- What is “Mission Hill”?
- What is “Mission Hill” about?
- Where can I see “Mission Hill”?
- How many episodes of “Mission Hill” were there?
- So, if you’re running a “Mission Hill” site, it must have been popular, right?
- So, why are you bothering to make a “Mission Hill” site?
- Where can I get some “Mission Hill” wallpaper for my computer desktop?
- Where’d you get all this information about “Mission Hill” and the cast members?
- Is the show still in production?
- Is the show available on DVD or VHS?
- Is there any merchandise based on the show?
- What is the name of [song] from [episode]?
- Any fun tidbits of information about the show?
‘Mission Hill’ is an animated series from Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, former executive producers of ‘The Simpsons.’
2. What is ‘Mission Hill’ about?
The show is about Andy French, a cartoonist living in the fictional city of Cosmopolis, in a neighborhood called ‘Mission Hill’ with his roommates Jim and Posey. One day his nerdy younger brother Kevin moves in with him, much to his chagrin, and the show chronicles his life from that point on.
3. Where can I see ‘Mission Hill’?
As of right now, I believe the only place you can see episodes is either by getting the DVD, or searching on places like YouTube.
4. How many episodes of Mission Hill were there?
There were thirteen half-hour episodes in Mission Hill’s first and only season. Additionally there were five complete, but unproduced scripts. You can read the scripts on the “Lost Episodes” page.
5. So, if you’re running a ‘Mission Hill’ site, it must’ve been popular
right?
Umm…not exactly. It premiered on the WB network at the beginning of the 1999/2000 season, but then after two episodes the show was put on ‘hiatus’, with plans for it to return later.
Then, in the summer of 2000, the show returned to the WB, but then it was canceled for good after about a month. Thirteen episodes were produced of the show but only six were ever seen on the WB.
And the critics were not overly kind to the show either. From what I can tell it received mostly negative reviews, except from Variety.
Update: Luckily, [adult swim] picked up the rights to re-air the episodes, but at a price of one million dollars an episode, [adult swim] couldn’t sensibly make that decision over getting a whole season of another show for the price of one season.
6. So…why are you bothering to make a ‘Mission Hill’ site?
Well, I really enjoy the show, and I realized there are no fan sites about it. I figured it might be fun to try and fill that void.
7. Where can I get some ‘Mission Hill’ wallpaper for my computer
desktop?
Since the official show’s website has now gone down, this site will host those images, as well as I’ll also be producing some more wallpaper on this site, so check the ‘Multimedia’ section regularly for updates.
8. Where’d you get all this information about ‘Mission Hill’ and the cast
members?
From various internet sites, including the show’s official website and the IMDB.
9. Is the show still in production?
No, and it’s unknown if that will ever change. The show is quite expensive to produce, and due to its poor performance on the WB it may not look economically viable to a major network, and it would be out of the price range of a cable network like Comedy Central, where the budgets are lower than network shows. It should also be noted that most networks don’t seem to have faith in prime-time animated TV shows lately, with the WB completely focusing away from it.
It is possible that if its run on the Cartoon Network is extremely popular that it would experience a revitalization.
10. Is the show available on DVD or VHS?
Yes. The DVD set of the first season was released on November 29, 2005 and is available in stores and online.
11. Is there any merchandise based on the show?
Besides the DVD set, there is some other products that were made for the show’s crew. Some of it was even sold on the Mission Hill group on Yahoo. This was all made in very limited quantities and are no longer available. There were T-shirts, mugs, stickers and more. However there was no mass-market merchandise available, but some fans have made their own merchandise. You can view images of the official merchandise in the Images section of this site.
You can also purchase fan-made merchandise at the Mission Hill Online Store.
12. What is the name of (insert song here) that I heard on the show?
Check the music guide to the show.
13. Any fun tidbits of information about the show?
- Did you know that Stogie’s original name in the show was going to be “Stoli?” — he was supposed to be named after the vodka. The suits at The WB had trademark issues, so they went with Stogie instead.
- This show was one of, if not the last, traditionally animated primetime shows. You see, hand-drawn animation used to be done using cels that were photographed one at a time. These days, everything is drawn and animated on the computer.
- The original name of the series was “The Downtowners”, but then MTV came out with an animated show called “MTV Downtown” which was to premiere at around the same time. So, the name was changed to “Mission Hill.” Incidentally, I think “MTV Downtown” was also a funny show with a unique look to it.
- Vicki Lewis’s distinct, gaspy voice for Posey was kind of an accident. The day of her audition, she had been to the dentist and her voice was still affected. Apparently the producers liked her voice in that state they wanted her to keep it for Posey.
- The theme song for ‘Mission Hill’ is a shortened, instrumental version of the song ‘Italian Leather Sofa’ by the band ‘Cake.’ Apparently they are Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein’s favorite band.
- Stogie the dog, Andy’s dog that drinks alcohol and eats whatever seems edible, was apparently based on a real dog, according to Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, creators of the show.
- Thirteen episodes were completed of the show, plus five scripts that were finished but never animated. They have now been released to the internet, and you can read them on the Second Season pages.
- After the credits of each episode there was a short animated sequence featuring the Mission Hill characters saying ‘A Bill Oakley – Josh Weinstein production.’
- The WB network, which originally commissioned the show, aired only two episodes which scored extremely low ratings. Due to the high expenses of the show, the WB decided it was best to relaunch the show later. Unfortunately, they chose to air it during the summer with little promotion, so even the original thirteen episodes were never seen on the network that bought it. While it may sound strange, it’s becoming an extremely common occurrence these days, with networks canceling shows left and right before they’re even done airing their completed episodes (in the 2001/2002 season the list of such shows includes “Emeril”, “Bob Patterson”, “Citizen Baines” and “Danny.”
- The show was picked up by the Cartoon Network in the US and Teletoon in Canada for the ‘Adult Swim’ and ‘Teletoon Unleashed’ programming blocks respectively, long after the show’s incomplete run on the WB had finished.
- Bugles loved the free advertising and sent the staff boxes and boxes of Bugles in appreciation.
- The voice of Andy, Wallace Langham, pushed to have Andrew’s name shortened to Andy. (Good choice)
- Mission Hill was the first cartoon to feature two men kissing on-screen, lauded by the gay community.
Any questions not answered here? Leave a question/comment below!