Regular Show (also known as
Regular Show in Space during its eighth season) is an American animated
television sitcom created by J. G. Quintel for Cartoon Network that aired from
September 6, 2010, to January 16, 2017. The series revolves around the lives of
two working-class friends, a blue jay named Mordecai and a raccoon named
Rigby—both employed as groundskeepers at a local park. They usually try to
solve a simple problem that leads to a surreal, extreme, and often supernatural
misadventure. During these misadventures, they interact with the show's other
main characters: Benson, Pops, Skips, Muscle Man, and Hi-Five Ghost.
Many of Regular Show's characters
were loosely based on those developed for Quintel's student films at California
Institute of the Arts: The Naïve Man from Lolliland and 2 in the AM PM. The
former was one of the winners of the 2005 Nicktoons Film Festival and received
international attention after being broadcast on Nicktoons Network. Quintel
pitched Regular Show for Cartoon Network's Cartoonstitute project, in which the
network allowed young artists to create pilots with no notes, which would
possibly be optioned as shows. The project was green-lit, and it premiered on
September 6, 2010.
As of May 2013, the program had
been watched by approximately 2 to 2.5 million viewers each week. The series
has received positive reviews from critics and has developed a following of all
ages. Regular Show has been nominated for several awards, including seven Annie
Awards, six Primetime Emmy Awards—one of which it won for the episode
"Eggscellent" (season 3, episode 18)—and three British Academy
Children's Awards. A film based on the series, titled Regular Show: The Movie,
premiered in 2015.
After eight seasons and 261
episodes, the series concluded on January 16, 2017, with the one-hour finale
"A Regular Epic Final Battle".
The series revolves around the daily lives of two
23-year-old friends, Mordecai (a blue jay), and Rigby (a raccoon). They work as
groundskeepers at a park, and spend their days trying to avoid work and
entertain themselves by any means. Rigby works alongside him, always
encouraging him to ignore work and just have fun. Rigby is a raccoon. Though he
was also in his 20’s, he was stunted in his mental and emotional growth,
refusing to grow up and refusing to take life seriously. Over the seasons, you
get to watch him grow, slowly deciding to act a bit more like an adult. After
quite some time, he decides to date a girl he’d been denying feelings for and
eventually finishes his own schooling.
The duo would rather do donuts with a park golf cart or play
video games instead of doing actual work. They spend so much time covering for
their slack behavior or fixing the effects of their madcap adventures that they
do more work every episode than what they’d have done if they’d simply done the
actual work in the first place.
The guys’ boss, Benson, has a hate-to-love relationship with
the two. Mordecai and Rigby constantly get on his nerves by always avoiding
work, but he has a soft spot for them. However, that doesn’t stop him from
screaming at them on most episodes until his face turns red. While some
characters are anthropomorphic animals, Benson is weirdly a gumball machine.
He’s also an ex-drummer from a band that had one hit and now lives out his day
to day as the manager of the park. He stays stressed at work, generally because
of Mordecai and Rigby, but he unwinds by eating hot wings, which oddly cause
him to act drunk.
Other park employees include the wizened mechanic, Skips,
who happens to be a gorilla. Skips also happens to be voiced by none other than
Mark Hamill. He’s the park’s go-to problem solver and advice giver. Pops is the
park owner’s son, who is quite old himself and very childlike in his demeaner.
Then, there’s the other groundskeeper duo, Muscle Man and High-Five Ghost. All
of these characters have their own storylines over the years that allows their
personalities to be fleshed out as well, leaving most to be well-written and
three-dimensional.
The characters are all very human, even if they’re drawn as
birds or gumball machines. They struggle with jealousy, anger, feelings of
inadequacy, and heartache. They get mad at each other, they make up. They love,
and they lose those loves. It doesn’t matter what these characters look like,
the writers make their humanity shine through.
See what I mean? This is all sitcom territory.
Then, the show gets a bit weird. Well, weirder. Each
episode, something goes monumentally crazy, like attacking demons or mole
people, or even the Grim Reaper showing up to collect souls. Most of the time,
these cataclysmic events were caused by whatever tomfoolery Mordecai and Rigby
were up to in the beginning of the episode. I thought the whole thing was silly
at first. However, over 8 seasons, the show solidified to become one of the
best cartoon series ever, in my opinion. The characters are done so well, you
grow to care about them.
While you have the weekly recurring plot of the main two
guys goofing off and getting into trouble while simultaneously endangering, yet
saving, the park or the world, there are also ongoing plot lines. Eventually,
you discover the park itself is a sort of experiment meant to train staff
members to work as a team so that they can save the universe.
Yes, the concept of park groundskeepers going into space to
save the universe is out of this world nuts. Yet, that’s what the show does. It
constantly toes the line between the outrageous and the mundane, the realistic
and the surreal. Putting these ordinary, purely human characters into crazy
circumstances brings out the hilarity and absurdity of the situation every
time.
With recurring characters ranging from the Grim Reaper to
odd space entities or a park intern turned spy and time travelers, the show
runners created a very unique show with its own very unique universe. You watch
for the comedy, but the characters and the ongoing plots bring you back as
well. The comedy itself is hilarious. I found myself laughing quite often,
every episode.
The series finale wrapped up all storylines of the show,
even closing a few plot holes. The crew all return home with a touching
homecoming. The show then does something amazing. It fast forwards through the
years, for each character. Viewers are treated to a quick look at the lives of
all the characters they’ve grown to love. You see marriages, kids, job changes,
and more. The main two guys grow up and finally take life seriously. It’s quite
beautiful storytelling actually. It may even bring a tear to the eye. It did
for me.
My final thoughts on the show is after 8 years, 247
episodes, and a TV movie later, and The Regular show became more than an
enduring hit. It became memorable, it became beloved. Just note, before you
start binge-watching the show, it is PG. The action and love stories, even the humour,
aren’t for every kid. Remember, though, cartoons don’t have to only be for
kids! However, if your kid is ready for a show like this, they’ll love it. And,
you? You’ll love The Regular Show whether you watch it with your kids, like I
did, or if you enjoy the entire run on your own, while reminiscing about the
days where you too didn’t take life so seriously.
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