Adult Swim’s ‘Frisky Dingo’ is dead
A postcard the main character Killface uses to promote his campaign to destroy the world
Frisky Dingo, one of my all time favorite animated TV shows on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, has ended production. 70/30 Productions, the producers of Frisky Dingo and its spinoff The Xtacles, have decided to close their doors and move onto other projects.
From Frisky Dingo Central:
What many of us have been fearing for a while now has become a reality. Adult Swim chose not to pick up the Xtacles for more episodes and even more disappointing, 70-30 has closed up shop. The guys are going to splinter and move on to other things. I’m going to try and keep up with where this leads and look forward to seeing what the future brings these great guys.
The spinoff, The Xtacles, only aired 2 episodes due to poor ratings. I watched the first episode and didn’t find it any where near as smart and funny as Frisky Dingo. I seriously hope that the failure of the spinoff isn’t the only reason 70/30 decided to dissolve.
Frisky Dingo was one of the funniest shows to hit Adult Swim since Aqua Teen Hunger Force and I’m very disappointed that we won’t get any sort of closure after the season 2 finale cliffhanger.
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Comments
By Phil
January 11, 2009 12:54 AM | Link to this
I think TV series not being able to end their story satisfyingly is a blight on the entertainment industry. When promising, well-written, and story-driven shows like The 4400, Pushing Daisies, and HBO’s Carnivale are canceled before they can finish the story, it is a slap in the face to all of the fans that carried them to that point, watched their show every week, bought all of their DVD sets, and so on. Imagine buying The first two novels in a trilogy, only to learn that the third book will never be released. This never happens with book publishing is because series are usually contracted X books at a time, and the only time the final volume wouldn’t be delivered is if the writer somehow dies before he can finish (and when this is the case, the author’s estate will often choose someone to step in and finish, for the benefit of the fans). Why can’t TV story/goal-oriented series be done this way? Screw the ratings: Pitch a TV series for, say 3-4 seasons, and if the ratings slip a little (at least, according to Nielsen, which is vastly outdated), you’re committed to at least finishing up the story since you had a goal in mind from day one. Every once in a while, a show is granted a temporary stay of execution and allowed to at least somewhat finish their story, albeit at a rushed and less satisfying pace than the creators wanted. Jericho and the rewrite of the last episode of Pushing Daisies — which as of this writing may never even air on TV — immediately come to mind. However, these are the exceptions and not the rule, and I think that should change. There’s nothing like feeling betrayed and penalized for being a loyal fan of a show some corporate executive isn’t convinced people like because the ratings structure is in desperate need of an overhaul.