The Dating Guy

The Dating Guy
Created by	Matt Hornburg Mark Bishop
Voices of	Fab Filippo Anand Rajaram Sean Francis Lauren Ash
Composer(s)	Jono Grant
Country of origin	Canada
Original language(s)	English French
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	John Morayniss Frank Saperstein
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	marblemedia Entertainment One
Distributor	Entertainment One
Release
Original network	Teletoon at Night Télétoon la nuit
Original release	October 17, 2010 (2010-10-17)
External links
Website
Production website

The Dating Guy is a Canadian animated series that originally aired on Teletoon at Night^[1] starting on October 17, 2010.^[2] In the United States, it aired on HDNet starting on September 17, 2009.^[3]

The show was created by Matt Hornburg and Mark Bishop, with executive producers being John Morayniss and Frank Saperstein.^[4] Produced by marblemedia and Entertainment One, the show also has a Gemini Award-winning tie-in website, with two web series: The Morning After Show, which discusses episodes of the main show, and Dr. Love, which features an indepth look at dating;^[5] unlike the show, the web series are live action.^[6]

The show's premise revolves around the adventures of four Canadian twenty-something friends living in Downtown Toronto, looking for love in all the wrong places.^[7] Guests such as Russell Peters and Howie Mandel appear on the show.^[8]

Development

The show's existence was first noted in 2006; at the time, C.O.R.E. was slated to provide animation services.^[9] By 2007, a different animation studio was being sought, with the show then-scheduled to premiere in late 2008. Smiley Guy Studios in Toronto was the animation service.^[10] and later in March 2009.^[11]

According to Frank Saperstein, the idea behind the show is based on the real-life dating experience of one of its creators.^[12] The influence of the founders of marblemedia, Matt Hornburg and Mark Bishop, on the show's premise has also been noted.^[13]

Characters

The show focuses on four main characters who constitute a group of friends, Mark, VJ, Woody, and Sam, and a number of recurring characters.^[14]

Main characters

• Mark Dexler (Fab Filippo) - Mark is a 25-year-old single man who works as a copywriter at an ad agency. He shares an apartment with his best friends VJ and Woody.^[15]
• VJ Mendhi (Anand Rajaram) - VJ is an IT guy at the same ad agency Mark works at. Despite sharing an apartment with his friends Mark and Woody, he does not pay rent. He is of east Indian descent and he owns a pet raccoon named Zorro. He is extremely perverted, has seen all the internet porn in the world, and although he still has yet to lose his virginity. It is revealed in the episode 'Too Fast, Too Dexler', that VJ is ironically short for Vagina.^[16]
• Woodrow "Woody" Jenkins (Sean Francis) - Woody is a head bartender of Black Canadian descent, and shares living quarters with his friends Mark and VJ. He is classified as a "playa".^[17]
• Samantha "Sam" Goldman (Lauren Ash) - Sam is a woman living in the same building as Mark, VJ, and Woody and is friends with all of them; however, their friendships are strictly platonic.^[18]

Recurring characters

• Anderson Anderson (Gabriel Hogan) - a well rounded, good natured guy who can't hold down a job, he has an on-and-off relationship with Sam.
• Celia (Bryn McAuley) - a country Mormon who is new to the city and works at the Hotel Ego bar with Woody who she despises because of all of Woody's sinning.
• Vince - a police officer who takes his job very seriously, his speech is vaguely similar to Al Pacino.
• Wang (Albert Chung) - the owner of A Taste of Wang the local Chinese restaurant, who is also a part-time drug dealer, he has a daughter named Lily.
• Vikram Cha Cha (Sugith Varughese) - VJ's uncle, and his surrogate father, he is a veterinarian.
• Irwin Chang - the leader of the Chinese mafia who is menacing despite the fact that he rarely speaks, he communicates through blowing smoke rings understood by his translator Rudolph.
• Falafel Guy (Tony Daniels) - a falafel guy, his real name is Jeff but no one seems to care. He was killed by Cannabis in "Spanking the Monkey".
• Randy (Dwayne Hill) - a common thief who steals anything he can get his hands on. He was killed by being frozen by liquid nitrogen in "24ish", but returns in the next episode "Perfect 10 Killer".
• Brian Booyah (Howie Mandel) - The CEO of Johnson and Booyah.
• Denise Felcher (Kathleen Laskey) - Mark and VJ's sex addicted boss.
• Bryce (Noah Cappe) - Mark's arch enemy, his coworker who acts like his boss.
• Ursula (Krystal Meadows) - A young coworker of Mark and VJ, she is VJ's secret crush.
• Zorro - VJ's pet raccoon, who despite being an animal is extremely perverted.
• Captain Steiner - an elderly nazi who is Woody's best customer at Hotel Ego.

Episodes

The show ran for two seasons of 13 episodes each.^[19]

Season 1

Season 2

Reception

A review of the show prior to its release on Teletoon praised it for its humour but criticized it for a perceived lack of polish.^[20] A review of the DVD rated it 2/5, praising the show's eccentricity and references to Canadian culture but criticizing its humour and storyline.^[21]

The Dating Guy has also been criticized for allegedly being a ripoff of the webcomic Least I Could Do, which was reportedly submitted to Teletoon to create an animated series that did not come to fruition.^[22] Teletoon has reportedly denied the accusation.^[23]

Awards and nominations

Home video releases

A DVD containing only Season 1 was released on April 26, 2011.^[25] The first season was also released for online viewing on the US version of Amazon Video.^[26] The entire show is available from the Canadian iTunes Store.^[27] Seasons 1 and 2 are both available on the US version of Hulu.^[28]

References