Tick, we hardly knew ye.

January 10, 2002 7:54 PM

Tick, we hardly knew ye. The much-anticipated and often-overlooked live action show has officially been canned by the Fox network after only eight episodes.
posted by Danelope (24 comments total)

The pilot episode was promising, and very funny in spots. However, subsequent episodes just didn't live up to the hopes that I had for it. It came off like a sitcom in tights and I was really disappointed by the lack of supervillians.
posted by MrBaliHai at 8:07 PM on January 10, 2002

In other news, people grow old. </obvious>
posted by tsumo at 8:49 PM on January 10, 2002

Hello, Cartoon Network... Comedy Central? Somebody help us out here.

This is a big dissappointment.
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 8:51 PM on January 10, 2002

I loved the animated version, but have only caught five minutes of the live action Tick. Those few minutes weren't too impressive. I didn't see Chairface, Tick didn't say "Spoon", there was no writing on the moon, no Tick clones made out of mucus...

There was an elevator, though. I have to admit, it looked like a nice elevator.

Too many great cartoon die because they're played for the wrong audience. The animated Tick was on Fox Kids Saturday mornings, as was Sam & Max. The live Tick had the right time slot but wasn't the right show.
posted by Dane at 9:56 PM on January 10, 2002

The Tick was the least funny thing in his own show. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.
Sam & Max was a gooder, though.
posted by dong_resin at 9:57 PM on January 10, 2002

Proving that there are some things even too stupid for Fox.

I was dramatically unimpressed with the live version of the show. Not even remotely as funny as the comics and nowhere near as fun as the animated series.

Good riddance.
posted by pixelgeek at 10:07 PM on January 10, 2002

I think we all need to petition for the return of The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse. Now THERE was a show!
posted by Kafkaesque at 10:18 PM on January 10, 2002

Never saw a single commercial for The Tick, never knew what night it was on. Seems like it was doomed to fail.
posted by Ben Grimm at 10:42 PM on January 10, 2002

Yeah, I saw bits of a couple of different episodes of the live action version, and I didn't think it compared to the comic or the original animated. What's not to love about a show with villians like El Seed, or my personal favorite, The Mad Bomber What Bombs at Midnight. He was a black-clad muttering loon who carried a big bag labeled BOMB and said things like, "And so I go, I says 'Yeah baby! A gimmick! That's it! High Explosives!!!"

The original was hysterical.
posted by dejah420 at 1:36 AM on January 11, 2002

I for one enjoyed the live series, but couldn't see it lasting long. I've been a fan of Patrick Warburton since Seinfeld, and am looking forward to seeing him in MIB 2.
posted by viama at 1:48 AM on January 11, 2002

Wasn't it on Thursday nights against Will and Grace? Isn't that where shows go to die?

I enjoyed the two episodes I saw.
posted by vito90 at 6:38 AM on January 11, 2002

it was on Thursday nights at 8:30pm EST, against that hole between "Fiends" and "Will and Grace" where shows go to die.

i think The Tick lost a lot of thunder being delayed as long as it was. also, FOX pretty much stopped advertising for it after a few episodes. though not a great show, it had potential to be (at minimum) good. a lot of shows go through a rough not-so-good beginning and get better once the actors and writers become more comfortable with the characters and setting (though The Tick is actually rather simple...).

have only caught five minutes of the live action Tick. I didn't see Chairface, Tick didn't say "Spoon", there was no writing on the moon, no Tick clones made out of mucus...

yeah, they should have packed everything we love about The Tick into the five minutes that we happened to have caught.
posted by tolkhan at 7:25 AM on January 11, 2002

The live-action show was a completely different animal than the animated series, more of a Seinfeld in tights. If you judged the live show on its own merits, it was a'ight. But yeah, a'ight doesn't stack up to legendary. "Urchin!" "Moustache!" Why, the mere incidental music to animated series was legendary.
posted by whuppy at 7:42 AM on January 11, 2002

yeah, they should have packed everything we love about The Tick into the five minutes that we happened to have caught.

Hmm. My apologies for listing specifics.

My point was that I didn't see any of the wit that went into the animated series... it didn't even feel nostalgic, which is normally a wonderful tool for capturing an audience.

Obviously a lot of the Tick world would be difficult to recreate live, but what's interesting is they thought they could do something as good, but different. Apparently it didn't work.
posted by Dane at 8:45 AM on January 11, 2002

Tick, we hardly watched ye.
posted by Skot at 8:50 AM on January 11, 2002

Like a lot of other shows, this one probably needed a full season (maybe more) to really get into its own vibe. Seinfeld pretty much sucked its entire first season, too, ya know. It had real potential, even though it wasn't a slavish copy of the cartoon or comic.

I was actually glad it was on at 8:30 so that I didn't have to watch "Inside Schwartz" in between "Friends" and "Will & Grace".

Oh, well. Now I can use that 8:30-9:00 slot again to do things like go to the bathroom or get a snack in between shows.
posted by briank at 9:38 AM on January 11, 2002

I know it this is a matter of opinion (nearly all like/dislike matters are), but I did like the show--especially the relationship between Bat Manuel and Captain Liberty. The animated series was written for kids but presented for adults (a la Rocky and Bullwinkle) so they couldn't make the cartoons more explicit (heck, they got rid of American Maid's cleavage after the first season). The banter between them B.M. and C.L. was pretty darn funny. I also liked the Old (Superhero) Boys Club. Good gags.
posted by plinth at 11:28 AM on January 11, 2002

I'm afraid I gave up on it after only three episodes. But, really, I was their target audience (fan of humor and superheroes in general, fan of The Tick and Patrick Warburton in specific), so if they couldn't get me to watch it then they pretty much deserve to get dumped.
posted by Shadowkeeper at 12:29 PM on January 11, 2002

The first episode was well done, in my opinion, but that was because it was written by the Tick's creator, Ben Edlund, and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, an established Hollywood director. The other episode's were not up to par with the pilot since they were written and directed by different people every episode. This series seemed to be Hollywood's way of getting new talent's feet wet, and it showed in the inconsistancies of the plots, dialogs and direction. This is what killed the show.
posted by Sal Amander at 2:15 PM on January 11, 2002

I saw one episode and I loved it. I thought Peter Warburton was an excellent choice, too. His interpretation of the Tick was a thing of blue beauty to behold.

It was certainly different than the cartoon and the animated series, but from what little I saw, they did a good job. I wish I had them on videotape.

Of course, from the get-go you had to figure it was doomed.
posted by Neologian at 2:39 PM on January 11, 2002

Only Hollywood would take a perfectly good cartoon, cancel it, just to make a perfectly average tv show, so as to cancel it.

With so many channels sorely lacking original programming, you'd think that whoever the geniuses who were behind the original would be scooped up by Comedy Central, The Cartoon Network, or Nick -- but no.

Makes you wonder how the Simpson's made it this far virtually unscathed.
posted by tsarfan at 3:12 PM on January 11, 2002

All I can say, having seen the pilot, is:

Thank God it's gone. I know I didn't have to watch any more of the show, but just knowing it was around was an insult to the lovely, underrated cartoon. That first half-hour was excruciating.
posted by argybarg at 4:46 PM on January 11, 2002

Is this the first time the networks have attempted to bring a cartoon to live-action on TV? I've never seen it done before. I just don't see how it could work, modeling a live action TV show after an animated series. Seems like the inverse works better; The Jackson 5, the Bradybunch, the Globe Trotters' appearences on Scooby Doo.

On the other hand, movies modeled after cartoons seem to work: The Finstones, Scooby Doo, Batman, Superman.
posted by Modem Ovary at 9:00 PM on January 11, 2002

Modem Ovary (ha ha, great handle!): No, TV shows from comic books aren't new (Batman, Superman, The Flash, Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk, etc.), but 'The Tick' was pretty rare instance of a live-action sit-com created from any cartoon/comic book.

Also, cartoon translations of popular movies/TV shows, and vice-versa, have been consistantly popular, but it was done (nearly) to death in the 80's/90's. They're still being cranked out by the dozen, however.

The new trend seems to be making feature-length films/videos out of animated series -- for instance, the popular shows on Nickelodeon tend to get the cinema treatment by its parent company, Paramount Pictures.
posted by Down10 at 7:23 PM on January 14, 2002