Celebrity Deathmatch is a claymation parody television show that pits celebrities against each other in a wrestling ring, almost always ending in the loser's gruesome death. It is known for its excessive amount of blood used in every match and exaggerated physical injuries (e.g., one person pulls off a participant's foot, living through decapitations, impalements, etc.).
The series was created by Eric Fogel. It aired on MTV from May 14, 1998 to October 20, 2002, and lasted for a 75-episode run. There was one special that did not contribute to the final episode total, entitled Celebrity Deathmatch Hits Germany, which aired on June 21, 2001. Professional wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin gave voice to his animated form as the guest commentator. Early in 2003, a movie was announced by MTV to be in the making, but the project was canceled by the end of that very same year.
In 2005, MTV2 announced the revival of the show as part of their "Sic 'Em Friday" programming block. Originally set to return in November 2005, the premiere was pushed back to June 10, 2006 as part of a new "Sic'emation" block with two other animated shows, Where My Dogs At and The Adventures of Chico and Guapo. The show's fifth season was produced by Cuppa Coffee Studios and the premiere drew over 2.5 million viewers, becoming MTV2's highest rated season premiere ever.
Characters (voice actors)
History
Celebrity Deathmatch started on MTV's Cartoon Sushi as a short that featured serial killer Charles Manson and shock rocker Marilyn Manson fighting to the death. Deathmatch was brought back in 1998 for MTV's Super Bowl XXXII halftime special, which became the highest-rated special in the history of MTV.[citation needed] Just three months later, Celebrity Deathmatch had entered MTV's main lineup. The show was popular enough for show creator Eric Fogel to be named one of the most creative people in the TV industry by Entertainment Weekly.
During the next four seasons, Celebrity Deathmatch became more popular in other countries and gained viewers from all over the world, but four seasons and 75 episodes later in 2002, MTV decided to cancel the show.
Revival
New episodes of the show, which began production in 2005, are being produced by Cuppa Coffee Studio as opposed to MTV's now-defunct animation department. The show now features an all-new voice cast and a new look. Johnny, Nick, and Mills Lane have all returned, though all with new voices. Mills Lane, who used to be played by himself, is now played by Chris Edgerly due to the real Mills Lane's 2002 stroke. Debbie Matenopoulos has been replaced by Tally Wong. Eric Fogel chose not to get very involved with the new seasons due to his involvement on his new show Starveillance for the E! network. The show is currently directed by Jack Fletcher and Dave "Canadian" Thomas.
Clips of the new Celebrity Deathmatch are available at Cuppa Coffee Animation's official web site at Cuppacoffee.com, as well as at MTV2.com.
It can be seen that some of the audience members are celebrities used in the older seasons of Celebrity Deathmatch. In one fight, one can see in the audience Haley Joel Osment from his fight against Macaulay Culkin. Celebrities who were shown in previous episodes include Bono, Bruce Willis , Robert De Niro , James Gandolfini , Charlie Sheen , Demi Moore ,Mary-Kate Olsen , Ashley Olsen , Missy Elliott , Justin Timberlake, Rodney Dangerfield , Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller , Chris Rock, Sean Penn, Ricky Martin, Pamela Anderson, Tommy Lee , Johnny Knoxville, Lil' Kim and Anna Kournikova,Axl Rose,Slash
During the 2006 season, fans were able to vote on MTV2.com for future matches by choosing one of three matches and by sending a write-in request.
Reception
In a clip show episode that aired, Janeane Garofalo was shown to be unhappy with the show when they showed her in claymation-form how she would look if she lost fifty pounds. In the same episode, Tommy Lee expressed his gratitude for the show's portrayal of him and imitated the special move he used to defeat Ron Jeremy.
Criticism
The show was called insensitive when George Taylor, the father of Compton rapper The Game (real name Jayceon Taylor) told Playahata.com in late March 2007 he was not happy with Celebrity Deathmatch showing his son being killed by bullets, especially as George Taylor had previously lost a son in such a fashion.[1]
See also
References
External links
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