Redneck humour comes to TV,
New animated TV series was produced in Ottawa
Redneck humour comes to Canadian television in Bounty Hunters, a new animated series featuring the voices of popular blue-collar comedians Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy and Bill Engvall.
And with it comes some racist humour, sexual jokes and just the right level of inappropriateness that doesn’t make it too offensive for TV viewers. It certainly isn’t your typical Saturday-morning cartoon fare.
“It’s an adult cartoon. There’s sexual innuendo, racist jokes, brawls — it’s kind of all over the map,” says Cory Morrison, one of the founders of Big Jump Productions, an Ottawa company that worked on the animation for the series in conjunction with Muse Entertainment of Montreal.
The 13-episode half-hour series premièred Saturday on the U.S. network CMT and starts Wednesday at 10 p.m. on the Comedy Network in Canada. It’s the first animation series that CMT has broadcast. Muse Entertainment is producing and distributing the series.
“It’s not as vulgar as Family Guy, and it’s probably like King of the Hill, is the best way to explain it,” says Morrison, who directed the series.
The series follows the adventures of bounty hunters Foxworthy, Larry and Engvall as they track down fugitives and criminals in the small Southern town of Skeeter Creek. They get their bounties from Lisa (comedian Lisa Lampanelli), a foul-mouthed bail bondswoman whose office is next door. Also participating in the series are Samantha Bee and Jason Jones (The Daily Show) and Dave Thomas (SCTV) and guest stars include country singers Kellie Pickler (American Idol) and Blake Shelton (The Voice).
In the debut episode airing tonight, Three Rednecks and a Baby, Foxworthy, Larry and Engvall are enlisted to care for a stranded newborn while chasing a fugitive through the wilderness of Skeeter Swamp.
Morrison says the style used in the series is called “tradigital animation,” which means the animators can integrate hand-drawn elements within a digital environment, thus allowing for a greater level of realism in the shots.
“We utilize a lot of 3D animation in this series, as well. All the vehicles and anything sort of mechanical or technical, even the backgrounds, we will do in 3D and pop in to the shots. To physically draw a vehicle in a shot would be too much work.
“Essentially, our job is to enhance the characters’ voices and enhance the audio but not detract from what’s being said in every shot. So that’s why things need to be a lot more subtle, and a lot of it (animation) is from the neck up, and the expression in the characters’ faces.”
The company, which was formed in 2008 by Morrison and his brother Rick and Rodrigo Amador, is using about 40 animators on the project. The company developed a relationship with Muse Entertainment about five years ago and worked on another animation series with them, Alfred Hedgehog.
The relationship proved fruitful so when Muse was ready to produce Bounty Hunters it turned to Big Jump Productions for their animation services.
“We were able to do everything on Bounty Hunters — the only thing this company didn’t touch was the scripts,” says Morrison. “Everything you see on screen was conceptualized here.” The scripts were done in Los Angeles by the series’ writing and producing team, with the music and sound effects produced in Montreal.
“It’s been an incredible ride to have that much creative control over a prime-time series, especially for CMT, which is the first animated series they’ve had on their network.”
The project has been in the works for about a year and a half, he says. A TV pilot was done last fall and took about four months to complete after some fine tuning. The series was developed over the past six months, and only a few remaining episodes are left to finish, he says.
In developing the adult ani-
‘We were able to do everything on Bounty Hunters — the only thing this company didn’t touch was the scripts.’
CORY MORRISON
Big Jump Productions
mation series, there is a certain look and feel to it that sets it apart from traditional Saturday morning cartoon shows, says Morrison.
“We tried to pull (together) what prime-time animation looks like. If you look at the The Simpsons, Family Guy or King of the Hill, there’s a certain appeal to it that adults like. It’s not like watching Tom and Jerry or Bugs Bunny. Its look is grittier.”
“It’s almost a sitcom approach, as opposed to the stuff you see for kids,” says managing partner and creative director Dave Badour.
“The preschool stuff for kids is very slow-paced, with a storybook approach. The pacing here is more geared to the delivery of the lines rather than the action,” says Badour, adding the audience target is adults 18 and older.
In conjunction with the animation series, the company is developing a mobile IOS and Android game called Skeeter Creek Armchair Racer, expected to be out in September.