Concept and development

The series has its origins in 2003 when Mike Lazzo, former vice president of Adult Swim, asked to develop a project around the title Squidbilly's, which he speculated about during a conversation with his colleagues about Hanna-Barbera's Squiddly Diddly character. In July of the same year, Matt Maiellaro and Pete Smith produced the first script of the pilot episode; however it was scrapped and over 35 scripts were written by Maiellaro, Smith, Dave Willis, Jim Fortier, Matt Harrigan and Mike Lazzo over the course of a year. Later, Lazzo approved and commissioned a screenplay by Dave Willis and Jim Fortier, who decided to base the plot and related characters on the stories of the two creators who both grew up in Conyers, Georgia. According to Vice President Keith Crofford development of the first season was delayed due to a lack of ideas, revealing that the pilot episode was scheduled to air in December 2004. The original budget of the pilot episode was about 1100 dollars.

On March 25, 2004, it was revealed that the series was in production with a first season consisting of seven episodes planned. Adult Swim later showed short clips from the first episode during San Diego Comic-Con and Dragon Con in 2004. It was also announced that the series, originating from the creators of Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, was in development with as many as 96 episodes, that the pilot episode would air on November 7, 2004, and that the official broadcast would take place in January 2005. On November 4, 2004, three days before the pilot episode was scheduled to air, the animated special Anime Talk Show aired, featuring future Squidbillies star Early Cuyler, along with Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Sharko from Sealab 2021 who are interviewed by Space Ghost. The special was later placed as a bonus feature on the first DVD volume of Squidbillies.^[4] The pilot episode was heavily promoted to air on November 7, 2004. On that date, however, Adult Swim decided to air the first episode of Perfect Hair Forever unannounced due to the incompleteness of the Squidbillies episode.

In March 2005, Adult Swim announced that a six-episode first season would air from September of that year alongside 12 oz. Mouse and Perfect Hair Forever. An unfinished version of the pilot episode aired on April Fool's Day, later revealed via a bumper that it would be completed in five weeks. On October 16, 2005, after being posted on the official website two days earlier, the episode aired alongside the rest of the season.

Writing

The series is written primarily and entirely by Jim Fortier and Dave Willis, who are sometimes aided by other writers such as Casper Kelly and Will Shepard, who send their scripts to the creators. Other producers or animators occasionally take part and write additional story elements, including Matt Harrigan, Matt Maiellaro, Pete Smith, and Lear Bunda.

The delay in production of the pilot episode was partly the result of a lack of ideas on the part of the writers who had subjected it to multiple rewrites between the commission of the series and its actual scheduled debut. Over 35 screenplays were written by Maiellaro, Smith, Willis, Fortier, Harrigan and Mike Lazzo in the course of a year. Originally the names of the protagonists Early and Rusty were to be Arvee and Donny respectively; however they were changed by Smith and Fortier in an attempt to renew the creators' original ideas.

During the development of Squidbillies, the creators also working on the development of Perfect Hair Forever inserted and moved some concepts and characters between the two animated series.

Animation

The series' animation, described by Willis as Beavis and Butt-Head style, is based on Adobe Flash and takes a week to complete. The main software adopted for.

The series' animation is Macromedia Shockwave Flash, which allowed in later seasons to more easily change the resolution format to render the broadcast in high definition. An average episode takes approximately 700 working hours to complete.

Up until the sixth season, the task of animating the various scripts and characters is entrusted to Radical Axis, while from the seventh onwards to Awesome Inc. The reason why the characters are drawn so crudely is not due to the budget, which is still substantial compared to that of their previous work Space Ghost Coast to Coast, but is by design; in fact, according to Jim Fortier, if the series had been drawn differently, therefore cleaner and sharper, it would not have been fun.

Production times for animation and various changes made to episodes can take up to eight weeks. Unlike traditional series, no storyboards or particular animations are produced and the pre-production product is not sent abroad to be further modified; in fact the production takes place exclusively in Atlanta and there are between five and seven animators. According to animator Alex Barrella, by the twelfth season, animations and episode designs are generally completed in a few weeks to a maximum of a month, before being revisited and saved. After being animated, the episodes are edited with Adobe After Effects for the final composition. Regarding subsequent seasons, Barrella stated that he wanted to resume the style of "the first three seasons of Aqua Teen Hunger Force", to increase the irreverent tone of the series.

Wallpapers

The series' backgrounds and colors were created by artist Ben Prisk at Primal Screen in Atlanta. According to Mike Lazzo, who supervises Prisk's works, he wanted to base his backgrounds on folk art. Together with Fortier and Willis, Prisk worked about a year and a half to develop the animation style of the backgrounds, trying to adapt them to the previously designed characters according to line widths, layers and texture complexity. The backgrounds are characterized by the lack of right angles and confusing perspectives. Prisk's works are created in acrylic, revisited with gouache and spray paint and finally composed on Adobe Photoshop. Each wallpaper takes approximately 12–15 hours to process and complete.

Voice cast

• Stuart Daniel Baker (2005–2019) and Tracy Morgan (2021) as Early Cuyler
• Daniel McDevitt as Rusty Cuyler
• Dana Snyder as Granny
• Patricia French as Aunt Lily
• Charles Napier (2005–2006) and Bobby Ellerbee (2006–2021) as Sheriff
• Todd Hanson as Dan Halen
• Scott Hilley (2005–2014) as Reverend
• Elizabeth Cook (2011–2014; 2017–2021) and Faye Otto (2016) as Tammi
• Jason Isbell as Reverend Nubbins
• Dave Willis as Deputy Denny and Glenn
• Pete Smith (2005–2016) as Boyd

Dismissal of Stuart Baker

On August 16, 2020, Stuart Baker was fired from the series for controversial comments^{[clarification needed]} towards the Black Lives Matter movement and country singer Dolly Parton. A response was posted on Facebook by Baker claiming that being fired from Squidbillies ruined his life. The response was later deleted.^[5]

The thirteenth and final season of Squidbillies premiered on November 7, 2021, with Baker being replaced by comedian Tracy Morgan.^[6][7]

Musical guest performances

• Drive-By Truckers performed in "America: Why I Love Her" (Season 5, Episode 10)
• Jackyl performed "Raised By Jackyl" in "America: Why I Love Her" (Season 5, Episode 10)
• Rhett Miller performed as an al-Qaeda representative with a hook hand in "America: Why I Love Her" (Season 5, Episode 10)
• Soilent Green performed the main title theme on "Lerm" (Season 4, Episode 1)
• Split Lip Rayfield was credited in writing Rusty's bluegrass Hell Jams in "Mephistopheles Traveled Below to a Southern State Whose Motto Is 'Wisdom, Justice and Moderation'" (Season 3, Episode 5)
• Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Lucinda Williams, Will Oldham, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Hayes Carll performed as various singing forest animals in "America: Why I Love Her" (Season 5, Episode 10). This was the first 30-minute episode in the series' history.

Soundtrack

In January 2012, a free 35-track soundtrack was released on the Adult Swim music site entitled The Squidbillies Present: Music for Americans Only Made by Americans in China for Americans Only God Bless America, U.S.A.^[24]

Another album, entitled Squidbillies Double Platinum Gold, was released on vinyl in July 2019.^[25]

Home releases

The series is also available on HBO Max since September 1, 2020. However, seasons 1-12 were removed from the platform in 2023.^[29]