MTV Animation is the animation department of the television network MTV. The department's parent company is MTV Entertainment Studios, which is owned by Paramount Global. MTV Animation gained substantial popularity in the 1990s, with many of their largest successes including the original broadcasts of Liquid Television (1991–1995), Beavis and Butt-Head (1993–1997), Daria (1997–2002), and Celebrity Deathmatch (1998–2007). Of the animated shows that aired, Beavis and Butt-Head and Daria ended up being the most successful, with both shows developing a cult following.
Re-runs of MTV's completed animated shows aired on MTV2 and The N throughout much of the 2000s. There were some attempts by MTV Entertainment Studios to revive original animation production in the 2010s, but they never materialized. MTV Animation currently remains a subsidiary of Paramount Global.
History
In 1991, MTV debuted its first full-length animated series, Liquid Television, which helped launch Beavis and Butt-Head and Æon Flux. MTV established its own in-house animation studio in 1993 to work on Beavis and Butt-Head and other projects. While MTV's animation department is often grouped with Nickelodeon's (as both channels were part of MTV Networks), the two entities are mostly separate. MTV's cartoons are known for their dark humor, adult jokes, graphic violence, pop culture references, and irreverence.
In an interview for the Beavis and Butt-Head Do America DVD, Mike Judge described MTV Animation as being very ad hoc: Beavis and Butt-Head didn't have an art director until the film was made, so until the film they'd never considered color palettes from scene to scene. In the same interview, art director Yvette Kaplan said "everything was overlapping... we never had the luxury of one part [episode] finished" before another episode was finished.[1]
As Beavis and Butt-Head was wrapping up production, MTV was looking to create an animated show that catered more to girls and a more intelligent audience. Comedy writer Glenn Eichler and producer Susie Lewis Lynn had both previously worked on Beavis and Butt-Head and were tasked with co-creating a spin-off. The result was the animated series Daria (1997–2002), which centered around the character Daria Morgendorffer. Daria ended up being one of MTV Animation's biggest successes, with MTV airing 65 episodes of the series across five seasons from March 1997 to June 2001. Daria also included the full-length television movies Is It Fall Yet? and Is It College Yet?, which aired on MTV in August 2000 and January 2002, respectively. The DVD set Daria: The Complete Animated Series was released in May 2010, containing all 65 episodes, both movies, and a multitude of extras—including a script to an unaired Mystik Spiral pilot episode written by Eichler. However, much of the licensed music on the DVD release was taken out due to licensing costs. Eichler planned on writing and producing a spin-off series that centered around Daria character Trent Lane and his band, Mystik Spiral. However, the halting of animation production at MTV in 2002 prevented the spin-off from materializing.
Many MTV animation productions do not survive a single season and in some cases are canceled before completion. Productions including Undergrads, Downtown, Station Zero, 3-South, and Clone High have been highly acclaimed, yet none of them got renewed beyond their first season, usually due to lack of an audience or advertising. By 2001, the animation department was shut down, with the network's animated series now being outsourced to different studios. During the 2000s, MTV would phase out of producing original animation in favor of importing shows, usually reruns of shows from sister networks Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. The MTV Animation brand was briefly revived from 2006 to 2007 as part of a push to produce animated series for MTV2.
In 2011, MTV would return to adult animation. Its first production was a relaunch of Beavis and Butt-Head, which premiered in October 2011; this was quickly followed by Good Vibes, starting later in the same month. In November 2011, MTV said they plan a third cartoon, Worst Friends Forever by Thomas Middleditch, that Mike Judge would produce, about three teenage girls who hover on the outskirts of popularity and have to cope with cattiness and crushes; a pilot had been picked up and concept art of the characters was released.[2] The cartoons did not do as expected though. Good Vibes was cancelled in February 2012 due to low ratings, on the same day the DVD came out,[3]Beavis and Butt-Head was cancelled in December 2011, and Worst Friends Forever never aired. In a September 2012 interview on "Making It With Riki Lindhome", Middleditch said Worst Friends was "for all intents and purposes done" and "not in my hands anymore".[4] Mike Judge said in January 2014 that he might pitch Beavis and Butt-Head to another network.[5]
Future and recent resurgence
In August 2020, ViacomCBS's Entertainment & Youth Group launched a new strategy to expand its adult animation units.[6] This upcoming unit will produce various animated shows under the revitalized MTV Entertainment Group. Plans for Beavis and Butt-Head (reboot) and Daria (spinoff film) have been announced for Comedy Central (and Paramount+), as well as an animated sequel revival series of Everybody Hates Chris order by Comedy Central and is slated to premiere in 2023. It also produced the Clone High revival seasons on at Max (formerly HBO Max) premiered on May 23, 2023, at the relaunch of the platform.[7] MTV Animation Inc. remains a subsidiary of Paramount Global.
