That's Entertainment (Hazbin Hotel)

That's Entertainment (Hazbin Hotel), also known as Pilot , or simply Hazbin Hotel, is the pilot episode of the adult animated series Hazbin Hotel, co-written by Dave Capdevielle, Raymond Hernandez, and series creator Vivienne "VivziePop", as well as directed by Medrano. It premiered on YouTube on October 28, 2019, following a teaser in the form of a music video released a year earlier. The pilot was highly successful, receiving mostly positive reception. It was animated by SpindleHorse and its success allowed Hazbin Hotel to expand into a full show, produced by A24 , Bento Box , and released on Amazon Prime Video . Hazbin Hotel shares the same story universe with Helluva Boss , a spin-off available in its entirety on YouTube.

Plot

Every year, Heaven sends an army of exorcist angels to Hell to exterminate sinners to avoid overpopulation and, consequently, a possible revolthttps://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Stella_del_Mattino. Charlie Morningstar (Charlie Magne in the pilot episode), princess of Hell as the daughter of the rulers Lucifer and Lilith, wants an alternative solution and therefore opens a hotel called the Happy Hotel with the help of her girlfriend Vaggie , a place where sinners have the opportunity, ideally, to redeem themselves to ascend to Heaven. Charlie tries to publicize his initiative in a television interview with the ruthless journalist Katie Killjoy, performing the musical number "Inside of Every Demon is a Rainbow", but makes a fool of himself as the first test customer of the Hotel, the porn actor Angel Dust , gets involved in a street war between the inventor Sir Pentious and the thug Cherri Bomb.

Production and Release

Medrano began developing the pilot character at the School of Visual Arts for his webcomic series ZooPhobia before re-developing it as Hazbin Hotel . The pilot was intended to be an adult comedy "with a raunchy, demonic aesthetic". The episode took over six months to write and over two years to animate, with teasers released in the period afterward to garner a fan audience.

A music video for the song "Inside Every Demon There's a Rainbow", featured in the pilot, was released on October 5, 2018, [10] and has garnered 54 million views as of early February 2021. Additionally, an official French dub of the pilot was released on May 8, 2020, and more recently a Japanese version. The podcast series uniCast , co-hosted by Angel Dust voice actor (Pilot only), Michael Kovach, and animator Ashley Nichols, features several vignettes involving various Hazbin Hotel voice actors, which were released from 2019 to 2023.

Hospitalyty

Criticism

The episode was critically acclaimed for the quality of the animation, music, and characters. Matthew Field of Go! & Express argued that the episode was part of the "animation renaissance" on YouTube , and said that there could be "a lot more projects like Hazbin in the future." [15] [16] Lidia Vassar of the MSU Reporter praised the show, noting its "raunchy sense of humor and quirky art style." [17] She also stated that she was looking forward to future episodes, appreciated the "diversity of character designs," and said that it was clear that the show's creators "put a lot of time and heart into this project." In December 2019, in an article on the current state of adult animation , CBR animation critic Reuben Baron said that while the pilot episode had garnered "some justified criticism" due to its inappropriate and edgy humor, it was still a "clear labor of love from an animation perspective". [18]

Reviewers argued that the pilot would have a positive influence on independent animation in the future, [19] [20] with Sean Cubillas for CBR praising the show for its "quirky, ambitious, and dark humor" and some of the "fastest, wittiest, and most raunchy dialogue ever seen in independent animation". [21]

Expansion to the complete series

In August 2020, A24 picked up Hazbin Hotel for production as a television series. [22] [23] On December 21, 2021, the Hazbin Hotel Twitter account teased the release of the first season. [24] It was later reported that the cast of the pilot had not been asked to reprise their roles for the A24 production, although these voice actors have shown support for the show despite their removal. [25] [26] [27] On September 28, 2023, a trailer was released announcing the first season's premiere on Amazon Prime Video in January 2024, also announcing that "season 2 is coming". [28] The series premiered on January 19, 2024 to critical acclaim.