7 /10 1 Votes
6.9/10 Original language(s) English | 7.3/10 Country of origin United States First episode date 25 September 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Genre ComedySatireAnimated sitcom Created by Roger BlackWaco O'Guin Voices of David HermanTom KennyKaitlin Olson (2012)Natasha Leggero (2013–15)Roger BlackJerry MinorDaniel Tosh Composer(s) Nicolas BarryTomas JacobiRene Garza AldapeAlejandro Valencia Cast Profiles |
Brickleberry was an American adult animated sitcom teen cartoon series that premiered on Comedy Central on September 25, 2012. The series was created by Roger Black and Waco O'Guin (creators of MTV2's Stankervision) and executive produced by Black, O'Guin and comedian Daniel Tosh. The series follows a group of park rangers as they work through their daily lives in the fictional Brickleberry National Park.
Contents

Black and O'Guin began pitching the show in the mid-2000s, producing a pilot episode for Fox Broadcasting Company in 2007. They later also pitched the show to Adult Swim, but the series was purchased by Comedy Central due to the support of Tosh.

On January 7, 2015, Comedy Central cancelled Brickleberry after three seasons. The series ended on April 14, 2015, with a total of 36 episodes.

Synopsis

The series follows a group of park rangers as they work through their daily lives in the fictional Brickleberry National Park near Hazlehurst in the Driftless Region of Illinois.
Main characters

Recurring characters
Production
The series' creators, Waco O'Guin and Roger Black, met at the University of Georgia in 1999. The series' origin came from O'Guin's father-in-law, a retired park ranger who took his job very seriously. He and Black found his seriousness hilarious, and began first envisioning the show in 2003. The two began pitching Brickleberry as a live-action program after the cancellation of their sketch comedy show Stankervision on MTV2. It was adapted for animation because of budget concerns. Fox Broadcasting Company ordered a pilot episode in 2007, but passed on the series, finding it too offensive. The duo's agent at William Morris Agency connected them with comedian Daniel Tosh, then growing in popularity due to his Comedy Central series Tosh.0. Tosh had been looking for other projects outside of his program and put his support behind the show, which they pitched to Comedy Central. The network wanted them to develop another pilot pitch, which they refused, taking it to Adult Swim, who were prepared to order 10 episodes of the comedy. Comedy Central then relented and purchased the show, ordering a 10-episode first season in 2011.
In commenting on the series' humor, O'Guin felt that all targets are "fair game": "If you're clever and don't just try to shock for shock sake, you can make most anything funny." Anticipating concerns that the show would be too similar to Family Guy, the show's writing imposed a rule of fewer pop culture references, in order to differentiate the two.
Ratings
The series followed Tosh.0 on Tuesday nights. In its first season, the series averaged 1.9 total million viewers each week, doing particularly well with male demographics, ages 18–24. In its second season, the show averaged 1.6 million viewers, and was number one in all of television in its time slot with men, ages 18–24. The series' third season saw ratings fall to 1.2 million viewers per episode, while remaining strong with younger demographics.
Critical reviews
Dylan P. Gadino of Laugh Spin called Brickleberry "fast-paced and hilarious."
John Blabber said the show was "threatening to be the best new animated series of 2012."
Ray Rahman of Entertainment Weekly said the show "tends to rise above your average adult-animation fare."
Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club found the show more offensive than humorous, commenting: "Brickleberry hails from the 'deliberately provocative' school of comedy, where obviously offensive things are tossed out for shock value and if you don't laugh, you're a tight-ass who doesn't get the other levels to the jokes." Ross Bonaime of Paste gave the show a 0.5 out 10, writing that "Brickleberry is poorly constructed, horribly executed and groan-worthy rather than funny in any way. It's a show that's actually painful to watch, because it keeps finding new depths of tasteless jokes without any punchline that are worse than the ones that preceded them."
Many reviewers compared the show unfavorably to Family Guy and South Park. Brian Lowry of Variety lamented the show's eagerness to offend:
Yes, South Park has long since established animation is a fine place to skewer sacred cows, but Brickleberry has nothing more on its mind than seeing how far it can push the boundaries of dick and handicapped jokes. As a consequence, the premise (a second-rate national park) is purely incidental.
IGN's Jesse Schedeen felt the show did not live up to Comedy Central's past animated efforts, deeming it "a slap to the face of that legacy [... In South Park], there's always an underlying sense of humanity to offset the humor. Brickleberry lacks that." The series creators acknowledged the influence, saying: "Family Guy and South Park paved the way for us."