Gary the Rat | |
---|---|
Created by |
Mark Cullen Robb Cullen |
Starring |
Kelsey Grammer Billy Gardell Spencer Garrett Rob Paulsen Rick Gomez Vance DeGeneres Susan Savage Robb Cullen |
Composer(s) | Mark Mothersbaugh Josh Mancell |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 13 |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Mark Cullen Robb Cullen Kelsey Grammer Arnold Rifkin |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company(s) | Grammnet Productions Cheyenne Enterprises Spike Animation Studios |
Release | |
Original network | Spike |
Original release | June 26 – December 11, 2003 |
Gary the Rat is an American adult television program animated series created by the Cullen Brothers for Spike (previously known as TNN) and animated by Spike Animation Studios. It was produced by Grammnet Productions and distributed by Cheyenne Enterprises. It began as a Web cartoon in 2000 for Mediatrip.com. The series aired on Spike in 2003, lasting for one season. It is rated TV-MA in the United States.
The series was created by now re-structured studio BLITZ, formerly known as eStudio.
Gary "The Rat" Andrews is a defense attorney who awakens one morning to find that he has somehow transformed into a giant bipedal rat. Gary struggles to deal with his transformation and hold on to his high status.
Grammer said of the character, "Gary the Rat has been compromising every scruple to the point that he compromises his humanity."
Johnny Bugz botches another murder attempt on Gary, killing innocent people instead. Oblivious to the fact that he was the target, Gary reluctantly agrees to take Johnny's case pro bono and defend him on the murder charges.
Kevin McDonough of United Media gave the show a negative review, praising the voice actors but calling the show itself "virtually laugh-free." Phil Gallo of Daily Variety thought that the first episode was "too serious" and that Grammer's character was derivative of Frasier Crane. Giving it one star out of four, Dean Johnson of The Boston Herald criticized the first episode as unfunny, and questioned whether the show would fit Spike's demographic.
A more favorable review came from Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who thought that Grammer was "well-cast" and that it was the "least crude" of the three cartoons airing on Spike at the time (Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" and Stripperella). Matthew Williams of Toon Zone gave a mixed review, saying that some elements of episodes were drawn out for too long, but that Grammer "saves the show from mediocrity" and that he considered some of the jokes funny.