History WesternAnimation / MoralOrel

%%* FanDisservice: The womb motifs and sexual situations involving Ms. Censordoll in "Nesting".
%%* FatAndSkinny: Florence and Dottie.

%%** Three words: "Drunk '''is''' nature."

%%** Clay is the embodiment of this. Censordoll is a big one, too.

%%* SanctuaryOfSolitude: Used several times.

%%* SingleTargetSexuality: Coach Stopframe for Clay.

%%* ThereAreNoTherapists

* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: The reason the show got cancelled was that the third season got so dark and nihilistic that Adult Swim execs developed buyer's remorse and cancelled the show out of fear [[FromBadToWorse that it would only get more depressing and disturbing]].

%%* TransparentCloset: Daniel Stopframe (though he is openly bisexual).
* TruthInTelevision: Unfortunately, as odd as it seems to most people.
%%* TwistedChristmas: "The Best Christmas Ever".

%%* WriterOnBoard: Should be pretty obvious.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Averted. After all the crap they've put each other through, Clay and Bloberta genuinely hate one another, and their own children. The only Aw Look moment even vaguely suggested in the show is the fact that Clay tears up for a split-second when talking about the mistakes he's made during a drunken rant. The other residents of Moralton fare little better, though there are enough PetTheDog moments to keep it from being an irredeemable CrapSackWorld.

* BarbieDollAnatomy: Happens quite a bit, including in "Satan", "Repression", "Grounded", "Nesting" and "Beforal Orel" where the characters lack genitalia.

* BigScrewedUpFamily: A textbook example, really. Clay is alcoholic who neglects his family, Bloberta spoils the youngest kid, Shapey, rotten (and also cheats on Clay); Shapey is a 7 year old who acts like he's 3 '''at best''', and Orel, despite good intentions and the most 'normal', ends up doing very messed up things just to show his love for god.

** Shapey. His parents always order Orel to let him do what he wants, in case he screams and the neighbors hear. He's constantly screaming anyway, so we can see how well ''that'' is working out.

** And Block, who's an exact clone of Shapey.

With this in mind, ''Moral Orel'' is less a critique of Christianity itself than a {{deconstruction}} of religious fundamentalism. The show aims its real critique towards [[MoralGuardians authority figures]] who pay lipservice to their inferiors' religious beliefs as a way of preserving their authority -- especially when such people [[BrokenAesop make horrible authority figures and role models]]. In short, it's not a criticism of religion specifically, but of hypocrisy itself.

* VocalDissonance: Principal Fakey's receptionist (and Jon Secondopinionson's half-sister,) who sounds like a 30 year-old man unless she pinches her nose to sound like a female receptionist talking through a loudspeaker.

-->'''Mark Posubule''': Forgive your ''debtors''!
-->'''Clay Puppington''': Forgive your ''trespassers''!
-->'''Mark Posubule''': You owe me a bottle of wine!
-->'''Clay Puppington''': ''Get off my property!''

* DarkerAndEdgier: Season 3 turned it UpToEleven by turning the show (which was already dark in its own right) into quite possibly the darkest piece of western animation ever made, prompting the show's cancellation out of Mike Lazzo's [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor buyer's remorse]].

* {{Deconstruction}}: When you can rival and "beat" the majority of other attempts at a deconstruction and how dark an animated television show can become, and how much you can rip apart every little thing about the "perfection" of the comedic aspects of the show you're watching, you're falling into this category. And indeed, not only is the series as whole a {{Deconstruction}} of the MoralSubstitute, but most every episode also deconstructs a dubious or tautological [[MoralGuardians Christian Fundamentalist]] tenet by way of having Orel follow scripture to horrifying -- completely logical, but horrifying -- conclusions. You might say ''Moral Orel'' is a deconstruction of [[Literature/TheBible bib]][[IncrediblyLamePun lical]] [[UpToEleven proportions]].

* DysfunctionJunction: UpToEleven. '''Everyone''' in Moralton is deeply and profoundly flawed.

-->-- [[spoiler:Arthur Puppington]], "Beforel Orel"

''Moral Orel'' is a StopMotion animated show that first aired on Creator/AdultSwim from 2006–08 created by Creator/DinoStamatopoulos (writer for ''Series/MrShow'', ''Series/{{Community}}'', and ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''). Originally conceived as a {{satire}} of sitcoms from TheFifties and TheSixties, and designed to resemble an AffectionateParody of ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'' (not ''WesternAnimation/DaveyAndGoliath'', despite the art style), the show, despite copious amounts of ExecutiveMeddling, ultimately evolved into one of the darkest pieces of Western animation of the 2000s. It is notable for being one of the first animated [[{{Dramedy}} dramedies]] on television, having come out a near-decade before the critically acclaimed ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' hit Creator/{{Netflix}}.

Every member of Orel's family [[DysfunctionalFamily shows some form of dysfunction]]: father Clay [[TheAlcoholic abuses alcohol]], [[AbusiveParents abuses Orel]] (emotionally and physically), and [[TransparentCloset fails to hide]] his [[GayConservative closet bisexuality]]; mother Bloberta cheats on Clay, often finds herself depressed, and suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder; and both parents spoil Orel's rambunctious and disabled little brother Shapey rotten. The population of Moralton (a town placed precisely in the middle of the United States) [[DysfunctionJunction fare little better]]; most of Moralton's adults lead lives as dysfunctional as Orel's family -- if not more so -- while putting on a show of being Good Christians and Good Neighbors.

''Moral Orel'' is less a critique of Christianity itself than a {{deconstruction}} of religious fundamentalism. The show aims its real critique towards [[MoralGuardians authority figures]] who pay lipservice to their inferiors' religious beliefs as a way of preserving their authority -- especially when such people [[BrokenAesop make horrible authority figures and role models]]. In short, it's not a criticism of religion specifically, but of hypocrisy itself.

The show served as an affectionate (and adult-oriented) quasi-parody of the aforementioned ''Beaver'' until Dino Stamatopoulos began to move the focus away from Orel midway through the first season, [[CreatorBreakdown caused by a rough divorce he was going through at the time]]. He then began to explore the [[StepfordSmiler dark underbelly of the seemingly happy-go-lucky townspeople of Moralton]], which culminated in the two-part season 2 finale "Nature".

The network higher-ups loved the two-parter, with Adult Swim head Mike Lazzo asking Dino to make the show's third season as dark as humanly possible. Dino complied, but Lazzo and Adult Swim instantly regretted it. The show almost stopped being a dark comedy and instead became a Psychological Drama with only small small bits of comedy sprinkled in (With the third season opener, "Numb" only having one joke throughout the entire episode). While critically acclaimed, the lack of comedy caused Adult Swim to scale back the episode count from 20 episodes to 13 and to cancel the series.


While the show was eventually cut short, fans kept hope alive for a revival. After 2007, Adult Swim only played reruns of the show sporadically, but in late 2011, the network began rerunning the show in chronological order on weeknights. When Dino learned of this, he said "[if] enough people watch, there may be hope for a special or two" on a Facebook post. A month into the reruns, Dino made another comment: "Got a great call from the Head of Adult Swim yesterday raving about the ratings that the Moral Orel reruns have been getting. Great job, everyone! Keep watching and the Moral Orel special will be imminent."

Dino followed up on this on Halloween with a surprise appearance from Orel in the last bump of a ''WesternAnimation/MaryShelleysFrankenhole'' mini-marathon, where Orel said a new ''Moral Orel'' special would come "sometime in the near future". At its May 2012 upfront, Adult Swim confirmed Orel's return with the announcement of ''Beforel Orel'', a half-hour special that [as] promised will explain "the origin of Orel's religious nature and the birth of his brother, Shapey". ''Beforel Orel'' aired on November 19th, 2012.

* AwfulWeddedLife: Clay and Bloberta are an [[PlayedForDrama unfunny]] example. Clay's alcoholism, in particular, has ruined both of their lives.

* PsychopathicManchild: Clay tries to act like a well-adjusted adult, but his [[LackOfEmpathy selfishness]], [[AttentionWhore need for attention]], and [[NeverMyFault chronic inability to admit when he's done wrong]] show him to be deeply immature.

* SanitySlippage: Orel in "Grounded" as a result of being forbidden to go to church for a whole month. It gets progressively worse over the course of the episode.

* FourthDateMarriage: Clay and Bloberta marry after one date (and it's kinda hard to call it a date since they just decided to attend a reception together after attending the wedding separately). Subverted in that both of them know they're making a mistake, but they go through with it anyway since Clay wants someone to help him and Bloberta wants to be the one getting married. Poignantly, when asked by Orel why they married, all Bloberta could answer is "Why not?".

%%* DistaffCounterpart: Christina, to Orel.

''Moral Orel'' is a StopMotion animated show that first aired on Creator/AdultSwim in 2006. It was conceived by Creator/DinoStamatopoulos (writer for ''Series/MrShow'', ''Series/{{Community}}'', and ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'') as a {{satire}} of [[TheFifties 50's]] sitcoms and religious funadmentalism.

Most episodes revolve around the titular twelve-year-old, a devout Protestant Christian who pays rapt attention to his local preacher's sermons, taking them to comical or terrifying extremes in order to make sense of the world. Viewers would also slowly become familiar with the StepfordSuburbia of [[EverytownAmerica Moralton, Statesota]], with the grim lives of its inhabitants entering focus as the series ditched an episodic format. This morphed the series from standard [as] fare to one of the first animated [[{{Dramedy}} dramedies]], laying groundwork for shows like ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' and ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman''.

The show was also unique in how it was killed off. Network higher-ups loved the edgier material, so much so that [as] head Mike Lazzo asked to make its third season as dark as humanly possible. It worked [[GoneHorriblyRight so well]] that the [as] staff was mortified, leading them to cut the season's episode count from 20 to 13 and cancel the whole series.

Since 2011, reruns are shown in chronological order on weeknights. A prequel special called "Beforel Orel" aired in 2012.

The show was also unique in how it was killed off. Network higher-ups loved the edgier material, so much so that [as] head Mike Lazzo asked to make its third (and final) season as dark as humanly possible. It worked [[GoneHorriblyRight so well]] that the [as] staff was mortified, leading them to cut the season's episode count from 20 to 13 and cancel the whole series.

The show was also unique because it wasn't killed off by low ratings, ExecutiveMeddling or the creators wanting to cut it short. Network higher-ups loved the edgier material, so much so that [as] head Mike Lazzo asked to make its third (and final) season as dark as humanly possible. It worked [[GoneHorriblyRight so well]] that the [as] staff was mortified, leading them to cut the season's episode count from 20 to 13 and cancel the whole series.

The show was also unique because it wasn't killed off by low ratings, ExecutiveMeddling or the creators wanting to cut it short. Network higher-ups loved the edgier material, so much so that AS head Mike Lazzo asked to make its third (and final) season as dark as humanly possible. It worked [[GoneHorriblyRight so well]] that the [as] staff was mortified, leading them to cut the season's episode count from 20 to 13 and cancel the whole series.

In the town of [[EverytownAmerica Moralton, Statesota]] lives the Puppington Family. Twelve-year-old Orel Puppington, a devout Protestant Christian, thinks of Jesus as his biggest role model. He always pays rapt attention in church, taking the advice of the local preacher's sermons to heart, but due to his age, he doesn't always understand some of the topics, which leads to Orel acting on them in his own special way. Needless to say, HilarityEnsues!

[[CerebusSyndrome ... until it doesn't.]]

''Moral Orel'' is a StopMotion animated show that first aired on Creator/AdultSwim from 2006–08 created by Creator/DinoStamatopoulos (writer for ''Series/MrShow'', ''Series/{{Community}}'', and ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''). Originally conceived as a {{satire}} of sitcoms from TheFifties and TheSixties, and designed to resemble an AffectionateParody of ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'' (not ''WesternAnimation/DaveyAndGoliath'', despite the art style), the show, despite copious amounts of ExecutiveMeddling, ultimately evolved into one of the darkest pieces of Western animation of the 2000s. It is notable for being one of the first animated [[{{Dramedy}} dramedies]] on television, having come out a near-decade before the critically acclaimed ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' hit Creator/{{Netflix}}.

Every member of Orel's family [[DysfunctionalFamily shows some form of dysfunction]]: father Clay [[TheAlcoholic abuses alcohol]], [[AbusiveParents abuses Orel]] (emotionally and physically), and [[TransparentCloset fails to hide]] his [[GayConservative closet bisexuality]]; mother Bloberta cheats on Clay, often finds herself depressed, and suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder; and both parents spoil Orel's rambunctious and disabled little brother Shapey rotten. The population of Moralton (a town placed precisely in the middle of the United States) [[DysfunctionJunction fare little better]]; most of Moralton's adults lead lives as dysfunctional as Orel's family -- if not more so -- while putting on a show of being Good Christians and Good Neighbors.

''Moral Orel'' is less a critique of Christianity itself than a {{deconstruction}} of religious fundamentalism. The show aims its real critique towards [[MoralGuardians authority figures]] who pay lipservice to their inferiors' religious beliefs as a way of preserving their authority -- especially when such people [[BrokenAesop make horrible authority figures and role models]]. In short, it's not a criticism of religion specifically, but of hypocrisy itself.

The show served as an affectionate (and adult-oriented) quasi-parody of the aforementioned ''Beaver'' until Dino Stamatopoulos began to move the focus away from Orel midway through the first season, [[CreatorBreakdown caused by a rough divorce he was going through at the time]]. He then began to explore the [[StepfordSmiler dark underbelly of the seemingly happy-go-lucky townspeople of Moralton]], which culminated in the two-part season 2 finale "Nature".

The network higher-ups loved the two-parter, with Adult Swim head Mike Lazzo asking Dino to make the show's third season as dark as humanly possible. Dino complied, but Lazzo and Adult Swim instantly regretted it. The show almost stopped being a dark comedy and instead became a Psychological Drama with only small small bits of comedy sprinkled in (With the third season opener, "Numb" only having one joke throughout the entire episode). While critically acclaimed, the lack of comedy caused Adult Swim to scale back the episode count from 20 episodes to 13 and to cancel the series.


While the show was eventually cut short, fans kept hope alive for a revival. After 2007, Adult Swim only played reruns of the show sporadically, but in late 2011, the network began rerunning the show in chronological order on weeknights. When Dino learned of this, he said "[if] enough people watch, there may be hope for a special or two" on a Facebook post. A month into the reruns, Dino made another comment: "Got a great call from the Head of Adult Swim yesterday raving about the ratings that the Moral Orel reruns have been getting. Great job, everyone! Keep watching and the Moral Orel special will be imminent."

Dino followed up on this on Halloween with a surprise appearance from Orel in the last bump of a ''WesternAnimation/MaryShelleysFrankenhole'' mini-marathon, where Orel said a new ''Moral Orel'' special would come "sometime in the near future". At its May 2012 upfront, Adult Swim confirmed Orel's return with the announcement of ''Beforel Orel'', a half-hour special that [as] promised will explain "the origin of Orel's religious nature and the birth of his brother, Shapey". ''Beforel Orel'' aired on November 19th, 2012.

* MatureWorkChildProtagonists: The show follows the titular Orel Puppington, a naïve 12-year-old who struggles with growing up in a Christian Fundamentalist neighborhood.

The network higher-ups loved the two-parter, with Adult Swim head Mike Lazzo asking Dino to make the show's third season as dark as humanly possible. Dino complied, but Lazzo and Adult Swim instantly regretted ''[[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor getting exactly what they asked for]]'': after a screening of the darkest episode of the show's run -- "Alone" -- Adult Swim cancelled the series and cut season 3 down to thirteen episodes, which forced [[AbortedArc several key arcs to be abandoned]]. Dino did provide a sliver of hope amidst the despair, however, with [[EarnYourHappyEnding a happy ending for Orel]].

While the show was cut short, fans kept hope alive for a revival. After 2007, Adult Swim only played reruns of the show sporadically, but in late 2011, the network began rerunning the show in chronological order on weeknights. When Dino learned of this, he said "[if] enough people watch, there may be hope for a special or two" on a Facebook post. A month into the reruns, Dino made another comment: "Got a great call from the Head of Adult Swim yesterday raving about the ratings that the Moral Orel reruns have been getting. Great job, everyone! Keep watching and the Moral Orel special will be imminent."

Every member of Orel's family [[DysfunctionalFamily shows some form of dysfunction]]: father Clay [[TheAlcoholic abuses alcohol]], [[AbusiveParents abuses Orel]] (emotionally and physically), and fails to hide his [[TransparentCloset closet]] [[GayConservative bisexuality]]; mother Bloberta cheats on Clay, often finds herself depressed, and suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder; and both parents spoil Orel's rambunctious and disabled little brother Shapey rotten. The population of Moralton (a town placed precisely in the middle of the United States) [[DysfunctionJunction fare little better]]; most of Moralton's adults lead lives as dysfunctional as Orel's family -- if not more so -- while putting on a show of being Good Christians and Good Neighbors.

* AdultFear: While a somewhat comedic line, this exchange between Bloberta and Orel provides a sobering look at the effects of alcohol and alcoholism.
-->'''Orel:''' Well, it's just that, when he drinks, he changes.\\
'''Bloberta:''' Oh, he doesn't change, Orel! That's just his true nature coming out.

The network higher-ups loved the two-parter, with Adult Swim head Mike Lazzo asking Dino to make the show's third season as dark as humanly possible. Dino complied, but Lazzo and Adult Swim instantly regretted ''[[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor getting exactly what they asked for]]'': after a screening of the darkest episode of the show's run -- "Alone" -- Adult Swim cancelled the series and cut season 3 down to thirteen episodes, which forced [[AbortedArc several key arcs to be abandoned]]. (Dino did provide a sliver of hope amidst the despair, however, with [[EarnYourHappyEnding a happy ending for Orel]].)

[[CerebusSyndrome Until it doesn't.]]

The show served as an affectionate (and adult-oriented) quasi-parody of the aforementioned ''Beaver'' until Dino Stamatopoulos began to move the focus away from Orel midway through the first season, [[CreatorBreakdown caused by a rough divorce he was going through at the time]]. He then began to explore the dark underbelly of the seemingly happy-go-lucky townspeople of Moralton, which culminated in the two-part season 2 finale "Nature".

The network higher-ups loved the two-parter, with Adult Swim head Mike Lazzo asking Dino to make the show's third season as dark as humanly possible. Dino complied, but Lazzo and Adult Swim instantly regretted ''[[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor getting exactly what they asked for]]'': after a screening of the darkest episode of the show's run -- "Alone" -- Adult Swim cancelled the series and cut season 3 down to thirteen episodes, which forced [[AbortedArc several key arcs to be abandoned]]. (Dino did provide a sliver of hope amidst the despair, however, with a happy ending for Orel.)

* IDrankWhat: Orel sells his urine as an energy drink to the school's sports teams.