The Tick (2016 TV series)

The Tick is an American television series created for Amazon Prime Video by Ben Edlund, 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 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.

Main

 * Peter Serafinowicz as The Tick
 * Griffin Newman as Arthur Everest
 * Valorie Curry as Dot Everest
 * Brendan Hines as Superian
 * Yara Martinez as Miss Lint/Janet/Joan of Arc
 * Scott Speiser as Overkill/Straight Shooter/Esteban
 * Jackie Earle Haley as The Terror (Season 1)

Recurring

 * Michael Cerveris as Ramses IV
 * Bryan Greenberg as Derek
 * Alan Tudyk as the voice of Dangerboat
 * Townsend Coleman as the voice of Midnight/Onward
 * Kyle Catlett as young Arthur Everest
 * Kahlil Ashanti as Goat
 * Devin Ratray 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 as Joan Everest, Arthur and Dot's mother
 * Juliet Pritner as Gen. Julie McGinnis
 * Dawn McGee as Hannity
 * John Hodgman as Dr. Agent Hobbes / The Duke
 * Marc Kudisch as Agent Tyrannosauras Rathbone
 * Clé Bennett as Sage
 * Adam Henry Garcia as Bronze Star
 * Julian Cihi as Edgelord
 * Steven Ogg as Flexon
 * Niko Nedyalkov as Lobstercules (in-suit performer)
 * Liz Vassey as the voice of Lobstercules
 * Jayne Houdyshell as Black Market Bob
 * Clara Wong as Veranda/Miranda, Identical twins who work at A.E.G.I.S Prison

Production
In March 2016, it was announced that Amazon Video had ordered a pilot for a The Tick reboot with Peter Serafinowicz starring as The Tick along with Griffin Newman as Arthur. Co-starring in the pilot would be Valorie Curry as Arthur's sister Dot and Brendan Hines as Superian. In April 2016, Jackie Earle Haley 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 Ben Edlund 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 Amazon Prime Video 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.

Critical response
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes 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, 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 in the category "Best New Media Superhero Series".

Also in 2018, the show received an Emmy nomination for its Main Title music composed by Chris Bacon.