Mitchell Hurwitz

Sit Down, Shut Up is an American animated television series created by Mitchell Hurwitz for the Fox network. The series focuses on a group of high school teachers in a small town in Florida “who don’t care about teaching”. The series premiered on Sunday April 19, 2009 in the Animation Domination block on Fox, but after four episodes aired, Fox removed the show from the block due to low ratings. The remaining 9 episodes aired on Saturdays at midnight from October to December 2009. According to Futon Critic, this post-Wanda Sykes Show weekly time slot had been home to Sit Down, Shut Up since September 2009 through to April 2010.

Based on the Australian live-action sitcom of the same name, creator Mitchell Hurwitz came up with the Sit Down, Shut Up idea in 2000. He wrote a script for a pilot episode, but “kept it in a drawer” until he pitched the show to different networks in 2008 when he needed money. Hurwitz said that “it was just a wacky show, and nobody wanted it”, but eventually Fox picked it up as a primetime animation.

Sit Down, Shut Up met mixed reviews from critics. Orlando Sentinel called the series a “disaster”, and Newsday called it “raw, vulgar and blithely offensive, with so many triple and quadruple entendres for so many sexual acts”. Hollywood Reporter criticized the series’ use of fourth wall breaks, and said that it was “painful to watch how hard the show tries to be funny”. IGN gave it a more positive review, saying “it should continue to be a very entertaining show”, and TV Squad said that it “definitely grows on you”.