Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
When we talk about streaming culture, we’re usually enthusing about what’s new, but one of the best things about streaming is how it’s made old and obscure cult hits available to a new generation. Presenting Cult Corner: your weekly look into hidden gems and long-lost curiosities that you can find on streaming.
There’s an endearing scrappiness to Home Movies that has only gotten better with age. Created by Loren Bourchard (Bob’s Burgers) and Brendon Small (Metalocalypse), the series was one first shows in Turner’s more adult-focused programming block, Adult Swim. But more than that, the quick-witted and delightfully monotonous show helped pave the way for television’s current comedy climate.
Fittingly, Home Movies always watched like a homemade effort, something experimental, fun, and a little pointless that would feel at home on YouTube. The animated series followed a fictionalized version of Brendon Small, a constantly anxious eight-year-old obsessed with writing, directing, and acting. Most episodes followed Brendon and his two friends Melissa (Melissa Bardin Galsky), the voice of reason, and Jason, the manic and stumbling outsider, as they made movies, dealt with school, played soccer, and reacted to the series’ secret star, Coach McGuirk (H. Jon Benjamin). Much like Dr. Katz, Benjamin’s other breakout voice-acting role, Home Movies embraced its rambling nature. It was one of the first shows to do away with strict scripts, instead relying on rough outlines for episodes and encouraging its actors to improvise. Known as retroscripting, it’s now a common practice in TV comedies that’s been used in everything from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to Rick and Morty. Home Movies perfected it back in 1999.
Watching this oddly sweet show about children, it’s easy to see the connections between this early series and Small and Bourchard’s later work. Metalocalpyse was known for its rambling, absurdist dialogue, and there’s a calm low-stakes quality to both Home Movies and Bob’s Burgers. However, it’s the tone of the series that makes it such a good summer binge.
Home Movies never pointedly moves from plot point to plot point. Rather, it drifts, relying its improvised moments to keep things entertaining. During an animation age that was dominated by highly scripted and topical shows like The Simpsons and South Park, Home Movies stumbled to the beat of its own awkward drum. The experience of watching the series is akin to listening to a conversation between two people that have really great chemistry. You don’t really know where the conversation is going to go, you don’t really care. All you know is that you can relax into the soothing, low stakes back and forth.
Though it’s set during the school year, the pacing of Home Movies feels just like summer — long, rambling, a bit pointless, but deeply relaxing. If you’re looking for something great and laugh-out-loud funny to unwind to this season, the childhood comedy is streaming on Hulu.
