News Doubter
New member
Yup, one of the worst TV shows of all-time, Mike Scully's The Pitts, which lasted a grand total of four episodes, is now being resurrected as an animated series for unknown reasons. This has to be some sort of sign.
Toon Zone Talkback - "The Pitts" Animated Series in the Works
- Thread starter News Doubter
- Start date
thunderandlightning_ky
New member
It was more or less a failed attempt at recapturing Married with Children anyways.
lawrence h
New member
Hate to admit it, but it could somehow work as a cartoon much better than it did a sitcom. Of course, I can't see it be anything but a knockoff of the Oblongs.
Wow. Another dysfunctional family show on Fox. haven't seen that before.
Well, not before noon. :shrug:
Seriously though, while I agree with Dr. Tooth that The Pitts might work better in animation than it did in live-action, I still can't say I'm enthusiastic about its' return. First, Fox needs another animated family sitcom the way Tommy Lee needs another tattoo. Second, The Pitts relied/relies solely on a gimmick: the entire show rests on the premise that the family is extremely unlucky. Fox's other domestic comedies rely on the characters themselves and the way they interact with one another, in good times and bad. Aside from suffering one misfortune after another, there's not much to say about the Pitts themselves; they were just cardboard, cookie-cutter generic family sitcom archetypes. If the Pitts weren't cursed, they'd be just like every other TV family.
I thought that was The Grubbs, with Randy Quaid and Carol Kane, which was so bad that it never even made it to the air. Oh well.
Well, not before noon. :shrug:
Seriously though, while I agree with Dr. Tooth that The Pitts might work better in animation than it did in live-action, I still can't say I'm enthusiastic about its' return. First, Fox needs another animated family sitcom the way Tommy Lee needs another tattoo. Second, The Pitts relied/relies solely on a gimmick: the entire show rests on the premise that the family is extremely unlucky. Fox's other domestic comedies rely on the characters themselves and the way they interact with one another, in good times and bad. Aside from suffering one misfortune after another, there's not much to say about the Pitts themselves; they were just cardboard, cookie-cutter generic family sitcom archetypes. If the Pitts weren't cursed, they'd be just like every other TV family.
I thought that was The Grubbs, with Randy Quaid and Carol Kane, which was so bad that it never even made it to the air. Oh well.
Christopher Skelton
New member
I never saw The Pitts but I read about it. Judging by its concept, it could be good as a cartoon; my only hope is that there is some cleverness to either (or both) the dialog and set-up, not just random violent and horrifying things happening to the family every week.
Sweet Rachel
New member
I watched the pilot.....it was one of the worst half-hours of TV I ever saw.
Seriously, it was painfully unfunny. You do NOT want this back.
Typical joke: "Hey, my violin is broken! .....All RIGHT!" *laugh track*
Seriously, it was painfully unfunny. You do NOT want this back.
Typical joke: "Hey, my violin is broken! .....All RIGHT!" *laugh track*
This is the talkback thread for '"The Pitts" Animated Series in the Works'
kiki_y2k2000
New member
For anyone who wants an idea of what "The Pitts" would be like as an animated series, just remember that it was created by Mike Scully, the guy who executive produced "The Simpsons" from Season 9 to Season 12 (a.k.a. the Wackier-Than-Ever Years). I can't see any good coming from this - I too watched the live-action pilot back in 2003, and all I could say at the end was "'Futurama' died for this?"
Equating his work on the Simpsons to the Pitts is a slap in the face to everybody who ever watched the Simpsons. Never, EVER has the show been that bad. Truly the Pitts was the most horrifyingly bad TV show I've ever seen and nothing could ever make the Simpsons that terrible.
Futurama died for quite a bit of moronic shows. Grounded for life? War at Home? Both pieces of crap. I liked the sitcom they had where that guy who was Concan's sidekick (Andy something, I forget at the moment) working in an office, but then they cancelled it, and replaced it with another disfunctional family sitcom featuring Andy. it was terrible, and it was done before. They're just repeating themselves.
I still think it works in animation form, but how? Nothing I can think of won't make it exactly like Famliy Guy, Simpsons, Oblongs... anything like that. Futurama did die in vain, and bringing it back as 4 movies and 16 episodes of 4 movies is good, but they really should order new episodes of a show people love, instead of a show no one's going to like.
BTW, does this mean AD is on the outs? I think it's a brilliant show.
I still think it works in animation form, but how? Nothing I can think of won't make it exactly like Famliy Guy, Simpsons, Oblongs... anything like that. Futurama did die in vain, and bringing it back as 4 movies and 16 episodes of 4 movies is good, but they really should order new episodes of a show people love, instead of a show no one's going to like.
BTW, does this mean AD is on the outs? I think it's a brilliant show.
No; it's been renewed for another season (after this one). According to the article, Fox has been looking for the next hit cartoon, and three pilots have been rejected. One of them must have been the show based on the "Destroy All Humans" game, as I haven't heard about it since.
Andy Richter Controls the Universe.
And I liked Grounded For Life. Groundbreaking? No. But I usually found it pretty humorous.
But back to The Pitts. What really surprises me, looking through the writer list for all seven episodes, is that most of them were written by Mike Scully & wife Julie Thacker (with one by brother Brian Scully), and the other two were by Wellesley Wild/Alec Sulkin, who IMO wrote some of the better recent FG episodes, and Tom Gammil/Max Pross, who did excellent work for Seinfeld. Not sure what the main reason for the apparently terrible results was, but with the Scully name on most of the episodes, it's a discomforting trend any way you slice it. I hope that if this new series gets picked up, they have good writers who can make the best of what sounds like a limited premise. That's half the battle.
And I liked Grounded For Life. Groundbreaking? No. But I usually found it pretty humorous.
But back to The Pitts. What really surprises me, looking through the writer list for all seven episodes, is that most of them were written by Mike Scully & wife Julie Thacker (with one by brother Brian Scully), and the other two were by Wellesley Wild/Alec Sulkin, who IMO wrote some of the better recent FG episodes, and Tom Gammil/Max Pross, who did excellent work for Seinfeld. Not sure what the main reason for the apparently terrible results was, but with the Scully name on most of the episodes, it's a discomforting trend any way you slice it. I hope that if this new series gets picked up, they have good writers who can make the best of what sounds like a limited premise. That's half the battle.
I guess I should clarify that his work on "The Simpsons" was a result of him being in charge of a show that still had some good creative input, yet everything that went into the show still had to meet his approval. "The Pitts", however, is purely his own creation, and if his work on "The Simpsons" is any indication, "The Pitts" is bound to be even worse than that. You can't deny that the Scully years of "The Simpsons" elicited a whole mess of crappy episodes.
CrazeeGurl101z
New member
Beats me why FOX would want to re-make a show that nobody watched or cared about the 1st time it aired, but hey, it's their money.
You'd think that FOX would be tired of animated family sitcoms by now. Futurama was a good show, but because it wasn't about a family, FOX treated it like crap, which ultimately led to it's cancellation. The Boondocks was originally slated to air on FOX, but the execs got cold feet and backed out of the deal at the last minute, sending the show into the arms of [adult swim] instead. But how many Simpsons' and Family Guys can one network have?
You'd think that FOX would be tired of animated family sitcoms by now. Futurama was a good show, but because it wasn't about a family, FOX treated it like crap, which ultimately led to it's cancellation. The Boondocks was originally slated to air on FOX, but the execs got cold feet and backed out of the deal at the last minute, sending the show into the arms of [adult swim] instead. But how many Simpsons' and Family Guys can one network have?
Memoriesaremade
New member
Fox is looking at animation for a few simple reasons:
- Longevity. King of the Hill, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad have one main thing in common: Their characters don't age (with the exception of KOTH's Joseph and Apu's octuplets). Bart, Lisa, Maggie, Bobby Hill, Steve, Meg, Chris & Stewie will always be kids and never go through puberty, giving them a longer shelf life.
- Animation in the long run is cheaper to produce. You don't need to have fancy new sets built, one actor can play several roles, and you don't have to worry about the cost of costuming, makeup, etc.
- As was pointed out in the Simpsons, if you have trouble with an actor, you can replace them with little difficulty and no one would notice.
- Longevity. King of the Hill, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad have one main thing in common: Their characters don't age (with the exception of KOTH's Joseph and Apu's octuplets). Bart, Lisa, Maggie, Bobby Hill, Steve, Meg, Chris & Stewie will always be kids and never go through puberty, giving them a longer shelf life.
- Animation in the long run is cheaper to produce. You don't need to have fancy new sets built, one actor can play several roles, and you don't have to worry about the cost of costuming, makeup, etc.
- As was pointed out in the Simpsons, if you have trouble with an actor, you can replace them with little difficulty and no one would notice.
I remember that awful show. It was so bad that the scheduler(s) at ITV always had it put on at about 2:00 in the morning.
The surrealism bothered me. I had grown used to live action sitcoms being more realistic.
I remember one episode where the daughter got a pipe stuck in her head and her brain wasn't damaged, assuming she had a brain in the first place.
At the end of the episode, they got the pipe out and she was left with a big hole in her head. She was back to normal in the next episode.
The surrealism bothered me. I had grown used to live action sitcoms being more realistic.
I remember one episode where the daughter got a pipe stuck in her head and her brain wasn't damaged, assuming she had a brain in the first place.
At the end of the episode, they got the pipe out and she was left with a big hole in her head. She was back to normal in the next episode.