Mission Hill | |
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The heads of the five main characters. Counter clockwise from bottom left-hand corner: Andy French, Posey Tyler, Kevin French, and Jim Kuback, with Stogie (the dog) in the middle.
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Also known as | 'The Downtowners (original title) |
Genre |
Sitcom Dramedy |
Created by |
Bill Oakley Josh Weinstein |
Starring |
Wallace Langham Scott Menville Brian Posehn Vicki Lewis Nick Jameson Tom Kenny |
Opening theme | "Italian Leather Sofa" by Cake |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 13 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Bill Oakley Josh Weinstein |
Producer(s) | Colin A.B.V. Lewis |
Running time | 21–23 minutes |
Production company(s) |
Bill Oakley/Josh Weinstein Productions Castle Rock Entertainment |
Distributor | Warner Bros. Television |
Release | |
Original network |
The WB (1999–2000) Adult Swim (2002) |
Picture format | 4:3 SDTV |
Original release | September 24, 1999 | – August 11, 2002
External links | |
Website |
Mission Hill (originally titled The Downtowners) is an American animated television series that ran on The WB from September 24, 1999, to July 16, 2000, and on Adult Swim from July 14 to August 11, 2002. Although 18 episodes were planned, only 13 episodes were produced. The show was put on hiatus by the WB Network after two episodes due to poor ratings. It returned to the WB in the summer of 2000 but was canceled after four additional episodes. The show went on to develop a cult following, thanks to repeated airings of all 13 episodes on Teletoon's "Teletoon Unleashed" block, Cartoon Network's popular late night programing block, Adult Swim and Too Funny To Sleep, a late night programing block on TBS. Mission Hill was formerly known as The Downtowners, although MTV's production of the similarly titled Downtown forced a name change.
It has also been popular outside of the United States and Canada, receiving broadcasts in Australia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Spain and New Zealand. Stylistically, the series is recognizable for its bright, neon color palette, and features a peculiar mixture of modern animation and traditional "cartoonish" drawings (dashed lines coming from eyes to indicate line of vision, red bolts of lightning around a spot in pain).
The show was created by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, former executive producers of The Simpsons, and the artistic designer was Lauren MacMullan. It features the voices of Wallace Langham, Scott Menville, Brian Posehn, Vicki Lewis, Nick Jameson, Tom Kenny, Herbert Siguenza, Jane Wiedlin, Tress MacNeille and Lisa Kushell. The theme song is a faster, instrumental version of "Italian Leather Sofa" by Cake.