Regular Show (season 1)

Regular Show (season 1)
200px Blu-ray cover
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	12
Release
Original network	Cartoon Network
Original release	September 6, 2010 – November 22, 2010

The first season of American animated television series Regular Show originally aired on Cartoon Network in the United States. Many of the characters are loosely based on those developed for J.G. Quintel's student films at California Institute of the Arts: The Naïve Man From Lolliland and 2 in the AM PM. Quintel pitched Regular Show for Cartoon Network's Cartoonstitute project, in which the network allowed young artists to create pilots with no notes to possibly be optioned as a show. After being green-lit, Quintel recruited several indie comic book artists, plus some of the crewmembers he had worked with on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, to compose the staff of the show, as their style matched close to what he desired for the series. Regular Show was picked up by Cartoon Network, who decided to create a twelve-episode first season.

The first episode of Regular Show's first season is "The Power", ending with the season finale "Mordecai and the Rigbys". The season was storyboarded and written by J. G. Quintel, Sean Szeles, Shion Takeuchi, Mike Roth, Jake Armstrong, Benton Connor, Kat Morris, Paul Scarlata, and Kent Osborne, while being produced by Cartoon Network Studios. The show is rated TV-PG and occasionally TV-PG-V. Despite not airing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim line-up, it is considered more of a traditional adult's animated comedy than a children's cartoon.

Development

Concept

Two 23-year-old friends, a blue jay named Mordecai and a raccoon named Rigby, are employed as groundskeepers at a park and spend their days trying to slack off and entertain themselves by any means. This is much to the chagrin of their boss Benson and their coworker, Skips, but to the delight of Pops. Their other coworkers, Muscle Man (an overweight green man) and High Five Ghost (a ghost with a hand extending from the top of his head), serve as rivals to Mordecai and Rigby. The show usually revolves around Mordecai and Rigby's attempts to avoid work and enjoy themselves. However, they often, at times, have to pay for their irresponsible actions, as they always get into more trouble than they thought. This typically results in Mordecai and Rigby going through bizarre and surrealistic misadventures, many of which nearly kill them or others around them.

Production

Many of the characters are loosely based on those developed for Quintel's student films at California Institute of the Arts: The Naive Man From Lolliland and 2 in the AM PM. Quintel pitched Regular Show for Cartoon Network's Cartoonstitute project, in which the network allowed young artists to create pilots with no notes to possibly be optioned as a show. After being green-lit, Quintel recruited several indie comic book artists to compose the staff of the show, as their style matched close to what he desired for the series. The season was storyboarded and written by J. G. Quintel, Sean Szeles, Shion Takeuchi, Mike Roth, Jake Armstrong, Benton Connor, Kat Morris, Paul Scarlata and Kent Osborne, while being produced by Cartoon Network Studios. Roth is Creative Director and Janet Dimon is producer. The show is rated TV-PG and occasionally TV-PG-V. Despite not airing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim line-up, it is considered more of a traditional adult's animated comedy than a children's cartoon.

The first season of Regular Show was produced with heavy use of double entendres and mild language Quintel stated that, although the network wanted to step up from the more child-oriented fare, there were some restrictions that came along with this switch.

Cast

J. G. Quintel, creator of the show and voice of Mordecai, based the show off his student films produced at CalArts

The voice actors include Quintel himself (who portrays Mordecai) and William Salyers (as Rigby). Quintel states that the writing crew tries to "come up with dialogue that sounds conversational and not too cartoony so that the characters are more relatable." In addition, Sam Marin portrays the voice of Benson, Pops, and Muscle Man, and Mark Hamill provides the voice of Skips, a yeti groundskeeper.

The character of Mordecai embodies Quintel during his college years, specifically at CalArts: "That's that time when you're hanging out with your friends and getting into stupid situations, but you're also taking it seriously enough." The character of Rigby developed randomly when Quintel drew a raccoon hula-hooping on a Post-It. He liked the design and developed the character of Rigby to be a jerk character who is far more irresponsible than his companion.

Reception

The season received generally positive reviews from most critics, gaining a Metascore—a weighted average based on the impression of critical reviews—of 76 percent. Critics enjoyed the risque and adult innuendos and humor, the animation style, and the voice acting.

Episodes

See also: List of Regular Show episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Written and storyboarded by	Original air date	Prod. code	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	1	"The Power"	J. G. Quintel	September 6, 2010 (2010-09-06)	697-003	2.10
Mordecai and Rigby use a magic keyboard to give them anything they want, but things take a turn for the worst when they accidentally use the keyboard to send Skips to the moon and must find a way to get him back with helpvbefore the moon monster destroys them.
2	2	"Just Set Up the Chairs"	Sean Szeles and Shion Takeuchi	September 13, 2010 (2010-09-13)	697-004	1.90
When Mordecai and Rigby are assigned to set up chairs for a birthday party, they choose to play an old arcade game instead and accidentally unleash a chaotic villain from the game and must defeat it before it destroys the park.
3	3	"Caffeinated Concert Tickets"	J. G. Quintel and Mike Roth	September 20, 2010 (2010-09-20)	697-001	1.72
Mordecai and Rigby work overtime in order make extra money to buy tickets to a concert, but then blindly make a deal with a giant coffee bean and its translator that quickly backfires on them. Songs: "Working for the Weekend" by Loverboy Guest voices: S. Scott Bullock as the Giant Coffee Bean
4	4	"Death Punchies"	J. G. Quintel, Mike Roth, and Jake Armstrong	September 27, 2010 (2010-09-27)	N/A	1.98
Rigby steals instructions on how to perform a powerful punching move in order to beat Mordecai at a game where he always gets punched, but his moves become deadly. Song: "You're the Best" by Joe Esposito
5	5	"Free Cake"	Kat Morris and Paul Scarlata	October 4, 2010 (2010-10-04)	N/A	2.10
Mordecai and Rigby plan to throw a surprise birthday party for Skips so they can eat free cake, but learn a shocking surprise about him. Guest voices: Robin Atkin Downes as Gary and David Kaye as the Guardians of Eternal Youth
6	6	"Meat Your Maker"	Sean Szeles and Shion Takeuchi	October 11, 2010 (2010-10-11)	N/A	1.87
Mordecai and Rigby get trapped in a meat locker while searching for hot dogs after Rigby ruined the original ones that they had. They meet talking hot dogs who agree to help them, but their real goal is to eat them instead. Guest voices: Tim Curry as the leader of the talking hot dogs.
7	7	"Grilled Cheese Deluxe"	Sean Szeles and Shion Takeuchi	October 18, 2010 (2010-10-18)	697-008	2.16
After eating Benson's grilled cheese sandwich and being sent out to get him another one, Mordecai and Rigby compete with each other to see who can lie better, which quickly gets them into bigger trouble with two astronauts that they try to impress. Song: "Lies" by The Thompson Twins
8	8	"The Unicorns Have Got to Go"	Kat Morris and Paul Scarlata	October 25, 2010 (2010-10-25)	N/A	2.42
Mordecai buys a new cologne to attract Margaret, but instead attracts a gang of trouble making unicorns and must find a way to get rid of them.
9	9	"Prank Callers"	J. G. Quintel, Mike Roth, and Kent Osborne	November 1, 2010 (2010-11-01)	N/A	2.10
Mordecai and Rigby are sent back to 1982 after attempting to prank call the "Master Prank Caller" and need help to get back. Guest voices: Tim Curry as the Master Prank Caller
10	10	"Don"	Benton Connor, Kat Morris, and J. G. Quintel	November 8, 2010 (2010-11-08)	N/A	2.09
Rigby's taller-in-size but younger-in-age brother, Don, is called to the park to save it from financial troubles, much to Rigby's annoyance. Rigby's refusal to be Don's "sugar" cause the park to slowly disappear. Guest voices: Julian Dean as Don
11	11	"Rigby's Body"	J. G. Quintel and Mike Roth	November 15, 2010 (2010-11-15)	697-002	1.93
When Rigby's body forces itself out of his consciousness after he eats too much junk food, Mordecai and Skips try to return him back to normal before the change becomes permanent, but someone else also wants Rigby's body. Guest voices: Jeff Bennett as the bodybuilder
12	12	"Mordecai and the Rigbys"	Sean Szeles and Shion Takeuchi	November 22, 2010 (2010-11-22)	N/A	2.03
After Mordecai and Rigby accidentally pass themselves off as a real band, their future selves appear to help them out. But after finding out that it's a hoax, they end the band causing the future selves to disappear. Song: "Party Tonight" by Sean Szeles sung by Mordecai Guest voices: Paul F. Tompkins as the voice on Pops' "How To Be A Musician – with Sir Geoffrey" instructional records

Home video release

Regular Show: The Complete First & Second Seasons
Set details				Special features
40 episodes 2-disc set 1.78:1 aspect ratio Subtitles: English English (Dolby Stereo)				Commentaries for all 40 episodes The Unaired Regular Show Pilot Animatic for the Pilot Animatic for “The Power” Original Pencil Tests from Saerom CG Test for Hodgepodge Monster 2010 Comic Con Teaser Trailer The Naïve Man from Lolliland Student Short Party Tonight Music Video Interview with JG Quintel JG Pitches “The Power” Original Regular Show Commercials
Release dates
Region 1		Region 2		Region 4		Region A
July 16, 2013 (2013-07-16)		October 6, 2014 (2014-10-06)		October 2, 2013 (2013-10-02)		July 16, 2013 (2013-07-16)