Interview: ‘The Annoying Orange’ Creator on Taking Series to TV

By now you’ve heard the news an animated TV comedy series based on the uber-popular The Annoying Orange web series is one step closer to fruition (LOL!).

Annoying Orange creator Dane Boedigheimer partnered with LA-based management and production shop The Collective to create six 30-minute episodes and score the puntastic program a television distribution deal. We know a few of the details, like Tom Sheppard will pen the first six installments, Conrad Vernon will executive produce, and Malcom McDowell will voice one of the characters, but other info is hard to come by.

So, we went straight to the source and asked Boedigheimer himself a few questions about what to expect from an Annoying Orange TV series:

Tubefilter: What does the one-to-four-minute Annoying Orange web series look like once it’s transformed into a 22-minute TV show? What should viewers expect?
Dane Boedigheimer: Viewers can expect all of the core things that made Orange popular online, except now we’ve expanded the world exponentially…we really wanted to open it up and not be limited to where we can take the show and what kinds of situations the characters get themselves into. Don’t worry though, Orange will still be his same old lovable annoying self.

TF: Will the six episodes you’re producing with The Collective follow any kind of overarching storyline? Or will they be more like one-off episodes?
DB: A little of both actually. Each episode could be considered a “one-off”, but at the same time there’s running themes and situations in each episode that will get flushed out as time goes on.

TF: I know The Collective has a great relationship with Nickelodeon from their partnership on Fred: The Movie. On which network do you think The Annoying Orange TV show will end up?

DB: Unfortunately this isn’t a subject I can expand upon at this time. Really, I’m just excited by the opportunity to expand the web series to another medium.

TF: What makes your more attractive to television execs? Your 7.8 million Facebook fans or 1.7 million YouTube subscribers?
DB: I think both are extremely valuable and really, the success of Orange has been built with both. With the YouTube subscribers, you are getting a base of guaranteed viewers that are notified of your new videos. With Facebook, you have the ability to not only tell other people who may not be YouTube subscribers about your new videos, you have the ability to direct people to a video multiple times. I know that’s not really picking one or the other, but I think what makes the brand attractive is the power of both networks working in tandem.

TF: I loved the James Caan cameo. Any cameos to look out for in the TV show? Or anyone you’d specifically like to have in the show?
DB: We’ve got a couple interesting leads so far, but as far as someone I’d like to work with? Nathan Fillion. Why? Firefly is my favorite TV show of all time, and well, it would be pretty awesome to say I worked with the one and only Malcolm Reynolds.

TF: Are you ever afraid you’ll run out of puns?
DB: Haha! No. Puns are low hanging fruit, I think we’ll always be able to find one to squeeze in.