Tom Goes to the Mayor

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Tom Goes to the Mayor
Format Animated Sitcom, Satire
Created by Tim Heidecker
Eric Wareheim
Starring Tim Heidecker
Eric Wareheim
Stephanie Courtney
Craig Anton
Ron Lynch
Bob Odenkirk
Michael Q. Schmidt
Country of origin USA
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 30
Production
Running time 11 minutes, 30 seconds
Broadcast
Original channel Adult Swim
Original run November 14, 2004 – September 25, 2006
Chronology
Followed by Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Tom Goes to the Mayor is an American animated television series on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Created by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, the show premiered on November 14, 2004 and ended on September 25, 2006, after two seasons and 30 episodes. Adult Swim has described this as "one of the most polarizing shows" they have ever had, indicating that viewers "either love it or hate it".[1][2][3]

Tom Goes to the Mayor started off as a web cartoon on timanderic.com. It was popular enough to get a web sequel, in which David Cross guest stars. Bob Odenkirk noticed the show's potential, and began producing it for Adult Swim. The basic plot of the show centers around Tom Peters, a new citizen to the town of Jefferton who is "full of ideas", and the Mayor who always tweaks Tom's ideas and causes them to backfire.

The show features a crude yet distinctive animation style which is made by taking photos of the cast with different expressions. The photos are filtered using the 'photocopy' filter in Adobe Photoshop, so that they are made up of only blue and white, resembling mimeographs. There are some live action scenes, usually on a television within the show.[4]

On August 21, 2006, at 12:30, Tom Goes to the Mayor was broadcast as scheduled. Adult Swim then answered a fan letter requesting a marathon of the show by actually showing numerous episodes instead of the normal scheduled programming, as if on a whim.

Creators Tim and Eric recently announced in Chicago that this series will be out-of-production for the foreseeable future so that they may concentrate on their new series, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! However, the Tom Goes to the Mayor DVD set is marketed as "The Complete Series" which may indicate that there will be no more episodes. Production ended in September 2006 with 30 episodes.

Many characters, segments, and content from Tom Goes to the Mayor have been recycled for Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, including the Channel 5 Married News Team, Uncle Muscles Hour, Gibbons, and even a live action version of Tom Goes to the Mayor used as an opening for the episode "Pepperoni".

Contents

[edit] Cast

Tom (right) and the Mayor

Tom is a 32-year-old entrepreneur. Despite the mutilations and failures of his ideas by the moronic Mayor, Tom retains an accepting, mellow attitude to it all, never becoming too enthusiastic or overwhelmed. He is often taunted by his stepchildren (whom his wife Joy had in a previous marriage), not to mention the beratings he receives from Joy, who is depicted as obese and angry. Tom has no apparent job (besides "local entrepreneur") and drives a Maluch that has severe emission problems. A common running gag on the show is that despite Tom's name being very simple, it is nearly always misspelled when written out, such as "Tom Petres", "Thom P. Tiers" and "Taumpy Tearrs".

The Mayor is a friendly yet foolish and childish man who often spends his working days watching the TV in his office. He often uses a condescending tone when speaking to Tom. He usually gains control of Tom's suggestions for the community and twists them into embarrassing situations. According to the Adult Swim website, he has served Jefferton for the past twelve years, due to family connections, low voter turnout, and a strange local law which gives the mayor thirteen-year terms of office. The Mayor is married and has three sons, though so far they are only seen in the episode "Puddin's". Also from that episode, it is revealed that the Mayor and his family apparently worship Zeus.

[edit] Premise

Tom Goes to the Mayor episodes are often formulaic; Tom has an idea, and someone—usually the Mayor—manages to twist it into something terrible (or at least something non-beneficial). This is not to say that Tom's ideas are good; some of his ideas are portrayed as being better than they really are, such as his "Rats Off To Ya" T-shirts. But, whether Tom's ideas are good or bad, his mere association with them dooms them to failure. Usually this failure is assisted by the Mayor, who often adds unwelcome dimensions to Tom's ideas or hi-jacks them completely. Often, external forces derail his plans, and he is left "holding the bag" after disaster occurs. And, without fail, even when other characters could help Tom, none do so.

Most episodes end in such a way as to make them impossible to work into any sort of true timeline. Tom is often left in situations which would land him in jail or otherwise destroy his life; at least one episode ended with the destruction of Jefferton in a massive flood and the presumed deaths of everyone in town except Tom ("Bassfest"), and another episode ended with Tom's assisted suicide and descent into Hell ("Spray a Carpet or Rug"). In many ways it is hinted that each episode is totally separate, and that they happen at roughly the same time. However, some characters (Gibbons, Michael Ian Black, etc.) appear in several episodes, with some degree of continuity.

The Mayor almost never seems to know who Tom is when he brings an idea to his front desk, though it's not known if this is a memory dysfunction or a hint at the show's unique timeline. The chronology of the episode in which Tom picks his father up from the Jefferton airport ("the Layover"), however, hints at the mayor's "memory loss" being more a function of Tom's tragic insignificance, a theme mirrored in the formula of the show.

Even when Tom succeeds at something, such as his role as matchmaker during "Toodleday", his efforts are still portrayed as failures. This is the essence of Tom Goes to the Mayor: the bad luck of Tom and his work in a crazy world.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Tom Goes to the Mayor episodes

[edit] DVD releases

Season Releases

DVD Name Release Date Ep # Additional Information
The Complete Series April 3, 2007 30 This three disc boxset contains all 30 episodes from the show's first and second seasons. Bonus features include Commentary on every episode, Making of featurette, Married News, Deleted Scenes, Music Jukebox, Deleted Art Slideshow.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Tom Goes to the Mayor granted second season." MSNBC. 2006-05-31.
  2. ^ TV.com
  3. ^ TVSquad.com
  4. ^ Tom Goes to the Mayor The Complete Series (2007)

[edit] External links

Sister project Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Tom Goes to the Mayor
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