''The Tick'' is an American

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aer ...

series created for

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

Ben Edlund Ben Edlund (born September 20, 1968) is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, television producer, and television director. He is best known as the creator of the satirical superhero character The Tick. Background Edlund was born and raised in Pe ...

, based on his comic book character of the same name. Its pilot premiered on August 18, 2016. A "half-season", through to the sixth episode, was released on August 25, 2017, and another six episodes were released on February 23, 2018. On January 17, 2018, Amazon ordered a second season of ten episodes, which premiered on April 5, 2019. A month later, Edlund revealed on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that Amazon Video declined to renew the series for a third season. In June 2019, Edlund said that he was unable to find a "new home" for the Tick, ending the series with two seasons.

Premise

The Tick is a nigh invulnerable superhero in a blue tick suit who arrives in the city to help combat crime and uncover the mysterious figure behind the city's underworld. He befriends a nervous and mild-mannered young man named Arthur who becomes his sidekick. They come to realize that an apparently long-dead supervillain called "The Terror" may still be pulling the strings in the city's underworld.

Cast

Main

Peter Serafinowicz Peter Szymon Serafinowicz ( ; born 10 July 1972) is an English actor, comedian, director and screenwriter, best known for his roles as the title character in the 2016 live-action series of ''The Tick'', Pete in ''Shaun of the Dead'' (2004) and ...

The Tick ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

Griffin Newman Griffin Newman (born February 19, 1989) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for starring as Arthur Everest in the Amazon Studios television series ''The Tick'', as the voice of Orko in the Netflix animated series '' Masters of the Uni ...

as Arthur Everest *

Valorie Curry Valorie Mae Curry (born February 12, 1986) is an American actress. Her credits include ''Veronica Mars'' (2005–06), ''The Following'' (2013–14) and ''The Tick'' (2016–19).Gaede, Susan (December 1, 2010)"AEDE: Sonora grad cast in 'Twilight' ...

as Dot Everest *

Brendan Hines Brendan Patrick Hines (born December 28, 1976) is an American actor and singer/songwriter. He has had a number of television roles, including as part of the main cast of ''Lie to Me'' as well as recurring roles in ''Scandal'', ''Betrayal'', '' ...

as Superian *

Yara Martinez Yara Martinez (born August 31, 1979) is an American television actress, born in Puerto Rico, who is best known for her roles as Kelly in '' Hollywood Heights'' and as Dr. Luisa Alver on The CW series '' Jane the Virgin''. Early life Martinez is ...

as Miss Lint/Janet/Joan of Arc * Scott Speiser as Overkill/Straight Shooter/Esteban *

Jackie Earle Haley Jack Earle Haley (born July 14, 1961) is an American actor and director. His earliest roles included Moocher in ''Breaking Away'' (1979) and Kelly Leak in ''The Bad News Bears'' (1976), ''The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training'' (1977) and ''The ...

as The Terror (Season 1)

Recurring

Michael Cerveris Michael Cerveris (born November 6, 1960) is an American actor, singer, and guitarist. He has performed in many stage musicals and plays, including several Stephen Sondheim musicals: ''Assassins'', ''Sweeney Todd'', '' Road Show'', and '' Passio ...

as Ramses IV *

Bryan Greenberg Bryan Greenberg (born May 24, 1978) is an American actor and singer, known for his starring role as Ben Epstein in the HBO original series ''How to Make It in America'' as well as a recurring role as Jake Jagielski in the WB series ''One Tree H ...

as Derek *

Alan Tudyk Alan Wray Tudyk ( ;; born March 16, 1971) is an American actor. His film work includes roles in '' 28 Days'' with Sandra Bullock (2000), ''A Knight's Tale'' with Heath Ledger (2001), '' Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story'' with Vince Vaughn (2004) ...

as the voice of Dangerboat *

Townsend Coleman Townsend Coleman is an American voice actor who has performed in many animated series and TV commercials beginning in the early 1980s. Among his most notable roles are Michaelangelo from ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', Wayne Gretzky on '' ProSta ...

as the voice of Midnight/Onward *

Kyle Catlett Kyle Catlett (born November 16, 2002) is an American child actor from Morristown, New Jersey. Catlett has appeared in the television series ''The Following'' as "Joey Matthews". He made his feature film acting debut in a 2013 adventure drama film ...

as young Arthur Everest *

Kahlil Ashanti Kahlil Ashanti (born November 3, 1973 in Landstuhl, Germany) is an American actor and writer. Kahlil Ashanti began his career as a teenager, performing at a community theater and at open mic nights at comedy clubs throughout the Midwestern Uni ...

as Goat *

Devin Ratray Devin D. Ratray (born January 11, 1977) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Buzz McCallister in the ''Home Alone'' franchise, as well as the films ''Nebraska'', ''Blue Ruin'' and '' Kimi''. His television work includes '' The Tick' ...

as Tinfoil Kevin * Ryan Woodle as Clifford Richter/the Very Large Man ("V-L-M") * Joshua Schubart as Frank * Paul Moon as Khufu * John Pirkis as Dr. Karamazov * Richie Moriarty as Thomas Everest, Arthur and Dot's father * Francois Chau as Walter/John Wu, Arthur and Dot's stepfather and an undercover AEGIS agent *

Patricia Kalember Patricia Kathryn Kalember (born December 30, 1956) is an American actress, best known for her role as Georgiana "Georgie" Reed Whitsig in the NBC drama series, ''Sisters'' (1991–1996). Kalember also had the leading roles in the number of televi ...

as Joan Everest, Arthur and Dot's mother * Juliet Pritner as Gen. Julie McGinnis * Dawn McGee as Hannity *

John Hodgman John Kellogg Hodgman (born June 3, 1971) is an American author, actor, and humorist. In addition to his published written works, such as '' The Areas of My Expertise'', ''More Information Than You Require'', and '' That Is All'', he is known for ...

as Dr. Agent Hobbes / The Duke *

Marc Kudisch Marc Kudisch (born September 22, 1966) is an American stage actor, who is best known for his musical theatre roles on Broadway. Early life and education Kudisch was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, the son of Florence and Raymond Kudisch. His fami ...

as Agent Tyrannosauras Rathbone *

Clé Bennett Clé Bennett is a Canadian actor. He is best known for voicing DJ, Beardo, Leonard, and Chef Hatchet (Seasons 1 - 6) from ''Total Drama'', and his portrayal of Lemar Hoskins / Battlestar in the Marvel Cinematic Universe miniseries ''The Falcon an ...

as Sage * Adam Henry Garcia as Bronze Star * Julian Cihi as Edgelord *

Steven Ogg Steven Ogg is a Canadian actor. He is best known for playing Trevor Philips in the 2013 video game ''Grand Theft Auto V'' and Simon in '' The Walking Dead'', and has also appeared on ''Better Call Saul'', ''Westworld'', ''The Tick'', and ''Snow ...

as Flexon * Niko Nedyalkov as Lobstercules (in-suit performer) *

Liz Vassey Elizabeth Leigh Vassey (born August 9, 1972) is an American actress. Her most notable roles include Emily Ann Sago on ''All My Children'', Captain Liberty on ''The Tick'', Wendy Simms on ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', Lou on '' Brotherly L ...

as the voice of Lobstercules *

Jayne Houdyshell Jayne Houdyshell (born September 25, 1953) is an American, Tony-winning actress known for her performances on stage and screen. Houdyshell made her Broadway debut in the 2005 production of ''It's a Wonderful Life''. The following year she earn ...

as Black Market Bob

Episodes

Season 1 (2016–18)

Season 2 (2019)

Production

In March 2016, it was announced that Amazon Video had ordered a pilot for a ''The Tick'' reboot with

starring as The Tick along with

as Arthur. Co-starring in the pilot would be

as Arthur's sister Dot and

as Superian. In April 2016,

was cast as The Terror. In September 2016, Amazon Prime picked up the show for a full season of 12 episodes. Amazon ordered a second season of 10 episodes, which premiered on April 5, 2019. Amazon cancelled the series after two seasons. Creator

intended to shop the series around to other streaming services, but eventually announced he could not find a new home for the show before the contracts for the actors expired, thus officially ending the series.

Release

The pilot of ''The Tick'' premiered on

on August 18, 2016. The first six episodes of the first season were released on August 25, 2017 with the remaining six episodes being released on February 23, 2018. The entire second season was released on April 5, 2019.

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 90% approval rating with an average rating of 7.4/10 based on 63 critic reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Likeable characters add realism and heart to the tongue-in-cheek humor and high-octane action that fuels ''The Tick''."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 72 out of 100, based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Rick Austin of ''Fortress of Solitude'' gave the show a score of 4/5 and felt that the show had managed to fix several of the flaws he saw in the pilot episode. He concluded, "With so few good superhero comedies out there, this is exactly the show the world needs." It has been suggested that the reason for the shows cancellation was that despite positive critical and audience reception, the show failed to draw enough viewership from the general audience to be sufficiently profitable. The show wasn't picked by another network "despite a substantial fan and crew campaign".

Accolades

In 2018 the series was nominated for a

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...

in the category "Best New Media Superhero Series". Also in 2018, the show received an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nomination for its Main Title music composed by Chris Bacon.

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tick (2016 TV Series), The 2010s American satirical television series 2010s American superhero comedy television series 2016 American television series debuts 2019 American television series endings Amazon Prime Video original programming American superhero television series English-language television shows Television shows based on comics Television series by Amazon Studios Television series by Sony Pictures Television TV 2016