A wacky, surreal series about a schnook who takes his ideas to the Mayor and the Mayor usually screws them up royally.
Tom (Tim Heidecker) is a normal (well….) citizen of Jefferton. He’s a bit of a sad sack but he has ideas as how to finally earn some money. He brings these ideas to the buffoonish Mayor (Eric Wareheim) who then takes them and blows them out of proportion or completely screws them up (which usually means that Tom is completely screwed). Tim and Eric had produced two of these type of episodes for their website which were seen by Bob Odenkirk (of Mr. Show fame) and he got the show onto Adult Swim on Cartoon Network.
Disc 1:
Disc 2:
Disc 3:
The show doesn’t seem to have many in-betweeners, you either love it or you hate it. I happened to like the surreal, twisted nature of the show. It’s done in a odd animation style which has the participants (and guest stars) photographed, drained of all color but a blue pencil outline, and animated in a interesting way (the images change from frame to frame).
The Odenkirk connection got lots of good guest stars to make contributions to the show and fellow Mr. Show alum David Cross also makes an appearance (he was a guest star on one of the original Toms). It appears that the show is not going to be coming back to Adult Swim (fans were in hope for another season) since this three disc set is labeled the complete series.
The show is presented in fullscreen as they were originally shown on television. Special features are rather numerous and spread across the three discs. Every episode features a commentary by Tim and Eric. Word of warning: all of the special features are done in the surreal nature of the show – you’ve been warned if you’re a Tom hater. Disc 1 features the 21 minute documentary “That’s Amazing!: How did they make that show?” which features Tim and Eric working behind the scenes.
“The Night of 1000 Stars: Celebrity Sessions” runs 11 minutes and has the celebrity guests in the recording booth. “A Look Behind” runs 11 minutes and features behind the scenes footage but also has an optional commentary. The disc is finished out with the two original Toms, Tom Goes to the Mayor (2002, 4 minutes) and Tom Goes to the Mayor Returns (2003, 6 minutes). Disc 2 features 7 deleted scenes and a jukebox with 18 songs from the show.
There’s also the 9 minute “Here’s the Scoop: Married News Outtakes” and the 6 minute “Bob Zone: A Tribute to Bob Odenkirk” that shows Bob in action as various characters. Disc 3 features the 24 minute “Boiling Point!: Behind the Scenes Season Two” in which Eric and Tim have a falling out, but Tim is contractually obligated to continue voicing Tom, and Tim ends up being Bob’s gopher. A very funny fictional bit of “documentary.” Finally there are 6 promos for Adult Swim and the show and a 7 minute slideshow of artwork from the show.
Fans of the show will consider this set manna from Jefferton, but if you’re turned off by absurdist comedy that you might not give it a spin. This is the whole enchilada since it appears that Tim and Eric have moved on to another show, so get it while it’s hot.
I liked the show and will rate it rather highly, but you might want to check out an episode before shelling out the money for the set (although the great extras could make up for the outlay).
Tom Goes to the Mayor - The Complete Series is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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