Credit: Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared/Channel 4
Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared may be unknown to most, at least those who have never lived on YouTube for a part of their lives or at least grew up with it. Still, the unique series started on YouTube in 2011 as a sort of short film that mixed the learning methods of shows like Sesame Street and combined them with the darkest crevasses of the illest mind.
In appearance, at least for the first third of each episode, the Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared shorts have been the closest to traditional puppet-themed children’s learning shows, but the twisted darkness has tended to bleed into the episodes quite rapidly. However, since the original Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared premiered on YouTube, the series has recently been turned into an actual television show as Channel 4 has picked it up and expanded upon its original themes and production.
Below, we’ve gone into detail on the original Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared shorts, the original but canceled pilot episode, the brand new series, and more as we dive into the evolution of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared.
Credit: Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared/Channel 4
Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared Web Series
The evolution of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared started more than ten years ago when the first short of the web series was uploaded to YouTube in 2011. At this point in the evolution of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, it was here that the series took the second longest break between content as the second episode of the web series wasn’t uploaded onto YouTube until 2014. However, in 2014, the series started to take up a more regular pace, with the second and third episodes of the web series uploaded in January and October of that year. Then the following year, an additional two episodes were added, thus following the trend of stable releases of two per year, until the sixth episode, and final for a while was released in June of 2016.
Credit: Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared/Channel 4
Canceled Television Pilot
Two years after the final Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared web episode premiered in 2016, and years away from the final evolution of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, the creators uploaded a teaser for what would eventually become the Sundance Film Festival premiered pilot in association with Super Deluxe and other production companies. Super Deluxe has had its name attached to some exciting projects throughout the three incarnations of the brand name. Still, most famously, the original incarnation was folded into AdultSwim.com to fit its extremely psychoactive branding.
While the publicly unaired pilot never made it to YouTube beyond a since-deleted 30-second teaser trailer titled “Wakey Wakey.” Although the original pilot dealt with current events and was dubbed similar to South Park by its creator, for this reason, the pilot wasn’t the pilot that premiered on Channel 4 when the series was ultimately picked up. However, the unaired pilot still earned the team behind Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared a chance to create a brand new pilot for Channel 4 and additional episodes. Falling out of the theme with the original web series episodes, the Sundance Film Festival pilot, as compared to South Park, followed our favorite Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared characters. Still, the evolution of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared had the characters deal with the town’s missing mayor, which was the chaos-leaking event tied to the classic Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared themes.
Credit: Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared/Channel 4
Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared Television Series
As for the official television series for Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, the most excellent version of the evolution of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, it was only released this year, after the series was confirmed to be evolving into an official television series in the works in 2018. From that point, though, Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared had its longest break between projects but the evolution of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared required the four years it took for the series to premiere this year in 2022 finally.
The series premiered its first episode and the second episode on September 30th, and another two episodes premiered on October 7th. The series was initially slated to be available through Channel 4 and All 4, their streaming service, on September 12th but was delayed due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Two more episodes are set to premiere on October 14th, following the pattern of the release of the previous episodes with two at a time. While anyone is surprised that Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared has gotten to a legitimate television show, the evolution of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared should have been expected, at least by the time the series had a pilot premiere at the famous Sundance Film Festival.Sesame Street
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