"President Curtis" News & Discussion Thead

[Corwin Haught]

The Rick and Morty character President Andre Curtis is getting his own series from Dan Harmon and James Siciliano. The logline:

President Curtis follows the Commander-in-Chief and his eccentric staff as they tackle the kind of crises that Rick Sanchez could never be bothered with – from interdimensional diplomacy to paranormal investigations and unexplained phenomena.

‘Rick & Morty’ Lands A Presidential Spinoff At Adult Swim

Keith David, who voices the President of the USA in Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty, is getting his own spinoff.

deadline.com

 

[harry580]

wow, so this is going to be like American dad

 

[wonderfly]

From the front page of AnimeSuperhero.com:

"Rick And Morty Spinoff ‘President Curtis’ Revealed"​

"Adult Swim dropped one massive surprise on their audience during their SDCC panel today: a Rick And Morty spinoff is in development starring Rick’s frequent nemesis, the President of the United States. In Rick’s universe (at least the one he chooses to live in) that’s Andre Curtis, a no-nonsense African-American who doesn’t hesitate to use his vast resources to rein Rick’s destructive behavior in somewhat.

What does Curtis do when Rick isn’t around? The spinoff will answer that question. He and his assistants handle all kinds of sci-fi calamities involving aliens, paranormal phenomena and other unexplained occurrences — yes, they admit the X-Files similarity here, except the government is more of a help than a hindrance since Curtis IS the government.

In other words, the show deals with “the kind of crises that Rick Sanchez could never be bothered with.” Dan Harmon, who is involved with both shows, told the SDCC audience, “It’s the level of sci-fi that would only be boring to Rick.” Which might be a problem? It’s nearly impossible to get more hardcore sci-fi than Rick And Morty. What if President Curtis is seen as blander in comparison?"

Read the full article here.

 

[Yojimbo]

Wouldn't have expected that to happen but sounds interesting. Obviously he has to be dealing with tons of stuff between appearances in the main show.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

You know it's funny; I have actually been really enjoying season 8 and consider it if not the best season (will have to wait to see how the finale goes) one of the best with like maybe only season 6 being better because I'm again that contrarian who doesn't think Rick and Morty's best seasons are the first two. And one of the reasons I was actually jokingly going to say was "this is the first where it seems like President Curtis doesn't appear at all since 4" but if that is the case it's because now he's being saved with his own series. Which I do get if you are going to do a Rick and Morty spinoff; he's the guy whose been around the most who you can have more as his own thing not involving Rick or the Smith family that much. However after "Air Force Wong" I pretty much pointed out I was DONE with this character because he just annoyed me with his attitude and actions and like never fully suffering the consequences to really change. And I did like him at first but that was when he was more friendly to Rick; I think the writers having him more as an antagonist or rival to challenge Rick gave them a lot of joke material but not only did a lot of it I not find funny but just made him kind of an obnoxious jerkhole to follow. And yeah Rick's a jerk but like Rick DOES his own thing and doesn't claim to be a ruler or someone elected to try and do best for a certain group. Curtis is and constantly kept abusing his power over and over and that can get rather old after awhile. Plus unlike Rick or even Evil Morty he's not making his own genius tech or crafting the items he's even abusing he's ordering other people to do it and that's a lot harder to justify in my mind

So you'd think I would be totally not down with a spinoff just starring the guy but honestly when you ARE put in that spotlight and have to actually be the main focus it does tend to ground and force you to change some if you still want to tell actual stories. Like you can't have Curtis turning himself into a turkey or going on Star Wars rant or licking hive minds just to get his approval ratings up now; he's the one who is going to have be more reactionary and actually deal with things and that can lead to better comedy and a more interesting character. Especially since it will be nice having another Keith David Role where he is the main star in a series. Plus seems like they are building him a beter support staff since yeah in his episodes the advisors were rather generic but you can't do that in like a full on show so they do seem like they are going to try bulking that up so I'm more optomistic about it. Then again I was also more positive on the idea of a Rick and Morty anime and that totally sucked so let's see if this is better. if not either stop it with the spinoffs or again, Bushworld Adventures. Just saying Michael Cusack is only working on Smiling Friends now with YOLO gone he could focus on another show too.

 

[harry580]

I wonder this is going to be one of those spin offs of rick and Morty that didn't worked well like the anime spin off

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

Thinking about it I don't think there's any chance it will be AS bad as The Anime. Why? Because whatever is happening with President Curtis we at least known Dan Harmon and likely a team more associated with the regular R&M writers are working on it. Unlike the Anime which was worked on by Takashi Sano who I don't think actually got R&M and put his own very weird honestly uber pretentious fanficy vibe over it. That wouldn't happen here.

 

[DeanBurrito25]

Any reason for Keith David to keep voice acting is a good reason on its own.

 

[Nobodyman]

Yeah, no thanks. Rick and Morty alone is enough for me.

 

[Yojimbo]

Yeah, it will hard to top the Rick and Morty energy but if it's any consolation it's technically not their first direct spin-off as they did those Vindicator prequel shorts. Should be interesting how they're doing the spin off tonally. Will it be in the same vein of Rick and Morty or a totally different genre West Wing or is it just Veep-esque set in the R&M canon etc.

 

[RedTail]

If this keeps Curtis siloed off from R&M, then it's worth it. He started out as a pretty good character, but has ended up in a lot of really mid-to-poor episodes in recent years. The semen episode, in particular, was a pretty big low point for the show, imo...

 

[RoyalRubble]

Official trailer released-

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

If this keeps Curtis siloed off from R&M, then it's worth it. He started out as a pretty good character, but has ended up in a lot of really mid-to-poor episodes in recent years. The semen episode, in particular, was a pretty big low point for the show, imo...

I mean Curtis is technically responsible for Naruto... those who haven't seen "Rickdependence Spray" or it's "sequel" won't get that but that's just too funny a thing out of context.

Official trailer released-

I mean even as someone who hasn't seen Inside Job, this trailer certainly isn't beating the "here's kind of that show but starring the Rick and Morty president." I'm sure Banks and O'Doyle will have more meat to their characters in the series but as the other leads they aren't making much of an impression here but eh even like Morty needed a couple actual eps to feel out his character. And some of the jokes are funny mostly Curtis's great voice and calling that little kid at the end Billie Jean and again so long as he does have to suffer the consequences of his actions now that he's the lead he'll certainly be more tolerable then he's been on the show lately. The action does look fast paced and honestly since this is dealing with characters who don't have access to like Rick's tech how they play off the fight scenes will be different so we'll see how well that lands.

You can tell AS is trying to bank on this as this is literally airing right after R&M season 9 ends like "oh you want more Rick and Morty action without having to wait for season 10? Well we got this for you right now" and with Smiling Friends ended there is no super big 2020's top tier AS hit. Common Side Effects and Ha Ha You Clowns have fans sure but they aren't defining AS really at this point. Could this? ... Also probably not but again anyone's race who is still in that game now.

 

[Yojimbo]

Official trailer released-

Not bad. Lot of good zingers and threats. Looks better with each trailer. Smart to premiere it as R&M season 9 ends and ride on its ratings hopefully vs. airing it later this year or next year.

 

[Conttactt]

If this keeps Curtis siloed off from R&M, then it's worth it. He started out as a pretty good character, but has ended up in a lot of really mid-to-poor episodes in recent years. The semen episode, in particular, was a pretty big low point for the show, imo...

I mean, I don’t think it’s fair to lay all the blame for that episode on Curtis. That’s generally considered on of the worst episodes in the entire series, and it really was a boiling point for Harmon’s obsession with incest.

The one perk of that episode is it’s the closest possible thing to Morty/Summer incest that they can get away with on TV. Kinda feels like it was something they allowed to placate Harmon, with the agreement they wouldn’t do any further incest plots.

Personally, I like his dynamic with Rick, and I’m skeptical if he can carry his own plot lines without Rick to bounce off of. We will see.

You can tell AS is trying to bank on this as this is literally airing right after R&M season 9 ends like "oh you want more Rick and Morty action without having to wait for season 10? Well we got this for you right now" and with Smiling Friends ended there is no super big 2020's top tier AS hit. Common Side Effects and Ha Ha You Clowns have fans sure but they aren't defining AS really at this point. Could this? ... Also probably not but again anyone's race who is still in that game now.

Spinoffs are notoriously difficult to make successful. Running this immediately after R&M is the smartest play because you already have an audience who is in the habit of tuning in at 11pm. Dropping it later in the year risks people forgetting about it or not being in the mood.

The short trailer that’s been airing on cable so far, you know the one, gun baby gun baby baby and a gun baby, was a VERY bad and annoying first impression. This trailer is really what they should have been leading with.

I have moderate optimism for this, but I still feel like it will be R&M’s Cleveland Show, where it does just good enough to keep existing, but is eventually cancelled, Curtis returns to R&M, and Rick cracks jokes about his spinoff flopping.

 

[Yojimbo]

Interview with Dan Harmon & James Siciliano.