Genre Comedy Country of origin United States | Composer(s) Julian Wass Original language(s) English | |
Created by Phil Matarese
Mike Luciano Voices of Phil Matarese
Mike Luciano | ||
Animals. is an American animated comedy television series created by Phil Matarese and Mike Luciano. The first two episodes were independently produced and presented at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2015. In May 2015, HBO picked the series up with a two-season order, which premiere on February 5, 2016.
Contents
Plot
Each episode features a different cast of special guests besides creators Matarese and Luciano. The show primarily features retroscripting, improvised dialogue based on plot outlines.
Main
Recurring
Guest stars
Critical reception
The first season has received mixed reviews from critics. As of April 2016, it holds a 60% "Fresh" rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 15 reviews, with an average of 6.3/10. On Metacritic, the series holds a rating of 54 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Maureen Ryan of Variety gave the first season a negative review, writing, "The animated HBO show has a lot in common with programs like Girls, Louie and Baskets, and like Togetherness, it boasts Mark and Jay Duplass as executive producers. But the extraordinarily tedious Animals., unlike those shows, fails to hit any of its chosen targets. It is unfunny, its animation is unexceptional and the studied banality of its dialogue is excruciating." Conversely, David Wiegand writing for the San Francisco Chronicle gave the season a positive review, writing, "The deadpan approach only enhances the delicious off the wall comedy of Animals. The series is batty and brilliant as it turns the whole notion of anthropomorphic cartoon animals on its fuzzy ear."