CircleCity

CircleCity™ is an American adult animated comedy-drama series created by Dab-mcgee for Comedy Central. Set in a reality where humans exist coinciding with living shapes, the show follows the exploits of circle Lloyd Donovan (Nolan North), a young adult hopelessly unprepared for the long life ahead of him and desperately seeking a purpose in his life. With his family cutting all contact with him, the only people Lloyd can rely on are his exceedingly optimistic roommate Benny (Rob Paulsen), whose crime family consistently gets in the way of Lloyd's life, and a cast of recurring characters, whose presence also rarely benefit him. The show ran for four seasons on Comedy Central before being abruptly canceled in 2004 due to budget concerns and issues with staff. Generally regarded as a cult classic over the years following, the show was later given new life on Vision, who revived the show in 2012. The series has been both praised and proven itself controversial for its portrayal of the human experience, purpose and identity, depression, politics and real world issues

Premise
Having just graduated college, 22 year-old Lloyd Donovan (Nolan North) is completely unprepared for the new life ahead of him. Somehow majoring in absolutely nothing and having no goals or aspirations, he quickly finds himself in a rut when his family decides to cut off all contact with him. With nowhere else to turn, Lloyd finds himself under the care of the middle-aged Benny (Rob Paulsen), whose optimistic and positive qualities greatly clash with Lloyd's pessimism and confusion about life. Together, the duo must survive relationships, crime, politics, casual life experiences and general oddities as Lloyd searches for a purpose in life.

Over time, CircleCity's plot, characters and tones have broadened themselves into several different topic and themes that heavily deviates from those that the series started out on.

Seasons 1-4
The first four seasons of the show follow an episodic format with little bits of a continuity present. Episodes primarily focus on Lloyd and his struggles with aspects of adulthood that are greatly exaggerated, while others may focus on recurring characters and their own arcs. Satire on real world issues is sometimes seen but otherwise not present, and the overall tone is almost primarily comedy.

Seasons 5-14
The seasons following the series' revival on Vision take a slightly different turn as continuity is much more present and the overall tone shifts from purely comedy to dramedy, as the trials and situations the characters face become more emotionally intense and grueling. Satire and commentary is also much more present, with certain episodes focusing on it entirely. Mcgee has stated that this slight shift in tone was very much intentional, reflecting just how much the world has changed between the initial cancellation of the series and its eventual return.

Season 15
Following the episodic continuity of previous seasons, the fifteenth and final season of the series takes a different direction as it follows a single story arc that spans the entire season. Serving as a culmination of all of the show's reoccurring arcs, it revolves around how Lloyd's constant flaws are keeping him from ever finding true happiness and meaning to his life, which becomes so severe that the multiverse itself bursts at the seams and multiple timelines collide with another; forcing Lloyd to confront every aspect of himself and what he could be.

Main

 * Lloyd Donovan (Nolan North): The show's protagonist, Lloyd is a 22 year-old college graduate who is greatly unprepared for the future ahead of him, and makes it his goal to find a purpose within the diverse, though crime-filled city of CircleCity. Raised upon an un-supportive upbringing, Lloyd is naturally cynical, pessimistic, self-loathing, bitter and downright careless - but at the same time very hard-willed and determined to find his future, and not without a soft spot. The people Lloyd surrounds himself with greatly influence his development - for better or for worse.
 * Benny O'Riley (Rob Paulsen): Benny is a janitor who takes Lloyd under his care, seeking to essentially be his "life mentor" out of a desire to do good for the world to contrast the actions of his notorious crime family. In many aspects, Benny is the opposite of Lloyd - encouraging, optimistic. social and ultimately a shine of light in the darkness that plagues the city's society. He is, however, a hardcore alcoholic - and often chooses to ignore conflict or hardship if it means maintaining his unrealistic outlook.


 * Robert "Fat Bob" O'Riley (Wayne Knight): Benny's brother, who is the kingpin of the city's most notorious and powerful crime organization, to the extent where he has influence over major aspects of the city's inner workings. As the eldest brother, Fat Bob was raised into taking over the family's crime business from a very young age, which, unsurprisingly, hindered any actual real personality development, resulting in a violent and sociopathic manchild. Despite his many sociopathic qualities, he genuinely cares for Benny, though makes many attempts to get him back into crime. He retains a strained relationship with his other brother Tito, as they are on opposing sides of the law.
 * Madison Kuznetsov (Vicki Lewis): Lloyd and Benny's neighbor within their apartment complex. Madison is a Russian immigrant, who has recently moved to America to provide a better life for her adopted son, Dimitri, as her family's profession as spies garnered them a lot of enemies in their homeland. Often quiet and introverted, Madison is a mysterious individual, though never an antagonistic force.
 * Moe Russo (Dee Bradley Baker): A very successful restaurateur, Moe is everything that Lloyd isn't - he's figured out his calling in life and has made a living off of it at just 23 years old. This wouldn't have been an issue for Lloyd if they weren't constantly butting heads with each other throughout their childhood. At the time, Moe took pride in dominating every field that Lloyd couldn't find success in - and that strained, intense rivalry hasn't changed a bit since they became adults. Despite his exceedingly smug outer shell, Moe is a paranoia nut - well aware that his entire life has been the result of an extremely lucky fluke and constantly afraid that his success will backfire at any second due to karmic repercussions. His restaurant constantly changes both name, theme and menus because of said paranoia.
 * Nancy Drew (Nicole Sullivan): Lloyd's old childhood friend, pursuing her passion of the performing arts. She is a very easy-going and generally carefree spirit, desperate to live her life to the fullest and willing to commit to anything; though her generally scatterbrained lifestyle leaves her feeling constantly unfulfilled. She and Lloyd begin a romantic relationship during Season 6.
 * Dustin Sakaguchi (Curtis Armstrong): The deranged, selfish, emotionally unstable and often intoxicated assistant of Fat Bob, who often does most of the dirty work for his crime syndicate. Dustin is willing to do anything for even the slightest sliver of attention and acknowledgement, due to his own parents never giving him the time of day. When he isn't out killing people or trafficking drugs for Fat Bob, Dustin is an obsessive nerd and creepy stalker, out to "set reality straight" for constantly wronging him as a child. He really needs a therapist.



Recurring

 * Mayor Royam (Daran Norris): The bumbling alcoholic mayor of CircleCity, who is well aware of the city's rampant crime issue, but does nothing about it so he can use it to his advantage in an extremely convoluted plan to get him to the top of the political world. His gambling addiction more often than not does tremendous harm towards the city, implementing unjust laws and doing shoddy reconstruction among other offenses, either because of losing a bet or just because "he can". In Season Eight, following the events of Juan Hundred, he stops drinking and attempts to rectify his many poor decisions as mayor, though by the end of the season he discovers the wonders of cocaine and becomes arguably even worse.
 * Gunny Rascalov (Michael Hollick): Fat Bob's rival, who is the head patriarch of an opposing crime family.
 * Annabelle Swanson-O'Riley: Fat Bob's workaholic wife, somehow completely unaware of his crime operation despite his entire life revolving around it.
 * Terry Swanson-O'Riley: Fat Bob and Annabelle's teenage daughter, who resents her father for being a criminal and her mother for somehow not knowing about it.
 * Dr. Hurt (Dana Snyder): The sole doctor in the city, who technically doesn't even have a medical degree.
 * Beff (Thomas F. Wilson): Benny's boss, the owner of the shady "tattoo & liquor" parlor known as Atomic. Benny looks up to him as the "only father figure in my life who hasn't killed a man", and the two share similar hatred towards the state of the city. Despite having the facade of a wacky, determined foreigner just trying to make it in America, Beff is an utterly broken and depressed man who is trying to escape his crime-ridden past, and wants to keep his employees far away from the dangers of the city.
 * Chief Picante (Alanna Ubach): CircleCity's chief of police, a feisty Latina circle determined to destroy the crime families that plague the city's nature.
 * Officer Tito O'Riley: Benny and Fat Bob's younger brother, who retains a strained relationship with Bob due to the both of them being on opposing sides of the law.
 * Rebecca The Blowjob Queen: CircleCity's most active prostitute, who usually appears at random intervals to offer sage advice to characters going through dilemmas.
 * Gram-Gram (Rob Paulsen): An elderly woman who runs the family farm/casino that provides most of the city's wealth.
 * Sultry V. Oice (Nolan North): Anchorman of CircleCity's local news station, Exposition News. He is never seen in the city or anywhere outside of the news studio, and it is heavily implied that he is trapped there.
 * "Wacky" Wally Jablonowski (Dee Bradley Baker): A boisterous media connoisseur who appears in different media roles and settings (game show host, talk show host, tabloid host, etc).
 * Mikel and Mikayla: Two overly-peppy radio hosts.
 * Dan Phobic:

Minor

 * Mr. Tang (James Hong): Manager of the apartment complex Shady Point, where Lloyd, Benny, Madison and Clyde & Leonard reside.
 * Clyde & Leonard (Dab-mcgee): A duo of uptight and pretentious British squares who live directly across the hall. They have a firm rivalry with Lloyd and Benny, as their personalities and political views contradict theirs to an offensive degree, even if Lloyd and Benny can never really tell what the hell they're saying.
 * Osama Bin Laden: The now undead leader of the terrorist organization known as Al-Qaeda, Osama frequently targets CircleCity due to its violent nature and "very opinionated" people, which he feels is a threat to his organization. Bin Laden is portrayed as an over the top and ambitious supervillain, plotting major plans to destroy everything America stands for, but his threatening status is all for show as he is always foiled quite easily. He is killed off in a gruesome fashion in each of his appearances, yet always insists on being alive.
 * Radical Mark (Nolan North): Benny's co-worker at Atomic, a balding junkie with a porn 'stache trapped in the 80's.
 * Alžbeta Sobìslava (Sirena Irwin): Beff's daughter, and the woman of Benny's affections.
 * Alexander Alexander: Madison's former partner (both profession-wise and relationship-wise) when she resided in Russia as a spy.
 * Dimitri Kuznetsov: Madison's highly susceptible 6 year-old adopted son, whose character only exists to give other characters arcs and development. That's what he gets for being a little bitch.
 * Jessica the Face Stealer: Benny's trailer-trash ex girlfriend, whom became a dangerous unhinged criminal after he broke up with her, notorious for killing her victims and collecting their faces.
 * Herbert Donovan (Nolan North): Lloyd and Michael's stern, bipolar father.
 * Michael Jackson Donovan (Nolan North): Lloyd's younger brother, a musician who keeps insisting that his music will take off someday despite not actually making any. Dies from "being lame" during the beginning of the Season Seven episode QuarantineCity.
 * Evil Step Mother Donovan (Nolan North): Lloyd and Michael's wicked, despicable stepmother.
 * Nicole Donovan: Lloyd & Michael's deceased mother, whose death has severely affected Lloyd all the way into adulthood.
 * Throckmorton O'Riley (Keith David): Benny, Fat Bob & Tito's grandfather, who took them in and raised them after their parents went out for cigarettes and never came back.
 * Homeless Steve (Rob Paulsen): The city's resident bum, whose only dialogue consists of unintelligible babbling. He has a cameo appearance in every episode.
 * Elton John: Benny's beloved pet cat.
 * God:
 * Moses:
 * Gautama Buddha:
 * Satan ("Weird Al" Yankovic): The king of darkness, sin and temptation, who rules over the fiery pits of Hell. He is a struggling single father attempting to show his son, Reginald, the ropes of his evil doings so he can retire and live in Hawaii. While Satan has an incredibly friendly & joyful demeanor, he is still, well, Satan: taking infinite pleasure in sadism & other sinful adjectives and actions, even if he isn't the most threatening person.
 * Reginald the Antichrist: Satan's son, who is a stereotypical high school jock figure who resents his father for keeping him from his true passion of football.
 * Bill Clinton: President of the United States during the show's first season.
 * George Bush: President of the United States during the show's second through fourth seasons.
 * Barack Obama: President of the United States during the show's fifth through ninth seasons. He appears in the episodes That's So Obama, Osamacare, QuarantineCity & Ninety Nine.
 * President Bobby Flay: The president of the United States as of the show's ninth season. A former celebrity chef, Flay is probably the most innocent and clueless of the presidents the show has portrayed, and despite his bumbling nature, the entire population of America seems to enjoy him just fine, though nobody appears to even know how he got sworn into office.
 * Richard C. Algorithm: CEO and founder of the media conglomerate Algorithm Entertainment, who serves as the antagonist of the three-episode story arc in Season 12. Tapping into society's need for entertainment and how that need is more powerful than ever, he plots to buy out America, turn it into a media franchise, and then "reboot" it.

Films
During the show's second season, Paramount Pictures, whose parent company Viacom owned Comedy Central, began negotiating with the show's creators and writing staff on making a theatrical film based on the series. They eventually went into an agreement and Paramount greenlit the film. Production on the film began in November 2002, with the film being titled CircleCity Worldwide, and Paramount later scheduling the film for an April 2004 release. Released on April 16, 2004, the film follows Lloyd and Benny becoming caught in the cross hairs of an international conspiracy regarding the newly implemented security drones being enforced worldwide. It grossed $63 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics, but did receive controversy for its portrayal of several real-life issues regarding the War on Terror.

The success of the show's revival on Vision led to Warner Bros. Pictures purchasing the film rights in 2014, and work immediately began on a second film entitled CircleCity: Civil War, released on June 3, 2016.

Broadcasting
Related page: CircleCity/International