Dan Vs. is an American animated television series created by Dan Mandel and Chris Pearson for the cable channel The Hub. The series stars Curtis Armstrong, Dave Foley and Paget Brewster. The series ran for three seasons from January 1, 2011, until March 9, 2013 with a total of 53 episodes produced. The series was produced by Film Roman and The Hatchery.

Plot

The show is about Dan, a jobless misanthrope with a soft spot for his cat, Mr. Mumbles, caught in odd misfortunes and unable to provide income for himself. Accompanying him is his better-off friend Chris, who lives in a comfortable home and has a steady income (he even reluctantly pays for the little or big expenses that Dan needs). His dull day-job and stressful work causes him to be unable to resist going along with Dan's wild plots to get even, despite how ridiculous they may seem. Even when Dan gets on his last nerve, he cannot abandon him, "knowing there is something worth saving in him". Both their friendship, stemming from a bad experience at summer camp, through high school these two, along with Chris' wife Elise, go after the things that make society even more unbearable than it already is. The third regular character is Elise, Chris's wife, who objects to Chris's participation in Dan's revenge quests, but, on occasion joins in due to some of Dan's plots sharing similarities with her childhood annoyances or her secret operative work for the government. Elise's character enables advanced help with some of Dan's revenge missions due to her skills and most of her missions act as a subplot in the show. The show is set primarily in the Los Angeles area, and background scenes often show notable landmarks in and around Los Angeles.

Characters

Main

Supporting

Voice actors

Main cast

Curtis Armstrong was chosen to voice the part of Dan from early production, as were Dave Foley and Paget Brewster who voice Chris and Elise, respectively.

Additional voices

The series employs many guest stars and recurring roles. Carlos Alazraqui portrays a balloon cult member in "New Mexico", both a surfer and a lifeguard in "The Beach", Maurice in "The Fancy Restaurant", Magnifico the Magnificent in "The Magician", and Flynn Goodhill in "Parents", among others. Matt Angel guest starred as a Burgerphile employee in "The Wedding". René Auberjonois is the voice of Chef Puree in "The Fancy Restaurant". Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter (of Family Ties fame) both play the voice of Elise's parents Don and Elise Sr. (respectively). Felicia Day voices the boss in her "titular episode". John DiMaggio plays the voice of a police officer in three episodes, and a security guard in "baseball". Jenna Fischer voices Amber in "Anger Management". Judy Greer does the part of Jennifer in "The Neighbors". Seth Green does the voice of the mummy in his "titular episode". Ernie Hudson played the voice of the Camp Counselor in "Summer Camp". Other guest stars include Clancy Brown, Mark Hamill, Tom Kenny, Bill Kopp, Kevin McDonald, John C. McGinley, Daran Norris, Kurtwood Smith, Cree Summer, Harland Williams, and Henry Winkler for various parts.

Episodes

The series premiered on January 1, 2011, on The Hub, and ended its first season on July 9, 2011. The second season began on November 19, 2011, and ended on June 23, 2012. The third and final season premiered on November 17, 2012, and ended on March 9, 2013.

Season 1 (2011)

Season 2 (2011–12)

Season 3 (2012–13)

Production

Mandel's original idea was for the show to be a live-action sitcom, but new possibilities opened up once they started development for an animated series. The show was pitched to various networks, including Adult Swim. Series creators Dan Mandel and Chris Pearson conceived the personalities of the main characters Dan and Chris by loosely basing them on their own negative qualities. He has stated that the show's self-mockery with the character Dan was in part inspired by the works of Evan Dorkin. Pearson once stated that he thought of the Dan character as "Calvin [from Calvin and Hobbes] as a grownup, if his life had gone horribly wrong somewhere." The series is animated in Adobe Flash. The design for the characters was handled by a team of artists led by supervising director Matt Danner with some involvement from Mandel and Pearson. The vocal cast was selected through an audition first consisting of pre-recorded voice-overs, followed by several rounds of callbacks. Curtis Armstrong stood out prominently to the creators as the voice of Dan from the beginning of the process. The idea to have Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross portray Elise's parents Elise Sr. and Don came from executive producer Jay Fukuto, who had worked with them during their time together on Family Ties. Co-creator Dan Mandel does many voices in the series.

Cancellation

On October 17, 2013, Armstrong announced on his Facebook page that the show has been canceled. His statement read: "Christian Paredes, James Jones and Larry Reaper, among others, have been kind enough to ask about Dan Vs., the animated series I've been doing for the last few seasons on The Hub. It was created by Chris Pearson and Dan Mandel and also starred Dave Foley and Paget Brewster, giving truly funny performances as Dan's best friend and wife respectively. Dan Vs. actually won an Emmy this year for direction for Dan Angel and was among my favorite past times. It has been canceled, for the baffling and inexplicable reasons that shows like Dan Vs. get canceled. I can't really explain it because it has never been explained to me. Occasionally I would ask about the status of the show and be told that it wasn't canceled, but when I would ask about specifics, there would be long, awkward pauses and then changes to other subjects, like the weather or the possibility of a government shut down (this was the previous government shutdown, which gives you an idea how long this has been going on.) Finally, I had to just give up and move on with my life. This is actually not uncommon in my business. Things just sort of fade away, with an noticeable absence of closure. You can't help dwelling on it for a time, but eventually the whole thing just becomes a sort of fragrant memory. Some fragrances, of course, are sweeter than others: I'm happy to say that in the case of Dan Vs., they are, pretty much across the board, sweet. I loved everyone I worked with, the company was great, the network was supportive and, of course, the fans were rabid and vocal in their enthusiasm. The checks cleared, it's out on DVD and it was fun and you can't really ask for more than that."

Home media

In March 2012, Starz and Anchor Bay Entertainment have secured the distribution rights to the series in the United States and Canada. The complete first season was released on DVD on July 17, 2012. This is a 3-disc set, which contains all 22 episodes of the first season and includes an animatic of the episode "Burgerphile". As of 2024, all episodes of the series are currently available for free on Tubi, The Roku Channel and Amazon Freevee in the United States, as well as Crave via its Starz subscription in Canada. It was later added to Amazon Prime Video in December 2020.

Awards and nominations