2010 in animation


2010 in animation is an overview of notable events, including notable awards, list of films released, television show debuts and endings, and notable deaths.

Events

January

January 3: The Simpsons 450th episode "Thursdays with Abie" premieres on Fox, guest starring famed author Mitch Albom as himself. The episode was seen by over 8.5 million viewers that night.

February

February 15: The Penguins of Madagascar concludes its first season on Nickelodeon with the half-hour special "Dr. Blowhole's Revenge". The season's finale was seen by nearly 4 million viewers that night.

March

March 7: 82nd Academy Awards:

April

April 5:
  • * The first episode of Adventure Time is broadcast, gaining generally positive attention. This is the first Cartoon Network original series outside Adult Swim to perceive the LGBT representation in general.
  • * The first episode of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated airs. This marks the first in the pre-2023 Scooby-Doo series where one of the original characters comes out.April 14: The South Park episode "200" is broadcast, which portrays Muhammad, though as a censored image. The episode leads to serious controversy, riots and death threats. April 21: The South Park episode "201" is broadcast, which continues the Muhammad storyline from "200" but is notably censored, with several lines of dialogue muted. It was revealed in this episode that Scott Tenorman's father, Jack Tenorman was also Cartman's biological father.
  • * After their broadcast, both episodes are pulled from syndication, removed from the series' website, and unaired outside the United States.April 25: South Park is banned in Sri Lanka due to controversy over the episode "200", which depicted Gautama Buddha snorting cocaine.

May

May 3: The first episode of Everything's Rosie airs.May 6: After more than 12 years of being on the air, King of the Hill aired its final episode in syndication.May 16: American Dad! concludes its sixth season on Fox with the episode "Great Space Roaster". The finale was seen by just nearly 5.9 million viewers that night.May 20: Shrek receives a star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame.May 23:

June

June 9: Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud's Despicable Me premieres. The Minions characters will prove so popular that they'll eventually receive a spin-off film.June 16: Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist, based on a script by Jacques Tati, is first released.June 18: Pixar's Toy Story 3 is Released.June 20: Family Guy concludes its eighth season on BBC Three in the UK with the episode "Partial Terms of Endearment", Fox refused to air this episode & ended up banning it in the US due to the episode's portrayal of abortion, however the episode released on DVD in the US 3 months later. This was also the last episode to be produced in Standard-definition.June 24: The Futurama revival premieres on Comedy Central after a seven-year cancellation on Fox. The same evening, another episode, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela", premieres, guest starring actor and comedian Chris Elliott.

July

July 1: The Futurama episode "Attack of the Killer App" premieres, guest starring actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. The episode also spawned the "shut up and take my money" meme.July 8: The Futurama episode "Proposition Infinity" premieres, guest starring actor George Takei. This was his third guest star appearance in the series.July 17: Hiromasa Yonebayashi's Arrietty, based on the children's fantasy novel The Borrowers by Mary Norton, is first released.July 22: The Futurama episode "Lethal Inspection" premieres, in which Bender must cope with Hermes to help track down the mysterious Inspector 5.July 29: The Futurama episode "The Late Philip J. Fry" premieres, in which Professor Farnsworth invents a time machine, which only goes forward in time. The series won its second Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (Programming Less Than One Hour) in 2011 and received critical acclaim.

August

August 17: Former Disney and Don Bluth animator Jeffrey J. Varab is arrested for fraud.August 19: The Futurama episode "The Prisoner of Benda" premieres, in which Professor Farnsworth and Amy build a machine that allows them to switch minds so that they may each pursue their lifelong dreams. The episode was notable for a theorem created by the episode's writer Ken Keeler that provided a mathematical explanation for how the characters could return to their original bodies.August 23: The first episode of Tayo the Little Bus airs.August 26: The Futurama episode "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences" premieres, guest starring actress Katee Sackhoff, Spanish cartoonist Sergio Aragonés and series creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen.August 28: Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 3 becomes the first animated film to gross over $1 billion.August 31: After more than 11 years on the air, Dragon Tales airs for the last time on the PBS Kids block.

September

September 6: The first episodes of The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, NFL Rush Zone, Regular Show and Mad air.September 21: Tinker Bell receives a star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame.September 26:

October

October 2: The first episodes of the Jimmy Neutron spin-off series Planet Sheen and T.U.F.F. Puppy both premiered on Nickelodeon.October 3: Season 7 of American Dad! begins on Fox with the premiere of the episode "100 A.D.". The season's premiere brought in a total of over 6.1 million viewers that night.October 8: Discovery Kids's preschool block, Ready Set Learn, is discontinued.October 10:

November

November 5: The DreamWorks Animation film, Megamind, premieres.November 7: Anime producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki drowns at age 75 after falling off the research steamboat Yamato. November 8: Film critics protest against MPAA for the irrelevant movie ratings that were given to films years ago, including All Dogs Go to Heaven, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, and urged the association to make their change in the future. After controversies with Cars 2 and Rango in 2011, subsequent films are not rated the same again. G-rating became much less frequently used in family-oriented films.November 17: South Park concludes its 14th season on Comedy Central with the episode "Crème Fraîche". It was seen by over 2.4 million viewers that night.November 19: Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal and Tono Errando's Chico and Rita premieres.November 21:

December

December 15: The film A Cat in Paris by Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol premieres. December 17: The live action/animated hybrid film Yogi Bear is released, receiving extremely negative reviews for neglecting the originality from the original Yogi Bear cartoon.

Awards

Films released

Television series debuts

DateTitleChannelYear
January 25Team UmizoomiNick Jr.2010–2015
January 25Handy Manny's School for ToolsPlayhouse Disney2010–2011
February 13Kick Buttowski: Suburban DaredevilDisney XD2010–2012
February 13SciGirlsPBS Kids Go!2010–2015
February 19The Ricky Gervais ShowHBO, Channel 42010–2012
February 27Dance-A-Lot RobotPlayhouse Disney2010
March 1Hero: 108Cartoon Network2010–2012
March 7Pink Panther and PalsCartoon Network2010
March 17Ugly AmericansComedy Central2010–2012
April 5Adventure TimeCartoon Network2010–2018
April 5Scooby-Doo! Mystery IncorporatedCartoon Network2010–2013
April 23Ben 10: Ultimate AlienCartoon Network2010–2012
April 23Generator RexCartoon Network2010–2013
May 5Monster HighYouTube2010–2015
June 5Pokémon: DP Sinnoh League VictorsCartoon Network2010–2011
June 7Neighbors from HellTBS2010
June 24FuturamaComedy Central2010–2013
June 27Mary Shelley's FrankenholeAdult Swim2010–2012
September 3SidekickYTV2010–2013
September 3Fish HooksDisney Channel2010–2014
September 6The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!PBS Kids2010–2018
September 6Regular ShowCartoon Network2010–2017
September 6MadCartoon Network2010–2013
September 6NFL Rush ZoneNicktoons2010–2014
September 17Sym-Bionic TitanCartoon Network2010–2011
September 22The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest HeroesDisney XD2010–2013
October 2Planet SheenNickelodeon2010–2013
October 2T.U.F.F. PuppyNickelodeon2010–2015
October 10The Twisted Whiskers ShowThe Hub2010
October 10Cosmic Quantum RayThe Hub2010
October 10My Little Pony: Friendship Is MagicThe Hub2010–2019
October 10Pound PuppiesThe Hub2010–2013
October 10Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty AdventuresThe Hub2010–2015
October 11Zevo-3Nicktoons2010–2011
October 11Maryoku YummyThe Hub2010
October 15The Adventures of Chuck and FriendsThe Hub2010–2012
October 25RobotomyCartoon Network2010–2011
November 18Dick FiguresMondo, YouTube2010–2015
November 22Babar and the Adventures of BadouYTV, Treehouse TV2010–2015
November 26G.I. Joe RenegadesThe Hub2010–2011
November 26Young JusticeCartoon Network, DC Universe2010–2022
November 29Transformers: PrimeThe Hub2010–2013
December 3Take Two with Phineas and FerbDisney Channel2010–2011

Births

December

December 15: Zion Broadnax, American actress.

Deaths

January

January 1: John Freeman, American animator, dies at age 93.January 8: Art Clokey, American animator, director and actor, dies at age 88.January 10: Barry Blitzer, American television writer, dies at age 80.January 22: Jean Simmons, English actress, dies at age 80.January 27: Zelda Rubinstein, American actress and human rights activist, dies from a heart attack at age 76.

February

February 4: Te Wei, Chinese comics artist and animator, dies at age 94.February 11: Marvin Stein, American comics artist, animator and illustrator, dies at age 85.February 18: Fernando Krahn, Chilean artist, comics artist, illustrator and animator, dies at age 75.February 19: Rudy Larriva, American animator and director, dies at age 94.February 24: Dawn Brancheau, American senior animal trainer, drowns from an orca attack at age 40.

March

March 3: Anatoly Petrov, Russian film director and animator, dies at age 72.March 14:

April

April 6:
  • * Tom Ray, American animator and film director at age 90.
  • * Eddie Carroll, Canadian actor, dies at age 76.April 7: Betty Paraskevas, American writer and lyricist, dies from pancreatic cancer at age 80.April 15: Michael Pataki, American actor, dies from cancer at age 72.April 17: Carl Macek, American actor, writer, and producer, dies at age 58.April 18: Allen Swift, American actor, dies at age 86.April 23: Eiji Kusuhara, Japanese-born British actor, dies from cancer at age 63.

May

May 21: Howard Post, American animator, cartoonist, and comic strip and comic book writer-artist, dies at age 83.May 26:

June

June 3: Rue McClanahan, American actress and comedian, dies from a brain hemorrhage at age 76.

July

July 1: Ilene Woods, American actress and singer, dies at age 81.July 15: Peter Fernandez, American actor, voice director and writer, dies from lung cancer at age 83.July 17:

August

August 7: Alex Johns, American production coordinator and producer, dies at age 43.August 9: George DiCenzo, American actor, dies at age 70.August 10: Ben Hurst, American television writer, dies at age 59.August 19: Christopher Shea, American former child actor, dies at age 52.August 23:
  • *George David Weiss, American songwriter, dies at age 89.
  • *Kihachirō Kawamoto, Japanese puppet designer, animator and film director, dies at age 85.August 24:
  • * Mitsuyo Seo, Japanese animator and film director, dies at age 98.
  • * Satoshi Kon, Japanese manga artist and animator, dies at age 46 from pancreatic cancer.August 31: Mick Lally, Irish stage, film and television actor, dies at age 64.

September

September 1: Cammie King, American actress, dies at age 76.September 3: Robert Schimmel, American comedian, dies in a car accident at age 60.September 7: Glenn Shadix, American actor, dies at age 58.September 10: Billie Mae Richards, Canadian actress, dies at age 88.September 11: Harold Gould, American actor, dies at age 86.September 17: Bill Littlejohn, American animator, dies at age 96.September 22: Jackie Burroughs, English-born Canadian actress, dies at age 71.September 29: Tony Curtis, American actor, dies at age 85.

October

October 2: Daria Paris, American production assistant, dies from cancer at age 60.October 16:

November

November 4: Michelle Nicastro, American actress, singer and musician, dies at age 50 from breast and brain cancer.November 7: Yoshinobu Nishizaki, Japanese animator, and film producer, drowns at age 75 after falling off the research steamboat Yamato.November 25: Michel Douay, French comics artist, illustrator and animator dies at age 95.November 28: Leslie Nielsen, Canadian-American producer, actor and comedian, dies from pneumonia at age 84.

December

December 1: Heidi Guedel Garofalo, American animator, dies at age 62.December 6: Mark Dailey, American-born Canadian actor, television journalist and announcer, dies at age 57.December 15: John Sparey, American animator, scene planner and director, dies at age 83.December 25: Aron Abrams, American television producer and writer, dies at age 50.December 30: Michael Allinson, English-American actor, dies at age 90.