Greg the Bunny

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. Although in this show, they were treated as a racial minority (who prefer to be called by the politically correct term "fabricated Americans"), sometimes struggling against second-class citizenship. ==Characters==

Humans • Gilbert "Gil" Bender (played by Eugene Levy) – The overwhelmed TV producer and director of Sweetknuckle Junction and the father of Jimmy Bender. He expects Jimmy to succeed in his life. • Jimmy Bender (played by Seth Green) – The human roommate of Greg the Bunny and the son of Gil Bender. He was a former swimming pool technician before he started working with his father where he hooked Greg up for a part on Sweetknuckle Junction. • 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. Its failure was largely ascribed to the showrunner and networks' seeming cluelessness as to the direction they wanted the show to take. The network promoted Greg the Bunny as a puppet show for adults, but within the show itself, they insisted on toning down its edgier aspects. The creators felt these changes caused the show to lose something, and gave it much more of a traditional sitcom feel. The showrunner and the network also wanted to focus the show more on the human cast, while the creators maintained that the puppets were the heart of the show. Despite these problems, the series acquired a significant cult following, and was eventually released on DVD in 2004. In August 2005, the series returned to IFC, in a series of short segments, spoofing both old and new films, including Annie Hall, ''Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Fargo, Blue Velvet, Easy Rider and Pulp Fiction''. The cast for these segments primarily features puppets Greg and Warren Demontague, with appearances from Count Blah, new character Pal Friendlies, and returning character The Wumpus. However, Tardy the Turtle and Susan were unable to appear, as they belong to FOX. ==Reception==

Greg the Bunny received mixed reviews. For Entertainment Weekly, Ken Tucker graded the show with a C− and criticized the writing and character development: "Every actor's skills are squandered on stereotypes." 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. In 2004, Sitcoms Online rated the complete series DVD 4.5 out of five stars. ==Episodes==

The episodes appear in production code order on the DVD release. Unaired pilot Series (2002–2004) IFC shorts (2005) Greg the Bunny returned as a series of 12-minute shorts that aired on IFC, starting in August 2005. IFC shorts (2006) ==Home media==

The original "Greg the Bunny: The Complete Series" DVD was released October 19, 2004. 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==