Boneheads
Boneheads is an American anime-style televison series based on a short produced for Frederator Studios' animation incubator series Random! Cartoons that aired on December 13, 2008 on Nicktoons Network, created by Hiroshi Chida and produced by Disney Television Animation and Frederator for Disney Channel. After Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network respectively declined to turn the short into a full-fledged show, Disney Channel purchased the rights, and the series previewed on February 22, 2013 and launched as a series on March 29 of that year. The series follows Roccos (Blake Michael) and Bone (Doug Brochu), as they encounter many comedy-filled journeys. It takes place in the prehistoric city of Bone Yard. Along the way, Roccos and Bone interact with other characters within the series: Leroy (Hadley Chida), V. Nuss Flytrap (David Henrie), Dinnosaur (Doc Shaw), Bit (Danielle Campbell), Witch Doctor (Joey Pollari), and Doctor Towel (Adam Lamberg).
Production
According to series creator Hiroshi Chida, the show's style was influenced by his work as a voice actor of Yan-Lo in the 2006 Disney Channel Original Movie Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior. He tries to include "East Asian" moments. The show began as a single stand-alone anime-influenced short which ran for seven minutes. Chida created the short almost entirely by himself, and wrapped up production for the short in the spring of 2006. It aired in January 2007, again on June 5, 2007 on the SIGGRAPH Festival, and once again as part of Nicktoons Network and Frederator Studios' Random! Cartoons on December 13, 2008. Eventually, Frederator Studios approached Nickelodeon, but the channel declined the idea. The studio then approached Cartoon Network, but the idea was also rejected. The company finally approached Disney Channel. The channel said they would be willing to produce the series if Chida could prove that the short could be expanded into a series while maintaining elements from the original short.
Chida quickly retooled the concept of the pilot. He wanted a potential series to be "fully realized", rather than possess the "pre-school vibe" that the original pilot had. One of the major changes from the pilot to the series was the emphasis placed on the background art. Rita Street, an executive producer, was tasked with fleshing out the background. Reportedly, he was told to make the series look like it took "place in a 'Street'". He designed major locations like Roccos and Bone's home, the Bront-O-Market, and the Bone Yard Hall. Chida turned in a rough storyboard that featured Roccos and Bone going on a spaghetti-supper. However, the channel was embarrassed with this story, and asked for another. Chida then created an early storyboard for the episode "Quick Shot Bonehead" which was his attempt to emulate the style of the original short. Disney Channel approved the first season in November 2012, and "Quick Shot Bonehead" became the first episode to enter into production. On December 4 of that year, executive producer Rita Street confirmed on Twitter that the series would not be moved to Disney XD.