The Brothers Grunt

The Brothers Grunt
The Brothers Grunt titleboard
Genre Dark humor
Surreal humor
Off-color humor
Created by Danny Antonucci
Written by Dennis Heaton
Danny Antonucci
Rod Filbrandt
Voices of Doug Parker
Jennifer Wilson
Danny Antonucci
Julie Faye
Phil Hayes
Terry Klassen
Ed Hong Louie
David Mylrae
Drew Reichelt
Lee Tockar
Theme music composer Patric Caird
Composer(s) Patric Caird
Country of origin Canada
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 4
No. of episodes 35 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time 30 minutes
Production company(s) a.k.a. Cartoon
MTV Networks
Distributor Paramount Television
Release
Original network MTV
Original release August 15, 1994 (1994-08-15) – April 9, 1995 (1995-04-09)
Chronology
Related shows Ed, Edd n Eddy

The Brothers Grunt is a Canadian animated comedy television series that originally aired from August 15, 1994 to April 9, 1995 on MTV. The series centered on Frank, Tony, Bing, Dean and Sammy, an ensemble cast of pale, rubbery humanoids distantly related to human beings, all of them ostensibly male, wandering around in their underpants, in search of their lost brother Perry.[1] The series had a short run and was met with generally negative reception.

Overview

Premise

The series centered on an ensemble cast of pale, rubbery, and constipated-looking humanoids with prominent varicose veins distantly related to human beings, all of them ostensibly male, wandering around in their underpants. Their main food staple is cheese; nevertheless, they are able to eat other foods and dishes (at least potatoes: see episode #23, "Not My Potato"). Their single parent is a giant, mute aquatic individual, called Primus Gruntus Maximus, to whom they are born as embryos inside skin warts, much in the way of the Surinam Toad (see Pipa pipa). They live in a monastery in the wilderness. A group is formed, composed of most of the survivors of their species, in a quest to bring back one of their kind, Perry, who has abandoned his involuntary position of "Chosen One" (leader of their order) and is now living the "high life" among human beings (who seem to deal with the bizarre nature of the grunts by ignoring them and pretending everything is normal).

Characters

The main characters were named after famous vocalists of the 1950s: Frank (Sinatra), Tony (Bennett), Dean (Martin), Bing (Crosby), Sammy (Davis Jr.), and Perry (Como), all voiced by Doug Parker.

Main

Major

The characters that would become The Brothers Grunt were first seen in one of MTV's numerous 30-second promos. This particular promo consisted of close-up shots of the at-the-time-unnamed character's faces who seemed to be straining to do something (veins in their heads would bulge, the characters would squint and grunt) until the scene cut to the MTV logo landing in a pool of sludge followed by a satisfied "Ahhhhh" (suggesting that the characters were suffering from constipation and the MTV logo was the 'turd' as it were). It is unclear when this promo aired if the storyline and characters for The Brothers Grunt had been developed already or if it had been developed into its own show after the success of the promo, in the wake of Beavis and Butt-head.

Cast

Network run

The show began in 1993 when the MTV ad for The Brothers Grunt aired. At the time Danny Antonucci had animated several MTV ads to find work outside of International Rocketship Ltd., who he had worked for since 1984. Although Danny enjoyed the success of Lupo The Butcher, he wanted to leave International Rocketship Ltd. and start his own animation company. The result was a.k.a. Cartoon, which began on April 1, 1994. The studio began as a way to locate his work for The Brothers Grunt after an MTV executive liked his MTV ad so much he asked him to turn it into a television series.

Reception

The Brothers Grunt had a short run and was met with generally negative reception from critics. Kenneth R. Clark of the Chicago Tribune said that, with the series, MTV "created the most repulsive creatures ever to show up on a television screen" and "accomplished the seemingly impossible."[2] Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times called the show "an effortful, sophomoric half-hour that leaves the viewer longing for the refined good taste of Alice Cooper."[3] In their book North of Everything: English-Canadian Cinema Since 1980, William Beard and Jerry White called the series a "failure".[4] The show was often compared to Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, an animated series that aired on MTV's sister channel, Nickelodeon. Gabor Csupo, co-creator of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, rejected these comparisons, claiming that his show was more character driven, while The Brothers Grunt was an idea driven series, also pointing out that both shows have different visual styles.[5] When looking back on the series, creator Danny Antonucci stated that the series "didn't really do too well", also saying that the show has since become MTV's "dirty little secret".[6]

Episodes

Note: All episodes directed by Danny Antonucci

Season 1 (1994)
No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Original air date
11"The Ceremony"August 15, 1994
22"Make Mine a Grunt"August 22, 1994
33"The New Fish"August 29, 1994
44"Where Angels Fear to Grunt"September 5, 1994
55"Viva Grunt Vegas"September 12, 1994
66"Scrub Me Sammy"September 19, 1994

Season 2 (1994)
No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Original air date
71"The Detective"September 26, 1994
82"If I Could Grunt to the Animals"October 3, 1994
93"Paging Dr. Grunt"October 10, 1994
104"Perry's Appliance Repair"October 17, 1994
115"Timmy's Best Friend"October 24, 1994
126"No Quest Today"October 31, 1994

Season 3 (1994)
No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Original air date
131"Grunt Moments in History"November 7, 1994
142"Perry Molo"November 14, 1994
153"Tony and Salsa"November 21, 1994
164"A Call to Grunts"November 28, 1994
175"Clean Up in Aisle Grunt"December 5, 1994
186"Land of the Midnight Grunt"December 12, 1994
197"Close Encounters of the Grunt Kind"December 19, 1994
208"The Scent of Grunts"December 26, 1994

Season 4 (1995)
No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Original air date
211"Eat My Grunt"January 2, 1995
222"They Stole Tony's Veins!"January 9, 1995
233"Not My Potato"January 16, 1995
244"Squeal Like A Grunt"January 23, 1995
255"The Big Crapple"January 30, 1995
266"Sammy in a Varicose Vein"February 6, 1995
277"Grunt Fare"February 13, 1995
288"To H*ll with Bing"February 20, 1995
299"Cream Style Tony"February 27, 1995
3010"The Ugly Gruntling"March 5, 1995
3111"5 Card Grunt"March 12, 1995
3212"The Stench of Grunts"March 19, 1995
3313"Grunt Games"March 26, 1995
3414"Requiem for a Sammy"April 2, 1995
3515"Smells like Dean Spirit"April 9, 1995

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present. Ballantine Books. 2003. p. 162. ISBN 0-345-45542-8.
  2. ↑ http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1994-08-15/lifestyle/9408120967_1_beavis-and-butt-head-adult-animation-adult-cartoons
  3. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1994-08-15/entertainment/ca-27371_1_brothers-grunt
  4. ↑ http://books.google.si/books?id=iLNhHWfarosC&pg=PA63&dq=the+brothers+grunt&hl=sl&sa=X&ei=RQkEUcS7BayL4gTP-4CACw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=the%20brothers%20grunt&f=false
  5. ↑ Mendoza, N.R. (October 30, 1994). "Nickelodeon offers monsters in training". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 24, 2011. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  6. ↑ http://www.alivingdog.com/Antonucci_.html

External links

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