Amazing the Lion came to us through our tips line with the following description: “Amazing the Lion is an animated series about a stuffed lion who lives in the forest on the side of the long island expressway. Amazing the Lion goes on adventures with his forest friends, Possum and Barry the Panda, and learns valuable lessons about the world we live in.”
Hmm. A cartoon on ICN? Life lessons on the Long Island Expressway? Sounds like another kids-show parody. We just did a piece on Sesame Street as the only safe place for kids on the internet—this sounds like exactly what parents are trying to keep their youngsters away from: a kid-friendly looking site that ends up being Happy Tree Friends.
The series’ pilot, “Barry’s Birthday,” confirmed all my suspicions. The show has all the clichéd trappings of a kids-show parody: overly happy characters and campy music juxtaposed with a dystopic reality where, among other things, a depressed stuffed animal shoots himself in the head with a flaregun before hanging himself. Imagine Barney wandering into a slum. Not exactly Saturday morning stuff. And the show is just plain weird.
Macnamara, who produces the series with Jeff Roos, was invited to develop the show for Channel 101: NY after being named a finalist in Comedy Central’s Test Pilots Competition with Redeeming Rainbow. After the pilot premiered, the duo pitched the show to ICN through the People’s Improv Theater and signed on for a 5 episode deal. “It was a great oppurtunity to work with friends that I respect in the NYC comedy scene,” Macnamara tells us. And although they are shopping Amazing the Lion out to network television, Macnamara promises “there will also be some fun extra games posted after all the episodes have premiered on ICN.”
Until then, we’re looking forward to the “millions more adventures to come.”
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