The NFL season heads into the playoffs this weekend, and Andy Feinstein’s (Girls & Sports) Flash-animated series The King and Us sacks a few lame ducks in this week 17 episode. Jay Cutler, the interception-prone QB gets drilled in the earhole and Tony Romo is spotted in Vegas. I believe these are still animated by Matt Wilson, Bryan Young and Adam Rosette. Voicework by Eric Bauza and Matt Danner.
When I worked at Warner Bros. Animation, I could count on one hand the number of people who followed sports. I was one of the few, and a producer I worked with, Andy Feinstein, was another. Well, Andy is more than a sports fan – he’s the co-creator of a syndicated comic strip called Girls & Sports. And recently, he and Justin Borus have been co-writing and producing an animated series for Fox Sports. The King and Us, which is sponsored by Burger King, is animated by Matt Wilson, Bryan Young and Adam Rosette, and the voice work is supplied by Eric Bauza and Matt Danner. In this episode, my Detroit Lions are dragged through the mud.
Back in 2003, I produced a pilot at Warner Bros. titled Circus Peanut. It was Andy Suriano’s original concept, aimed at Cartoon Network. Matt Danner directed, Eric Pringle was Animation Director, while animation was handled by Brendan Burch, Greg Franklin, Dave Vamos and a number of other folks who soon after launched Six Point Harness. 
Suriano hand painted (it was actually sort of a marker wash process) each and every one of the 40 backgrounds, which were then scanned into Flash. On his blog, Andy recounts my reaction to his decision to go it alone.
As with so many pilots, testing success and a quality project don’t always equate to a season order. Politics, timing and just pure luck play huge roles in the outcome, and in this case the show never saw the light of day. You may recognize Dave Foley as the voice of Circus Peanut and if I remember correctly Tom Kenny handled the Rollo. Kim Olds, the lead development executive on the project, played the Sweet Tooth. Thanks again, Andy, for teaming up with us to bring your vision to life. Here’s the pilot episode Lunchtime For Leo.
Suriano remains a sought-after series creator, storyboard artist and character designer, but he also designed a popular comic book and recently found time to hang some art on the walls.
Note to the team at WB Animation – who else was on the crew? Help me fill this out….
I spent Saturday night celebrating this season’s final Prophet Buddy episode. Eric Pringle, the creator of the Flash-animated series, was on hand, and so were hand-crafted versions of the two stars of the show, Cat and Mouse (inset with my wife Daniela). Also attending were Eric Bauza, the voice of Cat, and party host Matt Danner, who plays Mouse. With this set of episodes behind him, Pringle says he will now reestablish a relationship with “video games, the sun, television, the gym and booze.” Let’s raise a toast together to Prophet Buddy, and enjoy The Greatest Idea.
The latest episode of Prophet Buddy, Cousin Stu, was written by Matt Danner, who also provides the voice of Mouse.
Check out the storyboards, which were also drawn by Danner, at the Prophet Buddy blog. Also, get an closet-full of Prophet Buddy t-shirts in the CHF store.
