Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Coming Attractions: Ren & Stimpy return, this time to Comedy Central

John Kricfalusi's most famous creation, Ren & Stimpy, is making another comeback.

Undaunted by the fact that the duo's venture into primetime for Spike TV (now the Paramount Network) in 2003 flopped, sister network Comedy Central is picking up an option for a "reimagined" version of the series. Like, wasn't the 2003 series enough of a reimagining?

"The Ren and Stimpy Show"

Image courtesy of ViacomCBS and the New York Post.

Just the same, Ren & Stimpy joins Beavis & Butt-Head, whose own revival fell victim to viewer disinterest in 2011 at MTV, on Comedy Central's roster, along with Jodie, a spin-off from Daria. Another 90's series, Clone High, is also being revived, but it's unclear where that will land, though I suspect that, too, will be at CC.

Ren & Stimpy's best years were at Nickelodeon in the 90's, despite the creative upheaval that resulted in Kricfalusi's departure. He returned for the 2003 series, but has since fallen victim to allegations of sexual abuse and/or harrassment, and is not likely to be attached to the new series.

We will review the original series another time.

8 comments:

Goldstar said...

Comedy Central is officially out of ideas. First, it's Beavis & Butthead and now Ren & Stimpy? So is Comedy Central where old MTV and Nicktoons go after they die?

If we truly must have a revival of a former MTV animated series, I'd rather see some new episodes of Liquid Television.

hobbyfan said...

I hear ya. LT is the show that gave us Beavis & Butt-Head in the first place, along with Aeon Flux.

Silverstar said...

The main problem I have with this is how Comedy Central now seems to be thinking: why should we bother coming up with anything new when we can just keep reviving old stuff from 20 years ago? It's the same attitude that streaming services have with all these revivals of old 80's sitcoms (Fuller House, One Day at a Time, etc.). Nostalgia's fine once in a while, but it has a limited shelf life.

Unpopular Opinion: I was never a Ren & Stimpy fan, though I get why some folks like(d) it. Adult Party Cartoon was horrible, and creator John Kricfalusi has been doing some pretty shady things lately.

hobbyfan said...

I wasn't a Ren & Stimpy fan, either (Doug was more my speed among Nicktoons), and yeah, the Adult Party Cartoon was el stinko, literally.

Steven Dolce said...

I hope and pray to God that it DOESN'T end up like the Adult Party Cartoon. Unfortunately, John K. will not come back to work on it. The funny thing is, Ren and Stimpy was never intended to be an adult cartoon to begin with.

hobbyfan said...

I suspect that since it'll be airing in primetime, it may be a hybrid aimed at young adults who were around for the earlier incarnations and their own kids or siblings.

Steven Dolce said...

I love it when they do adult adaptations of kids shows.

hobbyfan said...

As long as it's done right.