''Spicy City'' is an

adult animated An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a "minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of majori ...

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scul ...

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

which was created by

Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is an American animator and filmmaker. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatric ...

for

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

. It is an

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...

in a similar format as television programs such as ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...

'' and ''

Tales from the Crypt Tales from the Crypt may refer to: * ''Tales from the Crypt'' (album), by American rapper C-Bo * ''Tales from the Crypt'' (comics), published by EC Comics during the 1950s ** ''Tales from the Crypt'' (film), a 1972 Amicus film starring Ralph Ric ...

''. The series premiered on July 11, 1997 and ended on August 22, with a total of 6 episodes over the course of 1 season.

Plot

The plot was described as a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

set in a futuristic city with a steamy side. Each episode is introduced by Raven, a nightclub hostess who also makes brief appearances in the tales.

Production

Discussions involving a series based upon

Trey Parker Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III (born October 19, 1969) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and ''The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Matt Stone. P ...

and

Matt Stone Matthew Richard Stone (born May 26, 1971) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and ''The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Trey Parker. Stone was interes ...

's video Christmas card '' Jesus vs. Santa'' (which would become ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...

'') led

to contact Ralph Bakshi in order to produce the first animated series targeted specifically toward adults. Bakshi enlisted a team of writers, including his son Preston, to develop ''Spicy Detective'', later renamed ''Spicy City''.

Cast

Michelle Phillips Michelle may refer to: People *Michelle (name), a given name and surname, the feminine form of Michael * Michelle Courtens, Dutch singer, performing as "Michelle" * Michelle (German singer) * Michelle (Scottish singer) (born 1980), Scottish wi ...

as Raven *James Keane (credited as James Kean) as Lem *Barry Stigler as Boxer *

Mary Mara Mary T. Mara (September 21, 1960 – June 26, 2022) was an American television and film actress known for her main role as Inspector Bryn Carson on ''Nash Bridges'' and appearances on primetime dramas '' ER'' and ''Law & Order''. She also appe ...

as Alice Kerchief/Geisha *

John Hostetter John Hostetter (October 6, 1946 – September 2, 2016) was an American actor and visual artist. He played John, the stage manager on the fictional FYI newsmagazine, on the CBS sitcom ''Murphy Brown'' starring Candice Bergen; he appeared in 65 of ...

as Jake *Vince Melocchi as Shark * Alex Fernandez as Armando "Mano" Mantio *Cecilia Noel as Red Beans *James Hanes as Big Vinnie *

as Stevie/Connelly/Goldblum *Pamala Tyson as Bruja/Ebony and Venus Sartori *

Tuesday Knight Tuesday Lynn Knight (born Monday, February 17, 1969) is an American actress, singer and designer. She is best known for her role as Kristen Parker in the 1988 film '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master'', replacing Patricia Arquette i ...

as Prostitute/Virus *James Keane as Flaxson *Darrell Kunitomi as Loh *Grace Zandarski as Driver *James Asher as Harry *

Tasia Valenza Tasia Valenza (born April 5, 1967) is an American actress. Personal life Tasia Valenza is the daughter of former actor and restaurant consultant Frank Valenza and Gloria Valenza. Her twin brother is a former television writer and now solar mark ...

as Margo *

Tony Amendola Tony Amendola (born August 24, 1951) is an American actor. He played the Jaffa master Bra'tac in ''Stargate SG-1'' and Pinocchio's creator/father, Geppetto on ABC's ''Once Upon a Time''. He also had a recurring role as revolutionary leader Edou ...

as Skankmeyer *Julie DeMita as Frenchy *Rick Naiera as Vic Guapo *

Lewis Arquette Lewis Michael Arquette (December 14, 1935 – February 10, 2001) was an American film actor, writer, and producer. Arquette was known for playing J.D. Pickett on the television series ''The Waltons'', on which he worked from 1978 to 1981. Life ...

as Farfelson/Corbin *

Jennifer Darling Jennifer Darling (born Joan Darling; June 19, 1946, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American voice, film and television actress. Her best-known role on screen was as Peggy Callahan in ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' and its spin-off ''The Bion ...

as Elvira *

E.G. Daily Elizabeth Ann Guttman, (born September 11, 1961) better known as E. G. Daily and Elizabeth Daily, is an American actress and singer. Daily is best known for her animation voice roles as Tommy Pickles on ''Rugrats'' and its spin-off ''All Grown ...

as Nisa Lolita *

Joey Camen Joey Camen (born January 16, 1957) is an American voice actor, comedian and writer who has performed voice over work in various movies, TV shows and video games. Early life Camen is of Russian and Romanian Jewish ancestry. His father, Hyman C ...

as Max *

Michael Yama Michael Yama (November 14, 1943July 30, 2020), was an American actor who has regularly voiced for GI Joe. He has been on ''The X-Files'', '' Just Shoot Me'' and '' Lois & Clark'' and he starred on '' Betty White's Off Their Rockers''. Prior to hi ...

as Otaku *

Brock Peters Brock Peters (born George Fisher; July 2, 1927 – August 23, 2005) was an American actor and singer, best known for playing the villainous "Crown" in the 1959 film version of ''Porgy and Bess'', and the wrongfully convicted Tom Robinson in th ...

as Bird *

Charlie Adler Charles Michael Adler (born October 2, 1956) is an American voice actor and voice director. He is known for his roles as Buster Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Ed and Bev Bighead on ''Rocko's Modern Life'' and Ickis on ''Aaahh!!! Real Monst ...

as Additional Voices *

Dan Castellaneta Daniel Louis Castellaneta (; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Abraham "Grampa" ...

as Additional Voices *

Tress MacNeille Teressa Claire MacNeille (née Payne; born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress, whose credits include voicing Dot Warner on the animated television series ''Animaniacs'', Babs Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Chip and Gadget Hackwrench ...

as Additional Voices *

Matt K. Miller Matthew Kermit Miller is an American actor, stand-up comedian and playwright. He is also known as Kermit Miller and Kermit Beachwood. His best-known voice role in anime was Tenchi Masaki in the Pioneer dub of ''Tenchi Muyo''. He reprised the role ...

as Additional Voices * Andy Philpot as Additional Voices * Marnie Mosiman as Additional Voices *

Brendan O'Brien Brendan O'Brien may refer to: *Brendan O'Brien (bishop) (born 1943), Roman Catholic archbishop of Kingston, Ontario, Canada *Brendan O'Brien (cricketer) (born 1942), Irish former cricketer *Brendan O'Brien (journalist), senior Irish journalist on R ...

as Additional Voices * David Fennoy as Additional Voices *Danny Mann as Additional Voices

Episodes

Reception

The series premiered on 11 July 1997, beating ''

'' to television by over a month and becoming the first "adults only" cartoon series. Although critical reaction was mixed and largely unfavorable, ''Spicy City'' received acceptable ratings. The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' called the series "Adolescent Humor for Adults" The ''

Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

'' said the series "exploits the female form". A second season was approved, but the network wanted to fire Bakshi's writing team and hire professional Los Angeles screenwriters. When Bakshi refused to cooperate with the network, the series was cancelled.

References

External links

* {{HBONetwork Shows 1990s American science fiction television series 1990s American adult animated television series 1997 American television series debuts 1997 American television series endings American adult animation anthology series American adult animated mystery television series American adult animated science fiction television series English-language television shows HBO original programming Cyberpunk television series Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television series created by Ralph Bakshi