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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
If you’ve seen Zach Hadel’s work on YouTube as “psychicpebbles” or the Smiling Friends pilot from April Fool’s Day 2020, then you are in for a huge treat with Adult Swim’s series premiere of Smiling Friends. I was fortunate enough to see three episodes from the former half of this first season, and I am in awe. Hadel teams up with Michael Cusack of YOLO: Crystal Fantasy to present their newest project, Smiling Friends.
The first premiere episode is titled, “Mr. Frog”, while the second premiere episode is titled, “Shrimp’s Odyssey”. Both episodes are written and directed by Cusack and Hadel.
In this review, I will be discussing the two-part Smiling Friends series premiere. There will be no spoilers here, as the title of this article suggests. Nonetheless, please read ahead at your own discretion to avoid any possible revelations.
Plot Synopsis
According to the Adult Swim press site, here is the synopsis of Smiling Friends Season 1 Episode 1, “Mr. Frog”.
After beloved frog celebrity Mr. Frog gets into hot frog water, Pim and Charlie are tasked with helping the frog get things back on frog track. Meanwhile, Glep has a crazy side adventure that has the critics going wild.
Adult Swim
Also, here is the synopsis for Season 1 Episode 2, “Shrimp’s Odyssey”.
When a truly pathetic shrimp (creatively named Shrimp) calls the Smiling Friends hotline after being dumped by his true love, Shrimpina, Pim and Charlie have very different ideas about how to handle the situation. More importantly than that garbage, the audience finally votes on the cool new fifth Smiling Friend, Smormu.
A.S.
The Cast of Adult Swim’s Smiling Friends
Zach Hadel voices Charlie and Glep, while Michael Cusack voices Pim and Alan. Marc M. voices the Boss of the Smiling Friends.
Mick Lauer, Erica Lindbeck, and Chris O’Neill lend their voices in both “Mr. Frog” and “Shrimp’s Odyssey”.
Jane Badler, Hans Van Harken, Rodrigo Huerta, Lyle Rath, and Joshua Tomar appear in the premiere’s former episode. Chills, David Firth, and Harry Partridge make voice appearances in the latter episode.
The Crew of Smiling Friends
Michael Dockery serves as the storyboard supervisor, with David Hootselle working on the storyboards for the first premiere episode and Jakub Zieba on the second episode. Cusack, Hadel, and Alice Wang work on storyboard revisions. Hans Van Harken serves as the staff writer of the series.
Brendan Caulfield works on the music of the series, with Chris O’Neill working on additional music. Keith Thomas designs and mixes the sound. Scott Henry and Lukas Xuereb are the editors of the episodes, with Tristan Mulcahy as the edit assistant. Phil Jennings and O’Neill are the compositors of the show, with Cusack and Hadel as the art directors.
Robert Fino serves as the design supervisor. Sally McAteer serves as the character design lead, Scott Baxter as the prop design lead, Rick Sweden as the background design lead, and Georgia Kriss as the animation lead.
Cody Dematteis, Chiyoung Lee, Chadwick Parks, Jocelyn Shelton, and Zach White are the Williams Street production staff of the show.
Jesse Maskell serves as the cinematographer for the former episode, while Daniel Peacock is the detailed painting artist in the latter episode.
Designers and Animators
Greg Bartlett, Ethan Basset, Sandra Chiang, Cusack, Dockery, Catriona Drummond, Hadel, Tom Hunter, Chris Hull, Ken Keiso, Sam Knight, Sylvie Le Couteur, Isabelle Murdoch, Dylan Rattenbury, Nick Simpson, Sarah Talbot, and Shannon Talbot are the designers of “Mr. Frog”.
Charlotte Bird-Weber, Sarah Brennan, Isaac Cafarella, Scott Collopy, James Cunningham, Cusack, Hannah Daigle, Nick Gooch, Jack Grayson, Hadel, Michael Harris, Hootselle, Zoe Johnson, Ryan Krzak, Ben Mansur, Margo Pierce, Aaron Powell, Danny Reyes, Kathy Sarpi, Laura Stitzel, Paul ter Voorde, Marta Tesoro, Meredith Uborka, Jasmine Veljanovski, and Zieba are the animators of “Mr. Frog”.
Maurice Argiro, Paula Hatton, Hamish Koci, and Mich Oliver join Bartlett, Basset, Brennan, Chiang, Cusack, Drummond, Hadel, Hull, Keiso, Knight, Le Couteur, Murdoch, Rattenbury, and Simpson as the designers of “Shrimp’s Odyssey”.
Andrew Bowler, Martin Cormier, Jayden Dowler, Maik Hempel, Mark Osberg, and Simpson are the animation supervisors of the latter episode. Paul Georghiou and James Hamilton join Brennan, Collopy, Cunningham, Cusack, Daigle, Grayson, Hadel, Harris, Hootselle, Johnson, Krzak, Pierce, Powell, Reyes, ter Voorde, Uborka, and Zieba as the animators of “Shrimp’s Odyssey”.
Discussion
“Mr. Frog” and “Shrimp’s Odyssey” possess two defining traits in and of the show. First, it defines what the show has in store for itself. It excels in helping its clients discover the happiness that they once lost. The way this happens, however, is not how we would expect in an 11-12-minute narrative. Cusack and Hadel’s protagonists go to great lengths, albeit with irony to the solutions they present to others. Its attempts at comedy result in a path deep and dark in terms of taboo themes and topics.
What Happens When You Stay Up Late on Cartoon Network
These first two episodes of the season also help define Adult Swim as a synecdoche of the nighttime channel. (I first discovered Adult Swim at the age of 7 or 8 during vacation late one night at a military base in California while the rest of my family slept in our lodging room. At the time, there were re-runs of Home Movies, Futurama, Family Guy, and Pee-wee’s Playhouse.) Adult Swim is home to the more mature yet stranger content that children cannot and should not have access to via Cartoon Network during the daytime. Therefore, it makes sense why Smiling Friends finds a home here.
This series premiere depicts the harshnesses of “the real world” that adults warn young ones about when they grow older. Let’s take, for example, the toxicities of the Hollywood industry as well as bad break-ups. Placing the show on Cartoon Network would be overwhelming for child audiences. However, adult themes such as guns, drugs, vulgar language, and potential death exist here. The challenge for Dockery, Hootselle, van Harken, and the huge animation team, then, is to paint a picture that mixes life’s austere beauty with its heavy, grating cruelty. How I feel about this show is exactly how I felt in my late-teenage years with Mr. Pickles.
Performances and Character Developments
My favorite character is Cusack’s Pim, a character who has an optimistic perspective on any given situation. Of course, this doesn’t go without him fantasizing illusions of the world around him, versions of life if he were in control. Unfortunately for him, Pim always gets hit by reality and how bad it can be. (Wait until you see the third or fourth episode of the series next weekend…) Cusack does the character justice and had me hooked even in the pilot.
Hadel’s Charlie is more realistic and believes that his way believes to work better. This is a character that I have not seen Hadel portray in animation before. It was nice to see something new and fresh from him as a voice actor. His other character, Glep, is bright and cute and looks to be up to something interesting.
Cusack’s other character, Alan, is still a mystery to me. It would be great to see more of him as the series progresses. The pilot episode did a remarkable job at teasing what he brings to the table.
Marc M.’s character, The Boss, comes off as creepy and utterly weird. (In one of next weekend’s two episodes, it just gets a little worse in terms of appearance…)
Final Thoughts
Smiling Friends is not all rainbows and sunshine. Don’t let the adjective “smiling” fool you; it’s not to be taken lightly as many obstacles are in the way before reaching that point. There is a twisted and somewhat distorted element about the show facilitated by detailed imagery. To reiterate, the difficulty for the series is to portray that “yin and yang”-type of feeling for the mature-yet-not-completely-mature demographic. Do not expect anything if you are new to the show. Nothing can be explained until something is witnessed.
In my opinion, “Mr. Frog” and “Shrimp’s Odyssey” symbolize everything that Adult Swim stands for. If not, you can view them as little palette cleansers. These two episodes prepare us for what’s to come in the series moving forward. Think of the show like SpongeBob SquarePants, but the services offered are not food for the heart but instead, support for the soul.
Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel’s animated comedy series Smiling Friends premieres on Sunday, January 9th (technically January 10th), 2022 at midnight ET/PT!
Also, read our interview with the series co-creators of Adult Swim’s Smiling Friends!
Will you be seeing this television series? Let us know! For more animation and comedy-related news and reviews visit and follow The Cinema Spot on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
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