The Presenters Box Set

It’s been two years since I put the final bullet into The Presenters’ body. For those who are new here, The Presenters was an animated sitcom idea I developed in high school. For 4 years, I would come up numerous ideas for episodes/story arcs involving the Howardson family, his best friend Tom Flouderman, and his boss, The Editor. I felt like it was about time to revisit the series for a nostalgic retrospective to see just how unproduceable this series would’ve been. For the first time, I’m compiling all 3 seasons of The Presenters in a single post, but I’m also including “commentary” on every single episode except those I’ve already written about. With that hasty introduction done, let’s begin!

Season 1

P101-The Goddamn Pilot 

We are introduced to Harold and his family, 15-yr old son Hal and 38 yr old wife [Blank] Howardson, a quirky yet relatable bunch. An unexpected occurrence at Harold’s job causes Harold to get the opportunity of a lifetime.

P102-The Dinner Party 

Harold, a week into getting his new job, invites his only friend, Tom Flounderman and his boss known as the Editor, to his house for a dinner party. When neither Tom nor the Editor can show up, he hastily invites three random workers who pretend to be his new friends.

Commentary: This episode was meant to heavily highlight Harold’s insecurity, but most of the comedy would’ve been from Harold’s family’s interaction with the randos visiting his house. It was going to begin with a cute scene of Harold choosing between two different styled ties, hoping not to make a bad impression while his wife tells him, “You're 40.”

P103-The Double Date 

When Hal’s double date hits an unexpected delay, Harold and his wife take advantage and go on the double date instead. The date goes well until Hal and his mother get to an unexpected emotional breakthrough and discuss their feelings at an ice cream parlor. Meanwhile, Harold and Hal’s date, Shelley, go to a movie theatre and practice tongue kissing techniques.

Commentary: This is a weird idea that I can’t believe I wrote down. Shelley is a reference to a short story I wrote in high school.

P104-Abbey Road 

Harold gets a new assistant named Abbey Road and is oblivious to Abbey’s undying affection towards him until Abbey kidnaps Harold and locks him in a closet to be a part of a ménage a trois with Abbey and the local chess champion.

Commentary: This episode is very similar to Curb based on how a small incident grows larger in scale although the kidnap angle would’ve needed something quirky about it to be funny which is why I included the chess champion in the plot.

P105-The Therapist 

Harold begins his therapy sessions, discussing his many problems with nail polish and picture frames, until the therapist rudely interrupts him and mentions he is falling in love, and Harold tries to help him out. 

Commentary: Harold’s issues with nail polish and picture frames are based on potential ideas I had for a stand up routine in high school. The idea of Harold’s therapist having problems of his own was partially based on In Treatment, a well-made HBO series that was on the air at the time. The ending was going to be the therapist talking to Harold about how he almost asked out one of the women in the bar, only to inadvertently cause the bar to burn down, killing his date in the process. 

P106-The Car Accident 

Harold gets into a car accident and is forced to walk down the 405 while trying to remember how the accident happened, trying to deliver an important package to the closed post office, and trying to deliver a gallon of milk for his wife.

P107-The Teaching Job 

Harold’s wife finally gets the teaching job at the local elementary school, and after some ‘advice’ from Harold, she begins her job. After two weeks in her seemingly blissful career, she winds up in the middle of a love triangle with the bisexual 1st grade teacher and the 4th grade teacher who’s been struggling to come out of the closet.

Commentary: This was the first episode to feature Harold’s wife in a prominent role. I should mention that I had a weird idea for a running joke that Harold’s wife’s name would be censored every time it would be mentioned.  I don’t remember how I came up with the love triangle idea except that I might’ve been trying very hard to comment on a topical issue. 

P108-The Book Tour 

Harold reaches unprecedented levels of success when his first animated short is posted on YouTube and is critically acclaimed by everyone. When the publicity tour is announced by the animation company, Flowers United, he is all but excited when he realizes he will be interviewed by Reader’s Digest. But he first must have an interview with Cosmopolitan which he is all but nervous about.

Commentary: This episode demonstrates how little I know about animation as a career, especially with the amount of wonderful animators on YouTube that get very little press attention. I made Reader’s Digest Harold’s favorite publication since I was both reading and collecting Reader’s Digest at the time. I remember when the library was throwing out old editions of Reader’s Digest, I made an effort to pack in as much copies as I could in my backpack, never reading a single one. They’re probably rotting in my Dad’s garage right now. The Cosmopolitan interview would’ve been very awkward since the interviewer would randomly insert questions about Harold’s sex life.

P109-The Assistant 

Harold is approached by Hal’s ex-girlfriend, Kiki, for a job during the summer and after being baffled by her ignorance towards animation, gets Kiki a job as his wife’s assistant. The choice unexpectedly ruins Harold’s reputation and his sex life.

Commentary: This was one of the last episode premises I came up with for Season 1. Unfortunately, I can’t remember exactly why Harold’s sex life would be ruined by Kiki. I probably just thought that would be a funny idea.

P110-The Funeral 

The family heads out to Michigan for Harold’s best friend’s funeral. Harold decides to change his eulogy into a standup routine that offends nearly everyone at the funeral.

Commentary: The episode begins immediately in Michigan with Harold reminiscing his friend’s life while still remarking on his questionable decisions to become a daredevil dying in the most funny way possible. Harold’s choice to try a standup routine would be meant to be an offensive tribute to his best friend for making impulsive decisions. Harold’s family would be run out of the funeral and forced to hide in an abandoned car in an elaborate parody of Night of the Living Dead.

P111-Impact at Mach 5 

Harold goes back to his old middle school to visit his art teacher. He listens to the selection of music offered by the class and is appalled. He promises to create a new mix for the class, which he enlists his friend Tom to do. Tom downloads a sound file called Impact at Mach 5 which ends up being an audio clip of a publicized sex tape.

Commentary: A really problematic idea that would work best as a short webisode instead of a 22-minute episode. The takeaway would’ve been the horrified expression on the art teacher’s face as she heard the moans and groans emitting from the speakers. This was based on how my high school art studio had a collection of student-made CDs that we would listen to while making our art pieces. A perverted tribute to simpler days.

P112-A Trip with Mr. Hanks 

Harold goes on a bus trip and winds up sitting next to his favorite actor, Tom Hanks and they have a long conversation about their lives.

P113-Pause, Go Get the Batteries 

Harold gets fired from his job due to an intense rivalry with renowned animator Reni Danlau, and Hal suddenly begins failing his classes. All goes well until a good-intended trip to Home Depot leads to a halt in the family’s future plans.

Commentary: Reni Danlau is based on someone from high school that I had a random aversion to, something about her demeanor bothered me for some reason.  

Season 2

P201-The Director 

The worst director in recent history begins filming his sci-fi epic of a city on the verge of being swallowed up by a black hole(a small one, however). After catching one glimpse of Harold and his co-workers in a childish argument about exit signs, he immediately hires them for the movie.

Commentary: I don’t remember if the director had a name originally but he was based on Uwe Boll, an infamous director who’s made awful films about video games. I always thought that film premise was one of the funniest ideas I ever came up with and wish that people can start photoshopping fake posters for this film. “ A Wrinkle in Time”, oh wait…that’s already a movie.

P202-The Dead Best Friend 

Harold, working on a long shift at Flowers United, suddenly sees his dead friend (buried in Season 1's The Funeral) right in front of him. Harold becomes horrified and tries to curse away the evil spirit, while the best friend tries to convince Harold that seeing him is worthwhile.

Commentary: I came up with this idea when I was working alone in the art studio in a late afternoon. When I’m sure I’m alone, that’s when I can improvise minutes of dialogue aloud. Sometimes I get weird ideas like dwarves calling someone a butthole, and sometimes I get something different. It was going to begin as an immediate parody of found-footage films like Paranormal Activity and play around with the idea of ghosts being able to talk back and argue that they shouldn’t be discriminated against for being scary. The second half was going to be a more existential discussion about the very meaning of life. The death of my professor, Antonio Candau, has inspired me to revisit this idea in a short film that’s still currently in the pre-production phase. 

P203-Animatorcide 

Harold's failure leads to a spiraling depression that leads to him making minimalist remarks of perfection. Since every animator at Flowers United knows about the mythic "animatorcide" that killed a famed animator, they keep a close eye on Harold to make sure he doesn't try to use it.

Commentary: This is already more serious in tone than previous episode ideas and I wonder how well it could’ve worked without hard- shifting into melodrama. Animatorcide is based on barbicide, the blue liquid barbers have that reportedly have been used for killing themselves. 

  

P204-The Writer 

When the studio realizes that their television program is on the verge of cancellation, they group together all of the writers for a show-changing brainstorm session. One writer isn't amused by the idea, curses everything in existence, and then quits. Harold goes on an impossible journey to replace him.

Commentary: I just wanted one scene of someone saying, “Fuck you. Fuck your mother! Fuck your father! Fuck your kids! Fuck your grandkids! Fuck the paint chips on your house! Fuck your fish that you won in a carnival! Fuck everything! I quit!” The scene would’ve been 2 minutes long. 

P205-A Weird One For Sure 

Hal finally gets his driving permit and drives around Los Angeles for two hours, celebrating. After a while, he drives in an unfamiliar neighborhood, and in a panic, drives in reverse into a homeowner's garage while the homeowner is still at home. The homeowner takes Hal in as a hostage until Hal is able to pay for a new garage door.

Commentary: I’ve heard many, many stories of people’s experience driving in high school and I had to do my own take on it. This is the first episode to heavily feature Hal as a character and would’ve shown him to be the polar opposite of his father. In actuality, Hal is based on my brother Gary Rodriguez. The hostage angle, in hindsight, seems to be very ridiculous which is probably why I went with it.

P206-The Cameo Spot 

Harold gets the opportunity to work on another channel to increase his notoriety. Unfortunately, it requires a cameo on a television program he hates with a star he despises. When Harold tries to switch places with Tom and fails, he gets into a childish argument with the star and accidentally exposes the star's homosexuality.

Commentary: Around this time, I was watching a lot of Disney Channel. They would always feature the “hit” pop artists and their sitcoms would be the most formulaic material since Full House. I thought it would be funny if an awkward character like Harold was forced to interact with the hyperactive Disney Channel-like machine. Of course the person Harold would argue with would be based on Justin Bieber. It couldn’t work with anyone else, surely. 

P207-Wellesian Connection 

Harold meets an ambitious voice actor who notices Harold's stress and suggests he tries some weed. Harold refuses and sees the actor's vocal performance, only to realize he's become attracted to the actor's voice.

Commentary: At this point, I wanted to highlight different aspects of the animation process with this episode focusing on voice-work. The idea of someone falling in love with someone’s voice was inspired heavily by Morgan Freeman’s God voice which can move mountains if it really wanted to. Wellesian Connection is a direct reference to director and really sad Hollywood story, Orson Welles.

P208-A Nightmare Someone Else Had 

After a long and frustrating day, Harold daydreams about meeting up with famous figures from horror movies(Chucky, Jason Voorhees, Alien(as a joke)) that ruined his childhood. It leads to a therapy session that the nightmares remorsefully give him.

Commentary: At the time, I hated horror movies with a passion and it all stemmed from my childhood experiences dealing with my fear of Chucky, the star of the Child’s Play films. When I would be taunted constantly by kids in elementary school calling me a baby for being scared of a doll that fucking kills people, I would go home to a father who warned me that Chucky is hiding under my bed and waiting to strike. Good fucking lord, no wonder I had to go to a therapist in 5th grade to finally deal with all this. This episode would have properly dealt with my childhood trauma while also poking fun at my own admittedly heightened hatred of the horror genre. I’ve since watched the first Child’s Play and want to watch more, just to see how much more ridiculous the series gets.

P209-Wait, Say That Again? 

Harold, who decides to walk in on the animators working, meets Arlill Rodriguez, a 25-yr old animator brimming with possibility. When Harold recalls their first meeting, he begins to realize that it might be a reincarnation of him, a theory everyone dismisses. Harold's suspicions are heightened when Arlill refuses to open the door for him.

Commentary: This episode is more meta than I can handle. This only becomes more complicated considering that Arlill was my American name that I used instead of Arley since, for whatever reason, Arlill is easier to pronounce in English, only to find out that Arlill was, and had always been, my birth name. This is on top of considering how the character of Harold was meant to be an exaggerated version of myself that exists in The Presenters universe. It’s so meta that I’m creating a dimensional paradox as I type this up.

P210-Flowers United Inc. 

Harold is woken up by a sudden phone call from The Editor. The Editor blames Harold of not being a team player, so Harold is forced to leave his house early to go to work. Arriving, he's surprised to see that no one is there except the Editor who sits in his disorganized office. Harold works on the filing while the Editor regales him on a tale of just how Flowers United was established.

Commentary: Considering The Editor’s name, you can already imagine exactly what his personality is like, and yes, it is a carbon copy of J.K Simmons’ performance as J. Jonah Jameson. Like “A Weird One, For Sure”, this episode was meant to expand on The Editor’s character by unveiling how exactly the startup animation company came to be. In general, it would’ve been a parody of the Walt Disney origin story although The Simpsons’ send up of that is much funnier than anything I could’ve done. I vaguely remember one conversation between The Editor and one of his associates talking about how roses are whores and tulips are like the Virgin Mary but I don’t know how that would’ve fit with the rest of the episode.

P211-The Bartender 

Harold slips out of the office one day, and sneaks into a bar where he meets a bartender who hates people but wants to become a barber. The bartender's existence fascinates Harold and Harold gives him his contact information. After a week of no replies, the bartender begins stalking Harold.

Commentary: This is one of the earliest episode ideas I had but I thought the audience needed more time with Harold as a character for the idea to work.  Given the somewhat absurd setup, I’m not sure how I could’ve ended the episode.

P212-The Awkward Conversation Between Two Boys 

Harold notices his son Hal is finished with his homework and is now watching TV. Harold uncharacteristically walks up to Hal and begins asking him about every aspect of school, including awkwardly enough, Hal's past romantic experiences which Harold can recite from memory and in consecutive order.

Commentary: Very similar to “A Trip With Mr. Hanks”, the episode would begin familiarly with the Howardson family talking at the dinner table. Harold’s wife would encourage Harold to try to talk earnestly with his teenage son, and Harold would begrudgingly walk over to the living room. The rest of the episode would focus on a single conversation between Harold and Hal. This episode would be a challenge of its own to attempt to both develop the characters and create an entertaining conversation that could last 20 minutes. I don’t know if any writer could pull this off with gusto.

P213-The Sandwich 

Harold meets up with Sarah, an old friend from high school who wants to break out as a voice actress. As they're having lunch, Sarah suddenly leaves in a hurry. She leaves her sandwich behind, completely untouched, and Harold becomes tempted to eat it. He slowly slides the plate towards his side.  Looking left and right, he takes a bite and has an orgasm. Harold wonders if it was the fact that she made the specific order or the sandwich itself that made his body react so strongly.

Commentary: I had a very long crush on someone called Sarah in high school and only her transferring to another school was enough to eventually get over it. This episode was my twisted way of both dealing with the crush and riffing on cafe scenes in general. A very Seinfeld-esque idea.

Season 3

P301-The Secret to Human Interaction 

Harold discovers his wife has been drinking to alleviate her stress of being married to him. When he notices how much easier it becomes to talk with her, he applies this knowledge to become more sociable and irritable.

Commentary: I thought that it was weird that after 2 seasons, I hadn’t dealt with alcoholism yet. My family has had a very long history of alcoholism so I wanted to have an entertaining premise that never became an after school special about alcohol. There would always be a running joke of Harold talking about how he doesn’t know why his wife ever married him and this episode would finally answer that question while also dealing with Harold’s insecurity head-on. I always thought that if I ever started drinking, I’d be an angry drunk. Turns out I’m an offensive drunk. Make of that what you will. 

P302-When Harold "Somethinged" Marcy 

Harold tries to become more open with the writers at Flowers United and befriends one of the main writers, Marcy. After Harold inadvertently damages Marcy's reputation, Harold tries to apologize by pretending to be Bruce, her "secret" admirer.

Commentary: The series still had not introduced a comic foil for Harold yet, the Squidward to Harold’s Spongebob, but I thought it would be funnier if Harold inadvertently bothered Marcy or offended her accidentally. Marcy doesn’t really have much of a personality beyond that, though. I loved her as a character, however, so I tried to come up with episode ideas involving her, none of which ended up in the final version of Season 3. The title is a reference to When Harry Met Sally.

P303-Cannibal Kittycat Killers 

Harold's parents drop by much to the dismay of The Howardsons. Harold unpacks his parents' luggage and finds a stolen Francis Bacon of kittens being mutilated. Harold rushes to his car to return the painting while his parents chase after him.

Commentary: This idea was co-written by Gary and was the very last episode idea we came up with. We were struggling to fill up the season with 13 episodes and just went with any crazy idea that seemed “Presentersy”. We hadn’t introduced Harold’s parents yet and rather than just make fun of my parents’ personalities and shortcomings, we instead decided to make them insane master thieves.

P304-The Contradiction 

Hal gets accused of being a slacktavist at his high school. In a moment of desperation, he decides to live like a homeless person for 1 whole week.

Commentary: Slacktavism is a common criticism people have of activists only working through social media but not actually doing anything substantial. Examples include change.org and their petition format, and the Ice Bucket Challenge. I do notice this when people have an important issue they want to address but first they must raise awareness of the issue in many ways including, most notably, colored ribbons. The description doesn’t adequately explain why Hal makes his choice. A big mistake on my part.

P305-A Trip to Route 666 

Harold, in a Dante's Inferno-like journey, has his atheism challenged by none other than the devil himself who enjoys elaborate dance sequences. 

P306-Academic Viewing 

Harold goes to the Sundance Film Festival and drags his son Hal along with him. While Harold "researches" the animated films on display, he discovers Hal's obsession with exploitation films. 

Commentary: Structurally, this episode would be very typical despite pairing up Harold and Hal again. This would be another episode that would revel in the film references and heavily parody the selection of films that are usually shown at Sundance. Many of us can relate to the first time we had to talk to our parents about masturbation (unless you were the lucky few who got away with it) and I wanted to have this moment in the series but with exploitation films in place of masturbation.  

P307-Acceptance 

With the holidays quickly approaching, Harold wishes to brighten up his cowokers' spirits by inviting them to a "Coexist" dinner. His curiosity gets the better of him when he accidentally riles up everybody's stance on their respective religions.

Commentary: This episode feels very Curbish especially with the promise of a loud argument between everyone. Cynical people can definitely find something ridiculous and patronizing about Coexist (and Coexist bumper stickers), but with this being the holiday special, it would’ve ended with a positive outlook on the issue and everybody hugging their issues out…unless the test audiences were instead looking for a huge brawl to break out. 

P308-Harold Meets a Time Paradox 

Renowned performance artist Daniel Plainview visits his newest exhibit at the local art museum. Harold anxiously meets Daniel and as a sign of good faith, criticizes Daniel's work fairly although Daniel takes the criticism very personally. 

Commentary: Who saw There Will be Blood?! Yeah, I did, too. After seeing DDL’s mesmerizing performance, I had to include his character in the show somehow and came up with this ridiculous idea of Daniel Plainview existing in modern times. Now I can make my own milkshake reference! I wanted to go beyond that and make Daniel a threatening character to Harold, going so far as to vandalize Harold’s desk and interrupt Harold’s presentation.    

P309-The Council 

Harold learns of a supposedly good animated film called The Council which has been banned for nearly 50 years for its approval of bisexual polygamy. Harold and Tom plan a public screening of The Council while his wife and his son, Hal, unbeknownst to him, try to sabotage the screening.

Commentary: Bisexual polygamy. Has that ever happened? Animation is no stranger to controversy and this episode would be a love letter to every controversial issue animation, as a genre, has ever faced. It would’ve included references to the Censored Eleven, war-era propaganda cartoons, Ralph Bakshi’s entire filmography, and other notorious shows like South Park and Family Guy. The episode would also make its own stance about free speech except nothing on the level of South Park’s 201. I didn’t have a real reason that Harold’s family would try to delay the screening. I just thought that would’ve been an interesting conflict to have.  

P310-The Motivational Speech 

News of Flowers United getting into a financial crisis depresses everybody. A well-intended motivational presentation has the opposite effect on everyone, including The Editor who decides to pursue his life's dream of becoming a controversial issue.

Commentary: Everything about this episode seems very lazy but necessary in parts. This is very similar to the last season of the Larry Sanders Show but in this case, everything happens very suddenly and has the illusion of building up to something huge. 

P311-Harold Howardson's Wife 

After two and a half seasons, Harold's wife embarks on a journey to find out what her actual name is or at least to beat up the censor who's been bleeping out her name.

Commentary: The strangest running joke in sitcom history is finally addressed. This began very lazily at first since I didn’t know what Harold’s wife’s name should be so I decided it would be bleeped out although the characters would speak normally as though nothing was different. It would be the only information that would be deliberately kept from the audience although others could perceive it as an unnecessary draw for controversy. I felt that, since this was the last season, it would be worthwhile to finally name Harold’s wife while also giving her a full-fledged episode. It would’ve been another challenge to continually break the fourth wall without being obnoxious about it.

P312-Presenting This Man and His Comedy 

Harold performs at a comedy club and debuts his 20-minute routine. 

Commentary: I put this episode at the end of the season because I knew how different it was going to from any other episode and how difficult it would be to execute an animated comedy special. As it turns out, comedian David Huntsberger was able to successfully kickstart an animated comedy special so this proves it can be done!

P313-Nazi Sensibilities 

In a desperate attempt to save Flowers United from bankruptcy, The Editor begrudgingly approves the production of Nazi Sensibilities (NS), Harold's ambitious short film. Notice of the studio's closure creates a lot of tension during NS's production and everyone but Harold, Tom, Marcy, Reni, and The Editor decide to abandon the project. Meanwhile, Hal is transferred to a private boarding school for his academic excellence. Harold and his recently named wife, Elizabeth, prepare Hal's luggage and drop him off at the airport. As Harold and Elizabeth return to their home, now lacking of their son and his possessions, Harold gets a phone call from The Editor. The phone call prompts Harold and Elizabeth to have one more conversation together.

Commentary: Both the longest description and the longest episode, this one would’ve tried its best to wrap up the entire series in a satisfying way which is a nearly impossible task. Thinking about it now, it doesn’t make much sense to approve an expensive animated project when your company is almost bankrupt. The tone for this episode also seems to be more serious than even “Animatorcide” and I can only imagine how suffocating it would be for a comedy to be deadpan intense on its last run. I also think that Hal going to boarding school is a lazy way to introduce more conflict for the Howardsons. The final conversation between Harold and Elizabeth was a callback to the experimental episodes of the series like “My Trip With Mr. Hanks” and “The Awkward Conversation Between Two Boys” and felt like an appropriate end for the series, even if the lead up to it wasn’t. The final shot would’ve been Harold and Elizabeth, sitting on their couch, embracing each other closely as the camera moves back slowly until cutting abruptly to black. 

Happy holidays, everyone.

For more Presenters stuff, check out the “Mental Notes” about unused episode ideas. If you want to check out a brief web-series that wasn’t just an idea, check out Awkward Arley on my YouTube channel, Arscribs Inklets!

P305-A Trip to Route 666 (The Death Valley Story)

Harold, in a Dante's Inferno-like journey, has his atheism challenged by none other than the devil himself who enjoys elaborate dance sequences.
 
The history of this episode is as long as the series itself. Unofficially the very first episode of the Presenters I ever came up with, (it's also the only episode that has an entire plot rather than just a vague description of what it could be about.) As I mentioned in the Season 3 description, it's also the only episode that I "performed" in front of my 10th grade geology class as a campfire story, only that my campfire was the bus lights. To a few, it was the highlight of the trip, and for me, it was one of the many highlights of my high school career. It's particularly remarkable that I still remember the entire plot even today as I attempt to piece it together in this blog post. I do remember that this episode was very similar both in timing and absurdity to The Simpsons/South Park/hell, even American Dad and seems to be the most unusual episode in comparison to the rest of the series. I consider it to be one of my favorite episodes and I'm proud to finally "present" it to you all for the first time. Every joke made is only for the sake of comedy so please, don't take it very seriously. Enjoy the show!
This post was edited by my brother, Gary Rodriguez.

THE OPENING: The screen turns on and the HBO logo is buzzing with TV snow. A slow hum plays as "Original Programming" appears under HBO. The screen goes black. The Presenters' logo lights up all of a sudden, cued by the theme song, the big band theme from Woody Allen's Sleeper. Some of the letters turn off/flicker on and off as the theme song plays for a few seconds. The logo is made up of carnival lights, similar to the logo for Boardwalk Empire. 
We cut to an empty road where a car suddenly appears in the focal point of the horizon. The car zooms by, revealing Harold singing along to AC/DC's Highway to Hell. He bangs his head to the beat shortly after "…The Promised Land," and accidentally hits the car horn. In the same moment, a flyer flies by the car and attaches to the left side view mirrors. Harold grabs the flyer. "Prepare yourselves for The Rapture. Don't be left behind! October 28th." Harold lets the flyer slip away from his hands: "That's a shame." The camera follows the flyer as it flies towards the sun. We cut to the Flowers United building. A few of the guys are in a circle sitting with their rollable chairs. Harold sits across from Tom telling his story.
Tom: It was late, about 9 o'clock when I left work. I was walking to my car, turning left and right for carjackers when suddenly, a woman showed up. She was dressed only in lingerie and asked me what I was doing tonight. I panicked and ran into the car, dropping my keys near the door. The woman called me a pussy and pulled out a crowbar, smashing the windows of the car saying, 'FUCK ME!!' I remembered how people can hot-wire the car and dove towards the pedals and pulled out the wires, begging to Christ that the car would start. She smashed the front door window and started reaching for my hair. I got the wires together and the car drove forward a few feet, dropping my would-be rapist to the ground. I thank God everyday that he gave me the strength to-
Harold: Hahahahahah!!!
Tom: What's so funny, Harold?
Harold: It's just kinda funny that you thanked God even though He'll never respond back.
Worker #1: What do you mean?
Harold: That He'll never respond because He doesn't exist.
The whole office gasps in horror and starts leaving in droves.
Tom: Of course, God exists. Who created the universe?
Harold: I don't know.
Tom: Exactly.
Harold: What kind of answer is that? No one knows.
Tom: Except the Lord Himself. It's no wonder you're such a troubled soul.
Harold: What the fuck are you talking about?
Tom: Language like that, my friend. Plus those blasphemous ideas you keep trying to pass off to The Editor. You have a lot to learn, my friend.
Tom stands up from his chair and walk towards the exit, leaving Harold fuming in his chair.
Harold: You guys are actually leaving. (dropping his arms in frustration) Jesus Christ. I can't- Ugh, you guys, you fucking bunch of-
The lights turn off, leaving Harold in the dark.
Harold: Goddamn it.
Harold works alone in his office, the weak glow from his computer being the only indicator of his impatience and disappointment to his whole staff. A tornado appears in the middle of the floor, catching a few invoices and scripts in a spiral. Harold stops typing, and turns back to look. The tornado suddenly starts striking bolts of lightning, one which hits Harold's chair. The tornado slows down, only to reveal a shrouded figure at the center.
Shrouded Figure: HELLO, HAROLD.
Harold: Hu,hello.
Shrouded Figure: Oh, you don't know who I am?
Harold: Uh, I think I do. I've seen plenty of movies.
Shrouded Figure: I am the DEVIL.
Harold: You don't look like the devil.
The Devil: OH, REALLY?! HA!
The Devil raises his arms and clenches his fists. The lights turn on.
Harold: That could've been an electrical issue.
The Devil: Oh, WELL, HOW ABOUT THIS?!
The Devil snaps with his right arm and shatters half of the lights.
Harold: (crossing his arms) Same thing.
The Devil: CLEVER BOY, AREN'T YOU?!
The Devil points towards the window and prompts Harold to walk towards it. Harold looks at the parking lot and watches as his car suddenly explodes.
Harold: I knew there was something wrong with the fuselage.
The Devil: OH, STOP IT NOW! I-AM-THE-DEVIL!!
The Devil stomps on the ground like a 5-year old and accidentally creating two holes from where he stands.
Harold: I'm sure you are. So, Mr. Devil, what are you doing here?
The Devil: I heard that you don't believe in GOD, am I right?
Harold: That's correct. I'm a devoted atheist.
The Devil: Well, don't you think it's very unusual how I'm standing here in front of you if supposedly God doesn't exist?
Harold: Not at all. For all I know, you could be a mentally damaged person suffering from hallucinations.
The Devil: Wha? Well, I guess there's only ONE way I can convince you I'm the real deal. We're-, (swoops towards Harold, and grabs his shoulders) going to HELL!!
The announcement cues another lighting bolt that destroys a light.
Harold: Well, it is kinda cold around here, and I'm sure Hell's very lovely this time of the year.
The Devil: (enthusiastically) I'm GLAD you think so! Better that you get acquainted now as it'll be your FINAL resting place.
Harold: (sarcastically) I'm sure it will be.
The Devil: Then it's agreed. Do you want to bring anything with you? Maybe a bottle of water?
Harold: No, I'm good.
The Devil: ALL RIGHT, THEN!!
The Devil moves back towards the center of the floor and grows to twice his size, still not tipping off Harold who looks at his untied shoes.
The Devil: (camera closes up on The Devil's face) LET'S GO TO HELL!!!
We cut to the Devil and Harold standing in the toilet as the Devil keeps pressing the toilet handle and making it flush.
The Devil: It takes a few tries. Hold on.
He presses it again.
We get to see the layers of the earth as The Devil and Harold drill themselves all the way down. A red dot on the earth marks their progress. We close up on The Devil and Harold, only to notice while The Devil is transparent, Harold isn't, and his entire body is being driven right into the layers of the earth, although he isn't being ripped to shreds.
Harold: You BASTARD! Why would you do this to me?!
The Devil: This isn't the Stairway to Heaven. I have to be consistent on appearances, you know?
Harold: YOU-
We cut back to the Earth map, as the red dot stops once it reaches the very core of the Earth. We cut to Hell, a flaming, boiling hellhole. The Devil passes through the ceiling and lands on the floor. Harold reaches the opening, and is pushed through the ceiling forcefully, circling around several times, and drops all the way to the floor. Harold shakes his head as he gets up, just as a water bottle drops on his head.
The Devil: Welcome to HELL!! AHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Two huge spirals of flames burst from the floor. Harold looks around and sees all the archetypes of Hell, a sign pointing someone to the elevator that takes you to the 2nd circle of Hell, the River Styx with a sign saying (Polluted. We're "taking care" of it.), some tortured people being whipped by The Devil's minions, and large condominiums.
Harold: What the-
A big band starts playing. The flame spires turn into lines for musical notes. The Devil slides into view while holding a top hat.
Harold: Uh-
The Devil plops on his top hat. He flips around backwards and pushes his arm forward just as a cane appears in its hand. The Devil pulls the cane back and spins and jumps on a platform emerging from the ground. Harold walks closer and wipes his brow, just noticing how unbearably warm it's become. The Devil starts singing, very similar to the Robot Devil's performance in Futurama; the camera cuts to his melodic chorus made up of people who have been stripped of their skin and as soon as they stop singing, they get whipped by small goblins. The Devil jumps from his perch and sings again, just as rock monsters emerge from the ground, only to pull out their own top hats and canes. The rock monsters start tap dancing in tune to The Devil's dance and are incredibly nimble in their performance. Harold sits with crossed legs as he moves his head in tune to the beat. The Devil raises his arms triumphant ally, cueing the end of the song. The rock monsters put on their hats, bow and fall apart, rolling on the ground as pebbles. The skinned chorus are whipped as they climb down from their platform. The Devil burns his top hat and cane while also teleporting back to Harold.   
The Devil: WEREN'T EXPECTING THAT, WERE YOU?
Harold: …no.
The Devil: Well, what are you waiting for? THE TOUR'S ABOUT TO BEGIN!
A stage light from the performance drops just out of view. Harold stands up, and walks with The Devil.
Harold: Do you have many visitors?
The Devil: Not really. We have been trying to improve the look of Hell to encourage tourists. We don't really get visitors though, only permanent residents.
Harold: I see. So is it like Dante Inferno's or- 
The Devil: Oh, no, no, no. It's nothing like that. I gave Dante a lot of creative freedom when he wrote his magnum opus. It's much, much worse.
Harold: Oh.
The Devil: Yeah. (pulling its cape like Dracula) LET ME SHOW YOU!
Harold and The Devil walk down a suburban area of Hell, made up entirely of cul-de-sacs and McMansions.
The Devil: We have a very nice assortment of rotten food except fish, that's always fresh. We only have one bathroom.
Harold: Oh, that must be-
The Devil: The cleanest place in Hell? Yes, it is.
Harold: Hmm.
The Devil takes Harold to a vibrantly clean white door compared to the red, chrome feel that surrounds all of Hell.
The Devil: The residents also have only one laundromat. People chuck their dirty clothes right into Purgatory and all of their stains are wiped clean.
Harold: How do people reclaim their clothes?
The Devil: With long hooks.
Harold: But how do they know if it's their- 
The Devil: Onto the next stop!
Harold: But-
The Devil takes Harold to the local park, where the only playground equipment is the fireman pole, and the roundabout. There's no conceivable way of climbing to the pole.
The Devil: Well, what do you think?
Harold: It's absolutely terrible! What do you want me to think?!
The Devil: Oh, goody! You hate this place, don't you?
Harold: Yes, yes, I hate this fucking place! I hate it! You've proved your point so when am I getting out of here?
The Devil: OUT OF HERE? YOU'RE NEVER GETTING OUT OF HERE!
Harold: What?!
The Devil: That's right! So I guess I'll see you on Friday for orientation. TA-TA!
Harold: Hey, where do you think you're going?!
The Devil turns into a dark cloud and floats away while laughing maniacally. Harold tries to grab him but only gets ahold of air, and drops on the bench. He jumps back noticing that he sat on a large spike.
Harold: That was unnecessary.
Harold walks around Hell, asking people to help him but nobody gives him the time of the day. Harold then asks someone for the time of the day to which someone punches his head with his wrist.
Male Hell Extra: It's 4 o'clock.
Harold: Thanks.
The guy walks away, leaving Harold sitting on the ground. He stands up in a hurry when he notices fire termites running on the ground. He looks up and sees a movie theatre showing Psycho in 5D. He walks towards the ticket booth.
Ticket Booth Man: 5 dollars.
Harold: Uh, my money burned up as soon as I made it here.
Ticket Booth Man: Oh, MR. HOWARDSON! I didn't know it was you! Come in, come in!
Harold: Uh, thanks.
Ticket Booth Man: (leaving the booth) Wait, wait, I have to give you your glasses!
The Ticket Booth Man pulls out the 5D cyan/magenta-colored glasses. He slaps the glasses on Harold, then pulls out a staple gun. He presses the staple gun against Harold's forehead and staples the glasses on.
Harold: AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!
Ticket Booth Man: Enjoy the movie!
Harold grabs his glasses and tries to pull it out. He begins tearing up and goes to the confectionary stand.
Harold: Hi. Can I have some popcorn?
Snack Booth Woman: Sure. What size?
Harold: Um, what's your smallest size?
Snack Booth Woman: Obese.
Harold: I'll take that.
Snack Booth Woman pulls out the popcorn and sprays on The Devil's brand of hot sauce.
Harold: Uh, I didn't want-
Snack Booth Woman: Enjoy the movie!
Harold: But-
The Snack Booth Woman pushes Harold out of the room, and causes Harold to spill some of his popcorn. The  popcorn burns a hole right through the floor. Harold walks to the front row, just when the iconic shower scene begins. Harold sits on the front row looking at the screen, only to notice that Janet Leigh is right next to him being stabbed.
Janet Leigh: AAH! AAH!
Harold: (holding the popcorn bucket) Neat.
Janet Leigh: (looking at Harold) You bastard! Why aren't you doing anything to stop this?!
Harold: I remember this scene being much scarier.
Janet Leigh: Asshole! 
Harold: Mmm. (looks down and sees there's no popcorn) AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! What is this?!
The popcorn bucket leaves Harold's arms and sucks him in. Harold drops into a realm dripping in psychedelic colors.
Harold: Wha, wh, what's happening?!
A large, severed hand grabs Harold's legs and pulls it off from his body. We can see Harold's stomach and intestines as the hand stretches it out. It touches the stomach and makes it glow. Harold closes his eyes and shifts his head back. The hand smushes Harold's intestines back into his body and drops him. Harold falls and stares at a giant reflection of himself. He breaks right through his reflected eye and continues to fall. The camera pulls back all the way to show Harold as a rotating speck surrounded by absolutely nothing.
Unknown Voice #1: When was the last time you saw something like this?
Unknown Voice #2: I don't know. A while, I'd imagine.
Unknown Voice #1: Sir, are you all right?
Harold: (looking in all directions, hurriedly trying to find the voice) WHAT?!
Unknown Voice #1: I don't think he heard me.
Harold: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Harold finally lands painfully on the white floor. He lies face-down on the ground. An unusual chorus of people start chanting his name in unison. Harold sits up and clenches his teeth. He looks in all directions.
Harold: God, is that you? Listen, I'm a very stupid man. I believe in many things, such as aliens and goodwill. I'm just as foolish as anyone else!! Please, I'm a young man. I have many years to repent my many, many sins. I can start right away! Please, please forgive me! I'll do anything!!
The white space disappears as we notice the devil holding a really bright flashlight away from Harold.
The Devil: ANYTHING?
Harold: AH! What the fuck are you doing here?! Where's God? I thought I was in Purgatory?
The Devil: Naw, you've been here the whole time. So…do you repent your SINS?!
Harold: Yes, yes, anything you want, please!
The Devil: Excellent! Looks like someone owes me 10 dollars.
Harold: What are you talking about?
The Devil: I snuck into one of God's parties in Heaven, (whispers in Harold's ears) wild stuff, (moves back) I saw the great white bearded one dancing to Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, and before he kicked me out, we agreed on a bet that if I could convert someone, I'd get 10 dollars.
Harold: I guess, ultimately, that's what everybody's life is worth.
The Devil: (nods) Well, you can't have Christianity without The Devil. You're free to go!
The Devil pulls out a toilet handle and pushes it down. Harold gets sucked up and taken back to the surface. The Devil waves him goodbye. He begins to frown.
The Devil: (speaking to one of his minions) Holy crud, that guy was a jerk!
Back on the surface, Harold walks into the office where he sees his co-workers talking in a circle again.
Harold: Hey guys! How are you doing?
Tom: Oh, uh, Harold, we're kinda having a religious conversation here and we know how insensitive you can be about that.
Harold: Well, hold on, I actually-
Worker #1: Seeing as you're a product of the devil and all.
Harold stands at the entrance and grabs one of his pencils. He thinks for a moment before reconsidering his unnecessary tirade.
Harold: Right. The devil. I'm gonna go see what the writers are up to real quick. Excuse me.
Harold walks back and heads to the elevator. The elevator doors open and Harold walks in.
Harold: Someone just lost ten dollars.
The episode ends as soon as the elevator doors close.

"Mental" Notes: The Presenters Napkin Notes

With the end of the series, there were many unused ideas that weren't quite right for the series or were just terrible ideas that weren't worth developing, or were ideas that made perfect sense to me but little to anyone else. Ideas highlighted in bold are previously intended episodes that were dropped in the last minute. Consider this as an unaired forth season.

The Animated Soap Opera(Intended Season Arc for Season 2) Harold wants to prove his chops by doing something nobody(for many reasonable reasons) has ever attempted. The project nearly destroys Harold. 

The Intervention(Season 1) Harold admits to everyone that he has never tried a single drug in his life. Everyone tries to convince to do so. Meanwhile, Harold argues with a girl in the street who tells him that a viral video of his "high" voice was the funniest thing she's ever seen.

The Presentation(Season 3) Harold, on the eve of a large presentation, begins hyperventilating upon the sight of hundreds of heads and bodies assembling in the same room. he's been drinking a bottle of water, which sloshes back and forth on the walls. As more people greet him and wish him luck, Harold ignores them and instinctively taps his bottle. Reni, normally obnoxious, approaches Harold and wishes him luck. Harold mentions to her how uncomfortable he feels. 'Is it me?' "Not this time. There's too many people here; I'm getting claustrophobic." 'I think you can just leave now, I'm sure no one will mind.' "You think so?" 'Yeah.' "Hmm." Instead, he sticks around and has, arguably, his most enjoyable conversation all day. "Yeah, I think I'll slip out." 'Alright, well...Nice talking to you,then.' "Same." Harold leaves, giving a small wave to Reni and swaggering the last drops of water.

Friends with Stupid Faces(Season 2) Harold gets invited to his friend’s house for a get-together, but once he realizes what the occasion is, he bails(He doesn’t want to see a reality TV show like Keeping Up with the Kardashians.) Upon walking to the nearest bus stop, he decides his behavior was childish and walks back, just when the bus stops next to him. Harold signals for the bus to move on, but the bus driver insist Harold comes, going so far as to offer a free bus ride. Turns out that nobody has been on the bus for the past weeks and the driver desperately wants to have a conversation with anyone, even a loner. Harold leaves, despite, and walks back, wondering why the driveway has one car instead of two. Harold knocks on the door and in the same instant, it opens. Harold learns that they left, since they began wondering why they were watching the show. “It’s just bitches slapping each other. It’s Bitchslap: The Show!” Harold apologizes and insists in calling the guys back just as one of his friends makes the signal to get the bucket.

The Substitute Teacher(Season 2) Harold temporarily gets a job as a teacher(gets the chance to try teaching an art class, but being despised by everyone for being a product of the media[despite Harold being an avant-guarde animator]). Meanwhile, he tries to buy an expensive marble for his wife's marble collection and ends up buying it three times(montage musically surrounded with Mozart's Piano Concerto), angers a student who mentions she has a boyfriend casually during class("Don't you think that's a hoity-toity comment?"-Harold), and begins questioning the ethics of holding the door open for people.

The Note(Season 1) One friday afternoon, Harold receives a note from an unknown source. Perplexed by the complexity of the short 5-word note, Harold embarks on a short journey, trying to discover the note's origin. Harold sees Tom and asks him, "hey. Tom" 'what's up?' "can you read this?" 'hmm...is this a treasure map...description?' "no, i found it right by my folder. It's the weirdest thing i've ever found." 'Huuuuuuuh. well, whatever it is, i wish you good luck on your unnecessary journey.' "ya, thanks, asshole." Tom leaves and Harold goes off to the nearest wall, taking some charcoal with him and inscribes the message on his notebook. For some reason, the note paralyzes Harold's thinking process and he ever does for the rest of the week is attempt to figure out what the note means, if anything.

Centripetal Force(Season 3) Harold tries to help a homosexual friend enter the dating scene. His co-workers, friends, bosses, and loved ones believe Harold might be a closeted homosexual. They test Harold's masculinity by telling Harold to sit in a chair for an hour and stare at "Michealangelo's David", while she, Tom, and the Editor count the amount of times when Harold looks at the testicles.

"Face" Value(Season 3) Harold has a conversation with a good friend of his, only realizing later that he had mistaken her for someone else. The incident confuses Harold and makes him act like he's been violated.  His friend Tom, unaware of the underlying seriousness, tries to convince Harold otherwise.

Are You Wearing Blue Lipstick?(Season 3) Tom watches the Dark Knight again and becomes inexplicably obsessed with the Joker's personality. Meanwhile, Harold meets up with a sensitive, old friend and accidently brings up the "blue waffle".

The Night Out(Season 3) Tom, Marcy, and Harold's wife go out to a new club opening in the city while grumpy, unhip Harold stays at home, lamenting on a night lost.
Harold is asked by his best friend Tom to go with him and his girlfriend, Marcy, to a club. Harold hesitates but decides to go. At the club, Harold is stimulated by the multitude of colors and sensual behavior and decides to sit down where he is harassed by a group of beautiful women. After five minutes, he sneaks out and finds his car. He pulls off his traffic ticket and starts his car. Moving the stick to drive, the car shoots off incredibly fast and causes uncontrollable mayhem in the city. The car pulls out a portal gun and creates 2 portals that cause the car to drop into the river. In a panic, Harold hastily tries to break the windows but can't and sinks into the river.
"That would never happen."
"Says who?"
"The laws of physics."
We're back in Harold's house, where he is sitting across his wife, arguing about why he shouldn't go to the club.
"Let's not forget about the beautiful women. I could cheat on you!"
"Harold."
Ultimately, Harold decides to switch places with his wife who goes to the club instead while Harold stays home and reads a book. The camera closes in on Harold as he pops open a book.
"Chapter 1..."
A quick cut and we're back at the club, one of the trendiest places in the city.

The Job Interview(Season 3) Harold considers leaving Flowers United after getting an offer to join Pixar. On the day of the interview, Harold, after realizing what a horrible candidate he is for Pixar, convinces Tom to go to the interview and impersonate Harold.

Patty, Just Patty(Season 2) Tom Flounderman goes through a brutal divorce, and looks upon Harold for necessary guidance that Harold doesn't provide. In an achingly long week filled with burden and court disputes, Tom finds hope when he meets a 15 year old girl named Patty and begins a romantic relationship with her.

-Harold talks w/ one of his friends though it’s in the guise of an argument.
“I hope you fall down the stairs!”
‘I hope you get in a wheelchair!’
While he speaks, Mary from writing has been listening and is horrified.
“What’s wrong with you?”
‘Oh, Mary, hi!’
“Wha-What the hell was that about?!”
‘Oh, that? That was nothing. We were just having fun.’
“You think belittling others is fun?”
‘Only when you get creative. Like, um…I hope you get in a car accident and survive! Stuff like that.’
“You’re sick!”
Mary runs away, leaving Harold confused and observant_“Heello. Welcome to my…lo-cation.”

-Harold is taken hostage by a group of babies.

-Episode called You're Jealous! which satirizes the most overused emotion in sitcoms

-A unorthodox christmas special where everything goes wrong with Harold and his family during the two days before Christmas, call it the "Death" of Christmas.

-an episode that similarly to Seinfeld's The Chinese Restraurant, only takes place in the movie theater during the sneak previews

-Harold behaves unusually dickish one day, bringing confusion and death threats to the studio.

-An idea for a prank goes horribly wrong when Harold upsets a writer who quits in a huff. The prank involves a recording of a normally-level headed writer swearing like an Italian gangster.

The Presenters (Season 3)

After years of negotiating the many lawsuits made last season, HBO has approved one more season of The Presenters. Prepare yourselves for the most confusing, existential, and ridiculous season yet. Fridays at 9 only on HBO.

P301-The Secret to Human Interaction Harold discovers his wife has been drinking to alleviate her stress of being married to him. When he notices how much easier it becomes to talk with her, he applies this knowledge to become more sociable and irritable.

P302-When Harold "Somethinged" Marcy Harold tries to become more open with the writers at Flowers United and befriends one of the main writers, Marcy. After Harold inadvertently damages Marcy's reputation, Harold tries to apologize by pretending to be Bruce, her "secret" admirer.

P303-Cannibal Kittycat Killers Harold's parents drop by much to the dismay of The Howardsons. Harold unpacks his parents' luggage and finds a stolen Francis Bacon of kittens being mutilated. Harold rushes to his car to return the painting while his parents chase after him.

P304-The Contradiction Hal gets accused of being a slacktavist at his high school. In a moment of desperation, he decides to live like a homeless person for 1 whole week.

P305-A Trip to Route 666 Harold, in a Dante's Inferno-like journey, has his atheism challenged by none other than the devil himself who enjoys elaborate dance sequences.

P306-Academic Viewing Harold goes to the Sundance Film Festival and drags his son Hal along with him. While Harold "researches" the animated films on display, he discovers Hal's obsession with exploitation films.

P307-Acceptance With the holidays quickly approaching, Harold wishes to brighten up his cowokers' spirits by inviting them to a "Coexist" dinner. His curiosity gets the better of him when he accidentally riles up everybody's stance on their respective religions.

P308-Harold Meets a Time Paradox Renowned performance artist Daniel Plainview visits his newest exhibit at the local art museum. Harold anxiously meets Daniel and as a sign of good faith, criticizes Daniel's work fairly although Daniel takes the criticism very personally.

P309-The Council Harold learns of a supposedly good animated film called The Council which has been banned for nearly 50 years for its approval of bisexual polygamy. Harold and Tom plan a public screening of The Council while his wife and his son, Hal, unbeknownst to him, try to sabotage the screening.

P310-The Motivational Speech News of Flowers United getting into a financial crisis depresses everybody. A well-intended motivational presentation has the opposite effect on everyone, including The Editor who decides to pursue his life's dream of becoming a controversial issue.

P311-Harold Howardson's Wife After two and a half seasons, Harold's wife embarks on a journey to find out what her actual name is or at least to beat up the censor who's been bleeping out her name.

P312-Presenting This Man and His Comedy Harold performs at a comedy club and debuts his 20-minute routine.

P313-Nazi Sensibilities In a desperate attempt to save Flowers United from bankruptcy, The Editor begrudgingly approves the production of Nazi Sensibilities (NS), Harold's ambitious short film. Notice of the studio's closure creates a lot of tension during NS's production and everyone but Harold, Tom, Marcy, Reni, and The Editor decide to abandon the project. Meanwhile, Hal is transferred to a private boarding school for his academic excellence. Harold and his recently named wife, Elizabeth, prepare Hal's luggage and drop him off at the airport. As Harold and Elizabeth return to their home, now lacking of their son and his possessions, Harold gets a phone call from The Editor. The phone call prompts Harold and Elizabeth to have one more conversation together.

This is the last season of The Presenters. It's been a wonderful 4 years developing these characters and creating these outrageous scenarios that no sane network producer would ever approve for broadcast. Even though I posted the 1st season a year ago and technically being the only exposure anyone's ever had of this "series", this has been one of my most persistent ideas that has always popped up in my head every once in a while these past 4 years. It was something I looked forward to every Monday evening shortly after school when I could let the ideas flow out in a nervous gabble that somehow made sense every time. It would be the first time I swear out loud if only to capture the rapid-fire feeling of the characters' delivery. As I've said before, the first time I came up with a Presenters episode was around the same time I started watching Curb Your Enthusiasm so it made sense how most of the episodes in the first season are very Curbish although rather than being a blatant ripoff or a spiritual tribute, they were meant to go beyond the limits of a live-action program.  In short, the first season was a very desperate attempt of being bizarre but there were a few examples that tried to be tastefully experimental. Season 2 was when the series started finding its voice and became much more personal in trying to understand who exactly these characters were trying to be such as Harold becoming more of a desperate entertainer than a neurotic narcissist. A few of these episodes were meant to deal with issues I still haven't completely forgotten about such as Harold reuniting with his high school friend Sarah, dealing with his childhood traumas and getting infatuated with an actor's voice. I did notice that this season rarely dealt with Harold's family, an issue I addressed with in the third season. I personally consider the 2nd season to be the best of the entire "series" with each episode perfectly detailing the characters without having to resort to previous templates and was where the series was right where it had to be. Season 2 was a difficult thing to try to surpass when I started considering episodes for the 3rd season. Strangely enough, the first episode I ever came up with was Season 3's A Trip to Route 666; In the first version, none of the characters were fully established and Harold was working at a dead end job where he is suddenly visited by the devil. To this day, it's the only episode that I "performed" live for a group of people, specifically, it was my horror/comedy story I told to my Geology class when we went on a trip to Death Valley in 10th grade. The trip is still one of the highlights of my high school career. It was very well-recieved even though it was very unusual. I've been working on Season 3 three months after I posted Season 2, and it would be the first time I would have an entire episode concept completely thrown out in the last minute due to being nearly impossible to describe in just a few words. Season 3 went through several revisions and many rearrangements and I still think more could be done to improve it, but as with my many other unfinished projects, it's one less burden to worry about. I would like to thank my brother, Gary Rodriguez, for encouraging me throughout the thinking process and for contributing his input in revising Season 3's descriptions and for providing the idea for "Cannibal Kittycat Killers". I would like to thank Justin Bretter, Jackson Foster, Adrian Lindo, Lorenz Kim, and Gil Young for being curious enough to listen to my recorded story descriptions back when the show was in its infancy. I'd also like to thank the people who visit my blog and take the time to read insane ideas/concepts like this one as it spurs me to improve my writing every step of the way. Comments/constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you and good luck.

The Presenters (Season 2)

The critically acclaimed animated program makes its unwelcome return to HBO for another season of inexplicable eccentricities. Join your most hated characters Harold, The Editor, Tom, and many others as they learn about themselves, and why that is usually too much information to know. Fridays at 9 only on HBO.

Season 2 was trickier to create episodes for than Season 1, I'll admit. In Season 1, you can take as many liberties as you can with the characters in order to develop them, but in Season 2, you make choices that determine whether or not the characters are behaving like they should be. Also, certain plot points, such as Harold's job as an animator, can go so far as to what kind of problems they bring for him, and with this, you have to think creatively which can be very easy when your life plagues with you with unusual thoughts and situations. Season 2 definitely takes more risks than Season 1, but usually, such risks determine whether or not the show can establish its own identity rather than fall back on past influences. I hope you enjoy Season 2, the most daring season yet.

P201-The Director The worst director in recent history begins filming his sci-fi epic of a city on the verge of being swallowed up by a black hole(a small one, however). After catching one glimpse of Harold and his co-workers in a childish argument about exit signs, he immediately hires them for the movie.

P202-The Dead Best Friend Harold, working on a long shift at Flowers United, suddenly sees his dead friend(buried in Season 1's The Funeral) right in front of him. Harold becomes horrified and tries to curse away the evil spirit, while the best friend tries to convince Harold that seeing him is worthwhile.

P203-Animatorcide Harold's failure leads to a spiraling depression that leads to him making minimalist remarks of perfection. Since every animator at Flowers United knows about the mythic "animatorcide" that killed a famed animator, they keep a close eye on Harold to make sure he doesn't try to use it. 
 
P204-The Writer When the studio realizes that their television program is on the verge of cancellation, they group together all of the writers for a show-changing brainstorm session. One writer isn't amused by the idea, curses everything in existence, and then quits. Harold goes on an impossible journey to replace him.

P205-A Weird One For Sure Hal finally gets his driving permit and drives around Los Angeles for two hours, celebrating. After a while, he drives in an unfamiliar neighborhood, and in a panic, drives in reverse into a homeowner's garage while the homeowner is still at home. The homeowner takes Hal in as a hostage until Hal is able to pay for a new garage door.

P206-The Cameo Spot Harold gets the opportunity to work on another channel to increase his notoriety. Unfortunately, it requires a cameo on a television program he hates with a star he despises. When Harold tries to switch places with Tom and fails, he gets into a childish argument with the star and accidentally exposes the star's homosexuality.

P207-Wellesian Connection Harold meets an ambitious voice actor who notices Harold's stress and suggests he tries some weed. Harold refuses and sees the actor's vocal performance, only to realize he's become attracted to the actor's voice.

P208-A Nightmare Someone Else Had After a long and frustrating day, Harold daydreams about meeting up with famous figures from horror movies(Chucky, Jason Voorhees, Alien(as a joke)) that ruined his childhood. It leads to an therapy session that the figures remorsefully give him.

P209-Wait, Say That Again? Harold, who decides to walk in on the animators working, meets Arlill Rodriguez, a 25-yr old animator brimming with possiblity. When Harold recalls their first meeting, he begins to realize that it might be a reincarnation of him, a theory everyone dismisses. Harold's suspicions are heightened when Arlill refuses to open the door for him.

P210-Flowers United Inc. Harold is woken up by a sudden phone call from The Editor. The Editor blames Harold of not being a team player, so Harold is forced to leave his house early to go to work. Arriving, he's surprised to see that no one is there except the Editor who sits in his disorganized office. Harold works on the filing while the Editor regales him on a tale of just how Flowers United was established.

P211-The Bartender Harold slips out of the office one day, and sneaks into a bar where he meets a bartender who hates people but wants to become a barber. The bartender's existence fascinates Harold and Harold gives him his contact information. After a week of no replies, the bartender begins stalking Harold.

P212-The Awkward Conversation Between Two Boys Harold notices his son Hal is finished with his homework and is now watching TV. Harold uncharacteristically walks up to Hal and begins asking him about every aspect of school, including awkwardly enough, Hal's past romantic experiences which Harold can recite from memory and in consecutive order.

P213-The Sandwich Harold meets up with Sarah, an old friend from high school who wants to break out as a voice actress. As they're having lunch, Sarah suddenly leaves in a hurry. She leaves her sandwich behind, completely untouched, and Harold becomes tempted to eat it. He slowly slides the plate towards his side.  Looking left and right, he takes a bite and has an orgasm. Harold wonders if it was the fact that she made the specific order or the sandwich itself that made his body react so strongly.

What's more surprising than the show getting picked up for a second season is the fact that there is still only one main writer who's come up with 13 more episodes to entertain the lessers with, those who can afford an HBO subscription. In this second season, with most of the characters well-established, the show takes on an unusual turn in order to dissociate itself from its source material(Curb Your Enthusiasm, South Park), and becomes its own program. The situations range from normal experiences heightened to ridiculous levels, to moments of intimacy and consciousness between the characters. The problem with an animated series is that it's expected to be very comical and hilarious all of the time, and a series won't have any space to develop if it's reduced to making rapid-fire jokes. In the spirit of Louie on FX, the show will go in whatever direction it has to for telling a story, whether it requires breaking the laws of physics or the demands of an audience. Understandably, there's very little episodes about Harold's wife since I still don't know who she is or supposed to be, and it would be insulting to her character to include in every episode as a background device. With that, I also admit that the series is becoming much more personal with certain episodes that deal with issues that I constantly think about, such as the possibility of meeting your equal(not in a romantic sense) and having horror film characters apologize for a damaged childhood, as well as reuniting with your ex-love interest. This series is meant to defy expectations, but also take viewers daring enough to watch on an unforgettable journey. If the second or first season of the Presenters has done that for you all, I'm satisfied. Third season? We'll see. 

P112-A Trip With Mr. Hanks

Harold goes on a bus trip and winds up sitting next to his favorite actor, Tom Hanks and they have a long conversation about their lives.

A long time ago, I went on a trip with my mom and little brother. Well, it was actually two years ago, but with the many events going on, it feels like a lot of time has gone by. We went to El Salvador, my parents' native country, and had spent two weeks with my grandmother and her family. We waited patiently for the bus that would take us to San Salvador where my uncle and his wife, Raquel, live. The buses were long, packed with people of little diversity since we were in El Salvador, and yet had much personality. There were some people selling tamales and pupusas, others selling life insurance. My brother's brilliant idea of bringing his PSP for entertainment backfired when he mistakenly assumed he could stay awake in a moving, flat tunnel. With no camera, the only thing I could use to amuse myself was my own mind. And here is where we'll begin.

THE OPENING: The screen turns on and the HBO logo is buzzing with TV snow. A slow hum plays as "Original Programming" appears under HBO. The screen goes black. The Presenters' logo lights up all of a sudden, cued by the theme song, the big band theme from Woody Allen's Sleeper. Some of the letters turn off/flicker on and off as the theme song plays for a few seconds. The logo is made up of carnival lights, similar to the logo for Boardwalk Empire. 

Harold's car has been impounded after he mistakenly parkes his car in a handicap zone. Since he was in a hurry, he couldn't notice the faint blue paint had mixed in with the asphalt, and that some vandals has destroyed the handicap sign. For transportation, he decides to take the greyhound bus to take him all the way to Arizona to meet some investors. Harold has little confidence in strangers, and packs his supplies to make sure he doesn't interrupt the natural flow of things on the greyhound bus. He finds his seat, plops in his earphones, puts on his sunglasses and college hat, and doses off. His dream consists of an old-style rocking chair and some (Sprite)water filled to the top. He rocks back and forth a few times until he falls off his chair and lands on a bed of spikes.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
"Hey, man, what's your problem?!"
"Uh…nothing. Oh, my god."
"What is it?"
"Are you…Tom Hanks?"
"Well, at the moment, I'm the guy who's drenched in his busmate's sweat."
"Oh! I'm, terribly sorry! My perspiration system has been faulty most of my life. The slightest moment of discomfort will cause the dam to break."
"That's…interesting."

Though the conversation begins well, Harold eventually gets to a problem when he asks Tom what his favorite genre of music is.

"Rap music, Harold."
"…what?"

First commercial break.

Since Harold has never come across a situation like this, he is unaware of how to respond to his favorite actor. For a minute, he begins ranting about how flawed Rap is compared to other song styles. The argument leads to Harold childishly berating Tom and his “ridiculous taste in crap.” After trying to convince Tom, Harold pushes Tom off the seat and tells him he's going to the bathroom. Tom tells him to have fun. Harold pushes a little girl, who has waited a long time, out of the way and slams the door shut. Sitting on the toilet, Harold looks around at every detail in the bathroom, counts the amount of toilet paper left, the bolts and screws, and begins piecing together his apology to Tom. Harold steps out of the bathroom and looks at Tom's head, now wearing his "invisible" hat. The little girl steps on Harold's foot and waltzes into the bathroom. Harold walks up to Tom's seat.

"Hey. Hey."
"Do you have something to say to me?"
"Uh, I might've taken my appreciation for goo- t,t,tasteful music a little too seriously and…have decided to keep an open mind about things. To tell you the truth, I've never heard of Run-DMC, or Tupac, or The Furious Five. And, I'm sorry."
"Do you mean that?"
"Yes, I do, wholeheartedly."
"You may take your seat."
"Thank you."

Once the moment passes, Harold and Tom Hanks begin to enjoy their company, almost too much as the bus driver forces them to leave the bus for making a distracting ruckus. While Harold listens to his command and steps off the bus, Tom insists on staying until the bus driver kicks him out. Tom drops face-first onto the desert floor. The bus takes off.

"Hey, you can't do that to me! I'm Tom Hanks!!!"
"Let it go, man."

As the bus recedes into the horizon, an irate Tom and a calm Harold walk together in the desert, just as they pass a sign: "Arizona-1 mile".

The problem with any episode that directly involves a celebrity is that the star cannot be enough to hold the episode together and that his presence has to make sense in the show's world. My excuse for Harold meeting Tom is that Tom is my favorite actor, and much like the South Park creators only caring about their favorite actress being on their show, the same rule applies to me. My guest list of stars would be Tom, Larry David, John Lasseter, other Pixar directors, and the Seinfeld cast. Perhaps its a bit limited but those are the rules. The show as a whole is carried by the regular cast and the occasional minor characters. It's a luxury that many animated shows don't take advantage of. Another problem is that the episode is entirely experimental in its concept, harkening back to the 'show about nothing' basis established in famous Seinfeld episodes The Parking Garage and The Chinese Restaurant, in that the whole episode revolves around the conversation with Tom Hanks and Harold. This episode would be an effort in trying to entertain the audience but also in writing dialogue that Tom would agree to say. If I could write one version of the conversation and have it approved by Tom, it would be quite an accomplishment. Above all, this episode would be the oddball of the season but in a risk-taking and enjoyable way.

The Presenters (Season 1)

Originally created in 10th grade.

Let's place ourselves several years in the future where this is a reality. The Presenters is the name of my animated sitcom, releasing in 2034. From the first thought I ever had about this ‘series’, I wanted to create an show designated to be the successor to The Simpsons and South Park while fusing the elements of both shows and Seinfeld/Curb Your Enthusiasm. The series runs every Friday at 9 pm on HBO. The Presenters is a show about an animator named Harold, his lovely wife with no name yet, and his 15-year old son, Hal. They live in Los Angeles, California in a quaint little suburb. Harold's personality is very similar to Larry David's on Curb although he is more confident and less impulsive than Larry is. The wife has been a difficult character to write about since I'm aware of the sitcom mom cliches and even she still feels like an artificial character at the moment. Some of the activities that she and Harold do for fun are fantasies that I occasionally dream or wonder about. Same for his son, Hal. Despite being 15 years old and relatable, I have a tendency to hate teenage characters so that might explain why Hal isn't involved in most of the episodes. Later, I'll feature posts that further elaborate on the episodes mentioned below since the short description is only a sampling of each episode.  For me, this is a major post that, two years ago, I never would’ve imagined myself making but the time seems right. This show is only for adults so some episodes have inappropriate content. Read with caution.

P101-The Goddamn Pilot We are introduced to Harold and his family, a quirky yet relatable bunch.  A chance occurrence at Harold’s job causes Harold to get the opportunity of a lifetime.

P102-The Dinner Party Harold, a week into getting his new job, invites his only friend, Tom Flounderman and his boss known as the Editor, to his house for a dinner party. When neither Tom nor the Editor can show up, he hastily invites three random workers who pretend to be his new friends.

P103-The Double Date When Hal’s double date hits an unexpected delay, Harold and his wife take advantage and go on the double date instead. The date goes well until Hal and his mother get to an unexpected emotional breakthrough and discuss their feelings at an ice cream parlor. Meanwhile, Harold and Hal’s date, Shelley, go to a movie theatre and practice tongue kissing techniques.

P104-Abbey Road Harold gets a new assistant named Abbey Road and is oblivious to Abbey’s undying affection towards him until Abbey kidnaps Harold and locks him in a closet to be a part of a ménage a trois with Abbey and the local chess champion.

P105-The Therapist Harold begins his therapy sessions, discussing his many problems with nail polish and picture frames, until the therapist rudely interrupts him and mentions his failing love life which Harold agrees to try to help out.

P106-The Car Accident Harold gets into a car accident and is forced to walk down the 405 while trying to remember how the accident happened, trying to deliver an important package to the closed post office, and trying to deliver a gallon of milk for his wife.

P107-The Teaching Job Harold’s wife finally gets the teaching job at the local elementary school, and after some ‘advice’ from Harold, she begins her job. After two weeks in her seemingly blissful career, she winds up in the middle of a love triangle with the bisexual 1st grade teacher and the 4th grade teacher who’s been struggling to come out of the closet.

P108-The Book Tour Harold reaches unprecedented levels of success when his first animated short is posted on YouTube and is critically acclaimed by everyone. When the publicity tour is announced by the animation company, Flowers United, he is all but excited when he realizes he will be interviewed by Reader’s Digest. But he first must have an interview with Cosmopolitan which he is all but nervous about.

P109-The Assistant Harold is approached by Hal’s ex-girlfriend, Kiki, for a job during the summer and after being baffled by her ignorance towards animation, gets Kiki a job as his wife’s assistant. The choice unexpectedly ruins Harold’s reputation and his sex life.

P110-The Funeral The family heads out to Michigan for Harold’s best friend’s funeral. Harold decides to change his eulogy into a standup routine that offends nearly everyone at the funeral.

P111-Impact at Mach 5 Harold goes back to his old middle school to visit his art teacher. He listens to the selection of music offered by the class and is appalled. He promises to create a new mix for the class, which he enlists his friend Tom to do. Tom downloads a sound file called Impact at Mach 5 which ends up being an audio clip of a publicized sex tape.

P112-A Trip with Mr. Hanks Harold goes on a bus trip and winds up sitting next to his favorite actor, Tom Hanks and they have a long conversation about their lives.

P113-Pause, Go get the Batteries Harold gets fired from his job due to an intense rivalry with renowned animator Reni Danlau, and Hal suddenly begins failing his classes. All goes well until a good-intended trip to Home Depot leads to a halt in the family’s future plans.           

I remember when I was biking with my neighbors up a hill and a thought came across that advertised the Rugrats video game on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. There was no such thing but I was excited to tell everyone about it. Same with this show. For every seemingly random thought that came across my mind in high school, this was the first concerted effort that actually had potential in it, and the characters are just such a blast to write about and to explore their limitations and possibilities. I have 'created' other shows such as an adaptation of Sonic Advance 3, and temporarily wrote episodes for Spongebob Squarepants. Anybody can safely say that they've also written episodes for their favorite show but it's never in the same quality as the show itself but that should never be a reason to stop. Even if it's the most ridiculous thing ever conceived, somebody will be able to relate to it. You'd be surprised at how huge your intended audience actually is.