''Bordertown'' is an American

adult 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 major ...

animated sitcom An animated sitcom is a subgenre of the sitcom that is animated instead of live action and is generally made or created for adult audiences in most cases. '' SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''The Simpsons'', ''South Park'', and ''Family Guy'' are four o ...

. The series follows two families living in a Southwest desert town on the United States–Mexico border. ''Bordertown'' is a joint production by

Bento Box Entertainment Bento Box Entertainment (also known as Bento Box Animation) is an American animation studio located in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2009 by executive producers Scott Greenberg, Joel Kuwahara, and M ...

Fuzzy Door Productions Fuzzy Door Productions is an American film and television production company founded by Seth MacFarlane in 1998. The company's productions include animated series ''Family Guy'', ''American Dad!'', the ''Family Guy'' spinoff ''The Cleveland Show' ...

20th Century Fox Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...

, Hentemann Films and syndicated by

20th Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...

. On May 12, 2016, the series was canceled after one season.

Plot

''Bordertown'' takes place in the fictitious town of

Mexifornia Mexifornia (also Calexico or Califaztlán) is a portmanteau of Mexico and California. Description Mexifornia refers to what some see as the Mexicanization/Hispanicization of the U.S. state of California as a result of increased documented and und ...

(which is on the border of California and Mexico). Mexifornia is based on the town of

Calexico, California Calexico () is a city in southern Imperial County, California. Situated on the Mexican border, it is linked economically with the much larger city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California. It is about east of San Diego ...

, 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.

Voice cast

Hank Azaria Henry Albert Azaria ( ; born April 25, 1964) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is known for voicing many characters in the animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), most notably Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, Sna ...

as Bud Buckwald, a Border Patrol agent. *

Nicholas Gonzalez Nicholas Edward Gonzalez is an American actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Alex Santiago on the Showtime television series '' Resurrection Blvd'' and Dr. Neil Melendez on the ABC television series ''The Good Doctor''. Early li ...

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. *

Alex Borstein Alexandrea Borstein (born February 15, 1971) is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer. Borstein voices Lois Griffin on the animated comedy television series ''Family Guy'' (1999–present), and won a Primetime Emmy Award for the role. ...

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 fiancée. *

Judah Friedlander Judah Friedlander (born March 16, 1969) is an American actor and comedian, known for playing the role of writer Frank Rossitano on the NBC sitcom ''30 Rock''. Friedlander is also known for his role as Toby Radloff in the film ''American Splendor' ...

as Sanford Buckwald, Janice and Bud's 24-year-old rebellious son. 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 though this was previously hinted in the episode "Groundhog Day" . *

Missi Pyle Missi Pyle (born November 16, 1972) is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in a number of successful films, including ''Galaxy Quest'' (1999), ''Big Fish'' (2003), ''Bringing Down the House'' (2003), '' Dodgeball: A True Underdog S ...

as Gert Buckwald, Bud and Janice's 5-year-old daughter who is a beauty pageant contestant. * Jacqueline Piñol as Pepito Gonzalez, Ernesto and Maria's youngest son who pranks Bud regularly. * Efren Ramirez as Ruiz Gonzalez, Maria and Ernesto's eldest son. *

Carlos Alazraqui Carlos Jaime Alazraqui (born July 20, 1962) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, impressionist, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Deputy James Garcia on ''Reno 911!'' and for his voice acting roles. His extensive ...

as ** Placido Gonzalez, Ernesto's undocumented father who is cranky. ** El

Coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological n ...

, a Mexican trickster and

people smuggler People smuggling (also called human smuggling), under U.S. law, is "the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation or illegal entry of a person or persons across an international border, in violation of one or more countries' laws, ei ...

who always tries to cross the border and regularly taunts Bud in the

cold opening A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Amer ...

Episodes

Production

Producers

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, comedian, and singer. He is the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and '' The Orville'' (since 2017), and co-creato ...

and

Mark Hentemann Mark Henry Hentemann is an American screenwriter, creator and producer for television and film. He is a writer, executive producer and former showrunner of the animated series '' Family Guy'', where he started as a writer in its first season. ...

were announced as executive producers. Shortly afterwards, Alex Carter and

Dan Vebber Dan Vebber is an American writer best known for his television work on animated shows such as ''The Simpsons'', ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'', ''Futurama'', ''Daria'', ''Napoleon Dynamite'' and ''American Dad!''. He was also a writer on ''Buffy th ...

were announced as co-executive producers. Lalo Alcaraz and

Gustavo Arellano Gustavo Arellano is an American writer and journalist. He is a featured contributor for the ''Los Angeles Times'' and the former publisher and editor of Orange County's alternative weekly ''OC Weekly''. He is most notable as the author of the c ...

are consulting producers, and Valentina L. Garza is a supervising producer.

Writing

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

Broadcast

In the United States, the series premiered midseason on January 3, 2016, on Fox. The series was picked up by

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, ...

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

Reception

The first and only season of ''Bordertown'' received mixed to negative reviews from critics. On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100 based on 15 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews". On Rotten Tomatoes, the series' first season has an approval rating of 39% based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 5.28/10. 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 The topical humor and topical jokes is humor framed around a specific topic related to current events or dealing with issues that are important or popular at the current time. The value of this kind of humor often diminishes when the topic is no l ...

Notes

References

External links

*
No Walls Here: Lalo Alcaraz Discusses the New Fox Animated Series, ''Bordertown''
(''The Huffington Post'', December 29, 2015, interview by Daniel Olivas) {{Fox Animation 2010s American adult animated television series 2010s American animated comedy television series 2010s American sitcoms 2016 American television series debuts 2016 American television series endings American adult animated comedy television series American animated sitcoms Animated television series about dysfunctional families English-language television shows Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television series by Fox Television Animation Television series by Fuzzy Door Productions Television shows set in California Television series created by Mark Hentemann Latino sitcoms