Matt Groening- animation producer- a case study

Matt Groening- animation producer- a case study
Matt Groening;
I find it interesting that the creator of the long-lasting series The Simpsons and Futurama on 20th-century fox and sky, has created a new series on Netflix instead of broadcasting.

Notes:






Research:

(Source 1. )

BBC NEWS (2018). Disenchantment: Simpsons creator Matt Groening reveals new Netflix show. BBC News. [online] 24 May. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-44235785 [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019].

‌(BBC NEWS, 2018)

notes:

Quotes:

Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, has a new animated series called Disenchantment coming to Netflix.

It will be his first new show since Futurama, which debuted in 1999, and will air on 17 August.

The series takes place in the medieval kingdom of Dreamland and follows "hard-drinking" princess Bean, her elf companion and her personal demon.

Initially it will run for 10 episodes on the streaming service.

It comes as The Simpsons, the longest animated show in US TV history, faces criticism for racial stereotyping one of its characters.

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(Source 2)

McMahon, J. (2018). ‘Disenchantment’ review – sure, it’s no Simpsons, but Matt Groening’s new series will reward and surprise the box-set bingers. [online] NME. Available at: https://www.nme.com/blogs/disenchantment-review-sure-no-simpsons-matt-groenings-new-series-will-reward-surprise-box-set-bingers-2370427 [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019].

‌(McMahon, 2018)

Quotes:

When Matt Groening’s The Simpsons came about – first via a series of animated shorts on Fox’s The Tracy Ullman Show in 1987, then in the form of the Springfield family’s record breaking, genre-defining own series two years later – there was really nothing like it. 

In 2009, Groening’s jaundiced baby surpassed the iconic US TV and radio drama Gunsmoke in the number of episodes broadcast and the length of time it had been on television. At the time of writing, 639 episodes have been shown. Next year, The Simpsons will celebrate its 30th birthday proper. 

Yet 29 seasons in, The Simpsons is still within the best 10 things regularly on television. 

It’s hard not to view Disenchantment, Groening’s first Netflix exclusive series through the lens of all the above. Because the problem with Disenchantment – a medieval fantasy in love with Game Of Thrones, Dungeons & Dragons, Fighting Fantasy, Monty Python and all similar lore – isn’t really a problem with Disenchantment at all.

If Disenchantment wasn’t a Groening product, if it wasn’t a descendant of The Simpsons, it would be viewed entirely differently. It’s really nice, warm television. It’s pleasant. It’s charming. Yet in an era where The Simpsons’ children are saying a lot – BoJack Horseman offers the best depiction of depression within all of television, South Park remains near or close to it’s acerbic, nihilistic best – Disenchantment has seemingly been designed to say as little as possible. It’s like the Apu controversy has neutered Groening’s voice.

At its best Disenchantment comes across like an extended episode of The Simpsons’ Treehouse Of Horror. Nothing emanating from its creators’ brain will ever arrive short of creativity and the world Disenchantment creates within the ten episodes currently available is one packed with interesting characters, as well as both cool details and knowing humour embedded within all of its crevices. It rewards repeated viewing; some dense scenes becoming like a Where’s Wally take on medieval mirth. But even the show’s core premise, the twist on the long-ingrained fantasy trope of a vulnerable princess waiting for a handsome prince (here, the princess – Bean, voiced by Broad City’s Abbie Jacobson – is a foulmouthed, rebel hearted, alcoholic shagger) never gets out of first gear. At some point, Groening would have seen the potential to say things about feminism, gender, misogyny… Has he missed that? Is he scared to? Either way, it’s not here.

“What happens eight episodes in is quite extraordinary”

It’s true that Groening’s other post-Simpsons series, the sci-fi themed Futurama, took a while to ignite – not surprising when you enter the world under the sunlight blocking colossus of The Simpsons. 

Billie Eilish | Firsts

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There is a constant narrative where previously the show had seemed undecided as to whether to stick or twist on embracing its episodic medium.

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(Source 3)

Hyman, D. (2018). Matt Groening Just Keeps Going. [online] Esquire. Available at: https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a22627833/matt-groening-disenchantment-netflix-interview/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019].

(Hyman, 2018)

QUOTES:

Matt Groening will forever be known as the guy behind The Simpsons, now the longest-running prime-time scripted series in television history. Hey, a guy could do worse. But the 64-year-old former cartoonist has never been one to rest on his Emmys: Groening remains intimately involved with every episode of his best-known show (639 at this writing) and has spent the past several years developing a new animated series called Disenchantment (debuting this month on Netflix), set in the mythical kingdom of Dreamland.

Amid a typically busy day shuttling between the L.A. studios where his shows are made, Groening spoke with Esquire about the origins of Disenchantment, his love of Bollywood, and the secret to The Simpsons’ Montgomery Burns-like longevity. ESQ: What inspires someone with three decades of success to say, “I’m going to start from square one”?

Matt Groening: I just love creating new worlds. I’ve been fascinated since I was a kid by fantasy maps and old Dell crime paperbacks that had maps on the back covers. There was a very spooky poster from 1930 that hung in the den of my parents’ house called “The Land of Make Believe,” by an artist named Jaro Hess. It scared the hell out of me, but I loved it. I actually tracked it down and hung it in my kitchen to scare my children. But it’s always been an inspiration to me. I mean, The Simpsons is its own parallel universe, and certainly Futurama is the same thing. And now Disenchantment is a third one.

But you always intended to create another animated series?

Oh, yeah. I think about ideas for different TV shows all the time. What holds me back is knowing how hard it is to actually pull them off, and whether I really want to commit myself to something that keeps ongoing. You know, my comic strip Life in Hell lasted 33 years. The Simpsons is 29 years and running. Futurama didn’t last as long. [It ran for seven nonconsecutive seasons.] So I have to really want to do it for me to plough forward.

When it first aired, The Simpsons was viewed as wildly subversive and even controversial. Since then, the culture has become crasser but also more politically correct. Are the shifting boundaries of humour in 2018 something you considered?

You never know. You work for a couple years on something and you don’t know what it’s going to be or how it’s going to be perceived. That’s the hardest thing about animation, by the way: getting the tone right. Especially in a world that is completely made-up. The challenge becomes whether you can get people to climb on board and make them forget for a moment or two that they’re watching a cartoon and get caught up in the feelings.

Paradoxically, as I get older, I am less interested in fantasy and more interested in reality. And by reality, I mean real emotions. The trappings of the show I’m amused by, but what really gets me going is the stuff with heart.

Obviously being on a platform like Netflix, as opposed to network TV, gives you more freedom.

I still think about boundaries, because there are some. Actually, one of the nice things about conventional television is that the boundaries are clear on what you can show and what you can say. With Netflix, they’re very encouraging for us to do whatever we want to do. Still, we found early on that there’s a certain kind of dirty joke that within this show just didn’t feel right. But who’s to know what people will be bothered by?

As of this past April, The Simpsons became the longest-running primetime scripted show in television history. How much longer do you see it going?

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(source 4)

KULAS, E. (2018). NPR Choice page. [online] Npr.org. Available at: https://www.npr.org/2018/08/18/639235358/a-medieval-fantasy-from-the-simpsons-creator-throws-a-wench-in-the-works?t=1572706429373 [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019].

‌(KULAS, 2018)

Quotes:

It's been almost 20 years since Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, has released a new show. He last did it in 1999 with his sci-fi comedy Futurama. But he says, it hasn't been all work since then. A lot of the humour is trademark Groening, but there's much that sets this show apart from the rest of his work. For one thing, it's his first time working with a streaming service. Netflix dropped all 10 episodes on Friday.

Groening says he had mixed feelings releasing years of work on a single day. But he is glad to be away from TV.

"I've been working in animation now for 30 years on The Simpsons, which interrupts itself every seven minutes to sell you a series of breakfast cereals," he says. "And it's very pleasurable to ... be able to take as long as we want to tell our story — and to slow things down."

The Simpsons, which has unfurled over three decades, has taken a different approach, engaging in a social commentary that has sometimes changed the times and sometimes battled with them. Groening notes that after such a long time on air, "The Simspons has been taken to task from so many directions, and it's always fun to annoy a certain number of people."

But working in this new genre, he clearly has different ambitions for Disenchantment.

"I issue this challenge to the viewers," Groening says. "The very first thing you see in animation on Disenchantment ... gives a big clue as to what the nature of this universe is ... there's lots of secret clues and puzzles and even treasures. No monetary value, but they're in there."

Disenchantment's first season is out now on Netflix. A second season is in the works and expected out next year.‌

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(Source 5)

Lowry, B. (2018). Matt Groening’s “Disenchantment” can’t cast much of a spell. [online] CNN. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/16/entertainment/disenchantment-review/index.html [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019].

‌(Lowry, 2018)

QUOTES:

Netflix has earned a reputation of tapping big creative names -- including those associated with more traditional network fare, like Groening and "The Big Bang Theory's" Chuck Lorre -- and theoretically unleashing them, essentially offering the latitude to do whatever they want. After working under the guidelines of network TV, it's understandable that talent would want to operate in a sphere without arbitrary rules, from the length of episodes to more restrictive content standards.

That's certainly a marketable concept -- 

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(source 6)

Karthik Shankar (2019). Netflix’s “Disenchantment” Finds Its Groove in a Great Season 2 That Ends on a Huge Cliffhanger. [online] Thrillist. Available at: https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/netflix-disenchantment-season-2-review-will-there-be-season-3 [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019].

‌When Disenchantment premiered last August on Netflix, my initial excitement about Matt Groening's latest project dissipated after five episodes.    And then, like its unlikely heroine, Disenchantment proved its mettle. At the close of Season 1, the show invigorated itself by orchestrating a series of thrilling, dramatic twists. Elfo is killed (albeit temporarily). Bean resurrects Queen Dagmar, the dead mother she has mourned since childhood, who has more than a few nefarious tricks up her sleeve. A magic potion turns almost every citizen of Dreamland into stone. A show which amusingly featured a higher body count than Game of Thrones had suddenly found its Excalibur: stakes. There's a noticeable tonal shift between the sombre premiere and finale and the middle batch of episodes that the show somehow pulls off like a charm. Though Disenchantment has been confirmed for Parts 3 and 4 to air between now and 2021, suffice to say, it's going to be a long wait for the next batch of episodes, full of a lot of lingering questions about where the show could be headed next. 
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(source 7)

Groening, M. (2018). Disenchantment. [online] Netflix.com. Available at: https://www.netflix.com/title/80095697 [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019].

‌

Source 8

(Vikram Murthi, 2018)

Vikram Murthi (2018). Matt Groening’s new Netflix series Disenchantment gets off to a rocky start. [online] The A.V. Club. Available at: https://www.avclub.com/matt-groenings-new-netflix-series-disenchantment-gets-o-1828414345 [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019].

‌It makes a certain amount of sense that Matt Groening’s third TV series would be Disenchantment. If The Simpsons tackles our heightened present through the eyes of a dysfunctional nuclear family, and Futurama skewered an imagined future influenced by the whims of 20th-century science fiction, then Disenchantment broadly examines “the past” via the medieval fantasy genre. Like Groening’s previous shows, Disenchantment sports an impressive setting bounded only by the writers’ imagination, in this case the kingdom of Dreamland, and an ever-expanding cast of characters, two elements crucial for his brand of humanism and satire to flourish. Anyone weaned on Groening’s work will find that his new series fits exactly in his wheelhouse but with one obvious difference: It’s streaming on Netflix instead of airing on television.

Now, that’s not necessarily a prohibitive factor, but Netflix’s few creative restrictions and seemingly limitless budget constitute a double-edged sword for TV writers, especially those weaned on writing for network. Groening and showrunners Josh Weinstein and Bill Oakley are all veterans of the traditional half-hour sitcom, complete with commercial breaks and tight act structure, and they have done some of the medium’s best work within those constraints. Will the platform’s freedoms affect the quality of Disenchantment or will it be business as usual but with ten episodes at once instead of weekly installments?

Unfortunately, Disenchantment’s pilot, “Chapter I: A Princess, an Elf, and a Demon Walk Into A Bar,” falls into a familiar streaming trap: It plays like an extended first act rather than a discrete episode. Written by Groening and Weinstein, the pilot inelegantly introduces the series’ main characters without much regard for pacing or timing, taking its sweet time playing in the world of Dreamland but rushing through the character relationships. It begins haphazardly and ends on a semi-literal cliffhanger, and while plenty of events occur in between, none of it carries much weight or significance.  “Chapter I” scans as an introduction ostensibly satisfied in the knowledge that audiences will forgive its flaws because they’ll most likely just power through to the next episode right away. While that might be true, Disenchantment’s first impression still isn’t terribly strong. (It should be noted that future episodes of Disenchantment are stand-alone instalments and don’t necessarily have this problem.)

There are a handful of good moments here and there—Elfo expressing frustration at the nonsensical candy economy in Elfworld, the jester cracking wise at Zøg’s expense only to be thrown out a window by an executioner, the Wish Master being a Wash Master—but “Chapter I” doesn’t put nearly as much effort into establishing character as it does setting. Granted, there’s only so much work one can accomplish in a pilot, but most of the main relationships on Disenchantment feel too convenient (or, worse, arbitrary) because it takes way too long to bring the trio together. Compare this episode the Futurama pilot: Fry meets Leela four minutes into the episode and then meets Bender eight minutes in. Meanwhile, it takes 24 minutes to bring Elfo into the fold.

Sure, Disenchantment relies on some character shortcuts—Luci is the devil on Bean’s shoulder while Elfo harbours what’s bound to be an unrequited attraction to her, whadya need a road map?—but they don’t compensate for the general lack of care involved. By the time the trio are jumping off a cliff together to avoid returning to Dreamland, the show acts like their bound by friendship, but it feels unearned. The world is fully formed from the get-go, but the people are so far too thin. Even Bean feels pretty one note and we spend the most time with her character.

Obviously, Disenchantment will develop and relationships will fall into place, but the goal of a first episode, regardless of whether it premieres on TV or the Internet, should be to get audiences to stick around. It feels like Disenchantmentis banking on audiences liking the fantasy world enough to just soldier on, but Groening’s best work always foregrounds character as well as setting, grounding proceedings in balanced emotion. There’s a moment when Bean asks her new companions to identify the feeling inside her that she doesn’t want to drink away, and Elfo believes that it’s hope. It’s a nice moment that connects with the character’s waywardness, but it feels untethered to the wackiness that precedes and follows it. Disenchantment will likely clarify all of this in subsequent episodes, but right now, everything feels like a means to service the world when it should be the other way around.

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(Source 9)

Telegraph.co.uk (2018). Disenchantment, Netflix, review: Matt Groening’s new show can’t quite recreate that Simpsons magic. [online] The Telegraph. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/2018/08/16/disenchantment-netflix-review-matt-groenings-new-show-cant-quite/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019].

‌(Telegraph.co.uk, 2018)

even if you’d heard not a jot about Disenchantment before finding it on Netflix, you’d know that this was a Matt Groening production. The protruding upper lips, wide eyes, thick limbs and the oddball hairdos make this unmistakably an animation from the same stable as The Simpsons and Futurama. A few minutes of streaming tells us that the slapstick, dysfunctional humour is much the same too.

Almost 30 years after The Simpsons launched, Groening – along with his former Simpsons colleagues Josh Weinstein and Bill Oakley – has created his third new animated series. And, really, there's a strong argument for not deviating from his tried-and-tested signature style and alienating his millions of fans. But though it's normal to hear children parroting Bart Simpson’s catchphrase “eat my shorts” (at least, it was in the Nineties) or, more recently, sing about a “Spider-pig”, this new endeavour is aimed squarely at adults.

Set in the medieval fantasy world of Dreamland, Disenchantment follows a rebellious, alcoholic princess and her two sidekicks, Elfo the cheerful elf (voiced by Nat Faxon) and a pitch-black demon called Luci (Eric André). There’s rarely a serious moment, but the sight of an elf being kept in a cage while having his blood harvested is not for children – even less so when that elf later interrupts a small orgy, albeit off-screen.

We meet Princess Bean (voiced by Broad City’s Abbi Jacobson) on her last day of "freedom" – before she is forced to get married – in the town tavern attempting to cheat in a card game as a means of distraction from her immediate future. There’s a loose story arc across the series – the events of the previous episodes inform the next. But the marriage is duly avoided early on, allowing her to stay in Dreamland, meaning there’s still a substantial “adventure (or misadventure) of the week” element too.

The supporting voice cast is largely made up of Futurama alumni, including John DiMaggio (the voice of that show's robot Bender). And there is an odd smattering of British comedy actors: Noel Fielding is Stan the Executioner, while Matt Berry is Prince Merkimer, the princess’s suitor. Princess Bean’s lady-in-waiting Bunty, meanwhile, is played by Lucy Montgomery with a thick northern English accent (now those don't crop up in American comedy very often).

Groening falls back on plenty of his usual tropes: it was inevitable that a pitchfork-wielding mob would appear somewhere. And there are plenty of similarities to Futurama. 

The medieval fantasy landscape, however, is beautifully, evocatively drawn. And there is much fun to be had in creating a motley cast of witches, monsters, royalty and townspeople. Fans of both The Simpsons and Futurama – particularly those who have continued to stick doggedly by The Simpsons well past its best years – will find something to enjoy here. Yet for an adult show, there's very little swearing, which makes it less convincing when set among the medieval taverns. And given this is a Netflix production, rather than airing on Groening’s usual home of 20th Century Fox Television, there’s no obvious need to cleanse the language. Animation has moved on a lot since The Simpsons rewrote the rules in 1989. Bojack Horseman delves deep into melancholy while maintaining a searing wit, while spy spoof Archer shakes off all the potential juvenility of animation by gloriously embracing the bad behaviour of its secret agents. Indeed, it was only eight years after The Simpsons began that South Park reset the bar again when it came to just how adult an animation could be. So, really, Disenchantment doesn't go far enough in any of those ways. The alcoholism is played only for laughs rather than explored, the vulgarity is tame. But for the viewers who are still happy with what The Simpsons offers, this is perfectly fine.

Source 10

Telly Vulture (2019). Disenchantment on Netflix: Cancelled or Season 2? (Release Date) - canceled + renewed TV shows - TV Series Finale. [online] canceled + renewed TV shows - TV Series Finale. Available at: https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/disenchantment-netflix-cancelled-renewed-season-two/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019].

(Telly Vulture, 2019)

‌What’s This TV Show About?

A Netflix animated comedy, Disenchantment comes from Matt Groening. The voice cast includes Abbi Jacobson, Eric André, Nat Faxon, John DiMaggio, Billy West, Maurice LaMarche, Tress MacNeille, David Herman, Matt Berry, Jeny Batten, Rich Fulcher, Noel Fielding, and Lucy Montgomery. The fantasy comedy unfolds in the medieval kingdom of Dreamland, which has seen better days. The story centres on Princess Tiabeanie, i.e. Bean (Jacobson), her elf companion, Elfo (Faxon), and her personal demon, Luci (André). Since Bean knows she will not inherit the throne of her father, King Zøg (DiMaggio), she and Elfo want to find out what else the world has to offer, while Luci, who is on his first assignment, is out to bedevil them all the way. 

Disenchantment has been renewed for a second season which will air in 2020 and 2021. Stay tuned for further updates.

Telly’s Take

Unless they decide to publicize viewership, it is difficult to predict whether Netflix will cancel or renew Disenchantment for season two. Based on the popularity of Groening’s other TV series, The Simpsons and Futurama, I’d expect a second season renewal, but reviews have been lacklustre.  

10/22/18 update: Netflix has renewed Disenchantment for a second season of 20 episodes. 

(Source 11)

Pena, J. (2017). Disenchantment: Netflix Orders Animated Adult Comedy from Matt Groening (The Simpsons) - canceled + renewed TV shows - TV Series Finale. [online] canceled + renewed TV shows - TV Series Finale. Available at: https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/disenchantment-netflix-orders-animated-adult-comedy-matt-groening-simpsons/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019].

(Pena, 2017)

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