One Season Wonders: Mission Hill

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http://oneseasonwonders.blogspot.com...hill-1999.html

It's time to once again talk about one of the more well known cases of a one season wonder. And it's hard not to find a show more screwed over and tossed around like good old Mission Hill. Hitting in the midst of the second coming of sorts of late 90's prime time animation. The Simpsons was still a pop culture success while Fox was building upon it with shows like Futurama, King of the Hill, and another show that knows about one being jerked around, Family Guy. South Park's overnight success lit a fire in networks wanting more mature raunchiness for their programming. Other channels like NBC tried to pump animated products, but never struck gold with anything. So in this wild west of an era, along comes Mission Hill.

Mission Hill was the creation of Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. Prior to this series, Oakley and Weinstein found success and name recognition as writers and eventual show runners for The Simpsons, starting in season 4 and eventually leaving in season 8. After their exit, they began work on Mission Hill in 1997, selling it to the WB as more adult Simpsons that focused on more mature issues. I guess more like a raunchy enough, but not Duckman raunchy-level show. It was originally named The Downtowners, but an MTV cartoon named Downtown made it sound too similar. Note to self, possible future review.

WB liked the show and picked it up for a fall 1999 release, and that's where it all went to hell. Two episodes would air before low ratings would force the show into a hiatus. The show was given a second chance in the summer of 2000, but after five episodes aired, it was ultimately cancelled. But unlike Clerks, the show was given another chance on television through Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup, and the 13 completed episodes all saw air. Much like other shows that aired on Adult Swim, Mission Hill gained a cult following, and has become a well remembered and beloved staple of early 2000s animation. But unfortunately nothing else ever really came out of it. There were a few other episodes in the pipeline, some making it to animatic stage, but still nothing else. So, did this show deserve its fate, or should it have gotten a fairer shake? Let's dive into Mission Hill to see for ourselves.