If you watch modern cartoons, chances are at least one of then was animated by the studio Titmouse — they get a lot of work these days. Metalocalypse, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Scavengers Reign, Big Mouth, The Legend of Vox Machina, and the new episodes of Beavis and Butt-Head were all supervised by Titmouse. You know it was them when you spot their logo amidst the vanity cards at the end: a solitary titmouse going “chirp” in a human voice.
During the company’s 25th anniversary panel at SXSW yesterday, Titmouse unexpectedly announced their own streaming service. Kind of. Churp is not exactly that, it’s more of a half-baked source of original content combined with a loot box company — more of a Titmouse fan club. As I’m implying, it’s hard to describe.
Those who join Churp will receive one package in the mail every month containing Titmouse company merch: “bespoke apparel, collectible items and paraphernalia featuring iconic and original cartoon characters designed by Titmouse artists,” they say. There will also be a code in the box, which members can enter into a private website to watch an exclusive Titmouse cartoon that won’t be available anywhere else.
Titmouse has four cartoons at the ready, the biggest and most expensive being Bruddies, a “bloodbath action-comedy about two best friends” starring the voices of Melissa McCarthy, Brooke Shields, Elizabeth Banks, Joel McHale, Octavia Spencer and George Takei. The series was created by Ben Falcone (Tammy, God’s Favorite Idiot), Steve Mallory (Thunder Force, Superintelligence) and Chris Henchy (husband of Brooke Shields).
Some of the other toons you’ll find on Churp will include The Mitch Owl Show, about “a bright-eyed Hollywood hopeful [who] learns the horror of working directly for an A-list celebrity,” A Million Dollar Idea, about “the story of the world’s biggest entrepreneur, who happens to live in his car,” and How Can It Be a Do?, a “pitch-perfect parody of early 2000s industrial cable network documentary series.” Mitch Owl is from Tommy Blacha, creator of Metalocalypse, while A Million Dollar Idea was created by Sam L. Kim, an Emmy-award winning writer from The Colbert Report.
You might have noticed an increase in the visibility of indie animation in recent months. The Amazing Digital Circus is huge and the animatic “I Really Don’t Want To Be A Magical Girl” went viral. This is partly due to the conglomerates slacking off and producing less shows on their own — people still want to stan cartoons, and they’ve gotta focus on something. I believe if someone were to launch an independent streaming service devoted to original animation, it could really take off right now.
So it pains me to see something like Churp, which is ALMOST that, come very close but then whiff it. The fact that Titmouse won’t let anyone see even a screenshot of these allegedly brilliant cartoons before buying a subscription is not a good thing, and the fact that you can’t gain access to them without buying a box of junk you may not want hinders the venture further.
It’s a shame, because Titmouse has the resources and connections to make this happen….they just don’t seem to be clear on how. Churp is not live yet but plans to launch later this year.
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