Slippin’ Jimmy is an animated spinoff of Better Call Saul released on AMC+ in 2022. It focuses on the childhood of James “Slippin’ Jimmy” McGill, the man who would one day become Saul Goodman, as he grows up in the early 70s. Much Lighter and Softer than the series it was inspired by, the show was not well-received and only stuck around for one 6-episode season.
Tropes found in Slippin' Jimmy include:
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: The parent show made it clear that Jimmy and Chuck's relationship was toxic and codependent even when things were "okay" between them. Here, Chuck hugs his little sibling with no problem when the latter gives him a gift.
- Denser and Wackier: The cartoon completely ditches the serious tone of its parent series in favor of outlandish plots and Looney Tunes-style visual gags.
- Flanderization: Marco was never too brainy, but he's a full-on Fat Idiot here.
- Gross-Out Show: The show is heavy on gross-out gags. The first ten seconds feature a kid breaking off a booger that's frozen in the cold and using it to pick his teeth.
- Hairstyle Inertia: Jimmy's hair is combed the same way it was Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, though in this case it's not to cover up a receding hairline.
- High-School Hustler: Jimmy is effectively an elementary-school version of this, although it's not nearly as prominent a trait as you might expect.
- Lighter and Softer: Exaggerated. Better Call Saul was a gritty, adult-oriented legal drama with comedic elements, and Slippin' Jimmy is a straight-up cartoon comedy with no pretense of realism.
- Parody Episode: Every episode is one of these, tying into Saul's characterization as a film buff.
- Present-Day Past: The timeline of Better Call Saul puts this show around the late 60s-early 70s, but a lot of the styles worn by background characters seem to belong in the 21st century and the second episode has a character make a reference to cryptocurrency.
- Shout-Out: Each episode has references to works such as The Exorcist, as well as Buster Keaton comedies and spaghetti westerns.
- Spinoff Babies: The show is about the childhood of Jimmy McGill and Marco Pasternak. The frequent parody episodes call to mind the popularizer of the spinoff babies trope.
