner Bros. Animation has produced eight of the 13 aired episodes, with overseas animation done by Varga Studio in Hungary for five of them (including the pilot), and Sunwoo Entertainment in Korea for the three others. Rough Draft Studios in Los Angeles did five episodes, which include "Bizzy Moves In", "Rodney Has Two Daddies", "Hurtin' Inside", "Ugly Zoe", and "Wanda Moves Up".
In another attempt to compete with Fox's popular animated sitcoms, The WB made the show to be more adult-oriented than the comic strip (by having some sexuality, mild swearing, etc.). Because Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott had little creative control over the animated version, they were not completely pleased about this kind of difference, though Scott said he liked "part of it".
The Baby Blues animated series took nearly five years to develop and produce, and what was initially the pilot, "A Baby Blues Christmas Special" was supposed to air in December 1998, but it was postponed more than once, while other episodes were being ordered and completed. The Christmas episode finally aired on Adult Swim on February 24, 2002. In 1999, the show was almost to be retitled Bluesville, with Scott's unawareness but Baby Blues was kept as the title, given how popular the comic strip is with more than 60 million readers.