Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Are you ready for a Mike Tyson cartoon?

Part of what built [adult swim] over the first 13 years of its existence has been a penchant of mocking the works of Hanna-Barbera, usually with zero respect.

Enter Mike Tyson.

The former boxing champion is doing everything but box these days. He's been on Broadway, made movies ("The Hangover"), and even went into the WWE Hall of Fame. Now, he's treading ground previously trod by other celebrities such as Chuck Norris, Rick Moranis, Gary Coleman, and Mr. T. He's now a cartoon hero.

[adult swim] is banking on the man once known as the "baddest man on the planet" to get viewers tuning in to his self titled comedy adventure series, due to debut in the fall. The Mike Tyson Mysteries is, of course, a parody of 70's Hanna-Barbera, although a case can be made for Mr. T's NBC cartoon, produced by Ruby-Spears, which lasted 3 seasons (1983-6), being a target due to the use of a van. Tyson's support team is, to be honest, eclectic. Ani-Mike's face tattoo now has mystical powers, he's got an Asian-American daughter, and has a ghost and a talking pigeon for sidekicks. Said pigeon has the voice of Norm McDonald (ex-Saturday Night Live), and is meant to be the comedy relief. Because it's on [adult swim], there will be coarse language, which is bleeped in the following video, which was previewed at the San Diego Comic Convention last week:





And here I figured the pigeon was making this a satire of another 70's icon, Baretta. What is not yet known is the length of each episode. Will it be 15 minutes, which is the norm for [as]? Or is it 30 minutes? We'll know for sure in a few weeks when the series debuts.

2 comments:

magicdog said...

Looks like this series is to mystery solving shows like The Venture Bros. is to Jonny Quest.

Not to worry - I don't plan on watching this. As you know I enjoy my entertainment while sober.

hobbyfan said...

Ah, but this one is a WB project, produced for [as], not a Williams St. show. That could mean a big difference.

May watch the opener, just for fun.