The Boondocks

The Boondocks is the American animated series created by Aaron McGruder for the Adult Swim programming block of Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network, based upon McGruder's comic strip of the same name. The Boondocks is a social satire of American culture and race relations (or stereotypes in the world), revolving around the lives of the Freeman family – ten-year-old Huey, his younger brother, eight-year-old Riley, and their grandfather, Robert. The series is produced by Rebel Base in association with Sony Pictures Television and has finished airing its second season on Adult Swim. Season three is currently in production, but all artist work that had occurred at the show's studio, Adelaide Productions in Culver City, has been moved to Korea. The Boondocks takes place in the same place and time frame as its comic counterpart. The Freeman family, having recently moved from the South Side of Chicago to the peaceful, fictional suburb of Woodcrest, Illinois (compare Crestwood) find different ways to cope with this acute change in setting as well as the drastically different suburban cultures and lifestyles to which they are exposed. The perspective offered by this mixture of cultures, lifestyles, and races provides for much of the comedy in this series.

The TV-MA-rated satire premiered on November 6, 2005. The 15-episode first season ended on March 19, 2006. The second season premiered on October 8, 2007 and was, according to McGruder's MySpace page, pared to 13 episodes; however, 15 episodes were created. According to his website, Aaron McGruder states that a third season is currently under production due to air early 2010.

Origins: The Boondocks began its life as a comic strip in The Diamondback, the student newspaper at McGruder's alma mater, University of Maryland, College Park. The strip later found its way into The Source magazine. Following these runs, McGruder began simultaneously pitching The Boondocks both as a syndicated comic strip and as an animated television series. The former goal was met first, and The Boondocks debuted in newspapers in April 1999.

In the meantime, development on a Boondocks TV series continued. McGruder and film producer/director Reginald Hudlin created a Boondocks pilot for the Fox Network, but found great difficulty in making the series acceptable for network television. Hudlin left the project after the Fox deal fell through, although McGruder and Sony Television are contractually bound to continue to credit him as an executive producer. The opening theme song used in the series (slightly remixed for the second season) is performed by hip hop artist Asheru.

The series has a loose connection with the continuity of the comic strip, though during the final year of the comic strip McGruder made a point to try and synchronize both. He introduced Uncle Ruckus into the strip, and the comic strip version of Riley's hair braided into cornrows to match the character's design in the series.

During the series' first season, McGruder put the strip on a six-month hiatus beginning in March 2006. He did not return to the strip the following November, and the strip's syndicate, Universal Press Syndicate, announced that it had been cancelled.

Facts: Genre Animated comedy Black sitcom Created by Aaron McGruder Developed by Aaron McGruder Directed by Seung Eun Kim Voices of Regina King John Witherspoon Cedric Yarbrough Gary Anthony Williams Jill Talley Gabby Soleil Theme music composer Asheru Opening theme Judo Flip by Asheru Country of origin United States South Korea Language(s) English No. of seasons 2 No. of episodes 30 (List of episodes) Production Executive producer(s) Aaron McGruder Rodney Barnes Producer(s) Brian J. Cowan Location(s) Woodcrest, Maryland, USA Seoul, South Korea Running time 22 minutes Broadcast Original channel Adult Swim Original run November 6, 2005 – Present

Reception: On January 2006, The Boondocks was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series at the 37th NAACP Image Awards, alongside The Bernie Mac Show, winner Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends, and Half & Half. For the episode "Return of the King," the show won a Peabody Award from the Peabody Institute in 2006. As of November 18, 2007, The Boondocks has a 72% rating on MetaCritic, based on 21 reviews. Source: Wikipedia.org