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... en New York Post, Thursday, July 13, 2006 nypost.com " -.. -
'Boondocks' new season on hold
By MICHAEL GILTZ
'BOONDOCKS," Cartoon
Network's witty, contro
versial series, won't re
turn this year as expected, says
show creator Aaron McGruder.
The second season of the ani
mated series, based on the
"Boondocks" comic strip, was
given a late 2006/winter 2007
date to return to Cartoon Net
work's late-night block, Adult
Swim: after its hugely success
ful first season (it was the
highest-rated series premiere
in Cartoon Network history).
Network execs, in fact,
bumped the number of "Boon
docks" episodes up from 15 to
20 -which seems to have con
tributed to the delay.
"Our production schedule is
really, really long," says
McGruder, who's publicizing
, the first-season DVD (Sony;
$49.95).
"We're halfway through the
writing and just getting under
way with the animation."
McGruder now says fans should look for the series to re
turn in March.
"Boondocks," which gives
"Chappelle's Show" a run for
its money in smartly tackling
issues of race and politics, de
picts Huey, a IO-year-old revo
lutionary with a keen sense of
leftist politics and history.
He struggles to find purpose
living in a white suburb with
his cranky granddad and wan
nabe gangsta little brother,
Riley.
The "Boondocks" delays have
spurred talk that Sony might
be bringing in a new showrun
ner to replace McGruder , ru
mors dismissed by a spokes
person.
(Cartoon Network execs
were traveling to the TV Crit
ics tour in L.A. and were un
available for comment.)
But unlike Dave Chappelle ,
who famously walked away
from his Comedy Central sc-
o ries after snaring a $55 million
deal, this clearly isn't a case of
McGruder losing interest or
feeling pressure. It's more about an artist
wanting to do the best work he
can.
One episode from last sea
son, for instance, featured an
anime-style fight between
Huey and Riley.
"That was fun," says
McGruder, 32. "It's also been
our biggest challenge.
"We're creating a new sys
tem on-the-fly to get an au
thentic anime style but still
have it be written with an
American comedic sensibility,
"It's really hard," he says.
"We're working more and
more with artists overseas, We
now have a Japanese anime
studio named Madhous e to
help us out.
"I was happy with a lot of
season one, but I thought a lot
of it could look better. We're
really passionat e artists,
'The people working with
me on the show are phenome·
nal, phenomenal artists and
they really care about getting it
right."
'Boondocks' new season on hold
By MICHAEL GILTZ
'BOONDOCKS," Cartoon
Network's witty, contro
versial series, won't re
turn this year as expected, says
show creator Aaron McGruder.
The second season of the ani
mated series, based on the
"Boondocks" comic strip, was
given a late 2006/winter 2007
date to return to Cartoon Net
work's late-night block, Adult
Swim: after its hugely success
ful first season (it was the
highest-rated series premiere
in Cartoon Network history).
Network execs, in fact,
bumped the number of "Boon
docks" episodes up from 15 to
20 -which seems to have con
tributed to the delay.
"Our production schedule is
really, really long," says
McGruder, who's publicizing
, the first-season DVD (Sony;
$49.95).
"We're halfway through the
writing and just getting under
way with the animation."
McGruder now says fans should look for the series to re
turn in March.
"Boondocks," which gives
"Chappelle's Show" a run for
its money in smartly tackling
issues of race and politics, de
picts Huey, a IO-year-old revo
lutionary with a keen sense of
leftist politics and history.
He struggles to find purpose
living in a white suburb with
his cranky granddad and wan
nabe gangsta little brother,
Riley.
The "Boondocks" delays have
spurred talk that Sony might
be bringing in a new showrun
ner to replace McGruder , ru
mors dismissed by a spokes
person.
(Cartoon Network execs
were traveling to the TV Crit
ics tour in L.A. and were un
available for comment.)
But unlike Dave Chappelle ,
who famously walked away
from his Comedy Central sc-
o ries after snaring a $55 million
deal, this clearly isn't a case of
McGruder losing interest or
feeling pressure. It's more about an artist
wanting to do the best work he
can.
One episode from last sea
son, for instance, featured an
anime-style fight between
Huey and Riley.
"That was fun," says
McGruder, 32. "It's also been
our biggest challenge.
"We're creating a new sys
tem on-the-fly to get an au
thentic anime style but still
have it be written with an
American comedic sensibility,
"It's really hard," he says.
"We're working more and
more with artists overseas, We
now have a Japanese anime
studio named Madhous e to
help us out.
"I was happy with a lot of
season one, but I thought a lot
of it could look better. We're
really passionat e artists,
'The people working with
me on the show are phenome·
nal, phenomenal artists and
they really care about getting it
right."