Everyone should be happy to hear this, with the exception of a hotheaded sentient gumball machine: Mordecai and Rigby are back, slacking off and tearing up the city park this May in Regular Show: The Lost Tapes. How can the show return after it ended so definitively? Easy….there are lost tapes!
Look, you wanna argue about timelines and continuity? Don’t ruin this for yourself. It’s new episodes of Regular Show. That’s a freakin’ miracle. Don’t question a blessing, just accept it! The premise will remain the same: the bluejay and raccoon start the day doing something mundane, which escalates into the near-destruction of the universe. Then the next day it happens again.
The fact that it’s being announced for Cartoon Network, and not somewhere else, comes as a big surprise. After handing similar revivals The Wonderfully Weird World Of Gumball and Steven Universe: Lars of the Stars to Hulu and Amazon Prime respectively, it seemed inevitable Regular Show‘s return would NOT be on CN, and the channel would remain a haven of 2010s reruns and the occasional premiere of an Iyanu season until the day it croaks.
If I had to guess? They weren’t expecting The Wonderfully Weird World Of Gumball to be a success. Hulu doubled the episode order after Season 1’s debut and H-B Europe is now working on Seasons 3 and 4. This might have made WB pause and wonder if they were giving valuable content away (which they were, all along, but they were never going to believe it without evidence). There will still be a Hulu premiere for this series, but HBO Max will get it on the same day, and neither will have it until the run on CN is complete.
So there’s one problem here. While there’s finally something worth watching on CN again, the channel has been abandoned for years and the target audience has moved to other things. How do you get them to come back? …Go where they currently are. Cartoon Network: Game On!, an adver-game world CN runs in Roblox, will play host to Regular Show Island for the next six weeks — a virtual theme park where kids can meet Rigby, Mordecai and others, ride around the park in vehicles from the show, and build Regular Show themed rides and decorations in their own theme park. There will also be a rhythm mini-game to mess with called Mordecai & The Rigby’s: Rock Out. Is all that enough to cast the impression that watching linear cable TV with all its advertisements and uncontrollable scheduling is cool again? Sure, why not.
We’ve known an announcement for Regular Show: The Lost Tapes was imminent since last Friday, when someone on Reddit discovered traces of a deleted YouTube video that listed a trailer launch date of March 23 (aka right now). CN seems to have changed their minds, however. There was no trailer for us today, but we did get the first promo image, shown above, and a few press quotes, posted below.
“It’s been so much fun working with everyone on more Regular Show,” said creator JG Quintel. “We’re just making stuff for ourselves and trying to crack each other up. It reminds me a lot of the original run. I can’t wait for everyone to see it.”
“Regular Show has always been a cultural lightning bolt, defined by bold humor, unforgettable characters and a distinctive visual style,” said Vanessa Brookman, Warner Bros. Discovery GM, International Kids, Animation & Franchise. “Its return underscores our commitment to premium animation with global appeal. With Regular Show: The Lost Tapes, JG Quintel and the team honor the original’s legacy while introducing something fresh. We’re excited to bring Mordecai, Rigby and the gang back to audiences worldwide, while welcoming a new generation of fans.”
Regular Show: The Lost Tapes will premiere on Cartoon Network May 11, then launch on HBO Max and Hulu later in the year.
