Greg the Bunny

"Greg the Bunny" was an American sitcom that originally aired on Fox in 2002. It starred Seth Green and a hand puppet named Greg the Bunny, originally invented by the team of Sean S. Baker, Spencer Chinoy and Dan Milano. Milano and Chinoy wrote and co-produced the Fox show. In the show, Greg was the co-star of a children's television show called "Sweetknuckle Junction". Like "The Muppet Show", "Greg the Bunny" treated puppets as though they were real creatures within the reality of the show, although in this show, they were treated as a racial minority, sometimes struggling against second-class citizenship. The show was spun off from "The Greg the Bunny Show" a series of short segments that used to air on the Independent Film Channel, which were based on the cable access show called "Junktape". Overall the show was moved or spunoff over three different networks.

History

"Junktape" was a half-hour, bi-weekly cable access show created by Sean S. Baker, Spencer Chinoy and Dan Milano. The show aired on New York City's Manhattan Neighborhood Network, Monday nights at 11:30 PM. Eventually, the show got the attention of the Independent Film Channel and given its own series of regular segments starring one of Junktape's main characters, Greg the Bunny. "The Greg the Bunny Show" on IFC involved Greg and other characters introducing independent films being screened by using skits that parodied the films.

The Fox show made its debut in March 2002 and its last episode aired in August 2002, with two episodes unaired. Its failure was largely ascribed to the show runner and networks' seeming cluelessness as to the direction they wanted the show to take. The network promoted "Greg the Bunny" as a puppet show for adults, but within the show itself, they insisted on toning down its edgier aspects. The creators felt these changes caused the show to lose something, and gave it much more of a traditional sitcom feel. The show runner and network also wanted to focus the show more on the human cast, while the creators maintained that the puppets were the heart of the show. Despite these problems, the series acquired a significant cult following, and was eventually released on DVD in 2004 that is only available in Region 1 format.

In August 2005, Greg the Bunny returned to the IFC, in a series of short segments, both old and new spoofing movies such as "Annie Hall", "Miller's Crossing", "Barton Fink", "Fargo", "Blue Velvet", "Easy Rider" and "Pulp Fiction". The cast for these segments primarily features puppets Greg and Warren Demontague, with appearances from Count Blah, new character Pal Friendlies, and returning character The Wumpus. Tardy the Turtle and Susan were unable to appear in the IFC series because they were the property of Fox.

Characters

There have been several puppets that have been used on the show.

Greg the Bunny is the titular character of the show. He is a rabbit puppet who is very sensitive about his puppethood. According to the IFC webisodes, Greg was born to a human father and puppet mother. On the show, he acts mostly as comic relief, and jokes are made at his expense (particularly by Warren the Ape) about how he cannot act and that he's just there to look cute. In the IFC series, he lives with Spencer Chinoy and Sean S. Baker. In the Fox series, he lives with a boy named Jimmy Bender (played by Seth Green). Greg underwent many changes throughout the course of his career. The original Greg had buttons for eyes and did not have a mouth. In the Fox series, he was given a moving mouth, and, for the later episodes, plastic eyes. When Greg returned to IFC, his button eyes were restored and he lost his mouth. Greg the Bunny is performed by Dan Milano.

Warren the Ape is the second main character on the show. He portrays himself as a veteran actor who has fallen from fame and is trying to make a new name for himself. He despises working with Greg the Bunny because of his lack of stage experience. He has a major smoking and drinking problem as well. He is performed by Dan Milano.

Fredrick "Count Blah" Blah is another actor who has worked with Warren the Ape many years ago. He is a parody of Count von Count of Sesame Street fame, although he regularly claims that the Sesame Street Count stole his act and took away his fame ("Show me another vampire, especially a puppet vampire, that was working in the mainstream industry before I came along. Suddenly I find out some bearded hippie is looking for folks to be on his new children's program and that he was looking for a vampire. The next thing I know he's got some freaking OCD numerologist on the show, ugly purple skin, counting up and down, it was just disgusting, blah. He's not even Romanian, he's freaking Italian, blah"). He says "Blah" at the end of all of his sentences, although it sometimes comes out as "Bleh." In the IFC series, Spencer often asks Blah when directing to stop saying "Blah." This makes Blah very upset, as he insists that Blah is his gimmick. Blah was another puppet who underwent changes between series. In the IFC series, he looks a lot less artistic and has lighter skin than he does on the Fox show. He is performed by Dan Milano in the IFC show and by Drew Massey on the Fox show.

Tardy the Turtle is a character exclusive to the Fox show. He is portrayed as a slow turtle (hence his name) and often says very random things (Crayons taste like purple, the green ones make me horny, drumsticks can also be chicken), and he mainly serves as comic relief. When Fox cancelled the series, the puppet was "stolen," and Fox claimed copyright to it. Tardy did make an "appearance" on the IFC DVD in one of the pre episoded audio introductions. He was portrayed by Victor Yerrid.

The Wumpus is a character exclusive to the IFC show. He is a parody of Sesame Street monsters, and is very clumsy. He is portrayed by Dan Milano.

Pal Friendlies is a character exclusive to the IFC show. He is the talent agent of all the puppets who work on the show, although he is a very ineffective one. He also doubles as a lawyer in some episodes.

Appearances in other shows

Greg the Bunny made a guest segment on "Mad TV" (episode 719, aired 2002): in it, Greg, the jaded pro, deals with an audition for a minor part from his psychotic first drama teacher.

Greg the Bunny appeared in an episode of Duel Masters.

Peter also mentioned Greg the Bunny in the "Family Guy" episode "North by North Quahog", when he was mentioning the shows that Family Guy was cancelled to "make room for" (shows that were cancelled and their entire run was between the original cancellation and return of Family Guy).

DVD Releases

The original "Greg the Bunny: The Complete Series" DVD was released Oct. 19, 2004. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280257/dvd "Greg the Bunny" (2002) - DVD details for ] ] The IFC series was partially released as "Greg the Bunny: Best of the Film Parodies" Oct. 24, 2006. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0484167/dvd "Greg the Bunny" (2005) - DVD details for ] ]

The remainder of the IFC series released as "The Passion of Greg the Bunny: Best of the Film Parodies, Vol. 2" May 6, 2008. [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00153ZS3K Amazon.com: The Passion of Greg the Bunny: Best of the Film Parodies, Vol. 2: Passion of Greg the Bunny: Movies & TV ] ]

Cast

Episodes

Trivia

*Greg the Bunny originally had buttons for eyes and a stationary mouth. When Greg moved to Fox, he was given a moving mouth, but between episodes six and seven, he was given glass eyes, which were used to give Greg better expressions. However, the original Greg puppet was used again when he returned to IFC in August 2005.

*Singer Daniel Johnston and his band were approached to write the theme song, but it was rejected. The band Ween was also asked to write a theme, which was also rejected. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280257/trivia]

*Several puppets, namely, Cranky, were reused from a children's series, The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth.

References

External links

* [http://www.gtheb.com Greg the Bunny official home page]
* [http://www.foxhome.com/gregthebunny/home.html Greg the Bunny FOX DVD site]
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* [http://www.ifc.com/series?aId=18008 Greg the Bunny Independent Film Channel page]
* [http://www.myspace.com/GtheB Official Myspace page]
* [http://www.shoutfactory.com/browse/37/greg_the_bunny.aspx Greg the Bunny page] from "Shout! Factory"
* [http://www.bluefood.cc/int_gtb.html Interview with Greg, Warren and co-creator Dan Milano, by David Salcido]