Mother Up!
| Mother Up! | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre |
Comedy Adult Animation |
| Created by |
Marnie Nir Katherine Torpey |
| Directed by | Steven Evangelatos |
| Starring |
Eva Longoria Jesse Camacho Gabrielle Miller Rebecca Husain Scott McCord |
| Composer(s) | Richard Pell |
| Country of origin |
United States Canada |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Eva Longoria Jacquie Barnbrook Bradley Bernstein Delna Bhesania |
| Producer(s) |
Greg Lawrence Audrey Velichka |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
Broadway Video Breakthrough Entertainment Mass Animation Bardel Entertainment Rogers Media |
| Release | |
| Original network |
City Hulu |
| Original release | November 6, 2013 – February 26, 2014 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Mother Up! is a Canadian animated series starring Eva Longoria, which is streamed on Hulu in the United States and airs on City in Canada. The show chronicles the misguided attempts at parenthood of a disgraced music executive who transitions from the big city to suburbia. After she resigns from her job and her husband leaves her, Rudi Wilson becomes a single mother raising her two children, Apple and Dick, and must learn mothering duties. Longoria stars as the main character and serves as executive producer.
Mother Up! premiered on November 6, 2013[1] with new episodes released on Wednesdays. It made its Canadian television debut on City on January 23, 2014, with new episodes aired on Saturday nights (during its first few weeks it was Thursday nights). The show was developed by Rogers Media and co-produced by Canadian companies Breakthrough Entertainment and Bardel Entertainment, in association with U.S.-based Mass Animation.[2] The show marks Hulu's second foray into animated programming after The Awesomes. It’s pitched as "Family Guy for women".[3]
The Mother Up! theme song, on the Canadian version of the show, was written by Warren Bray & Odario Williams of Grand Analog and Maiko Watson, formerly of Sugar Jones.
Characters
Wilson family
- Rudi Wilson (voiced by Eva Longoria) - The main character, a former music executive whose reputation is almost ruined after a scandal involving shooting kids in Central America with her client 2Bit. She preserves her reputation by transferring all of the blame to her boss, yet at the price of her job and her life in the city. She now has to live as a single suburban mother (as her husband left her with two kids), despite being a terrible one.
- Dick Wilson (voiced by Jesse Camacho) - Rudi's son and quite a loner, and has virtually no friends, with the exclusion of Agnes Chu. He constantly gets bullied by Travis. In episode 1, Rudi throws him a 10th birthday party even though Sarah says Dick and Apple's birthdays aren't for months, so Dick is probably 9 years old during the first season.
- Apple Wilson (voiced by Rebecca Husain) - Rudi's daughter, she is quite imaginative, and often longs for her mother's attention. In episode 6, Rudi says Apple is 5.
- Jeffrey Wilson (voiced by Mark McKinney) - Rudi's former husband and dad of Dick and Apple.
Chu family
- Mrs. Suzi Chu (voiced by Grace Lynn Kung) - One of the series' other antagonists and a friend of Jenny's, she often works her daughter, Agnes, to excessive studying.
- Agnes Chu (voiced by Rebecca Husain) - A girl in the same grade as Dick, but attends a gifted class. She goes to sports camps every summer as her parents want her to be well-rounded. In episode 6 her mother says she is the youngest female Chess Master in the world (though Apple, enhanced by drugs, checkmates her) and Rudi estimates Agnes is 10 years old.
Neighbours
- Sarah (voiced by Gabrielle Miller) - She is Rudi's friend and neighbor, a married mother of one. Sarah is very impressed by Rudi's high-power lifestyle and celebrity friends, and is easily convinced to "pick up the slack" when it comes to Rudi's poor parenting skills. Rudi plainly takes advantage of Sarah's good nature, but she takes the abuse like a trooper, in the name of friendship and for the good of Apple and Dick. In her heart, she admires Rudi's life, and attitude.
- Fergus (voiced by Rebecca Husain) - The son of Sarah (whom she calls Fergie) who is friends with Apple.
- Greg (voiced by Scott McCord) - He is Rudi's friend and other neighbor, a widowed father of one. Greg sees himself as a helpful hand and a potential suitor to Rudi. Like Sarah, he is walked all over by her, yet his eternal optimism fuels their friendship. He likes to do odd jobs for her and the community.
- Joel (voiced by Zachary Bennett) - Greg's stepson, he hates adults, especially his step-dad Greg, perhaps because he misses his real dad. His mother died, so Greg inherited custody of him. Joel is a misanthropic Goth/Emo with extremely violent and anti-social tendencies, in sharp contrast to his easy-going, gregarious step-father. He plays violent video games, but only banned ones, while wearing diapers so he can play for long periods of time.
Faculty
- Principal Moxley (voiced by Helen Taylor) - Head of staff at the school all the kids attend. In episode _, she threatens to call Child Protective Services because Rudi let Apple walk across the tightrope on school grounds, but backs down after Rudi says she will tell the police, the media, and the school's insurance company about the tightrope.
- Nurse Higgins (voiced by Rebecca Husain) - The school's nurse and head of the drama department. She enjoys explaining diagnoses and stories in a theatrical manner, with costumes.
- Miss Belfonte (voiced by Gabrielle Miller) - The teacher of Apple.
- Ernesto - The school janitor that Apple's teacher hits on often.
Others
- Jenny (voiced by Helen Taylor) - Rudi's enemy and one of the series's antagonists. She disapproves of Rudi's parenting, along with Rudi being the only person who ever stood up to her. She has a child who attends the same school as Apple and Dick.
- Travis (voiced by Scott McCord) - A school bully who beats up Dick. The son of one of Jenny's friends.
- 2Bit (voiced by Clé Bennett) - Rudi's former client and rapper, he constantly needs Rudi's help when he needs inspiration or if he's too full of himself, so he visits her often. In order to sign him with Mass Exploitation Records, Rudi went child-hunting with him, which is why she had to move to the suburbs.
Episodes
Season 1 (2013–14)
| No. | Title | Original air date[4][5][6] | |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Canada | ||
| 1 | "Pilot" | November 6, 2013 | January 23, 2014 |
| Rudi and her artist 2Bit are caught in a scandal involving shooting kids in Central America, in an effort to not to be labelled as a monster by the media, she diverts all the criticism to her employer. She is successful, yet at the price of her job, career, husband, and must move to the suburbs in Canada. She soon realizes that she is a terrible mother, in the process meets fellow mom, Sarah, and terrible life coach and stepdad, Greg. In the process of that process, Rudi is embarrassed because Apple can't swim because of a story Rudi told about a kid who falls into a river full of crocodiles, and Dick having an allergy reaction to peanuts, after Rudi gives him some peanut bars in the morning prior to it, and being teased about it by other moms. After being depressed and deciding to sell the kids on eBay, an optimistic Sarah puts the situation in a different perspective, as a chance to one-up the other moms. She eventually throws a party for Dick as a chance to increase her status in the suburban mommy ladder. The party was failing so far, due to some sabotage from Jenny, the top rival mom of Rudi & Sarah, yet 2Bit eventually appears performing a song, seeking Rudi's help as she is the only person who isn't afraid to stand up to her. She is successful and gained her children's temporary love. | |||
| 2 | "Shoe I Am" | November 6, 2013 | January 30, 2014 |
| After men start looking at Jenny instead of Rudi, she fears she's losing her swagger, and the cure is her shoes, which results in attention from the other moms. A jealous Jenny convinces a lonely Dick to contribute to the charity auction at school, he asks an oblivious Rudi if he can donate something to the auction, she allows him. Yet, he auctions her shoes which she cannot replace. While she stresses over her shoes, a desperate Sarah wants to please her husband, while 2Bit wants Rudi's help to write a new song after he loses an award show a few days prior. With Sarah & 2Bit's help, she discovers that her shoes are now owned by poor people, which she can't stand, she soon embarks on an adventure to get every single shoe back. She soon encounters a person who has an unnatural interest in shoes, causing Rudi to make a deal with him in exchange for her shoes. During all of this, Rudi tricks Apple and Dick into believing that a witch is in the hallway, they seek help from Greg, who is also convinced that there is a witch. | |||
| 3 | "Double D Moms" | November 13, 2013 | February 6, 2014 |
| Rudi's laziness takes a new extreme, as she now relies on Sarah to take care of her kids, while Sarah still has to take care of her kid. Once Sarah admits to Rudi that she wishes she could be as loose as her, after looking at how desperate Sarah is, she makes Sarah her new project. Rudi encourages Sarah to take some 'me' time, which she first uses to go to a book club, yet Rudi then encourages her to be more extreme after meeting a drunk mom, they all go on a drunken binge spree with Dick's teacher, and have absurd hijinks. They soon get caught by cops, whom they make friends with, which gives them a free pass from the law. Yet, due to this all being so new to Sarah, she takes it too far, going so far to call Rudi a lightweight. Sarah's son later approaches Rudi as he woke up in a pile of sausages without his mother. Rudi discovers Sarah at the bottom of a Siberian sausage shop, drunk and covered in snake venom, thinking that her son is a bottle of gin. She soon snaps out of her trance, yet has to fight a world-class snake venom fighter. Meanwhile, Dick hangs out with a prison convict after Travis bullying him about the fact that his father left. | |||
| 4 | "The Comforting Hum of a Mother's Love" | November 20, 2013 | February 13, 2014 |
| After accidentally leaving the kids at school, Apple develops an unnatural bond with the vending machine at school, yet Rudi is oblivious to this, also contributing to the fact that Apple is being secretive to Rudi about what she does at recess, after finding out, Rudi steals the vending machine with the help of a desperate stepfather Greg, as a pretense that she was going to take it away because it causes obesity. She puts it in Apple's bed at night, with Apple thinking that "Machine Mommy", as she calls it, has come to live with her. Yet soon, Apple gets too clingy to "Machine Mommy", so Rudi becomes jealous after seeing Greg with Joel, and Sarah with her child. She and Greg put squirrels in the vending machine. Apple views this as "Machine Mommy" telling her to eat healthier. As a last resort, Rudi pretends to be "Machine Mommy" and tells her that she's not cool, Apple goes running back to Rudi, and they both destroy the vending machine together. Meanwhile, a friendless Dick tries to make friends, so he looks it up on the internet and buys a monkey friend. Yet the monkey seems too clingy, as he wants to kill everybody Dick likes except him. | |||
| 5 | "Everybody Sees 2Bits Wang" | December 4, 2013 | February 20, 2014 |
| Rudi discovers that she is broke for the month after her credit card is declined,since she exceeded her limit, when she wants to buy the kids the latest shoes, which hover. She is then taunted by the other moms for being poor, she then discovers that her royalty checks had decreased. Above all that, a naked 2Bit comes to stay with Rudi for a "spiritual journey", yet after she demands rent from 2Bit, he says he can't because he got rid of his money as part of his "spiritual journey". So Rudi sells her blood to buy the kids the newest fads, yet the blood bank will not let her, so she heads to a Drug Testing Facility and takes a drug dose, yet faces temporary blindness, a swelled tongue, growing hair extremely fast, etc.. Meanwhile, the kids continuously face discrimination for not having the latest fads, as Rudi gets them a day too late, while Dick overhears 2Bit's spiritual advisor is a scam artist. | |||
| 6 | "Apple Gets the Pirate Disease" | December 11, 2013 | February 27, 2014 |
| Rudi discovers the Apple has scurvy, due to Rudi not feeding her suitable food, so gives her drugs, so she'll like fruits & vegetables. Yet after an exceptionally smart girl named Agnes Chu wins many awards, so gives Apple all kinds of drugs, to the point where Apple becomes addicted to them, though Rudi refuses to admit it because she wins a lot of awards due to them. When Apple soon becomes hostile and addicted to winning, Rudi has to face the music. Meanwhile, Dick does a report on a chicken, though after the chicken is exploited to the pills intended for Apple, he becomes anthropomorphic, and has Dick do a report on animal rights. | |||
| 7 | "Say Hello to My Landscaper Friend" | January 15, 2014 | March 8, 2014 |
| After Rudi is pressurised by the other mothers in the neighbourhood to clean her yard, yet after failing to do so, she hires an undocumented worker named Salvador who does an extremely good job to the point that she no longer needs Greg to fix things. Greg soon becomes jealous and pretends to be an undocumented worker, whom Rudi hires, yet she prefers Salvador, so instead hires Greg as entertainment. After getting fed up with Salvador, he calls Customs & Immigration to take Salvador, so Rudi decides to marry Salvador as a green card marriage. Greg instead gets mistaken for the undocumented worker, while Salvador wants some love in their marriage. Meanwhile, Dick starts a lemonade stand. | |||
| 8 | "Overnight Delight" | January 22, 2014 | March 15, 2014 |
| Dick thinks he needs to be "the man" of the house because his dad is gone, so Greg suggests that Dick and Joel have a sleepover. Meanwhile, the neighbourhood is mad at Rudi since she never throws sleepovers and they threaten to disinvite Apple from their sleepovers. Rudi, realising the danger of this problem (due to her laziness) decides to throw a sleepover yet is unable to tell the difference between a "girls' night out" and a sleepover. | |||
| 9 | "Mr. Right in the Eye" | January 29, 2014 | March 22, 2014 |
| To avoid concerns that she’s on the prowl, Rudi invents a fake boyfriend. 2Bit provides Rudi with the newest in erotic technology, a sexbot, that turns out to be more than she bargained for. Meanwhile, sparks fly between Dick and his new tutor Agnes Chu. | |||
| 10 | "Apple's Story" | February 5, 2014 | March 29, 2014 |
| Apple becomes depressed because her teacher doesn't like her project and suddenly assumes that she's not good at anything. Rudi decides to help her out and after Apple writes a really good play, Rudi convinces the principal to use Apple's play instead of the current play and make Rudi the director. This causes the current director to become mad. | |||
| 11 | "Invasion of the Hipsters" | February 12, 2014 | April 5, 2014 |
| During her attempt to quit smoking, Rudi invites a group of NYC hipsters to her house to “immerse” themselves in suburbia – while she immerses herself in their second-hand smoke. Dick brings home a new-age class pet and struggles to keep him alive. | |||
| 12 | "The Prophet Apple" | February 17, 2014 | April 12, 2014 |
| Struck by lightning, Apple becomes a miracle child complete with healing powers and followers, which Rudi embraces for all its perks. When Apple’s faithful become overwhelming, Rudi must searches for a way to disperse them. | |||
| 13 | "Rudi Gets Served" | February 26, 2014 | April 19, 2014 |
| When her ex, Jeffrey, arrives with divorce papers in hand, Rudi smells a rat. she discovers that he's trying to marry an elderly heiress—who not only wants Rudi's husband, but her kids as well. The battle is on. | |||
References
- ↑ Berman, Marc (2013-10-30). "Original Programming Options on Hulu".
- ↑ Wild, Diane (2013-01-08). "Mother Up in production for Citytv".
- ↑ Spangler, Todd (2013-04-17). "Hulu Producing Originals Like Midrange Cable Net".
- ↑ "Mother Up! Season 1 episodes". TV Guide. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
- ↑ Blabber, John. "Everybody Sees 2Bits Wang". Bubble Blabber. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
- ↑ "Mother Up!". CityTV. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
External links
- Mother Up! at Hulu
- Mother Up! at the Internet Movie Database
- Mother Up! at Rotten Tomatoes
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