Greg the Bunny is an American television sitcom that originally aired on Fox in 2002. It starred Seth Green and a hand puppet named Greg the Bunny, a character originally created by the team of Sean Baker, Spencer Chinoy and Dan Milano. Milano and Chinoy wrote and co-produced the Fox show with Steven Levitan. The show was spun off from The Greg the Bunny Show, a series of short segments that aired on the Independent Film Channel, which were based on the public-access television cable TV show Junktape. A spin-off show, called Warren the Ape, premiered on June 14, 2010, on MTV.

Plot

In the FOX show, Greg was the co-star of a children's television show called Sweetknuckle Junction. Like The Muppet Show, Greg the Bunny treated puppets as though they were real creatures within the reality of the show.

  • Pal Friendlies (performed by Dan Milano) – A character exclusive to the IFC show. He is the talent agent for all the puppets who work on the show, albeit a very ineffective one. He also doubles as a lawyer in some episodes.
  • Elephant Man (performed by Paul McGinnis) – A puppet character modeled after Joseph Merrick, exclusive to the IFC show.

Background and production

Junktape was a half-hour, bi-weekly public access series created by Sean S. Baker, Spencer Chinoy, and Dan Milano. From June to August 2002, Fox burned off the remaining episodes, with two episodes unaired. Anita Gates of The New York Times found the show to be "pretty political" and questioned if viewers would "see the show as refreshingly honest or as prejudice hiding behind humor." E! "TV Scoop" writer Kimberly Potts found "a few clever moments" but concluded the pilot episode was "nothing groundbreaking". The Los Angeles Times, however, had a more positive review considering the show's premise to be unique. Eric Deggans also was laudatory, writing for the St. Petersburg Times that the show "sandwiches adult situations into a kiddie format" and called it "hilariously adult-oriented satire". Salon critic Carina Chocano believed the show's premise to be "flagrantly stupid...in a good way" but criticized the casting, for instance finding Silverman to be "woefully limited" as Allison in contrast to her past work including "un-p.c. jokes". TV Guide, however, was more complimentary of the casting including Silverman, whose character "looks like she knows what she's doing as she pulls the strings of her subordinate Gil," wrote Steve Robinson.

The debut episode on March 27, 2002, had 10.1 million viewers and was Fox's second most watched show of the week. On March 31, the second episode had 9.1 million viewers in a special Sunday 8:30 p.m. slot, losing about two million viewers from its lead-in The Simpsons. However, average viewership declined to about seven million by late April 2002.

The IFC series was partially released as "Greg the Bunny: Best of the Film Parodies" October 24, 2006.

The remainder of the IFC series released as "The Passion of Greg the Bunny: Best of the Film Parodies, Vol. 2" May 6, 2008.

Appearances in other shows

  • Greg the Bunny made a guest segment on Mad TV (episode 719, aired 2002): in it, Greg, the jaded pro, deals with an audition for a minor part from his psychotic first drama teacher.
  • Greg the Bunny appeared in the Duel Masters episode "Kokujo Strikes Back." He was portrayed as the world's second-best duelist.
  • An original Greg the Bunny short was created by Dan Milano for the 100th episode of the podcast "Star Wars Action News". While no other puppets were featured, the skit showed Greg playing with his favorite Star Wars action figures. Creator Dan Milano also was featured in a second, separate, video segment.
  • Footage of the show can be seen in Sean Baker's Starlet and The Florida Project.

References

  • Warren the Ape on MTV
  • Greg the Bunny Fox DVD site
  • Greg the Bunny Independent Film Channel page
  • Official Myspace page
  • Greg the Bunny page from Shout! Factory
  • Interview with Greg, Warren and co-creator Dan Milano, by David Salcido