Let's take a moment to appreciate...Home Movies

Anyone who watches Adult Swim on Cartoon Network at least knows of "Home Movies" - but likely hasn't ever really watched it. Chronically misadvertised and overlooked, this little old show has really grown on me since Adult Swim started showing it daily of late.

The show was ahead of its time in 1999 when it was created for UPN. Sure, there were plenty of animated shows for adults, but they all were about adult themes. "Home Movies" was a sweet, simple show of sketchy quality that walked a fine line between children's cartoon, network sitcom and smarmy stand-up. Little surprise then that UPN killed it and it became an original flagship show for Adult Swim in 2001.

The show details the day-to-day life of frazzled and slightly alcoholic single mom Paula through the eyes (and amateur home movies) of her precocious 8-year-old son Brendon. In my opinion, however, it is the secondary characters like the socially-inept Coach McGuirk, smarty pants best friend Melissa and mumbly brain Jason that really bring in the laughs.

The show also has an incredible pedigree that if I had known about it initially, I would have paid more attention. Co-creator Loren Bouchard is the brain behind the similarly-ignored "Dr. Katz". Comedian/musician Brendon Small (in addition to co-creating the show) is head writer and voice of Brendon. There's Paula Poundstone, who writes and voices Paula. Not to mention frequent guest writer and voice Mitch Hedburg (RIP), who is always a favorite random character.

There aren't a ton of episodes and it isn't always easy to find, but I really urge anyone who likes the more traditional adult cartoons of the 1990s (as opposed to the newer high-concept stuff on Adult Swim) should check out "Home Movies". Despite it's annoying animation style (which improves in later episodes), the writing and voices bring about a very good show that didn't get its due.