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No More Banana Grabbing?
Mr. Bananagrabber
APPEARS: Sundays 9:30 on WOLF
RATED: V for mild violence.
Despite critical acclaim, we may have seen the last of the Bananagrabber
family.
Quirky comedies often find their home on the WOLF Network.
But all too often, despite critical acclaim, and small but loyal
fan bases, shows like Revenue, Awe Fall, and Andy
Riffith Controls Boysenberry
are quickly cancelled.
The latest such entrant on WOLF, the animated series Bananagrabber,
receives only fair ratings and may not live to see a second season.
Bananagrabber revolves around a family of bananas forced to live
with each other when the family patriarch, Bananagrabber Sr., is indicted
on charges of raiding the company coffers.
Banana Grabbeth Cutestory,
who along with his son Bananawhama make up the show’s grounded center,
tries to keep the family in check,
even as his father pulls strings from behind bars.
Sharp-tongued matriarch Luciana never puts down a drink and
never passes up a putdown.
Cutestory’s twin, Banzai and her over-the-edge husband B’nais B’rinke
ignore their daughter Banaeby Jones.
Rounding out the dysfunctional family are Banana Oscar Grabber, nicknamed “B.O.G.,” an unsuccessful trapeze artist who was kicked out of the trapeze-safety organiziation he started, High Wire Net Access; an adopted Filipino plantain, Banannyong; and Buster.
WOLF Entertainment President, Gail Weathers (hardly a friend
to quirky comedies), feels that the network
made every attempt to nurture the series.
Seeking
to capture the telenovela/cartoon banana crossover audience,
the network recently touted an episode featuring Chiquita Estrella, star of the
Spanish-language hit series, El sabor prohibido. The network has also
broadcast the series, with few premptions, as part of its “ROTFLMAO Sunday” lineup,
although critics say the competition is fierce from ABS’ Pseudonym,
and HMO’s operatic mobster show, The Three Fat Tenors, and cult comedy,
Curb Your Pet, Please.
Series co-creator, Hutch Mirwitz, is extremely proud of the show.
“Bananagrabber is show unlike others. It defies conventions.”
Unlike traditional cartoons, the show is shot in a mockumentary format.
Characters learn lessons like traditional cartoons, but
slightly twisted—like to never give up movie rights
for free bandanas, or to never teach music lessons.
“We think,” says The Hutch, “there’s room out there for schmoes looking for cheap belly laughs to watch
Thus Spoke Jim, and Joes looking for sharp, intelligent comedies to watch our show.”
Fans organized a campaign to get Bananagrabber renewed, collecting
$20,000 from supporters. That was enough to send 2,000 bananas to WOLF Television. Unfortunately, Ms.
Weathers never received the message the fans were trying to send;
someone grabbed the bananas
when a flock of seagulls distracted postal workers.
A crate of bananas and a pig were later found floating in the Pacific
near Newport Beach.
