Available at Amazon.com
Created by
Jim Fortier
Matt Maiellaro
Dave Willis
Cast:
Unknown Hinson … Early Cuyler
Daniel McDevitt … Russell ‘Rusty’ Cuyler
Charles Napier … Sheriff
Dana Snyder … Granny
Patricia French … Aunt Lil
Mary Kraft … Krystal
“My dreams are all dead and buried… Sometimes I wish the sun would just explode. And when the good lord calls me to his kingdom, I’ll take all ya sons of b**ches when I go.”
The Squidbillies Theme Song.
It’s hard to know what to think if you decide to just dive head first into a bunch of episodes of Squidbillies. Even for lovers of other Adult Swim shows such as Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Venture Brothers, and Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, Squidbillies is just so over the top and insane that there seems to be no preparing for it. Though it can be said that once you’re used to the series’ format and its style of humor, you can start to see what the creators are going for and a little more appreciation can be found for the show’s “high concept/low humor” mantra, the show still never reaches a level higher than a second tier Adult Swim series.
Fans of cult musician Unknown Hinson will probably appreciate the show more than most as he plays Early Cuyler, a redneck squid living in the hills of Georgia. This would seem weird if it weren’t for a man-eating snake character, various monsters/ghosts, a preacher that resembles an animated Muppet, and Early’s own squid family just for starters. Really, to be honest it’s the regular people within the show that seem to stick out more than the crazies, as it’s a little harder to accept seeing them within this circle of insanity than it is a hillbilly squid that is already pretty absurd.
Back to Early though, the main Squidbilly seems to love very few things in his life, as they would include stealing, drinking, shooting, having sex, and generally raising a ruckus. There’s also the task of raising his son Rusty, who was the result of a tryst between Early and the world’s first outdoor shut-in, Krystal (Mary Kraft). When not in pursuit of his own happiness, which is pretty often, Early is out to teach his son the lessons that no one should learn, like how to rob an unsuspecting family on Halloween.
Like I mentioned before though, the odd thing is, is that while at first glance the series is just a show about southern stereotypes, a few episodes in you realize the show has some real potential, especially when it starts looking at relevant issues. This goes especially for what is probably the funniest episode of this DVD set “Chalky Trouble”. In the episode, Early and his family hold a rally, complete with bonfire, against white people, whom they refer to as “Chalkies”. The installment is actually quite hilarious considering that Early seems to not really have a concept of what white people look like. When the local Sheriff (Charles Napier) shows up to stop the rally, and starts spouting off important white people through history (Eli Whitney, Jesus) the episode really takes off. To top everything off, a vision of Jesus shows himself to Early’s Granny (Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Dana Snyder) and instead of doing something really profound, just starts doing a bad card trick.
I wish the rest of the episodes had actually been as funny as this one, but unfortunately that really isn’t the case. Even though the series looks at issues such as religion (“Giant Foam D*ckhat Trouble”), drug abuse (“Meth O.D. to My Madness”), and paternity (“Family Trouble”), none of them really have enough funny jokes to fully sustain even these ten minute episodes. Most do go to great lengths of absurdity, such as “Government Brain Voodoo Trouble” where the punch line joke of the installment, about a therapist (actually played by Jonathan Katz) helping the Sheriff and Early work through some issues, goes to a point of tastelessness that outdoes any other this show has produced.
The frustrating thing is, is that there are times when Squidbillies actually shows some life. The installment “Bubba Trubba” has the Cuyler clan going to see a standup comedian named Plumber Bubba, who has some weird tendencies, and I’m not talking about constantly saying his catchphrase “Do It, To It.” Turns out that Bubba’s foot has claws on it, and his merchandise tends to suck out the brains of its victims, and it’s comforting to think that the man that this episode is referencing could actually just be an alien.
Still, installments like these are the exception, not the rule. Squidbillies has moments of hilarity, but no where near as many as the best series that Adult Swim has produced over the years. Overall, the show just doesn’t know how to quit while their ahead, and many jokes simply go on too long and get too weird to be really funny. With producers, writers, and actors that have worked on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and The Brak Show in the past, Squidbillies should have been another great example of Adult Swim programming, but instead the show can only hold a place of being occasionally entertaining.
The Video
The transfer on this disc is really pristine, just as the rest of the Adult Swim discs have been. These episodes look better than when they originally aired, with bright colors and terrific picture. The show is presented in Fullscreen with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1
The Audio
The Audio track is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and sounds pretty good. The track is clear with soundtrack and effects never overwhelm dialogue.
5 Pilots of the Apocalypse – These pilots, entitled “Hot Dog Fever”, “20 Minutes to Disappointment”, “Back to Square One: The League of Pointless Characters”, “This One Almost Lost Me My Career”, and “Space Baby in the Morning Starring Matt Harrigan” are all presented in either script form or unfinished animation, and are genuinely about as funny as the show is. The best part of this feature is really Executive Producer Michael Lazzo and other members of the crew as they talk about what a pain it was to write this show. It’s hilarious to hear them all completely rag on the creative process for this series, making it surprising the show ended up as well as it did.
Anime Talk Show – This is probably the funniest thing on the entire DVD set. Featuring Space Ghost, Meatwad, Early and a Shark-boy, this 10 minutes and 41 seconds is absolutely hilarious from start to finish, with Space Ghost completely making fun of Shark-boy and his origins while Early goes crazy shooting everything in sight, including Space Ghost and Coast to Coast favorite, Zorak.
Deleted Scenes – There are 12 Deleted scenes, most of which are just extended scenes and small trims.
Commentaries – There are select episodes with commentary tracks, but none are particularly lively. All feature cast and crew members and are pretty laid back.
Star Bar Squidbilly Circle Jerk – Fun feature that runs for over 21 mins and has a lot of the crew talking about their experiences on the show. I especially like the portion of the show talking about the music on the series, such as David Lee Powell talking about his closing credits theme that he composed, and how it sounds rough; but that he still loves it because it fits the show so well. I also love the portion of the Featurette showing the behind the scenes with Country Artist Billy Joe Shaver as he sings the ridiculous theme song for the opening.
Comic-Con Preview – This little preview goes about a minute and a half and shows a little footage from the show.
Unknown Hinson: Animation Master, Cartoon Craftsman – I’ve heard this called a “Mockumentary”, and essentially that’s what this is. This is about 11 minutes long and basically just builds the legend of Unknown Hinson. This should be a little funnier than it is, but it’s still pretty amusing.
