the Oblongs… is an American animated television program aimed at teenagers and adults. It was created by Angus Oblong and produced by Jobsite Productions and Mohawk Productions, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television and is loosely based on a series of characters that Oblong introduced in a picture-book entitled Creepy Susie and 13 Other Tragic Tales for Troubled Children. The theme song for the show was composed and performed by They Might Be Giants.

The show focuses on the antics of a family who live in a poor valley community who, as a result of extreme pollution and radiation exposure, are all severely disabled and deformed, either physically or mentally. The pollution is the direct result of the lavish lifestyle of a rich community known as "The Hills," the residents of which continue to exploit and harm the valley residents with absolutely no regard for their safety or well being.

It premiered on April 1, 2001 on The WB, but it failed to find an audience. On May 20, 2001, The WB aired "Disfigured Debbie," the second episode produced, as the season finale, leaving five of the episodes unaired. A fan of the series who was writing an episode guide at TV Tome informed creator Angus Oblong of the show's cancellation and rallied fans of the series to petition and encourage the network to renew the show. Ultimately, the petition was unsuccessful.^{[citation needed]} Later that same year, Canada's Teletoon network began airing the series. Quickly, a large fanbase began to bloom. In August 2002, the series found a home on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim evening program schedule, where it received high ratings due to many American fans discovering the series for the first time. When shown in Australia on free to air television in 2003, the show was pulled in the middle of the first episode^{[verification needed]} (but was later shown in a late night/early morning timeslot). In 2005, the show began airing on TBS and was released on DVD.

• Robert Oblong… (voice: Will Ferrell), the father, was born without any arms or legs and works at a poison factory called Globocide. He can drive vehicles like any other person and is an accomplished pianist. Very chipper and his disposition being very sunny, he is seen as being modeled after various fathers from 1950s shows, complete with pipe.

• Pickles Oblong… (voice: Jean Smart) is the chain smoking, alcoholic mother who was originally a Hill resident but moved to the valley after meeting Bob. All her hair has since fallen out, and she is now regarded as an outcast by her former Hill friends. While not bitter about losing her former privileged life (in her words: "I found a bar next to a wig shop"), she often expresses disdain towards her self-centered neighbors in the Hills. Pickles also is turned on by Bob's simple, albeit at times awkward, wisdom.

• Chip and Biff Oblong… (voices: Randy and Jason Sklar) are 17 year old conjoined twins who are attached at the waist and share a middle leg. Biff is a hard worker obsessed with sports, while Chip is more laid back. It is sometimes implied that Biff is gay, though other times the two are seen lusting after girls together. Biff and Chip each occasionally go into trances to give the other brother privacy (as seen in the episode "Get Off My Back"). Biff and Chip have different hair colors, suggesting that they are not genetically identical, though this is impossible for conjoined twins; this inconsistency can be seen as either another one of the quirks of the Hill Valley populace, or that one of the twins colors and styles his hair differently from the other.

• Milo Francis Oblong… (voice: Pamela Segall Adlon), the middle child and youngest son, is afflicted with numerous mental and social conditions, including everything from attention deficit disorder to diabetes. He's also on every medication "from ritalin to Rogaine," having only one hair in the center of his head. He is based on a character that appears in Creepy Susie. He wears a shirt that says "NO." At most times, he is the main protagonist of the series.

• Beth Oblong… (voice: Jeannie Elias) is the youngest child and only daughter, who has a warty, elongated tumor growing out of her head. Despite her tumor, she appears to be more well adjusted than the rest of her family. She has a doll (which is actually a bondage whip with a doll's head, dress, and arms attached so the whip looks like a ponytail) named Slowie. Her birthday is on June 7th.

• Grammy Oblong…, Bob's vegetative mother, resides in a motorized wheelchair and never speaks, although she will frequently fart.

• Lucky Oblong…, the family cat who constantly smokes cigarettes.

• Scottie Oblong… is Milo's narcoleptic dog, a result of perfume used on him during his tenure as a test animal at Globocide. Scottie was based on the short story "Narcoleptic Scottie" in Creepy Susie.

• Helga Phugly (voice: Lea DeLaria) is a morbidly obese, toad-like little girl. She lives in a fantasy world, always insisting that she is pretty and popular and that "the Debbies'" actually like her. At times she seems to have a crush on Milo which leads to her kidnapping him one time. It was also implied in the episode "Get Off My Back" that she had a crush on Chip, which made her throw herself at him at an attempt to kiss him. Chip moved out of the way and she wound up kissing Milo, much to her horror and disgust. Helga used to live at home by herself and feeds on wedding cakes. She appeared in Creepy Susie.

• Creepy Susie (voice: Jeannie Elias) is a Goth girl who speaks with a French accent and appears to float instead of walk, as her legs are never shown. She loves death: she is always talking about it, the worst ways to die, what happens while being killed and often claims that she has killed people. She's very moody and has a problem with pyromania. She appeared/started as the lead in Creepy Susie. Her feet are shown only once: on the cover of Creepy Susie. The book also notes that she hovers six inches off the ground.

• Peggy Weggy (voice: Becky Thyre) is a one-breasted girl of about 13 who lacks the lower half of her head, causing her to spit and talk with a lisp. Despite being the most deformed of the group, Peggy is incredibly cheerful and upbeat, and dreams of such high and mighty goals as being president or marrying a handsome doctor. When their school has a parents' night, it's shown that she has two fathers, who are normal looking men with no obvious deformities. She is a Jawless nerd.

• Mikey Butts (voice: Jeannie Elias) is a boy saddled with a dangling, doubled posterior. Standard underwear will not fit him, so he wears his grandmother's old bra like backwards suspenders. He is also known to habitually probe his nose and ears with his finger. Because of his larger deformed posterior, he takes jokes about the area more literally especially since they come true soon after.

• George Klimer (voice: Billy West) is Bob's rich, snobby boss. He represents the power and arrogance of the people of the Hills. He is very condescending to his employees, especially Bob and James. He is husband to Pristine and father of Jared and Deborah "Debbie" Klimer. Their last name is pronounced like "climber", as in rock climber.

• Pristine Klimer (voice: Becky Thyre) is the wife of George and mother to Jared and Debbie. Pristine was friends with Pickles before she married Bob. Now Pristine spends her days mocking her former friend for being an alcoholic and bald.

• Jared Klimer (voice: Pamela Segall Adlon) is the annoying, arrogant, and not-so-bright bully son of George and Pristine and brother to Debbie. He likes to taunt The Clubhouse Kids, along with his equally conceited and snobbish best friend Blaine (voice: Billy West). He calls Milo "Obdong". According to the episode, "Get Off My Back", it is rumored that Jared and Blaine are involved in a homosexual relationship, as Milo says to the two bullies, "Everyone says you two have sex with each other."

• The Debbies (voices: Becky Thyre, Pamela Segall Adlon in some episodes) are a popular clique of girls. All of them look perfectly identical, and all are named Debbie. One is the Klimers' daughter; another is the daughter of the mayor. They are usually seen in groups of four, though at times there seem to be as many as eleven. They appeared in Creepy Susie. They are an obvious parody of the Heathers.

• Yvette (Deceased) (voice: Michelle Ruff) An additional member of the Debbies. The only one who does not carry the same name. She is also an extraterrestrial and was masquerading as a human. She took an interest in Milo in the pilot episode, though only to experiment on his brain. When it appeared that Milo had been killed, she was forced to self-destruct.

• Anita Bidet (voice: Billy West) is the owner of the bar where Pickles hangs out, The Rusty Bucket. Her name is a play on the phrase "I need a bidet." It is implied that she is a pre-op transsexual woman, and though it is made obvious to viewers, none of the characters in the show seem to realize. James once fell in love with her. In one episode, when Pickles is reminiscing about her first meeting with her husband on the beach, there is a scene where the two first meet and a red-headed man comes running over to pick up a Frisbee, with the same voice as Anita, implying that this was Anita in the past (When Pickles asks her if she has a brother, her response is "Uh, yeah sure, why not?").

• Principal Davis (voice: Debra Wilson) is the school principal who confuses Milo's dad for a CPR dummy due to his height.

• Nurse Rench (voice: Laraine Newman) is the school nurse. She is described by Peggy as "a godless butcher without a shred of legitimate medical training". She has a scary operating contraption in place of her right arm. She also has four breasts, arranged in a pattern that resembles a cows udder.

• James (voice: Billy West) is Bob's hunchbacked co-worker. He is a people-pleaser and lacks self-esteem.

• Mayor Johnny "The Mayor" Bledsoe (voice: Billy West) is the town's mayor and a masked pro wrestler, an obvious parody of pro wrestlers-turned-elected officials, such as Jesse Ventura. He is corrupt, as is the rest of the town, and his daughter is a Debbie.

• Mr. Leland Bergstein (voice: Billy West) is the kids' homeroom teacher, who seems weak and is easily cowed by the Debbies and the rich members of the town. He seems to be the only nice man living in The Hills.

• Sheriff Pepper (voice: Maurice LaMarche) is Hill Valley's inept, corrupt law enforcer.

• Homeless Bill (voice: Billy West) is Hill Valley's resident street urchin.

• The Girl with a Beak (voice: Becky Thyre) is an aptly-named, bird-like classmate of The Clubhouse Kids. She often is spurned by the kids despite their own maladies.

• Mrs. Hubbard (voice: Laraine Newman) is the town's Bible-thumping, gun-toting, conservative, racist old biddy.

• The Coach (voice: Will Ferrell) is Biff and Chip's school coach, with whom Biff has an unhealthy obsession. He also teaches the Sex Ed and Driving Instruction classes, though he seems to confuse the two. He keeps a penis in formaldehyde.

• Dr. Hofschneider (voice: Billy West) is the Oblongs' condescending and uninterested doctor.

• Verdelle Diver (voice: Lea DeLaria) is the regional coordinator of The Li'l' Amazons, a Girl Scouts-like troop. She, as well as the organization in general, is implied to be a lesbian (hence her last name, referring to "muff diver"), and she hits on Pickles frequently during Pickles' court-ordered tenure as Beth's den mother.

• Tommy Vinegar (voice: Maurice LaMarche) is a spoof of Tommy Hilfiger and is Pickles's ex-boyfriend.

• Velva, the Warrior is The Oblongs' version of Xena, whom young Beth adores. Her name is a pun on "vulva", and her show has heavy lesbian/anti-male overtones, not to mention blatant advertising of Velva merchandise and numerous genital references. Her sidekick is named Majora, she has a horse named Fallopious, and a pet bird named Placentor.

• Dusty (voice: Becky Thyre) is Bob's one-time co-worker, and a lifeguard.

• Official website
• The Oblongs… at TV.com
• The Oblongs... at IMDb
• Adult Swim's site for The Oblongs…

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