Squidbillies

Early Cuyler

Squidbillies is a series on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim about a family of hillbilly squids and was created by the same team behind Aqua Teen Hunger Force and The Brak Show.

The history of the series is rocky at best. Originally, the pilot was to air on November 7, 2004 with the full series coming out several months later. However, after several weeks of promoting and advertising Squidbillies, Adult Swim aired a pilot episode of Perfect Hair Forever, an anime parody also in development, followed by an unusual talk show about Perfect Hair Forever featuring Meatwad, from Aqua Teen, Sharko, from Sealab 2021, and Early Cuyler with Space Ghost moderating.

Initially, the overwhelming majority of viewers thought that Squidbillies didn't exist and that Adult Swim was pulling an elaborate prank on its audience, even though footage of the pilot was shown at the 2004 San Diego Comicon and DragonCon. It was later revealed that the script for the pilot episode had been rewritten several times, and the animated product was eventually scrapped weeks before the advertised airdate, and pilot was replaced by the pilot for an Adult Swim series called "Perfect Hair Forever". The newly retooled pilot was aired in pieces on April 1, 2005, in a secret sneak preview. The official first episode finally aired on October 16, 2005.

Currently, the show has over 132 episodes, with over thirteenth seasons, and the last episode recently ended on December 12, 2021. You can check out every episode on the episode guide.

The series is also available on a streaming service called HBO Max since September 2020.

Background

Although Squidbillies is mostly episodic, the show does have a substantial back-story:

Millions of years ago, the Atlantic Ocean flooded North America. During this great flood the waters reached all the way to the Ohio Valley. Over time, the water subsided to form the geography we have today, and within that geography, deep in the North Georgia mountains, were stranded a little family of squids. The Squidbillies, as they are known today, are led by patriarch Early Cuyler and live in a world full of fighting, feuding, and fornicating. Squidbillies!

In the first episode, Early attempts a sexual encounter with Krystal, a large, fat caucasian woman that lives in town. In exchange for sex, Krystal forces Early to procure for her a Walkman, which he does by robbing a convenience store. When Krystal later wants cassettes, he repeats the offense, gets arrested, and serves the next fifteen years in prison. While Early does time, Krystal does time, too: 9 months worth, to be exact. It turns out that Krystal was pregnant with Russell "Rusty" Cuyler, Early's son and heir. But Krystal, unready for motherhood, leaves Rusty at the door of Lil Cuyler, Early's "party 'til you vomit" sister. Lil raises him for the next fifteen years until an unfortunate raid at her house uncovers the family meth lab. Who knew a squid could be so scientific! Anyway, Rusty becomes a ward of the state of Georgia.

After running away, Rusty coincidentally finds his father in a chain gang of prisoners. The Sheriff takes pity on them and releases Early to take care of his son. Now free, Early eventually finds employment as a corporate scapegoat for the local evil corporation, "Dan Halen Sheetrock International" who just happen to be growing clones of the Sheriff in a local field. The cloned sheriff subplot serving as a way to switch voice actors for the part.

Other issues that the family face are their overt racism against white people, whom they refer to as "chalkeys", Early's alliances with Krystal aside, their need to home school Rusty, and even run-ins with celebrities.

Cultural References

Squidbillies often has cultural references to pop culture in numerous episodes, such as other Adult Swim programs such as Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge, and The Brak Show. These references may also include animated version of real world people, including real-world bands, and celebrities, most notably; Shawn Coleman, Unknown Hinson himself, .38 Special, and Osama Bin Laden. Television shows, movies, videogames, fictional characters, and other real-world topics are brought up in the show such as the South, racism, immigration, the confederate flag and the confederacy, the 9/11 attacks, and the terroist group Al-Qaeda. The show also includes real-life properties such as the band "Kiss", the football teams Georgia Bulldogs, the Florida Gators, including the university of Sheetrock and Auburn, which Early has a hatred for the latter.

Renewed

• The series was renewed for a second season of fourteen episodes, which began airing September 17, 2006.
• The series was renewed for a third season of twenty episodes, which began airing January 20, 2008.
• The series was renewed for a fourth season, which began airing on May 16, 2009.
• The series was renewed for a fifth season, which began airing on May 16, 2010.
• The series was renewed for a sixth season, which began airing on September 11, 2011.
• The series was renewed for a seventh season, which began airing on July 22, 2012.
• The series was renewed for a eighth season, which began airing on August 11, 2013.
• The series was renewed for a ninth season, which began airing on September 21, 2014.
• The series was renewed for a tenth season, which began airing on July 10, 2016.
• The series was renewed for a eleventh season, which began airing on October 15, 2017.
• The series was renewed for a twelfth season, which began airing on August 11, 2019.
• In 2019, the show was renewed for a thirteenth and final season, which began airing on November 7, 2021, However, due to Early's voice actor "Unknown Hinson" being unfairly targeted and fired from the show for his political beliefs. The replacement for Early’s voice is Tracy Morgan.
• In 2021, every episode of the thirteenth and final season aired on Sunday nights on Adult Swim.