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The Oblongs

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The Oblongs
File:Oblongs DVD.jpg
Created byAngus Oblong
StarringWill Ferrell
Jean Smart
Pamela Segall Adlon
Lea DeLaria
Jason Sklar
Randy Sklar
Becky Thyre
Jeannie Elias
Billy West
Laraine Newman
Country of originUSA
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Running time22 minutes per episode
Original release
NetworkThe WB, Adult Swim
ReleaseApril 1, 2001 –
October 7, 2001

The Oblongs is an animated television program aimed at adults and teenagers. It was created by Angus Oblong and produced by Jobsite Productions and Mohawk Productions, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television and is very loosely based on a series of characters that Oblong introduced in a picture-book entitled Creepy Susie and 13 Other Tragic Tales for Troubled Children. The theme song for the show was done by They Might Be Giants.

The show focuses on the antics of a family who live in a poor valley community who, as a result of extreme pollution and radiation, all are severely disabled and deformed either physically or mentally. The pollution is the direct result of the lavish lifestyle of a rich community known as "The Hills," the residents of which continue to exploit and harm the valley residents with little regard for their safety or well being.

Television airing

It premiered on April 1, 2001 on The WB, but it failed to find an audience. On May 20, 2001, The WB aired "Disfigured Debbie," the second episode produced, as the season finale, leaving five of the episodes unaired. A fan of the series who was writing an episode guide at TV Tome informed creator Angus Oblong of the show's cancellation and rallied fans of the series to petition and encourage the network to renew the show. Ultimately, the petition was unsuccessful. Later that same year, Canada's Teletoon network began airing the series. Quickly, a large fanbase began to bloom. In August 2002, the series found a home on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim evening program schedule, where it received high ratings due to many American fans discovering the series for the first time. When shown in Australia on free to air television in 2003, the show was pulled in the middle of the first episode[verification needed] (but was later shown in a late night/early morning timeslot). In 2005, the show began airing on TBS Superstation and was released on DVD. The series is still shown on weekdays during the Adult Swim timeslots <12:30 am EST>.

List of characters

The Oblong family

  • Bob Oblong (voice: Will Ferrell), the father, was born without any arms or legs and works at a poison factory. He can drive vehicles like any other person and is an accomplished pianist. Very chipper and his disposition being very sunny, he is seen as being modeled after various fathers from 1950s shows, complete with pipe.
  • Pickles Oblong (voice: Jean Smart) is the chain smoking, alcoholic mother who was originally a Hill resident but moved to the valley after meeting Bob. All her hair has since fallen out, and she is now regarded as an outcast by her former Hill friends. While not bitter about losing her former privileged life (in her words: "I found a bar next to a wig shop"), she often expresses disdain towards her self-centered neighbors in the Hills. Pickles also is turned on by Bob's simple albeit at times awkward wisdom.
  • Chip and Biff Oblong (voices: Randy & Jason Sklar) are 17 year old Siamese twin eldest sons who are attached at the waist and share a middle leg. Biff is a hard worker obsessed with sports, while Chip is more laid back. It is sometimes implied that Biff is gay, though other times the two are seen lusting after girls together. Biff and Chip each occasionally go into trances to give the other brother privacy (as seen in the episode "Get Off My Back").
  • Milo Francis Oblong (voice: Pamela Segall Adlon), the middle child and youngest son, is afflicted with numerous mental and social conditions, including everything from attention deficit disorder to diabetes. He's also on every medication "from ritalin to Rogaine," having only one hair in the center of his head. He serves as the de facto main character. He is based on a character that appears in Creepy Susie.
  • Beth Oblong (voice: Jeannie Elias) is the youngest child and only daughter, who has a warty, elongated tumor growing out of her head (it is sometimes speculated as actually being a penis or something similar, although the creators have staunchly denied this). Despite her tumor, she appears to be more well adjusted than the rest of her family. Slowie is the name of Beth's doll on a stick.
  • Grammy Oblong, Bob's vegetative mother, resides in a motorized wheelchair and never speaks, although she frequently passes gas.
  • Lucky Oblong, the family cat who constantly smokes cigarettes.
  • Scottie Oblong is Milo's narcoleptic dog, a result of perfume used on him during his tenure as a test animal at Globocide. Scottie was based on the short story "Narcoleptic Scottie" in Creepy Susie.

Milo's friends, "The Clubhouse Kids"

  • Helga Phugly (voice: Lea DeLaria) is a morbidly obese, toad-like little girl. She lives in a fantasy world, always insisting that she is pretty and popular. At times she seems to have a crush on Milo. She appeared in Creepy Susie. Her name is a play on the insult "Hella fugly".
  • Creepy Susie (voice: Jeannie Elias) is a Goth girl who speaks with a French accent and appears to float instead of walk, as her legs are never shown. She is a 14-year-old, female version of Jean-Paul Sartre. She appeared in Creepy Susie.
  • Peggy Weggy (voice: Becky Thyre) is a one-breasted girl of about 13 who lacks a lower jaw, causing her to spit and talk with a lisp. Despite being the most disabled of the group, Peggy is incredibly cheerful and upbeat, and dreams of such high and mighty goals as being president or marrying a handsome doctor. On Parents Night, it's shown that she has two fathers, who are normal looking men with no obvious deformities or disabilities. It implies that her parents are two homosexual men.
  • Mikey Butts (voice: Jeannie Elias) is a boy saddled with an dangling, doubled posterior. Standard underwear will not fit him, so he wears his grandmother's old bra like backwards suspenders. Episodes vary in whether he has two buttocks or three.

Other characters

  • George Klimer (voice: Billy West) is Bob's rich, snobby boss. He represents the power and arrogance of the people of the Hills. He is very condescending to his employees, especially Bob and James. He is husband to Pristine and father of Jared and Deborah "Debbie" Klimer. Their last name is pronounced like "climber", as in social climber.
  • Pristine Klimer (voice: Becky Thyre) is the wife of George and mother to Jared and Debbie. Pristine was friends with Pickles before she married Bob. Now Pristine spends her days mocking her former friend for being an alcoholic and bald.
  • Jared Klimer (voice: Pamela Segall Adlon) is the annoying, arrogant, and not-so-bright bully son of George and Pristine and brother to Debbie. He likes to taunt The Clubhouse Kids, along with his equally conceited and snobbish best friend Blaine. Occasionally he has short bursts of awkward intelligence. He calls Milo "Obdong".
  • The Debbies (voices: Becky Thyre or Pamela Segall Adlon, depending on the episode) are a popular clique of girls. All of them look perfectly identical, and all are named Debbie. One is the Klimers' daughter; another is the daughter of the mayor. They are usually seen in groups of four, though at times there seem to be as many as eleven. They appeared in Creepy Susie. They are an obvious parody of the Heathers.
  • Yvette (Deceased) (voice: Michelle Ruff) An additional member of the Debbies. The only one who does not carry the same name. She is also an extraterrestrial and was masquerading as a human. She took an interest in Milo in the pilot episode, though only to experiment on his brain. When it appeared that Milo had been killed, she was forced to self-destruct.
  • Anita Bidet (voice: Billy West) is a pre-op transsexual woman who sounds like Harvey Fierstein and owns The Rusty Bucket, the bar at which Pickles hangs out. Though obvious to viewers, no one seems to realize the truth of her condition. James once fell in love with her. In one episode, when Pickles is reminiscing about her first meeting with her husband on the beach, there is a scene where the two first meet and a red-headed man comes running over to pick up a Frisbee, with the same voice as Anita, implying that this was Anita in the past (though Anita lies and says that the man was her brother). Her name is a play on the phrase "I need a bidet."
  • Nurse Rench (voice: Laraine Newman) is the school nurse. She is described by Peggy as "a godless butcher with only a shred of legitimate medical training". She has a scary operating contraption in place of her right arm. She also has four breasts, arranged in a pattern that resembles a cows udder. It's possible her name is a reference to Nurse Ratched (Ratchet/Wrench) from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
  • James (voice: Billy West) is Bob's hunchbacked co-worker. He is a people-pleaser and lacks self-esteem.
  • Mayor Johnny "The Mayor" Bledsoe (voice: Billy West) is the town's mayor and a masked pro wrestler, an obvious parody of pro wrestlers-turned-elected officials, such as Jesse Ventura. He is corrupt, as is the rest of the town, and his daughter is a Debbie.
  • Mr. Leland Bergstein (voice: Billy West) is the kids' homeroom teacher, who seems weak and is easily cowed by the Debbies and the rich members of the town.
  • Sheriff Pepper (voice: Maurice LaMarche) is Hill Valley's inept, corrupt law enforcer.
  • Homeless Bill (voice: Billy West) is Hill Valley's resident street urchin.
  • The Girl with a Beak (voice: Becky Thyre) is an aptly-named, bird-like classmate of The Clubhouse Kids. She often is spurned by the kids despite their own maladies.
  • The Coach (voice: Will Ferrell) is Biff and Chip's school coach, with whom Biff has an unhealthy obsession. He also teaches the Sex Ed and Driving Instruction classes, though he seems to confuse the two.
  • Dr. Hofschneider (voice: Billy West) is the Oblongs' condescending but uninterested doctor.
  • Verdelle Diver (voice: Lea DeLaria) is the regional coordinator of The Li'l' Amazons, a Girl Scouts of the USA-like troop. She, as well as the organization in general, is implied to be a lesbian (hence her last name, referring to "muff diver"), and she hits on Pickles frequently during Pickles' court-ordered tenure as Beth's den mother.
  • Velva, the Warrior is The Oblongs ' version of Xena, whom young Beth adores. Her name is a pun on "vulva", and her show has heavy lesbian/anti-male overtones, not to mention blatant advertising of Velva merchandise and numerous genital references. Her sidekick is named Majora, she has a horse named Fallopious, and a pet bird named Placentor.
  • Funzie (voice: Maurice LaMarche) is The Oblongs ' spoof of Fonzie from Happy Days. As a further jab at the long-since canceled show, people consider him cool but don't know why.
  • Dusty (voice: Becky Thyre) is Bob's one-time co-worker, a lifeguard resembling Pamela Anderson from Baywatch who's "fairly riddled with implants."

Episode guide

  1. "Misfit of Love (Pilot)" - Milo attends his first day at "normal school" and falls in love with a girl who is actually an alien. Meanwhile, Bob Oblong tries to look for a new job after his health insurance at work gets cancelled.
  2. "Narcoleptic Scottie" - In an attempt to calm Milo's A.D.D., his parents let him adopt a dog named Scottie, but decide to give it away to Bob's boss after the dog becomes a bad influence on Milo.
  3. "Milo Interrupted" - Milo finds that Helga's parents are missing and tries to help her, which makes his dad, Bob, suspect that he's abusing drugs.
  4. "Bucketheads" - Milo becomes cool after his mother sends him to school with a bucket on his head.
  5. "Heroine Addict" - Pickles quits smoking and drinking after failing to get Beth a Velva doll...and becomes a thrill seeker after accidentally punching a girl in a Tae-Bo class.
  6. "The Golden Child" - Milo creates an energy drink called "Manic" and becomes a "marketing genius".
  7. "Flush, Flush, Sweet Helga" - Milo and his friends crash a Debbie's party and Helga gets stuck in a sewer pipe.
  8. "Disfigured Debbie" - Debbie becomes deformed in a freak accident and finds acceptance with Milo and his friends.
  9. "Pickles' Little Amazons" - Pickles becomes the den mother of a Girl Scout troop after getting busted for neglecting Beth.
  10. "Get Off My Back" - Bob accidentally super-glues Milo to Biff and Chip's back.
  11. "Please Be Genital" - Bob gets his genitals crushed by a stripper wearing clogs during his best friend's bachelor party. When he confesses to Pickles that they can't have sex for two weeks, Pickles begins wondering whether or not her marriage to Bob is real. Meanwhile, Milo becomes an insomniac when Pickles and Bob stop having sex.
  12. "My Name is Robbie" - Bob gets his jaw injured at his company's theme park and (at the advice of company attorneys) is given a robotic body with the arms and legs he never had.
  13. "Father of the Bribe" - Biff and Chip get their driver's licenses and come across the mayor's bribe money.
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