The Awesomes

The Awesomes is an American adult animated comedy television series created by Seth Meyers and Mike Shoemaker for Hulu. Meyers and Shoemaker serve as executive producers alongside Lorne Michaels. It debuted on August 1, 2013 and ended on November 3, 2015.

Premise
The show follows a group of superheroes who step in and replace the members of a legendary but disbanding superhero team. Under new leadership, The Awesomes attempt to put themselves back together in the face of intense media and government skepticism.

The Awesomes

 * Professor Dr. Jeremy "Prock" Awesome (voiced by Seth Meyers) is the son of Mr. Awesome and the young new leader of the Awesomes.
 * Harry "Muscleman" Strong (voiced by Ike Barinholtz) - Prock's best friend from childhood since their fathers were teammates in the original Awesomes.
 * Connie "Concierge" (voiced by Emily Spivey) is the secretary of the new Awesomes.
 * Zip "Frantic" Danger (voiced by Taran Killam) has the power of superhuman speed.
 * Arlene "Gadget Gal" (voiced by Paula Pell) is the only active original member of The Awesomes.
 * Austin "Impresario" Sullivan (voiced by Kenan Thompson) is mama's boy whose power is conjuring things with his mind.
 * Tim "Sumo" (voiced by Bobby Lee) is an eleven year old Asian-American boy.
 * Katherine "Hotwire" Malocchio (voiced by Rashida Jones) has the power of manipulating electricity. She is Prock's girlfriend.
 * Perfect Man Awesome (voiced by Josh Meyers) is an arrogant, publicity-seeking but lovable former member of the original Awesomes, who has gone solo.

Supervillains

 * Dr. Giuseppe Malocchio (voiced by Bill Hader) is the founder of Malocchio Laboratories.
 * Whiskey 'Richard' Dick first appeared in the episode "Euro-Awesomes" to steal high tech parts from 3 different labs (one in America and two in Europe) but was killed shortly after revealing that he had been hired to do so (it turned out to be Prock's old mentor Dr. Turfenpeltz).
 * Dr. Turfenpeltz (voiced by Bobby Moynihan) was formerly the chief scientist for the Awesomes and was Prock's mentor and helped Prock to believe in himself and his intellect.
 * Tomboy (voiced by Rachel Dratch) is a female arch-enemy of Gadget Gal, having battled her for decades while also using gadgets.
 * Seaman (voiced by Andy Samberg) is an ocean themed superhero turned supervillain who resides in the ocean.
 * Villain-Tine (voiced by Jack McBrayer) is a supervillain who usually invades every Valentine's Day to steal the world's roses in order to sell them for high prices.
 * The Gay Mafia is the world's first openly gay supervillain mafia team.

The Astoundings

 * Professor Astounding (voiced by Seth Meyers) is Prock's evil counterpart and leader of the Astoundings.
 * The Beast is Muscle Man's evil counterpart, but is a giant evil bulldog.
 * Infobitch (voiced by Emily Spivey) is Concierge's evil counterpart.
 * Kid Meth (voiced by Taran Killam) is Frantic's evil counterpart, who has super-speed as well, but also has green pyrokinetic powers.
 * Mercenary Moll (voiced by Paula Pell) is Gadget Gal's evil counterpart.
 * The Conjurer (voiced by Kenan Thompson) is Impresario's evil counterpart.
 * Bad Dragon (voiced by Bobby Lee) is Sumo's evil counterpart.
 * Other Hotwire (voiced by Rashida Jones) is Hotwire's supposedly evil counterpart.

The P.R.I.C.K.S. (Primates Really Into Crime and Killing Sprees)

 * Giuseppe Malocchio Jr. (voiced by Will Forte) is the son of renowned supervillain Dr. Malocchio, Jr.
 * Elliot "Jeff Apelstein" Levy-Apelstein (voiced by Colin Quinn) is a talking ape-man from Apesylvania and an acquaintance of Malocchio Jr.
 * Pablo (voiced by Bobby Moynihan) is a bully from Tim/Sumo's school who became a member of the P.R.I.C.K.S.
 *  Lola "The Agravator" Gold (voiced by Kate McKinnon) is a supervillain with the power to turn people against each other.
 * Impresario Clone (also voiced by Kenan Thompson) is an exact construct copy of Impresario except for a small lump of Impresario's mom.

The Replacement Awesomes

 * Frank "Mr. Awesome" Awesome (voiced by Steve Higgins) is the founder of the original Awesomes and its leader for the past 60 years, and Prock and Perfect Man's father.
 * Pharaoh (voiced by David Herman) is an Egyptian themed hero that wears a mask similar to King Tut. Perfect Man incorrectly calls him the Mummy. He wields a staff that can create snakes out of energy.
 * Hotwings (voiced by Bobby Moynihan) is a rooster themed hero with buck teeth and a Southern Accent.
 * Silent But Deadly (voiced by Leslie Jones) is a mute ninja hero in all black with teleportation powers.
 * Rocket Boobs (voiced by Michelle Wolf) is an African-American woman who looks very similar to RoboCop (metallic body) and Anton Zeck (tech bodysuit with mohawk and visor).
 * Centaur (voiced by Fred Armisen) is a centaur who make horse puns.
 * Codebraker (voiced by Charlie Adler) is the team's computer expert and hacker.

Dames of Danger

 * Joyce "Fireplug" Mandrake (voiced by Rachel Dratch) is from the G.O.O.S.A. (Government Office of Superhero Affairs) and she handles the funding for the Awesomes.
 * Glinda "Lady Malocchio" Malocchio (voiced by Maya Rudolph) is the supportive, carefree, slightly absent minded wife of Dr. Malocchio and mother of Malocchio Jr. and Hotwire.
 * Jaclyn Stone (voiced by Amy Poehler) was originally Prock's girlfriend whom he started dating in "The People vs Perfect Man".
 * Abby "Musclegirl" Strong-Apelstein (voiced by Jill Benjamin) is Muscleman's sister who was first introduced in the season 2 episode 'Destination Deading', where she married an ape.

Others with superpowers

 * Dine and Dash (voiced by Cecily Strong and Mike O'Gorman) are Sumo's parents, two former mercenaries who formed their own criminal duo after meeting in combat and falling in love.
 * Kid Crab (voiced by Andy Samberg) are one of the heroes who auditioned for the Awesomes.
 * The Advocate (voiced by Tina Fey) are one of the heroes who auditioned for the Awesome stuff.
 * Toolbox (voiced by Bobby Moynihan) are one of the heroes who auditioned for the Awesomes.
 * The Snotzi are one of the heroes who auditioned for the Awesomes.
 * Teleportation Larry (voiced by Bobby Moynihan) are one of the heroes when joins The Awesomes in his place after Muscleman quits the team.
 * Black Irish (voiced by Taran Killam) is a former member of The Awesomes in the glory days of the team and he is masked crime fighter and the world's greatest detective.
 * California Man is a former superhero who was responsible for the deaths of 600 people when he flew to San Francisco instead of Sacramento.
 * Cait Walker (voiced by Noël Wells) is Tim's classmate at Spiro Agnew Middle School.
 * Made Man (voiced by Bobby Moynihan) is a former superhero from the 70s who can perform gang-like punishments.

Euro-Awesomes

 * Knight Light (voiced by Noël Wells) represents England.
 * Flying Dutchman (voiced by Josh Meyers) represents the Netherlands.
 * Crotch Puncher represents Spain.
 * Hooligan represents Ireland.
 * Mademoiselle Hunchback (voiced by Kate McKinnon) represents France.
 * Invisi-Pope represents both Italy and the Catholic church.
 * Czechmate (voiced by Ike Barinholtz) represents the Czech Republic.

Non-Powered Humans

 * Annabelle Sullivan (also voiced by Kenan Thompson) is Impresario's mother.
 * Dr. Jill Stein-Awesome-Kaplan (voiced by Vanessa Bayer) is Prock's mother ,the former wife of Mr. Awesome and the current wife of Jeffry Kaplan.
 * Dr. Jeffry Kaplan (voiced by Fred Armisen) is Jill's current husband and Prock's stepfather who is an accredited therapist.
 * Steven (voiced by Dan Mintz) is Frantic's ex-boyfriend.

Season 3 (2015)
On August 19, 2014, Hulu renewed The Awesomes for a third season, which premiered on September 8, 2015 on Hulu.

International release
In Canada, The Awesomes aired on Teletoon's Teletoon at Night and Cartoon Network's Adult Swim late-night programming blocks. It also aired in Quebec on Télétoon's Télétoon la nuit block.

Production
In July 2007, Syfy gave a script commitment to the series. Syfy later passed on making the show, but MTV gave it a script commitment in June 2009. After MTV passed, Hulu gave it a 10 episode, straight to series order in April 2013.

Season 1 was sponsored by Jack Link's Beef Jerky. The product appeared in mid-credits scenes.

The show marks Hulu's second foray into original scripted programming. The first season premiered online on August 1, 2013. On September 19, 2013, it was reported that Hulu had announced The Awesomes had been renewed for a second season. The second season premiered on August 4, 2014. On August 19, 2014, Hulu renewed The Awesomes for a third season. On December 17, 2015, Hulu canceled The Awesomes after three seasons and did not renew it for a fourth season due to low ratings.

The Awesomes was the first time Michael Tavera composed music for an adult animated series. Tavera has been well known for composing music for Cartoon Network's Time Squad, Disney's Lilo & Stitch: The Series, and Kids' WB's ¡Mucha Lucha!. Judd Winick, creator of The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, was the show's producer.

Connection to Saturday Night Live
The Awesomes had a strong association with the NBC weekly TV series Saturday Night Live, having starred many current and former SNL cast members including Seth Meyers, Bill Hader, Kenan Thompson, Taran Killam, Bobby Moynihan, Rachel Dratch, Maya Rudolph, Will Forte, Amy Poehler, Kate McKinnon, Colin Quinn, Fred Armisen, Tina Fey, Andy Samberg, Chris Kattan, Cecily Strong, Vanessa Bayer, Noël Wells, Nasim Pedrad and Aidy Bryant as well as SNL writers Steve Higgins, Emily Spivey, Paula Pell, Tim Robinson, Alex Baze and John Lutz. Lorne Michaels served as executive producer, as he has with many other SNL-associated shows. Meyers created the show and Meyers, Killam, Thompson, and Hader all had starring roles while Moynihan, Dratch, Rudolph, Forte, Poehler, McKinnon, Strong and Quinn each had either recurring roles or played various small parts. Of these cast members and writers, Colin Quinn was the only one whose time at SNL did not overlap with Meyers.

Connection to MADtv
Ike Barinholtz, Bobby Lee, Josh Meyers, Taran Killam, and David Herman were all cast members from the Fox series MADtv.