Tom Goes To The Mayor: The Complete Series (business Man's Edition)

Rating: out of
Released: 2007
Directed by: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim
Cast: Tenacious D, Patton Oswalt, Jeff Goldblum, Jeff Garlin, Maria Bamford, David Cross, Edward Herrmann, Michael Ian Black, Bob Odenkirk, Brian Posehn, Sarah Silverman, Fred Willard, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Dustin Diamond, Sean Hayes, Fred Armisen, Louie Anderson, Tom Kenney, Robert Loggia, Janeane Garofalo, Garry Shandling, Paul Reubens.

Cartoon Network's Adult Swim has morphed from a little-regarded block of original and syndicated programming to a seven-days a week Nick at Nite-like channel. In the process it even helped spawn a new animation genre -- the short, "WTF?" series with new styles of animation and a radical departure from the traditional sitcom structure. Adult Swim was the perfect niche for "Tom Goes to the Mayor," where its brilliant blend of near-perverse oddness and strange celebration of the American Dream was allowed to prosper.

Started as a one-off "webisode" in 2002 with a 2003 sequel, "Tom Goes to the Mayor" showed the potential of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, who now man Adult Swim's "The Tim and Eric Awesome Show." The early TGTTM was especially crude as animation, but also displayed comedic instincts similar to Christopher Guest or Larry David. Comedian Bob Odenkirk ("Mr. Show") was impressed, and helped the two young writers/animators land a gig on Cartoon Network.

The animation on TGTTM is even more raw than early "South Park," as its characters move at a rate of about one five frames per second against stock backgrounds and clip-art quality objects. The show's characters are not drawn, but are rather digital images that are dumbed down through a blue and white filter. This style of animation suits the overall theme of the show -- from the concrete wasteland of the fictional town of Jefferton to the inhumanly awful fetishes and hobbies of its inhabitants. It may sound awful on paper, but the end result is somewhere between "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Mr. Show."

The "Mr. Show" similarity is no doubt a product of Odenkirk's involvement, which spans from actor and voice talent to obvious creative involvement. The Odenkirk factor is good for the show, since Tim and Eric's comedy seems more refined from the original episodes to the Adult Swim product. A typical TGTTM episode starts with Tom Peters (freshly motivated but haplessly doomed) pitching a business idea to the Mayor (fiendishly friendly and maniacally driven), who then proceeds to wreck it, with Tom trying to pick up the pieces. The episodes are 12 minutes, so there's almost never any fat to be found.

Tom and the Mayor (as well as many other characters) are played by Heidecker and Wareheim, respectively, and the characters seem to be a fair representation of the two friends' style of humor and writing. Tom is the straight, but twisted man while Mayor is the overly-energetic relief. What really makes TGGTM go is the strange world of Jefferton, which works in much the same way as The Simpsons' Springfield in that it is a fertile ground for visual jokes: the Mayor's Office is located in a terrible strip mall below Pipe's Buffet (a tobacco pipe-themed eatery) and the area is littered with terrible other businesses such as Pete's Zah and Turner's (a barely-functioning revolving restaurant). Nearly every episode expands Jefferton, introducing more locations and awful citizens.

The TGTTM DVD is a near flawless presentation of two seasons worth of episodes and a surprising amount of extras. Spread across three discs in a tidy package, the whole set has a theme consistent with the product, right down to the episode list insert (a take-off on a "Fishanelli's" menu).

EXTRAS:
"That's Amazing: How Do They Make That Show?" -- A well put together documentary on every aspect of the show's production, as well as a look into the environment of working on an experimental animated series.

"The Night of 1000 Stars: Celebrity Sessions" -- Footage of every celebrity guest, from voiceover recordings to the photo sessions. This is a nice extra since the celebrity guest list is fairly long and interesting.

"A Look Behind": More behind-the-scenes footage, this time focusing more on the personalities of the production team and their day-to-day operation.

"Original Toms": The most valuable extra, with both of the web-based TGTTM episodes in their entirety.

"Whoops?: Deleted Scenes": A modest collection of semi-interesting deleted scenes.

"Tiny Tune Town: Music From the Show": Strangely entertaining jukebox of all the series' original songs.

"Here's the Scoop: Married News Outtakes": Expectedly bizarre moments from the live-action news scenes that pepper the series.

"Bob Zone: A Tribute to Bob Odenkirk": Mostly needless extended montage of all of Odenkirk's contribution.

"Adult Swim and Tom Goes to the Mayor Promos": The complete collection of every odd promo.

"An Artist's Touch: Artwork From the Show": Impressive montage of all the small, entertaining details that make up the show (restaurant menus, event fliers).

"Boiling Over: A Look Behind Season Two": A great extra, essentially an extended, live-action episode of the show. We find Tim pretty much fired from the production and how he tries to find work around Hollywood and how Eric seeks his replacement.

Commentary from Heidecker and Wareheim is provided for every episode.

Reviewed by: Adam Ross

May 15,2007