EDGY HUMOR HEADS `SOUTH'; PUSHING-THE-ENVELOPE CREATIVITY, ANIMATION TAKE HAND-IN-HAND STROLL THROUGH THE `PARK'.Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Staff Writer Bare butts and flatulence flatulence /flat·u·lence/ (flat´u-lens) excessive formation of gases in the stomach or intestine. flat·u·lence or flat·u·len·cy n. The presence of excessive gas in the digestive tract. are cracking us up, and you can blame it on Bullwinkle J. Moose Bullwinkle J. Moose is a fictional character in the 1959–1964 animated television series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show (often collectively referred to as Rocky and Bullwinkle), produced by Jay Ward and Bill Scott. . Admittedly, it's a bit of a stretch to go from Rocky the Flying Squirrel Rocket J. Squirrel, usually called by the nickname "Rocky", is the name of the flying squirrel protagonist of the 1959-1964 animated television series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show (both shows often referred to collectively as to Homer Simpson's partially exposed bottom and from that point to Drew Carey's recent backward full monty. But the edgy, satirical or off-the-wall humor found in popular animated TV shows such as ``South Park,'' ``King of the Hill,'' ``Space Ghost Coast to Coast Space Ghost Coast to Coast (often abbreviated as SGC2C) is an animated spoof talk show on the cable TV channel Cartoon Network in the United States, Adult Swim in Australia, Bravo in the UK, and Teletoon in Canada. It began in 1994. ,'' ``Beavis & Butt-head'' and ``The Simpsons'' have paved the way for cult comedy to surface on mainstream live-action sitcoms. Of course, nobody expects the singing and dancing piece of, shall we say, human waste featured in ``South Park's'' Christmas special to spawn something equally gross on ``Frasier.'' Writers, though, enjoy the freedom to experiment when composing cartoons, and that gives them fuel for further border-busting creativity down the road. For example, Allan Burns Allan Burns (born May 18, 1935) is an American screenwriter and television producer. Burns is best known for creating and writing for the television sitcoms, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda. Biography Burns was a former writer for The Bullwinkle Show. , staff writer on the clever ``Bullwinkle Show'' in the '60s, said his own years in cartoons helped open imagination's door for ``The Mary Tyler Moore This article is about the actress. For her 1970s television series, also known as "Mary Tyler Moore", see The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Mary Tyler Moore Show,'' which he co-created with Oscar-winning director James L. Brooks (``Terms of Endearment en·dear·ment n. 1. The act of endearing. 2. An expression of affection, such as a caress. endearment Noun an affectionate word or phrase Noun 1. ,'' ``As Good as It Gets''). Brooks also went on to produce ``The Simpsons.'' While comedy writers are essentially hired guns Hired Guns is a computer role-playing game produced by DMA Design (distributed by Psygnosis) for the Amiga in 1993. The game is set in the year 2712, in which the player controls four mercenaries selected from a pool of twelve. , and some can just as easily churn out an episode of ``Space Ghost'' or ``The Simpsons'' as a carefully crafted ``Seinfeld'' plot, they use cartoon writing to push the boundaries. ``You can do much more edgy stuff in cartoons,'' Burns said. ``When we were writing for Bullwinkle, we knew adults were watching, too. We tried to come up with stuff that was hip. That was a good lesson. It freed me up.'' Humor often comes down to simple taste. Just how far can the quest for Verb 1. quest for - go in search of or hunt for; "pursue a hobby" quest after, go after, pursue look for, search, seek - try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; "The police are searching for clues"; "They are searching for the laughs go until the envelope is pushed directly into our living rooms at prime time? It can happen in an instant. Mike Judge's smarmy ``Beavis & Butt-head'' laugh turned up on late-night TV monologues and morning radio shows seemingly overnight. Same thing with the suddenly ubiquitous ``My God, they killed Kenny!'' line from ``South Park,'' which was quoted on the jumbo screen at the Kings game Thursday at the Forum. (In every episode, Kenny, the kid in the zipped-up orange windbreaker, dies in some horrible fashion.) In the same way beer and cigarettes are dubbed entryway drugs before the harder stuff, cartoons often act as the essential first step in humor's infiltration process. ``Animation allows you to do things differently, so you want to take advantage of that creative license,'' said Mike Scully
More freedom Also, cartoons allow more freedom not only in writing, but in sets and quantity of characters. ``I come from live action,'' Scully said. ``When I go back, I'm sure I'll find it very restrictive.'' Others liken lik·en tr.v. lik·ened, lik·en·ing, lik·ens To see, mention, or show as similar; compare. [Middle English liknen, from like, similar; see like2 the world of cartoons to that of the independent filmmaker, an alternative area that allows writers and animators to sidestep side·step v. side·stepped, side·step·ping, side·steps v.intr. 1. To step aside: sidestepped to make way for the runner. 2. traditional restrictions on unfettered creativity. ``It can be a way for creative people to set their point of view on the world without having to go through the Hollywood system,'' said Greg Daniels Greg Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director. He began his career as a writer on HBO's satirical news show Not Necessarily the News before moving to Saturday Night Live. , executive producer of Fox's ``King of the Hill,'' the half-hour animated comedy series he created with Judge of ``Beavis & Butt-head'' fame. ``Animation can be used to present somebody's idea of a TV show without having to go through the usual channels Usual channels is a term used in British politics to describe the relationship between the Whips of the Government and the Opposition. Essentially, this is to obtain co-operation between the two parties, in order to ensure as much business as possible can be dealt with in each .'' Today, the edge of cartoon comedy can be found on a twisted back street in cable country - Comedy Central's ``South Park.'' The 6-month-old show, a crudely animated look at four foul-mouthed third-graders and their strange little Colorado town, revels in gross-out humor, but it's often surprisingly witty, too. This is a town where Jesus hosts a public-access talk show; a dog turns out to be gay and runs away to Big Gay Al's Big Gay Animal Sanctuary (don't ask); and the black character Chef (the voice of Isaac Hayes) is stereotypically oversexed o·ver·sexed adj. Having or showing an excessive sexual appetite or interest in sex. and doesn't mind crooning about it. The flatulent flatulent characterized by flatulence; distended with gas. main characters - Kyle, Kenny, Cartman, Stan and Chef - look like they were fashioned out of construction paper using a child's blunt scissors scissors Cutting instrument or tool consisting of a pair of opposed metal blades that meet and cut when the handles at their ends are brought together. Modern scissors are of two types: the more usual pivoted blades have a rivet or screw connection between the cutting ends . But the cheap look belies big business and a rabid, rapidly expanding audience. ``South Park'' sold almost $30 million in hats, T-shirts, calendars, stickers and other merchandise during the last three months of 1997. The network claims that the Christmas episode drew a 50 share of 18- to 24-year-olds and became the fourth-highest-rated entertainment program on cable last year with 4.5 million viewers. ``It isn't just as simple as it looks, even though it is simple,'' said Matt Stone, co-creator of the show, along with college pal Trey Parker. ``We try and do something unique ... we pack a lot of punch in that, the simplicity.'' Hard to take offense Burns agrees: ``It's hard to take huge offense to these cute little characters saying the outrageous things they say.'' While animation is by no means cheap, it allows a hands-on approach for its creators in various areas. Judge, for example, wrote and played the theme song to ``Beavis.'' Writers Trey and Stone not only do many of the voices for ``South Park,'' but also help perform the music. ``It's as if someone did a TV show in their garage,'' Daniels said of his ``King of the Hill'' and other cartoons. ``You can't do `Seinfeld' in your garage. We have all these actors, unlimited sets, we can score it like a movie and we have the ability to put an awful lot of creativity and production values into the show. If it wasn't animated, it wouldn't be controlled by people like us in our early 30s.'' Cartoon Network's ``Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' spoofs talk shows with the bite of HBO's ``The Larry Sanders Show.'' Based in outer space, ``Space Ghost'' - which recycles a dimly remembered Saturday morning cartoon Saturday morning cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated television programming which was typically scheduled on Saturday mornings on the major American television networks from the 1960s to the 1990s. hero from the '70s - takes David Letterman's often impatient and pointed celebrity interview style several steps further. During one program last year, screams and crunching sounds were heard off-camera. Space Ghost's band leader, an evil green mantis mantis: see mantid. mantis or praying mantis Any of more than 1,500 species of the insect suborder Mantodea (order Orthoptera). named Zorak, was devouring the night's guests. Meanwhile, celebs line up to be belittled be·lit·tle tr.v. be·lit·tled, be·lit·tling, be·lit·tles 1. To represent or speak of as contemptibly small or unimportant; disparage: a person who belittled our efforts to do the job right. and ignored by the cue-card-tapping caped crusader. Last year, Peter Fonda, Buzz Aldrin, Ice-T, Goldie Hawn, Charlton Heston, Andy Dick and Beck, among others, appeared on the show, sometimes for mere seconds before being blasted by the mean-spirited Space Ghost's power bands. ``There's something in there for kids as well,'' said Keith Crofford, the show's executive producer. ``But I think it'll always be a late-night talk show for a hip audience.'' Bypassing hip cult audience Maybe not. Edgy animation can also bypass that hip cult audience and go directly to the neighborhood multiplex. In 1988, ``Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' blended live action with animation and drew huge audiences to movie theaters across the country. The underrated ``Bebe's Kids'' in 1992 transformed the sometimes racially conscious adult-themed comedy routines of Robin Harris into a feature-length cartoon. And ``Beavis & Butt-head Do America'' in late 1996 succeeded in expanding Judge's single-joke MTV MTV in full Music Television U.S. cable television network, established in 1980 to present videos of musicians and singers performing new rock music. MTV won a wide following among rock-music fans worldwide and greatly affected the popular-music business. series into an entertaining and well-received movie, and a sequel is due out around Christmas. Even more unexpectedly, Robert De Niro's Tribeca Productions is preparing a big-screen feature based on Rocky and Bullwinkle blending live action and animation. De Niro has said he may even opt for a role himself. Think Boris Badenov as paranoid cabby: ``You talkin' to me?'' CAPTION(S): 10 Photos Photo: (1--Cover--Color) (Photo Illustration) THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS Cartoon characters, from `The Simpsons' to `South Park,' are the real kingpins when it comes to pushing the limits of TV taste Cover design by Cesar Quebral (2--Color) The antics of Kenny, left, Stan, Kyle and Cartman on ``South Park'' have taken cartoons in a crude but witty direction. (3--Color) Fox's ``The Simpsons'' is one of many animated shows that court adult viewers. (4--Color) In the '60s, ``The Bullwinkle Show'' brought social satire and a hip perspective to animation. (5--Color) The waning, MTV-influenced attention span of teens serves as fodder for ``Beavis and Butt-head.'' (6--Color) A recent episode of ``King of the Hill'' focused on fundamentalist-Christian opposition to celebrating Halloween. (7--Color) Guests appearing on talk-show spoof ``Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' include ``Simpsons'' creator Matt Groening. (8) Allan Burns writer on `Bullwinkle Show' (9) Greg Daniels `King of the Hill' executive producer (10) Mike Scully `Simpsons' executive producer |
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