Country of origin United States Original network Adult Swim | No. of episodes 13 | |
Original release August 4, 2002 –
May 25, 2003 | ||
The third season of the animated sitcom Home Movies originally began airing in the United States on the Adult Swim programming block for the television network Cartoon Network from August 4, 2002 to May 25, 2003. Co-creators Brendon Small and Loren Bouchard, along with Tom Sydner, served as executive producers for the season. Small and Bill Braudis acted as writers for the season, while Bouchard was director for each episode.
The series follows the life of 8-year-old Brendon Small, who writes, directs, and stars in several homemade film productions that he creates with his friend Melissa and Jason. Brendon and Melissa's soccer coach, John McGuirk, is an alcoholic who constantly becomes involved with the kids' lives and gives them bad advice on life. Brendon's mother, Paula, meanwhile, is divorced and juggling her children, her job as a creative writing teacher, and romantic life.
The main cast for the season consisted of Small, Janine Ditullio, H. Jon Benjamin, and Melissa Bardin Galsky. Among the guest stars during the season were Todd Barry and Mitch Hedberg, along with Louis C.K., who portrayed Brendon's father Andrew. A lot of the season featured "retroscripting," with the actors improvising several of their character's dialogue.
The season garnered critical acclaim and has been branded as among the greatest seasons in animated television history. The episode "Shore Leaves" won the Pulcinella award for "Best TV Series for Young Adults & Adults," while the season itself won in the category for "Best Group of Characters of the Year" at the same ceremony.
The complete season DVD was released by Shout! Factory on November 15, 2005, a few months after the release of the first season DVD. It contained all thirteen episodes along with an assortment of bonus features, including optional episode commentary and animatics.
Home release
The DVD boxset for season three was released by Shout! Factory on November 15, 2005. Other than all thirteen episodes of the season, the DVD included several bonus features, including interviews with the cast and crew, animatics, an animation gallery, commentary tracks on seven episodes, and a radio interview with Bouchard and Benjamin.