The original Ren & Stimpy Show premiered alongside Rugrats and Doug on children's network Nickelodeon in 1991. The show's creator, John Kricfalusi, had many altercations with the network, eventually culminating in his termination. In 2002, about a decade after Kricfalusi's termination, Viacom contacted him to produce a new version of his series for an updated version of TNN, Spike TV, which was devoted to programming for male audiences. Kricfalusi said that TNN wanted an "extreme" version of The Ren & Stimpy Show. TNN gave Kricfalusi greater control of the writing and contents of the episodes, and he produced six new cartoons aimed at adult audiences. Some of the head storyboard artists, screenwriters, and animators returned from the original Ren and Stimpy series, such as Vincent Waller, Eddie Fitzgerald, and Jim Smith, but most of the animation and writing team were a new team of artists, specifically instructed and headed by Kricfalusi himself. Some of the original voice cast members returned, with the notable exception of Billy West, original voice of Stimpy and voice of Ren and Mr. Horse after Kricfalusi's termination, who turned down the role, as he thought it was a terrible idea and that voicing either Ren or Stimpy in it would damage his career. Eric Bauza was hired to replace West as Stimpy, while Kricfalusi reprised his roles as Ren and Mr. Horse. Cast members Harris Peet and Cheryl Chase also returned, and Kricfalusi's father Mike Kricfalusi and long-time childhood friend Tom Hay provided some voices. All of the episodes were animated at Carbunkle Cartoons, in association with Big Star Productions. Kricfalusi had previously relied upon Carbunkle during the Nickelodeon years, and he subcontracted animation of many original series episodes to that studio. The new series began airing in June 2003 as part of an animation block also featuring Gary the Rat, Stripperella, and digitally remastered episodes of the original Ren and Stimpy series, subtitled "Digitally Remastered Classics". Kricfalusi wrote the first episode, "Onward and Upward", based on requests from fans from the Nickelodeon era. The episode portrayed the characters as bisexual. Advertisers objected to some of the new show's content, particularly that of the risqué episode "Naked Beach Frenzy" which did not air in the show's original run, causing trouble with scheduling. The show stopped airing after three episodes when TNN's animation block was "put on hold". The remaining episodes were set to resume in August 2004 along with the premiere of Spike's new animated seriesImmigrants but both shows were pulled and never aired again. Kricfalusi shut down his Canada studio thereafter following a lawsuit filed by Carbunkle against Spümcø in the Canadian court system. In 2005, he announced that all of the Adult Party Cartoon cartoons that were fully produced were coming to DVD, which was released on July 18, 2006.
Episodes
Broadcast and DVD release
The episode "Man's Best Friend" was originally set to air in the original series' second season, but the episode was rejected by Nickelodeon due to disturbing violence and references to tobacco. The episode did not air on television until 2003. TNN's official episode lineup on their website seemed to suggest that they consider the episode Man's Best Friend a part of the Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" series, but this episode in general is not counted as one of the three episodes from this series that did air in the U.S. The first new episode that aired on TNN was Onward and Upward, and Ren Seeks Help was the second. The episode Fire Dogs 2 was the last episode to air on TNN. The three episodes Naked Beach Frenzy, Altruists, and Stimpy's Pregnant did not originally air on TNN, though they did air on other networks overseas, including Fox in Italy and MTV in Poland. They were also included in the Ren & Stimpy: The Lost Episodes DVD set that was released on July 18, 2006.
Reception
panned the series, writing, "Even with a few bright spots a mostly dismal affair that will sharply divide fans of the series." PopMatters was more favorable, writing: "With snot as side dishes and vomit as gravy, the foulness is overwhelming, yet also clever. Kricfalusi's satire may be obvious, but he's not just making puke jokes for nausea's sake."
