Greg the Bunny

The DVD packaging for this series reads, "TV wasn't ready for him. Are you?" Leave it to 20th Century Fox to blame peoples' television sets, rather than actual people, for the failure of Greg the Bunny. This is all part of a thinly veiled attempt to reissue this show as an edgy, cynical cult classic in waiting. What has changed in the world between the summer of 2002 and 2005 that would make viewers more equipped for a tale of puppets and humans interacting behind the scenes of a children's program is beyond me. And yet Fox seems convinced that, if only it is clearly explained to DVD collectors that this updated Greg the Bunny is "uncut, uncensored, and unrelenting," they'll finally realize what they missed in the first place.

Packaging Greg the Bunny as something it was not meant to be (cynical, ironic, hip) was a trend that started well before the show even came to air and may have been the primary reason for the show's lack of success. After writing a series of short films starring his character Greg the Bunny for the Independent Film Channel, Dan Milano was given the opportunity to flesh out his ideas in the form of a half-hour sitcom.

As indicated repeatedly throughout the several DVD commentaries and featurettes included with this set, when it came time to write the series, however, Milano felt pressure to make his highly innocent protagonist more appealing to viewers familiar with The Simpsons and South Park. A potential solution to Greg's relentless furriness and naivete eventually came in the form of Count Blah and Warren Demontague, a pair of puppet creations who would give the series the edge Fox was seeking.

While Count Blah was flashing his pubes during the show's opening song-and-dance number, Warren the thespian ape would be slugging alcohol and painkillers throughout each episode, complaining that a serious actor deserves serious work. In addition, despite being made of cheap felt and buttons, Greg would be given an edgier persona, an attitude in which, despite standing less than a foot tall and being clearly attached to someone's wrist at all times, he was no longer going to take crap from anyone.

As you can probably tell from the brief sketch I've laid out here, Greg the Bunny was a show that never found itself and, as a result, the only thirteen episodes ever shot reveal a group of frustrated writers, puppeteers, and actors, all hoping to make a show that could have been a twenty-first century Muppet Show. Instead, it played itself out as an often confused mix of Fox's perception of a hit and the charm and sweetness that attracted Fox to Dan Milano in the first place.

The various audio commentaries, short films, and featurettes included with this 2-disc set reveal a group of people who obviously feel that a potentially great sitcom idea got away from them. If you watch nothing else on this disc, be sure to check out "Rabbit Redux," the episode in which the well-meaning (and true) nature of the series is revealed during a touching puppet funeral.

In "IFC Presents: Reality," Greg has an existential crisis. This extra feature is one of the films shot before Milano's character was picked up by Fox and it reveals everything that was brilliant and sincere about the Greg the Bunny character before he was written into overly contrived and forced situations. If this set were truly complete, it would include all of the IFC shorts.

While the cancellation of the show was a bitter pill for Milano and the cast to swallow, it is of some consollation that the glimpses of excellence captured throughout the series have been compiled in one place for a relatively low price.

And for those of you who just can't get enough of Corey Feldman...that's right, he guest stars in the episode titled "Jimmy Drives Gil Crazy." I don't keep up with the Emmys but if Feldog didn't win, there just ain't no justice in TV land. -- Jason Woloski