Lightshow (Series)

Lightshow
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Genre	Animated Sitcom Comedy-Drama Black Comedy
Created by	Andrew Brauer
Directed by	Andrew Brauer
Country of Origin	United States
Original Language	English, Spanish
No. of Seasons	3
No. of Episodes	23
Original Run	December 22nd, 2013 - present

Summary[]

Lightshow is an America animated series created by Andrew Brauer for Dick Figures Fanon that premiered on December 22nd 2013 and was the first official series on Dick Figures Fanon. The show revolves around the lives of six co-workers/friends, Simon, Thomas, Molly, Alice, Michael, and Emma, who work at a Los Angeles Nightclub. Despite their work situation, the six normally goof around and engage in various misadventures across the city normally involving something surreal, supernatural, or personal. Guest characters include Veronica, Chad, Hannah, Mr. Black, and Hopkins.

Premise[]

The series revolves around the daily lives of six 20-something friends Simon, a red stick figure with black shades, Thomas, a dark orange stick figure, Molly, a puffy haired green stick figure, Alice, a long haired dark blue stick figure, Michael, a golf cap wearing purple stick figure, and Emma, who technically doesn't work at the night club but is Simon's younger sister and is a short haired magenta stick figure. 5 out of 6 of them work at a nightclub called Ball Busters which is run by Simon for reason unknown. The main characters largely avoid work during the day (and during the night as well) to engage in random activites for entertainment purposes or to figure something out.

Main Cast[]

Elisha Cuthbert as Alice
Jason Ritter as Thomas
Alison Brie as Molly
Chris Pratt as Michael
Andy Samberg as Simon
Krysten Ritter as Emma

Recurring Cast[]

Jemima Kirke as Veronica
Aubrey Plaza as Sarah
Skylar Astin as Chad
Demian Bichir as Mr. Black
Benedict Cumberbatch as Hopkins

Creation[]

Lightshow was created by Andrew Brauer two months after discovering the online series Dick Figures in October 2013. Andrew decided to learn more about the series searching carelessly on the internet and then found out about Wikia in late November 2013. He became fascintedd by the Dick Figures wikia and learned that Dick Figures has drawn thousands of others to become fans and after signing up for wikia he stumbled upon the Dick Figures Fanon wikia which is where all the creative super fans join to express their devotion to the series and create their own stories, characters, and anything else. Shortly after signing up, Andrew came up with ideas and characters for his own series based around his interest in television comedy. For two weeks, Andrew spent his time writing characters and his own series of some kind, first as a live action comedy to create in the future, but then decided to use them in animated form and write the screenplays for each episode on Dick Figures Fanon wikia.

Andrew explained that "I decided using my characters in stick figure form would represent how these characters can have as much personality if in human form" and that a hidden message for the series can be "you can see these stick figures and assume them as simple designs, but have more character than you would imagine" Andrew has largely worked on the series by himself, though he has written the season 2 episode 8 "Ex Marks The Spot" with writer Panda-warrior1995.

Andrew's influences for Lightshow are Friends, Dick Figures, Girls, You're The Worst, Regular Show, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, How I Met Your Mother, and Gravity Falls. Andrew also states that his main six characters are also partially influenced by his personality and how diverse he can be, where he can a jerk (Simon), determined (Thomas), insane (Molly), kind (Alice), nerdy (Michael), and fun loving (Emma) which shows with his protagonists.

Writing[]

Writing an episode for the series takes around 3 days to 2 weeks to finish as Andrew explains that "the longer it takes, the more clear and presentable it will be" as he wants to make sure each episode has it's continuity and focuses on a central story for the season while using simple fun side stories that have some relation to the main story. This shows in season 2 where several stories were going on for the whole season, yet he still puts in fun stories to keep the audience engaged without shoving it in their face.

The series is rated TV-MA for Adult Content and Adult Language, some episodes also include Nudity, Strong Sexual Content, and Violence, as Andrew wanted to make a series that wasn't just inappropriate because of shock content, but for a more grounded and realistic view of an animated comedy series. He wanted the mature content to be more Girls and less South Park, as it would be too over the top to take serious but not too grounded that it would bore mainstream audiences. The series also includes frequent drug and alcohol use often to show the positives and negatives of usage, especially in season 3, and not make these actions fun and easy for jokes all the time.

The show includes influences from television sitcoms plots, such as getting beer for the nightclub, visiting a strip club, moving furniture, and dating, but often times Lightshow focuses on mature topics such as addiction, abuse, relationship issues, death, and terrorism as central storyliness. The show also includes references to modern day pop culture topics of various celebrities, movies, television shows, and social trends.

Music[]

The soundtrack for each season largely consists of modern day licensed songs of various genres of Dubstep, Electro House, Trap, Hip Hop, Synthpop, and Electronic Rock as Andrew wanted to get an undergorund LA sound and make it sound like you would be with these characters when they're working at night tending to customers. The opening theme song played is Overtime by Cash Cash for about thirty seconds, with the series often having licensed music by Steve Aoki, Cash Cash, Borgore, Iggy Azalea, Diplo and others.

Critical Reception[]

Upon release, Lightshow recieved positive reviews from readers, often commenting on the surreal humor and surprisingly dramticc turns it takes, readers also complimented on the cast of characters and of their impressive chemistry.

Episodes[]

Season One

Season Two

Season Three

So...
Where is This Going?
Drunk Cake
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