''The Dating Guy'' is a Canadian

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 series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...

that originally aired on

Teletoon at Night Teletoon at Night (stylized as TELEToON AT NiGHT and formerly known as Teletoon's Adult Block, The Detour On Teletoon and Teletoon Detour) was a Canadian English language late night programming block that aired on Teletoon, which is owned by Tel ...

starting on September 17, 2008 and ending on May 8, 2010.Alt URL
/ref> The show was created by Matt Hornburg and Mark Bishop, with executive producers being John Morayniss and Frank Saperstein. Produced by marblemedia and

Entertainment One Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...

, the show also has a

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...

-winning

tie-in A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prope ...

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

, with two

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

: ''The Morning After Show'', which discusses episodes of the main show, and ''Dr. Love'', which features an in-depth look at dating; unlike the show, the web series are

live action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

. The show's premise revolves around the adventures of four Canadian twenty-something friends living in

Downtown Toronto Downtown Toronto is the main central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Stre ...

, looking for love in all the wrong places. Guests such as

Russell Peters Russell Dominic Peters (born September 29, 1970) is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, and producer. He began performing in Toronto in 1989 and won a Gemini Award in 2008. In 2013, he was number three on ''Forbes'' list of the world's highe ...

and Howie Mandel appear on the show.

Development

The show's existence was first noted in 2006; at the time, C.O.R.E., who had most recently produced

The Wild ''The Wild'' is a 2006 American computer-animated adventure comedy film directed by animator Steve "Spaz" Williams and written by Ed Decter, John J. Strauss, Mark Gibson and Philip Halprin. It features the voices of Eddie Izzard, Kiefer Sutherl ...

, was slated to provide

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

services. By 2007, a different

animation studio An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales or rentals ...

was being sought, with the show then-scheduled to premiere in late 2008.

Smiley Guy Studios Smiley Guy Studios is a Canadian animation production company founded in 1998 by graduates of the Canadian Film Centre. It is one of the most prominent creators of adult animation in Canada, with shows like ''Odd Job Jack'', '' The Dating Guy'', ...

in Toronto was the animation service. and later in March 2009. According to Frank Saperstein, the idea behind the show is based on the real-life dating experience of one of its creators. The influence of the founders of marblemedia, Matt Hornburg and Mark Bishop, on the show's premise has also been noted.

Characters

The show focuses on four main characters who constitute a group of friends, Mark, VJ, Woody, and Sam, and a number of recurring characters.

Main characters

*Mark Dexler (

Fab Filippo Fabrizio "Fab" Filippo (born November 30, 1973) is a Canadian actor. Personal life Filippo was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His parents are first generation Italian immigrants (his mother is from Campora San Giovanni in Calabria). He bri ...

) – Mark is a 25-year-old single man who works as a copywriter at an

ad agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

. He shares an apartment with his best friends VJ and Woody. *VJ Mendhi (Anand Rajaram) – Mark's Indian Canadian, virgin roommate. He works in IT at the same ad agency Mark works at. Despite sharing an apartment with his friends Mark and Woody, he does not pay rent. He is extremely perverted and has seen all the internet porn in the world. It is revealed in the episode 'Too Fast, Too Dexler', that VJ is short for

Vagina In mammals, the vagina is the elastic, muscular part of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vestibule to the cervix. The outer vaginal opening is normally partly covered by a thin layer of mucosal tissue called the hymen ...

. *Woodrow "Woody" Jenkins (Sean Francis) – the womanizing, Black Canadian bartender of the Hotel Ego bar, and lives with his Mark and VJ. *Samantha "Sam" Goldman (

Lauren Ash Lauren Elizabeth Ash (born February 4, 1983) is a Canadian actress and comedian based in Los Angeles, but originally from Belleville, Ontario. Ash is best known among television audiences for her role as Dina Fox on the sitcom '' Superstore''. ...

) – Mark's neighbor and friend, who is a concert promoter.

Recurring characters

*Anderson Anderson (

Gabriel Hogan Gabriel Hogan (born 17 May 1973) is a Canadian-born American actor. He is best known for his continuing role on the hit cable television firefighter comedy series ''Tacoma FD'', CBC/Up TV/Netflix’s ''Heartland'' and the drama ''Condor''. ...

) – Sam's one-and-off-again boyfriend, from the US, who has multiple careers. *Celia (

Bryn McAuley Bryn McAuley (born June 7, 1989) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for playing Caillou on the television series of the same name, Anne Shirley on '' Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series'', Gina Lash in ''Angela Anaconda'', Skye Blue ...

) – a country

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

who is new to the city and works at te Hotel Ego bar with Woody (season 2). *Vince – a

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

who takes his job very seriously and his speech is vaguely similar to

Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...

. He once dated Sam and remains a friend to her. *Wang (Albert Chung) – the owner of A Taste of Wang the local Chinese restaurant, who is also a part-time

drug dealer A drug is any chemical substance A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by ...

. *Lily Wang - Mr. Wang's daughter and employee, who is VJ's love interest and a former girlfriend of Irwin. *Vikram Cha Cha (

Sugith Varughese Sugith Varughese (born 25 April 1957) is an Indian-born Canadian writer, director and actor. Background Born in Cochin, Kerala, India into a Syriac Saint Thomas Christian family ("Varughese," also sometimes spelled "Varghese" and "Verghese" an ...

) – VJ's

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...

uncle. *Irwin Chang – the leader of the Chinese mafia who is menacing, despite the fact that he rarely speaks and usually communicates through blowing smoke rings. *Rudolph - Irwin's accomplice and translator. *Jeff (

Tony Daniels Tony Daniels is a Canadian voice actor. He is well known for providing the voices of Uncle Flippy in ''JoJo's Circus'', as well as Jedite and Wiseman in the original English dub of ''Sailor Moon''. He is also known for providing the voice of ...

) – an Arab who works at a falafel restaurant. He was killed by Cannabis in "Spanking the Monkey". *Randy (

Dwayne Hill Dwayne Hill (born June 5, 1966) is a Canadian voice actor. In 2009, he was nominated for two Gemini awards, one in the solo category for '' Grossology'', the other, which he won, was for best ensemble in '' Atomic Betty''. Overall, he has voiced ...

) – a common thief who steals anything he can get his hands on. He was killed by being frozen by liquid nitrogen in "24ish", but returns in the next episode "Perfect 10 Killer". *Brian Booyah ( Howie Mandel) – The CEO of Johnson and Booyah (season 2). *Denise Felcher (

Kathleen Laskey Kathleen Laskey, sometimes credited as Kathy Laskey, is a Canadian film and television actress."Second City's Laskey now every inch a leading lady". ''Toronto Star'', April 2, 1988. An alumna of The Second City's Toronto troupe, she is most common ...

) – Mark and VJ's sex addicted boss. *Bryce (

Noah Cappe Noah Cappe (born December 27, 1977) is a Canadian actor and television host best known for his work on '' Good Witch'', ''Carnival Eats'' and ''The Bachelorette Canada''. Career Cappe's most notable acting role is that of Derek Sanders, a rol ...

) – Mark's coworker who acts like his boss. *Ursula (Krystal Meadows) – A young coworker of Mark and VJ; whom the latter has a crush on. *Zorro – VJ's perverted, pet

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...

. *Cpt. Steiner – an elderly

nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

and Woody's best customer at Hotel Ego.

Episodes

The show ran for two seasons of 13 episodes each.

Season 1

Season 2

Reception

A review of the show prior to its release on Teletoon praised it for its humour but criticized it for a perceived lack of polish. A review of the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

rated it 2/5, praising the show's eccentricity and references to

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

culture but criticizing its humour and storyline. ''The Dating Guy'' has also been criticized for allegedly being a ripoff of the

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

'' Least I Could Do'', which was reportedly submitted to Teletoon to create an animated series. It did not come to fruition. Teletoon has reportedly denied the accusation.

Awards and nominations

Home video releases

A DVD containing only Season 1 was released on April 26, 2011. The first season was also released for online viewing on the US version of

Amazon Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pri ...

. The entire show is available from the Canadian

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

. Seasons 1 and 2 were both available on the US version of

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

until it was removed in the late 2010s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dating Guy, The 2010s Canadian adult animated television series 2010s Canadian animated comedy television series 2010s Canadian sitcoms 2010 Canadian television series debuts 2011 Canadian television series endings Canadian adult animated comedy television series Canadian animated sitcoms English-language television shows Teletoon original programming Television shows set in Toronto