‘Ren & Stimpy’ being rebooted for Comedy Central

Ren & Stimpy, the cartoon cat and dog '90s Nickelodeon stars, are coming back to TV. Like Beavis & Butt-Head, they're finding a new home on Comedy Central, though Nickelodeon Animation Studios will be behind the project. (ViacomCBS owns both Nick and CC.) “We are excited to reinvent this iconic franchise with a new creative team and our partners at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio,” ViacomCBS Entertainment and Youth Group president Chris McCarthy said in a statement. “Ren and Stimpy joins our rapidly expanding roster of adult animation including South Park, Beavis and Butt-Head and Clone High as we continue to reimagine our treasure chest of beloved IP for new generations.”

There was nothing else quite like Ren & Stimpy when it debuted on Nickelodeon in the summer of 1991 as part of the same block of weekend animated shows as Doug and Rugrats. With thinly veiled references to booze, drugs and sex -- and generally having a twisted, how-did-this-get-on-the-air vibe -- Ren & Stimpy became a hit with hungover college kids and then a pop culture sensation. Creator John Kricfalusi and Nickelodeon butted heads pretty much the whole time, with the show notoriously missing many deadlines, and the network editing episodes without him. He left the show in 1992 and it went on without him till 1996. The show got revived by by Spike TV, with Kricfalusi back at the helm, as Ren and Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon in 2003 which only lasted a season.

In 2018, Kricfalusi was the subject of a Buzzfeed investigation where he was accused by two women of harassment and sexual assault while they were underage . Variety reports Kricfalusi is not involved in the Ren & Stimpy reboot, and he will not profit from it.

In other news, new documentary Happy Happy Joy Joy The Ren & Stimpy Story, will be out Video on Demand on August 14. It tracks the rise and fall of both the series and Kricfalusi, here's the synopsis:

In the early 1990s, the animated show Ren & Stimpy broke rating records and was a touchstone for a generation of fans and artists. Creator John Kricfalusi was celebrated as a visionary, but even though his personality suffused the show, dozens of artists and network executives were just as responsible for the show’s meteoric rise. As Kricfalusi’s worst impulses were let loose at the workplace and new allegations about even more disturbing behavior have surfaced, his reputation now threatens to taint the show forever.

Watch the trailer below.