Bordertown (2016 TV series)

Bordertown
Genre	Animated sitcom
Created by	Mark Hentemann
Voices of	Hank Azaria Nicholas Gonzalez Alex Borstein Judah Friedlander Missi Pyle Jacqueline Piñol Efren Ramirez Carlos Alazraqui
Composer(s)	Mark Mothersbaugh
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Mark Hentemann Seth MacFarlane Co-executive producers: Alex Carter Dan Vebber
Producer(s)	Supervising producers: Valentina L. Garza B.J. Porter
Editor(s)	Donnell Ebarrete
Running time	20–22 minutes
Production company(s)	Hentemann Films Fuzzy Door Productions Bento Box Entertainment 20th Century Fox Television
Release
Original network	Fox
Picture format	720p (16:9 HDTV)
Audio format	Dolby Digital 5.1
Original release	January 3 (2016-01-03) – May 22, 2016 (2016-05-22)
External links
Website

Bordertown is an American adult animated sitcom that aired on Fox from January 3, to May 22, 2016. The series was created by Family Guy writer Mark Hentemann and executive-produced by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane and follows two families living in a Southwest desert town on the United States–Mexico border. On May 12, 2016, Fox canceled the series.^[1]

Plot

Bordertown takes place in the fictitious town of Mexifornia (which is on the border of California and Mexico).^[2] Mexifornia is said to be based on the town of Calexico, California, also a Portmanteau, as well as sharing a similar location and dynamic as Mexifornia. The two main characters are Bud Buckwald and Ernesto Gonzalez. Bud is a border agent living at 25200 Cedar Road with his wife, Janice Buckwald, and their three children, Sanford, Becky and Gert. Living next door to him is Ernesto Gonzalez, an ambitious immigrant and family man, who has been in the country less than 10 years and is happy to be with his family in the United States of America.^[3]

Voice cast

• Hank Azaria as Bud Buckwald, a Border Patrol agent.^[4]
• Nicholas Gonzalez as
  • Ernesto Gonzalez, Bud's Mexican neighbor who's been living in Mexifornia for 20 years.
  • J.C. Gonzalez (Juan Carlos), Ernesto and Maria's 21-year-old college graduate nephew and Becky's fiancé.
  • Pablo Barracuda, the biggest drug lord in Mexifornia.^[5][6]
• Alex Borstein as
  • Janice Buckwald, Bud's wife and Becky, Sanford and Gert's mother.
  • Becky Buckwald, Bud's 18-year-old daughter and J.C's fiancee.^[5]
• Judah Friedlander as Sanford Buckwald, Janice and Bud's 24-year-old rebellious son.^[5] In the episode American Doll, it's revealed that Sanford was born on a skip day; 32 February, which is why he's never had any birthdays. In the same episode, it is hinted that Sanford is just a cover name and that his real name is Vince.
• Missi Pyle as Gert Buckwald, Bud and Janice's 5-year-old daughter who is a beauty pageant contestant.^[5]
• Jacqueline Piñol as Pepito Gonzalez, Ernesto and Maria's youngest son who pranks Bud regularly.^[7]
• Efren Ramirez as Ruiz Gonzalez, Maria and Ernesto's eldest son.^[5]
• Carlos Alazraqui as
  • Placido Gonzalez, Ernesto's undocumented father who is cranky.
  • El Coyote, a Mexican trickster and people smuggler who always tries to cross the border and regularly taunts Bud in the cold openings.

Episodes

Production

Producers

Seth MacFarlane and Mark Hentemann were announced as executive producers. Shortly afterwards, Alex Carter and Dan Vebber were announced as co-executive producers.^[21] Lalo Alcaraz and Gustavo Arellano are consulting producers, and Valentina L. Garza is a supervising producer.

Writing

There were thirteen writers who worked on Bordertown.^[22] Mark Hentemann wrote or co-wrote three episodes. Lalo Alcaraz co-wrote the first two episodes.^[22]

Broadcast

In the United States, the series premiered midseason on January 3, 2016, on Fox.^[23] The series was picked up by ITV2 in the United Kingdom on March 23, 2015, to premiere on February 29, 2016 - immediately after the new season of Family Guy on the same channel.^[24]

The series was also picked up by Network Ten in Australia and started airing on February 3, 2016 on its sister channel, Eleven.^[25] In Canada, it was broadcast on City.^[26]

Reception

Bordertown received generally negative reviews. On Metacritic, the show holds a 46/100 score based on 15 reviews.^[27] On Rotten Tomatoes, the series receives a 35% rating based on 17 reviews with an average rating of 5.3/10. The critics' consensus reads: "Bordertown's controversy-rich premise is an idea disappointingly ill-served by its execution, which repeatedly mistakes crass, desperate gags for topical humor."^[28]

References

External links

• Official website
• Bordertown at the Internet Movie Database
• Bordertown at TV.com
• No Walls Here: Lalo Alcaraz Discusses the New Fox Animated Series, Bordertown (The Huffington Post, December 29, 2015, interview by Daniel Olivas)