'Beavis and Butt-head' Return to MTV

In the early 1990s MTV introduced "Liquid Television" which was the network's first foray into the world of animation. It consisted of a variety of short animated pieces from various animators. Some were spun off into successful shows, such as the cult hit "Aeon Flux." However one of those shorts managed to be turned into a full blown phenomenon, resulting in a TV shows that lasted for 200 episodes, a feature length movie and permanent pop culture recognition. That short was "Frog Baseball," and the characters who starred in it were "Beavis and Butt-head."

Though the pair of ill mannered, moronic and heavy metal obsessed high schoolers haven't been on the air in their own show for seven years they have been popping up from time to time. Creator, writer, director and voice actor Mike Judge would often make small clips of the pair to be used as introductions at animation festivals or on other TV shows. Now MTV has officially announced that Beavis and Butt-head will return to MTV in a new half hour format TV show. This news is not totally out of the blue, as Judge had indicated as far back as July of 2010 that he was outlining at least 30 new episodes. However at that time MTV had not committed to putting the show back on the air so Judge was working on his own, though he was optimistic about the project and that clearly has paid off.

When Judge, who also created the hit show "King of the Hill," was first talking about the new episodes over the summer he indicated that this would be effectively be a renewal of the series as it existed, not a re-imagining. The animation style will remain the same and in addition to their own antics Beavis and Butt-head will still spend a section of the show mocking music videos. Of course that was some time ago and it is possible for this to have changed, though it's doubtful Judge would have gone through with it if he didn't have a good amount of creative control. If the show does retain the music video mockery it will be an interesting look back for MTV, as almost none of the shows on the network have anything to do with music or music videos anymore. Back in the 1990s the duo were usually mocking metal and grunge bands, but with those genres having severely declined it's an open question whether or not they will make fun of more pop style artists.

Speaking of pop artists a twisted bit of irony had most people finding out about relaunch of the show from a tweet by Justin Bieber. The teen sensation tweeted "Played hoops and just went to the MTV Upfronts...BEAVIS and BUTTHEAD are coming back!!!" to indicate his excitement at the announcement. Bieber himself wasn't even born when the show first began airing and the nature of the show rather clashes with his wholesome image, so his apparent joy was rather unexpected. However hopefully it will also bode well for the show, because while there are doubtless many old fans who will tune in the show has to reach the newer younger audiences as well if it hopes to be a success.

While it was extremely controversial at the time the rude and occasionally violent antics of "Beavis and Butt-head" seem almost tame now in the wake of shows like "South Park" and "Family Guy." Then again this was a show that didn't really deal too heavily in shock, though it was shocking to many at the time that a cartoon could be so clearly not for kids. Mostly the humor of the show came more from just how stupid the two lead characters were rather than from some attempt to shock or surprise the viewer. Often in fact the punchline of jokes could be seen coming very clearly but something about Judge's voice work and sense of comic timing made it work regardless. A specific air date for the show has not yet been announced, though MTV has indicated it will be in the summer.