Just when you thought
reality TV couldn't get any weirder or more
lowbrow, along comes this spoof from
Comedy Central. Created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein (of
Greg the Bunny),
Drawn Together forces eight disparate,
dysfunctional cartoon characters, combining cartoon
archetypes with archetypes you might see on
other reality shows, to live in the same house and deal with each other.
Craziness ensues, as you might expect, ranging from
South Park-style gross-out humor, to sexual hijinks, to
parody and
satire, to just plain screwed-up shit.
Cast (Warning, spoilers below)
- Captain Hero: A super-powered lothario whose strength is almost as great as his sex drive. His only distinctive features are his ego (which in truth is as fragile as fine china) and his willingness to sleep with anything that's female and even mildly attractive.
- Princess Clara: A naive fairy-tale princess ripped straight out of a Disney movie. As can be expected, Clara has a tendency to express herself in song and seek non-violent solutions to problems. However, when a non-violent solution isn't possible, she can be as senselessly violent as any other toon. Due to her sheltered upbringing, she sometimes annoys others with her ignorance, and the ultraconservative values her father has passed onto her.
- Toot Braunstein: A chubby, washed up version of Betty Boop, Toot has grown bitter and jealous of her thinner, more modern counterparts. As a result, she turns to drinking, binge eating, and messing with her roommates for fun.
- Foxxy Love: A take on Josie and the Pussycats and just about every token black person from a sitcom or cartoon, Foxxy is a spunky, sexually charged, musically inclined detective. She gets along pretty well with Clara, despite being provoked by her naivete and unconscious racism. In, fact, in the very first episode she gets some hot girl on girl action with Clara in an effort to open her mind.
- Spanky Hamm: Spanky is a petulant, sarcastic cartoon pig, ripped right out of an Internet cartoon along the lines of Retarted Animal Babies or Happy Tree Friends. If it's gross, or patently offensive to any minority group, there's a good chance it'll be Spanky's idea of a good time.
- Ling-Ling: And here we get into the anime parodies, with Ling-Ling, a borderline psychotic Pikachu knock-off who speaks in pseudo-Japanese gibberish. Ling-Ling is often treated like the household pet, or made to do the chores around the house, which only irks him further. ("Ling-Ling is no pet! Ling-Ling not here to make friends! I come to destroy all! And give children seizures!")
- Wooldoor Sockbat: A fairly generic toon, reminscient of modern cartoons such as Spongebob Squarepants with his peculiar apperance, apparent immaturity, and desperation to impress everyone with his wacky antics.
- Xandir: Representing video game characters, we have pretty-boy elf swordsman Xandir. With his sensitive nature, fruity leather outfit, and tendencies toward hysterics, you'd assume he was a homosexual stereotype. And as we see in the episode "Gay Bash", some not-so-gentle cajoling from his roommates gets him to abandon his self-declared "never-ending quest to rescue his girlfriend" and come out of the closet.
For the morbidly curious, Drawn Together is currently showning on Comedy Central (natch). If you're looking for something intelligent and profound, look elsewhere. However, if you want an entertaining (and at times, witty) spoof of every reality TV and cartoon show ever made, then by all means check it out.