That's My Bush!: Difference between revisions

|website = https://web.archive.org/web/20120625222833/http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/that-s-my-bush-

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Despite the political overtones, the show itself was more a broad lampoon of American sitcoms, including jokes, a laugh track, and stock characters such as klutzy secretary Princess ([[Kristen Miller]]), know-it-all maid Maggie ([[Marcia Wallace]]), and supposedly helpful next door neighbor Larry ([[John D'Aquino]]).

The series was conceived in the wake of the [[2000 United States presidential election|2000 presidential election]], between [[George W. Bush]] and [[Al Gore]]. Parker and Stone were sure that Gore would win the election, and tentatively titled the show ''Everybody Loves Al''. However, due to the [[United States presidential election in Florida, 2000|controversy regarding the election's outcome]], the series was pushed back. Instead, the show was then plotted around Bush at the workplace.<ref name="Parker2">{{Cite video | people=[[Trey Parker|Parker, Trey]]| date=October 2006 |title=That's My Bush! The Definitive Collection: "A Poorly Executed Plan" |format=Audio commentary |medium=DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures#Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount Home Entertainment]]}}</ref>

 

 

==Plot==

Episodes dealt (with deliberate heavy handedness) with the topics of [[abortion]], [[gun control]], the [[war on drugs]], drilling in the [[Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]], and the [[death penalty]]. Every episode ended with George saying "One of these days, Laura, I'm gonna punch you in the face!", a parody of [[Jackie Gleason]]'s line from ''[[The Honeymooners]]'', "One of these days, Alice... Bang, zoom! Right to the moon!"

 

{{quote|''[That's My] Bush!''{{'}}s irresistibly gimmicky premise—a workplace sitcom centering on Bush and his wife Laura—represents a perverse act of extended misdirection. While audiences waited for Parker and Stone to tear into the [[George W. Bush administration|Bush administration]], they instead attacked the hoary conventions of 1970s and 1980s sitcoms, which proved a surprisingly apt target for [[satire]] and [[pop-culture]] riffing.}}

 

The entire idea behind the series was to parody sitcoms. The premise developed into one of the U.S. President in office. Parker recalled the idea came about three months before the [[2000 United States presidential election|2000 presidential election]]. The duo were "95 percent sure" that [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] candidate [[Al Gore]] would win, and tentatively titled the show ''Everybody Loves Al''.<ref name="Parker2" /> It was, essentially, the same show: a lovable main character, the sassy maid, the wacky neighbor.<ref name="Stone2">{{Cite video | people=[[Matt Stone|Stone, Matt]]| date=October 2006 |title=That's My Bush! The Definitive Collection: "A Poorly Executed Plan" |format=Audio commentary |medium=DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures#Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount Home Entertainment]]}}</ref> Parker said the producers did not want to make fun of politics, but instead lampoon sitcoms.<ref name="Parker2" /> The duo watched a lot of ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'' in preparation.<ref name="Stone2" />

 

 

Comedy Central, however, prohibited Parker and Stone from including the Bush twins ([[Jenna Bush Hager|Jenna Bush]] and [[Barbara Bush (born 1981)|Barbara Pierce Bush]]). The writers then turned the Bush twins character into Princess.<ref name="Parker2" /> "An Aborted Dinner Date" was the show's pilot episode. The episode features Felix the Fetus, which was made and operated by the Chiodo Brothers, who later worked with Parker and Stone on ''[[Team America: World Police]]'' (2004).<ref name="Stone1">{{Cite video | people=[[Matt Stone|Stone, Matt]]| date=October 2006 |title=That's My Bush! The Definitive Collection: "An Aborted Dinner Date" |format=Audio commentary |medium=DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures#Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount Home Entertainment]]}}</ref> They also created the cat Punk'kin in "The First Lady's Persqueeter". The show's producers consider the second episode aired, "A Poorly Executed Plan", the ''true'' first episode.<ref name="Parker1">{{Cite video | people=[[Trey Parker|Parker, Trey]]| date=October 2006 |title=That's My Bush! The Definitive Collection: "An Aborted Dinner Date" |format=Audio commentary |medium=DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures#Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount Home Entertainment]]}}</ref>

Each episode was shot in two days. The weeks were spent writing and getting ready while the cast rehearsed.<ref name="Parker6">{{Cite video | people=[[Trey Parker|Parker, Trey]]| date=October 2006 |title=That's My Bush! The Definitive Collection: "Mom "E" D. E. A. Arrest" |format=Audio commentary |medium=DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures#Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount Home Entertainment]]}}</ref> Like ''South Park'', in which Parker would be able to write a scene and see it animated a short time later, he and Stone could walk to rehearsals and see the cast rehearsing their script.<ref name="Parker6" /> Each episode opened with a cold open, with a "cheesy" joke that segued into the theme song. The duo recalled that, with stupid titles, these scenes were often the hardest to write.<ref name="Parker7">{{Cite video | people=[[Trey Parker|Parker, Trey]]| date=October 2006 |title=That's My Bush! The Definitive Collection: "Trapped in a Small Environment" |format=Audio commentary |medium=DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures#Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount Home Entertainment]]}}</ref>

 

 

 

Comedy Central officially cancelled the series in August 2001, as a cost-cutting move; Stone was quoted as saying "A super-expensive show on a small cable network...the economics of it were just not going to work."<ref name="sun" /> Comedy Central continued the show in reruns, considering it a creative and critical success.<ref name="herald" /> Parker believed the show would not have survived after the [[September 11 attacks]] anyway, and Stone agreed, saying the show would not "play well."<ref name="Parker5" /><ref name="Stone5">{{Cite video | people=[[Matt Stone|Stone, Matt]]| date=October 2006 |title=That's My Bush! The Definitive Collection: "The First Lady's Persqueeter" |format=Audio commentary |medium=DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures#Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount Home Entertainment]]}}</ref> There was talk of a [[Spin-off (media)|spin-off]] [[feature film]] for the series entitled ''George W. Bush and the Secret of the Glass Tiger''.

 

==Home media==

 

==See also==