Ugly Americans is an American animated television series

Cartoon series

A cartoon series is a set of regularly presented animated television programs with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same characters and a basic theme...

 created by Devin Clark and developed by David M. Stern

David M. Stern

David M. Stern is an American television screenwriter. Among his first work in television was writing episodes of The Wonder Years in the late 1980s. He then proceeded to write several episodes of The Simpsons in the 1990s. In 2010, he developed the animated television series Ugly Americans...

. The program focuses on the life of Mark Lilly, a social worker employed by the Department of Integration, in an alternate reality version of New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 inhabited by monsters and other creatures. Daniel Powell serves as executive producer and Aaron Augenblick

Aaron Augenblick

Aaron Augenblick is a cartoon animator from the United States of America currently involved, among other things, in "Ugly Americans", a series on Comedy Central.-Biography:...

 is supervising producer and animation director.

Ugly Americans premiered on March 17, 2010 on Comedy Central

Comedy Central

Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....

. The series is based on a webseries by Devin Clark entitled 5 On with Alan Whiter, which was later developed by former The Simpsons

The Simpsons

The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

writer David M. Stern. It was picked for seven episodes in May 2009 and renewed for an additional seven episodes to air in October 2010. The show's second season premiered on June 30, 2011. The cast includes Matt Oberg as Mark Lilly, Kurt Metzger as Mark's zombie roommate Randall Skeffington, Natasha Leggero

Natasha Leggero

Natasha Leggero is an American actress and stand-up comic from Rockford, Illinois.-Biography:Leggero began performing at age 10, in several Chicago plays. After graduating from high school, she moved to New York City to study at the Stella Adler Conservatory. While there, she also attended Hunter...

 as Callie Maggotbone, Mark's demon boss and "office fling," Randy Pearlstein as wizard Leonard Powers, Michael-Leon Wooley

Michael-Leon Wooley

Michael-Leon Wooley is an American television, film and theatre actor and singer. Wooley lends his voice to Louis the Alligator in Disney's Oscar nominated animated feature film, The Princess and the Frog. Wooley has also done a small role in Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV.- Early life :Wooley was...

 as Twayne Boneraper, a demonic bureaucrat, and Larry Murphy

Larry Murphy (actor)

Lawrence Murphy Jr. is an American actor, voice actor, and comedian based in New York City.-Life and career:...

 as Frank Grimes, a law-enforcement officer.

The series features a stark, flat visual style which Variety

Variety (magazine)

Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

Brian Lowry noted "vaguely resembles the EC Comics

EC Comics

Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...

 of the 1950s (think Vault of Horror)...."

Cast and characters

Main

• Mark Lilly (Voiced by Matt Oberg) - A social worker at New York's Department of Integration, and a newcomer to Manhattan. While attending college, Mark was a brother of the Zeta Psi Fraternity. In the pilot, he had recently moved into his first apartment, a two-bedroom he found on Craigslist
  Craigslist
  Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums....
  
  . His roommate became a flesh-eating zombie
  Zombie
  Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
  
   in an ill-conceived attempt to pick up women. Despite the frustrations of his job, where his boss Twayne Boneraper downsized Social Services to two people in the pilot in order to shift funding to Law Enforcement, Mark maintains a positive attitude. He has an on-and-off relationship (sometimes within the same day) with his immediate superior, a moody succubus
  Succubus
  In folklore traced back to medieval legend, a succubus is a female demon appearing in dreams who takes the form of a human woman in order to seduce men, usually through sexual intercourse. The male counterpart is the incubus...
  
   named Callie Maggotbone. Despite his attitude towards his life, he is dedicated to his job and the people he looks after, coming into conflict with the anti-immigrant Frank Grimes during the course of his attempts to help immigrants in need. However, due to the fact he is still completely undereducated about the different species that inhabit New York, he will often cause mistakes that would be the central point of the episode. He is missing some of his toes because Randall ate them. Mark also has an unhealthy obsession with eggs, and likes Ferris wheel
  Ferris wheel
  A Ferris wheel is a nonbuilding structure consisting of a rotating upright wheel with passenger cars attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, the cars are kept upright, usually by gravity.Some of the largest and most modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on...
  
  s, and on regular occasions has stated his intention to name his children Ethan and Desiree.

• Randall Skeffington (Voiced by Kurt Metzger) - Mark's roommate, who became a zombie in an attempt to win over a cute girl with a zombie fixation, only to find out she had moved on to warlocks. Now, the unemployed and undead Randall spends his days doing odd jobs to pay the rent. Randall hails from South Jersey, a fiercely anti-zombie community, so he has been forced to hide his condition from his parents (especially his father, who fought in the Human-Zombie Civil War). Due to his zombie nature, Randall is frequently losing body parts to decay, forcing him to find replacements at local flea markets. Like other zombies, Randall finds the smell and taste of human flesh appealing. In "Treegasm", Randall's penis
  Penis
  The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
  
   was shown to be a living creature in its own right. He has admitted that he has been living his sexual life so long that he is indiscriminate in choosing sexual partners, in one instance a toaster
  Toaster
  The toaster is typically a small electric kitchen appliance designed to toast multiple types of bread products. A typical modern two-slice toaster draws anywhere between 600 and 1200 W and makes toast in 1 to 3 minutes...
  
  . He sometimes gets cravings for flesh, causing him to go temporarily insane with desire, and is in a program similar to Alcoholics Anonymous
  Alcoholics Anonymous
  Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
  
   to deal with his cravings (mentioned in "An American Werewolf in America"). He has rarely missed an opportunity to consume Mark's body parts when it appeared he had been killed or otherwise didn't need them. In "Blob Gets Job", he mentions to Mark that he only has two working taste buds. He also has a bad habit of using Mark's things without permission.

• Callie Maggotbone (Voiced by Natasha Leggero
  Natasha Leggero
  Natasha Leggero is an American actress and stand-up comic from Rockford, Illinois.-Biography:Leggero began performing at age 10, in several Chicago plays. After graduating from high school, she moved to New York City to study at the Stella Adler Conservatory. While there, she also attended Hunter...
  
  ) - Mark's immediate superior, and his on-again/off-again girlfriend. In between romantic interludes with Mark, she berates him for being so caring and sensitive, although she loves it when he talks about how violent and malicious she is. She is the half human/half succubus daughter of the Devil and a human mother who was drugged by a cult and forced to bear his child, although this was retconned in the episode "Callie and her Sister" as a marriage of convenience: Her father got out of an arranged marriage to Twayne's mother and her mother got to have the child she always wanted. Callie is frequently marginalized with her demon side, and displays drastic mood swings
  Mood Swings
  Mood Swings is an album by Koby Israelite released in 2005 on Tzadik.- Track listing :# "Dror Ikra" - 3:03# "Return of the Idiots" - 2:19# "It Is Not a War Here" - 7:05# "Ethnometalogy" - 5:08# "Europa?" - 2:49# "Hiriya On My Mind" - 4:53...
  
   and physio gnomic morphing between her demonic and more human appearances. Although she is drawn to Mark because he is nice, she feels in her heart that she will inevitably end up with someone like Twayne Boneraper, despite being repulsed by the idea, although she seems indifferent to the fact that such a union would bring about the end of humanity. She dislikes her father, seeming to be more turned on to Mark after believing her father hated him but has shown to deeply care about her mother, going to her to seek advice. Being a female demon, her body goes through a process called Painful Mortal Shedding, in which the toxins in her body cause her to shed her skin for a new one, during which she become increasingly deranged where the only thing that can numb the pain is sex. In earlier episodes she is shown to be overly possessive of Mark, and can shape shift. Unlike all pure demons, Callie has a soul, though she can remove it at will, although doing this seems to make her a full demon since when she does remove it, she changes into a large demonic beast. According to Mark's calendar, her period is three weeks long. Due to her demon side, she gets aroused by the sight of physical injury.

• Leonard Powers (Voiced by Randy Pearlstein) - A wizard
  Magician (fantasy)
  A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...
  
   whose path has led him to a desk job at New York's Department of Integration. This suits Leonard just fine, as his primary goals in life are to drink heavily and not rock the boat. He hasn't done any real work in over three years, usually just literally throwing his case files out of a window, relying on Mark and his union, The Wizard's Guild, to cover for him. Leonard bears much resentment to his older but younger-looking brother, the famous magician Christ Angel (a parody of Criss Angel
  Criss Angel
  Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos , better known by the stage name Criss Angel, is an American illusionist, writer, director, musician, and actor...
  
  ), due to Christ's abuse of Leonard during their childhood. Leonard has a soft spot for Mark, although this may be because Mark covers for him so much. Despite this he appears to have a vast array of knowledge when it comes to the different types of beings that live in New York, as he often explains the importance of something Mark finds pointless or odd, and seems fairly competent at spell-casting, when he bothers to actually focus on it. In one day he became a tuna canner in Alaska, addicted to spray paint, and gained a lot of weight, and was worshiped as a god in Dà Nang, Vietnam
  Apocalypse Now
  Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
  
  , claiming he really needed structure to function properly. In the episode "Kong of Queens", Leonard mentions to Mark that he currently lives at the YMCA
  YMCA
  The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
  
  , though in "Kill, Mark... Kill!", it is shown that he lives in an apartment in a townhouse.

• Twayne Boneraper (Voiced by Michael-Leon Wooley
  Michael-Leon Wooley
  Michael-Leon Wooley is an American television, film and theatre actor and singer. Wooley lends his voice to Louis the Alligator in Disney's Oscar nominated animated feature film, The Princess and the Frog. Wooley has also done a small role in Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV.- Early life :Wooley was...
  
  ) - A demonic, mid-level government bureaucrat who oversees New York's Department of Integration. Twayne loathes Mark's case files and would rather vaporize them than help them, but cannot, because infiltrating the U.S. government appears to be part of some larger demonic plan. Nonetheless, he despises Social Services and their compassionate ways, so in the pilot, he slashes the department down to just Leonard and Mark, the only two he could not get rid of, Leonard due to his union and Mark due to filling the "token caring guy" position, in order to allocate most of its funds to law enforcement. Despite his imposing appearance, Twayne often relies on Callie to make sure the department runs properly. Mark has referred to him as a "total douche nozzle". He also suffers from a severe case of Glossophobia
  Glossophobia
  Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking. The word glossophobia comes from the Greek glōssa, meaning tongue, and φόβος phobos, fear or dread...
  
   and shows signs of being a Momma's Boy, as seen in "Hell for the Holidays". Whenever he is under great stress he thinks of ponies, often repeating the word "ponies" aloud to make himself happy. He is also treated with little respect from the other demons, as they often look annoyed when he joins them. Twayne comes from a very well known and prestigious family and is very rich, although he doesn't seem to know how much he has, as when asked how he could afford to write Leonard a check for 1 Billion dollars, he asked "How much is 12 zeroes?". Like most demons, he bleeds white snakes. Twayne's birthday is March 08, 1941 making him aged 70 as of 2011. He is often shown to be a child at heart, like when he and a little girl went to a fair and became BFF's.

• Francis "Frank" Grimes (Voiced by Larry Murphy
  Larry Murphy (actor)
  Lawrence Murphy Jr. is an American actor, voice actor, and comedian based in New York City.-Life and career:...
  
  ) - The head of Department of Integration's Law Enforcement Division, and like Twayne, has utter disdain for non-humans. Preferring to think of them all as "illegal
  Illegal immigration
  Illegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...
  
  ", he hunts down those who have strayed from the proper bureaucratic procedures that provide a path to U.S. Citizenship—at which point Mark must step in to help. Grimes' encounters with unruly creatures have left him with a lifetime's worth of both physical scars, such as his missing kneecap, and emotional ones, as that stemming from his broken marriage. Thus, he naturally detests Mark and anyone else who sympathizes with the immigrants. Grimes commands a small but well-funded goon squad that operates out of the D.O.I.'s "force floor". He has a daughter who in the first season, became a vampire and got married. His relationship with his wife is complex, given that after 15 births (all daughters) Grimes's wife left him and married "The Count." He likes to collect model trains and also moonlights as a hospital security guard and contract hit-man. He is also shown to be attracted to older women
  Gerontophilia
  The term gerontophilia refers to the sexual preference for the elderly. The word is originated from Greek: Geron, which means "old man" and philie, which means "love"...
  
   in "Better Off Undead". In the second season finally "Mummy Dearest" it is revealed that his mother is a Mummy
  Mummy
  A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
  
   and that he is Egyptian. Frank has powers of some sort as he is able to perform a ritual to summon Anubis to get rid of his mother.

Recurring

• Great Brain (voiced by Randy Pearlstein) – A living brain from Canada
  Canada
  Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
  
  . He works as a counter-top sponge, and is usually the first to voice his opinion. He and his wife have a complicated relationship and enjoy playing mind games on others, which is aided by their telekinetic and telepathic powers.
• Doug – A very timid giant koala
  Koala
  The koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae....
  
   that lives as a human. He never talks, has no genitalia, and is usually seen in the background. He is usually mistreated by others, or in the wrong place at the wrong time. He almost always is seen weeping, whether frightened, overjoyed, or otherwise emotional. It is indicated in "The Manbirds" that Doug has a tendency to wander off. A still drawing in the end credits of the episode "Kong of Queen" portray him firing a rifle in a 1930s zoot suit and hat. The scene resembles Saddam Hussein firing his rifle into the air during a military parade in December 2001. Turns out that photo was actually foreshadowing that "Doug" is none other than a dangerous former assassin, who abandoned his work after he was apparently responsible for a massacre in Bolivia
  Bolivia
  Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
  
  , in which many women and children perished. Consumed by guilt, Doug moved to the U.S. under a new alias and tried starting his life anew. He still feels very guilty about the aforementioned incident and it is hinted his gentle and timid nature is a direct result of the past trauma. However, he still retains most of his assassin skills (especially when provoked.) His dream is to stab things.
• Aldermach Maggotbone (voiced by Larry Murphy) – Callie's father and the highest ranking demon in Hell. He shows signs of having mysophobia
  Mysophobia
  Mysophobia is a term used to describe a pathological fear of contamination and germs. Someone who has such a fear is referred to as a mysophobe. The term was introduced by Dr. William Alexander Hammond in 1879 when describing a case of obsessive-compulsive disorder exhibited in repeatedly washing...
  
  , and wishes that Callie had been born a boy. Rather than being specifically Satan himself, "The Devil" seems to be a title that's passed onto a next candidate, like positions in royalty or government, and one that he'd like to pass down to Callie. It is possible that he is acting as a host for Satan by letting a snake with multiple mouths live inside him. He is an avid fan of the perpetually snake bitten New York Mets, possibly a play on the old expression, "God is a Yankee fan" and is seen frequently in New York Jets attire and cheering for them on television. His real name is Aldermach Maggotbone (his name most likely based on Adramelech
  Adramelech
  Adramelech, also called Adrammelech, Adramelek or Adar-malik, was a form of sun god. The centre of his worship was the town of Sepharvaim. According to the cult was brought by the Sepharvite colonists into Samaria: "the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech,...
  
  ).
• Rosie (voiced by Julie Klausner) – Callie's human mom, separated from Callie's father the Devil. Though it's originally claimed that she was impregnated with Callie when in a cult, she actually sold her soul to Aldermach shortly after they first met so that she could have a baby. However she truly loves her daughter, claiming Callie was the best thing to come from the union. Rosie's relationship with Aldermach is shown to be strained most of the time with one episode reveling they argue almost constantly, but her relationship with Mark is much better. Her character appears to be modeled after Rosemary Woodhouse from the movie Rosemary's Baby
  Rosemary's Baby
  Rosemary's Baby is a 1967 best-selling horror novel by Ira Levin, his second published book. Major elements of the story were inspired by the publicity surrounding the Church of Satan of Anton LaVey which had been founded in 1966.-Plot summary:...
  
  as the story of Callie's conception is similar to the story in the movie and the character looks like Mia Farrow who played Rosemary in the movie.
• Croatian Man (voiced by Devin Clark) – A man from Croatia
  Croatia
  Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
  
  . Works in a hospital as a candy striper, but dreams of becoming the President of the United States
  President of the United States
  The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
  
  . Mark once described him as a sociopath.
• Martin – A two headed worm creature. Works in a coffee shop. Oddly for their species, they see themselves as equals, where the right is normally viewed as higher class while the left is treated as a slave. They're possibly in love with each other.
• Erik (voiced by Randy Pearlstein) – A robot made with senses and emotions, though more often than not has a cynical viewpoint. He is able to read punch card
  Punch card
  A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
  
  s, but is annoyed that everyone assumes he can. His dream is to be a human.
• Kristal – The girl Randall turned zombie for. She is constantly having attractions towards different monsters and was already out of her zombie phase when Randall got back to her after going zombie. However Randall continues to stalk her, having problems admitting the relationship is over, let alone that it even started.
• Buddha – A walking, talking Buddha.
• Medusa – A woman with snakes for hair.
• Kid Wizard (voiced by Devin Clark) – A kid wizard (Kizard) resembling Harry Potter
  Harry Potter
  Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
  
  . Has appeared on Top Wizard. He is often portrayed as a jerk and giving people the finger.
• Toby – A man with the head of a fish. Reproduces by fertilizing a pile of eggs. Likes to point out negative or depressing facts.
• Ratso Demon – A nod to Dustin Hoffman's character Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo from Midnight Cowboy
  Midnight Cowboy
  Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and newcomer Jon Voight in the title role. Notable smaller roles are filled by Sylvia Miles, John...
  
  , this demon wears a trench coat, has a five o'clock shadow and slicks his hair back. Ends every sentence with "ova heah".
• Amoeba – An amoeba that reproduces asexually, yet still manages to get laid frequently.
• Girl Anchor – A news anchor that reports on New York. Always seen smiling even when saying horrible things.
• Grimes' Goon Squad – Shown doing all of Grimes dirty deeds when he is not around. Loyal to Grimes, but not afraid to leave him behind if it means their lives, just as Grimes would them.
• Mark's Mom – Seen to have slept with Clark Dungaree. Mark has dreamed about her in crotchless panties.
• Melchior (voiced by Randy Pearlstein) - Leonard's hologram. Originally used by Leonard as a means to communicate with Mark when he is away, or to perform menial tasks for Leonard, but took on a life and personality of his own in "Kill, Mark... Kill".

Species

The Ugly Americans universe features many different species besides human

Human

Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...

s, including zombie

Zombie

Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...

s, demon

Demon

call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...

s, wizard

Magician (fantasy)

A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...

s, koala people, land whale

Whale

Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...

s, two-headed worm

Worm

The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...

 people, robot

Robot

A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...

s, gorgon

Gorgon

In Greek mythology, the Gorgon was a terrifying female creature. The name derives from the Greek word gorgós, which means "dreadful." While descriptions of Gorgons vary across Greek literature, the term commonly refers to any of three sisters who had hair of living, venomous snakes, and a...

s, werewolves

Werewolf

A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...

, vampire

Vampire

Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...

s, man-birds, treetures, troll

Troll

A troll is a supernatural being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In origin, the term troll was a generally negative synonym for a jötunn , a being in Norse mythology...

s, yeti

Yeti

The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology...

s, chicken

Chicken

The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...

 people, cyclops

Cyclops

A cyclops , in Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, was a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of his forehead...

es, squid

Squid

Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...

s, walking lizard

Lizard

Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...

s, mermaid

Mermaid

A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...

s, lagoon creatures

Gill-man

The Creature, sometimes referred to less ambiguously as the Gill-man, is the titular character of the 1954 black-and-white science fiction film Creature from the Black Lagoon and its two sequels Revenge of the Creature and The Creature Walks Among Us . Ricou Browning portrays the underwater...

, pig people, genies, clones, unicorns, squid creatures, angler people, fly people, angels, leprachauns, living plants, floating brains and more. Some of these creatures appear only briefly in episodes, often only as background characters.

Episodes

The first episode premiered on March 17, 2010, following the 14th season premiere of South Park

South Park

South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...

, "Sexual Healing

Sexual Healing (South Park)

"Sexual Healing" is the fourteenth season premiere of the American animated television series South Park, and the 196th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on March 17, 2010, and on Comedy Central UK on March 19, 2010. The title of the episode...

". It was watched by over 2 million viewers. On April 21, 2010 Comedy Central announced that they had ordered 7 additional episodes of Ugly Americans, to begin airing in October 2010. On December 15th, Comedy Central announced that they picked up the show for another 14-episode season.

Season One

Pre-production is handled at Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

-based Augenblick Studios

Augenblick Studios

Augenblick Studios is an independent animation studio located in New York City. Founded in 1999 by Aaron Augenblick, their team of artists has created a wide array of animated shorts for television, film, and the Internet. Clients include the Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, Spike Lee, PBS, MTV,...

, and then the animation, which is produced in Flash, is handled at Cuppa Coffee Studio

Cuppa Coffee Studio

Cuppa Coffee Studio is a Canadian animation studio in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; it was founded by Adam Shaheen and Bruce Alcock in December 1990...

 in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

. Sound Design and Mixing is done at Great City Productions in New York City.

Critical reception

Ugly Americans holds a Metascore

Metacritic

Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 of 61, gaining positive reviews from the likes of Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

and The Washington Post

The Washington Post

The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

. Variety

Variety (magazine)

Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

Brian Lowry called it "more a triumph of design and concept than execution" and added, "Not everything works, but with its bountiful supply of visual gags, Americans is just goofy enough to be good." Alex Zalben of "UGO Networks", commending its mix of slapstick

Slapstick

Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...

 and intelligent humor, as well as actually building relatable characters, says the show "is easily the best animated show on Comedy Central since South Park

South Park

South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...

." David Hinckley of the New York Daily News stated, "If Ugly Americans comes with a message, it is at least equally determined to just be funny, and at that task, it frequently succeeds. The variety of odd creatures keep the visual gags going, and the dialogue runs steadily toward droll."

Largely due to its visual gags and morbid, offbeat humor, the series has also gained negative reception from publications such as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also known simply as the "PG," is the largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.-Early history:...

and the Deseret News. Kris King of Slant Magazine

Slant Magazine

Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...

gave Ugly Americans a 50/100 rating and claimed, "The show's dry humor, mixed with a rather troubling visual style where everything is stiff and vaguely deformed, mostly just makes you feel uneasy." IGN

IGN

IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

's Ramsey Isler also gave the pilot episode a 5/10, stating, "The show struggles to find some kind of funny. . . The whole thing feels more like a film student project that just didn't quite work out."