Glenn Martin, D.D.S. on Nick-at-Nite
Michael Eisner Talks about His New Project
At the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, the folks from Nickelodeon discussed their newest animated family series.
Cyma Zarghami, President of Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group explained about the show, “Glenn Martin is about a modern family whose father is afraid that the family is drifting apart from each other. He comes up with the idea of taking them on a cross-country trip to bring them closer together in an RV, of course. And in an RV, lots of misadventures will ensue. We at Nickelodeon have done tons of research, and lately, we have been hearing from our audience a lot about how parents and kids are wanting to spend more time together, and one of the things we are definitely doing together is watching more TV.”
The show is created by a unique way of animation and the feel of the story is a mixture of the family sitcom Family Ties and the National Lampoon Vacation movies.
“The main cast includes a beleaguered dentist father, Glenn,” said Zarghami, “his earnest yet slightly cynical wife Jackie, hormone-addled son Conor, power-suit-wearing daughter Courtney, and her subservient assistant Wendy.”
Michael Eisner Comes to Nickelodeon for this Project
The show is the brainchild of former head of Disney/ABC Michael Eisner, who explained, “It's about a family. It's about the strength of the family. It's obviously irreverent and hopefully not irrelevant, funny, but it's a family that needs each other and learns through experience. It's contemporary.”
Eisner went on to say that he likes the stop animation and puppet style animation.
“We did not want this show to look like/feel like any other show in television. We want it to be original and unique. And there are a series of very successful, particularly on Fox, animated shows which are two-dimensional animation. They are completely different. I don't want to date myself too much and go back to The Jetsons and some of the first animated shows ever on primetime television, which were on ABC.”
Those shows had laugh tracks and this show utilizes laugh tracks as well. “In my mind these are real people on the stage acting out a half-hour comedy, and there is an audience. It just felt right. And the more we played it with that, the more people liked it and it was kind of like, ‘okay, let's go with it,’” confided Eisner.
“It is a in the genre of a family show or the family movies about traveling and I made a few of them. The first year, the movie of the week, we made a thing called In Search for America. There have been a lot of them. Like, Chevy Chase has done it and Albert Brooks has done it. And this is quite sophisticated. It is very funny. It is maybe the most adult half hour that Nickelodeon has done.”
Michael Eisner has a good track record and if his past is any indication, this show will be a success.
Glenn Martin, D.D.S. airs Monday nights on Nick-at-Nite.
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