Dilbert Vs the Network 

After much research, I found out that Scott Adams was right about what happened to Dilbert on UPN…at least for the most part. The difference was that it wasn’t as (ahem) black and white as he made it out to be. It was true that UPN was cancelling shows in order to transition into minority-focused programming, but they weren’t going out of their way to cancel things purely for that sake. They did this to shows that were underperforming, and there were a lot of them considering that this is UPN we’re talking about. Dilbert was struggling due to the network’s mismanagement of the series, so it too was replaced with a show that would fit UPN’s new direction. They were more willing to do this than to save the show as not only was Dilbert not fitting in their new vision for the company, but the show was basically already dead by this point. The only exception was Nowhere Man, which had high ratings, but was cancelled purely to make room for Homeboys in Outer Space. I think we all know how that turned out. So…yeah. The truth lies somewhere in the middle with this one. Make of that what you will.

I’m black and I relate to Dilbert FAR more than Homeboys in Outer Space.

Fun Fact: Dilbert aired reruns on Comedy Central in the early 2000s Just wanted to bring it up

Man. You could do a whole Vs the Network series on UPN shows alone. I looked into it more and there’s a lot of cases like these. How did they not go under in four years?

Has this series already covered The Oblongs? If not... The Oblongs...

Another interesting thing to come out of UPN was the 1996 Incredible Hulk animated series from their short-lived kids block. It was arguably one of the most underrated animated comic book adaptations of the 90s, and if were on Fox Kids it would’ve lasted a lot longer.

I actually vaguely remember catching an episode or two of the dilbert cartoon as a kid. Good to see a new episode from the Vs the Network show again!

UPN feels way more stupid than evil Shout out to the app Tubi that has all of the episodes along with some other hidden gems like Sam and Max Freelance Police

At last, the long awaited series of stuff getting screwed by networks has finally returned! This is actually one of my favorite series on this channel, and I’ve been dying for you guys to bring it back again. I cannot wait to check out all six episodes of Vs the Netwerk season 2! Keep up the good work, Trevor and Billy!

Dilbert's creator just said he's glad his son OD'd because now he can't become a shooter.

Makes me happy to have the DVD box set of this show. I loved it back when I watched it on TV, and think it still holds up to this day. I had already known about some of UPN's idiotic decisions regarding this show, but I didn't know it went that deep. Stupid, evil? I'm going to say 'Pointy-Haired Boss' tier.

UPN was stupid hands down. Who says you have to be white to relate to Dilbert? Isn’t that like saying you have to be a cat to relate to Garfield?

Technically, they did run promos for the episodes with the guest stars…but they were quick 15-second promos.

Um...im black and loved Dilbert's animated series! I don't care the creators white! The show had hilarious satirical humor that I'd Definitely put in the same league as Duckman, The Critic, Mission Hill and Wait til your Father gets Home! Also, UPN IS STUPID!!! That Jumanji series by Klasky Csupo was all wrong!!

I’m just happy to see Home Movies acknowledged at all on this channel…or in general because Home Movies is great

Some of the Seinfeld actors came on board because of some of the writers having been part of the Seinfeld crew at the time.

I know people have brought this up already, but Scott Adams actually got Dilbert ( the comic) removed from papers a while back because he made racist comments. This basically means he lied to everybody about why UPN kicked him off the Dilbert cartoon. That’s hilarious.

Given how Dilbert's creator, Scott Adams basically went full blown racist against the black community a few days ago, thus getting his own creation yanked off of future newspapers, the racism section of this video is the textbook definition of irony.

And I agree it should have been on adult swim Imagine watching this between Family Guy and Harvey Birdman

Dilbert is the ONLY UPN show I remember watching as a kid. I didn't get into Star Trek until the last season of Enterprise was airing, and I was watching The Original Series on DVD, so I didn't see Enterprise or Voyager until after they ended.

I wish Dilbert's creator didn't go postal (much like Doug TenNapel did).

If they would have just sold some dupey dolls we could have had like 50 seasons.

UPN looks like it just felt insured and scared about having lots of failures I don't think UPN is evil or stupid Insecure

Still genuinely amazed that the dude who created "Alienation Under Capitalism: the Comic Strip" managed to end up a hardcore Trumper. Dude that made Dilbert is fucking ride-or-die for the Pointy-Haired Boss.

Dilbert was like an animated Fraiser

Algorithm. Edit: I want to see vs Duckman. That show had potential.

I've been looking for a series like this for a while!! I'm fascinated by the behind the scenes wrangling that kills great shows. Would you consider doing Animaniacs?

Came here after finding out what his creator did on Twitter

Scott Adams may not be a good person, but this show still holds up for the most part.

I was a fan of Dilbert. I also like how UPN had celebrity death match for a while on the network. there was another stop-motion series from the same studio as CDM but I can't remember its name.

This is an awesome video! For a comic strip based animated series, it was lucky enough to get two seasons. Can you do Mission Hill next for VS The Network series? It’s such an underrated show that was created by former showrunners of the Simpsons.

I dont know if ut was the same UPN or some sistet network, but as a kid I watched UPN23 for episodes of Pokémon as well as reruns of old disney shows.

In the Clerks the animated series DVD Kevin Smith talked about UPN offering to produce the show first but he was told by industry insiders that UPN was hard to work with and would likely be off the air soon so he went with NBC (who also screwed him over). I think Scott Adams might have simply fallen for a UPN sales pitch. Great video

How the tables have turned, huh, Scott?

Dilbert is a great show but scott adams is a bit of a weirdo

Dilbert was my favorite show when it first aired. I remember none of thr other shows resembled it. All the ads were for edgy thrillers or sitcoms. I remember Home Movies premiered not longer after, but UPN canceled it after one season. Dilbert is still one of my favorite animated sitcoms, though. Incredibly well done for a show that barely was given a chance.

So after watching the video I decided to give the show a chance and omg it’s hilarious I love it 😂

Dang it. I binge watched Dilbert once and it's still my second favorite show. They sounded stupid.

4:46, although having him make an appearance is always awesome!

Speaking of UPN shows I like the Jumanji cartoon very underated in my view

Evil and stupid go hand in hand.

I didnt know about the guest stars. I watched the Latin American Spanish version back at the day. It was a pretty good show.

I can confirm I was the janitor

In the Animation Cell Collection video of TASProductions, Trevor shows that he has a Dilbert animation cell, lol.

You should cover MTVs Undergrads WWF Raw and Smackdown did more to promote the stone cold episode than UPN did.

Friday night smackdowner

So, UPN was a bad network all along? That's sad. I liked that channel due to the obscure and/or syndicated shows they aired. :(

I remember watching all of dilbert on Netflix when i was what like 12 or 11

I wouldn't take Scott Adams' word on racism...

funny enough, home movies also used to air on UPN until it moved to adult swim

Personally I think upn was more desperate than either stupid or evil. They had some stiff competition for there time and likely were more prone to do the network equivalent of throwing clay on the wall to see if it would stick.

I love dilbert

Woooo

who would win in a fight of making their coworkers Lifes hell: Dogbert or Cat Bert

They do made Pointy Haired Boss a Bit nicer though.

I know the upn it’s the black man’s friend

This is a great well thought out video, but there was just one small thing that irked me a little, the are about Scott Adams and the racism. While UPN did have its problems I don't think Scott Adams was entirely innocent either. If you take a look at his Twitter account and his newer Dilbert strips you can see some... Off putting jokes and takes, specifically things like the May 2nd 2022 comic where he introduces a person of color for the first time, only to make a transphobic joke with them "identifying as white". Not saying Scott Adams is some huge racist that needs to be taken down or anything, but that neither him or the UPN might have been all that innocent when it came to racism.

All I know is UPN showed Digimon Frontier . Remember that ?

Wait... newmans real name is Wayne knight? And he lost his parents when he was a kid?

THIS VIDEO HAS AGED POORLY LOL

Dilbert to me is a case of "Enjoy the content, not the creator" due to the.......ideologies accepted by the creator some time ago (similar cases can be made for the works of Chiaki J. Konaka with series he wrote for like Digimon Tamers, Ultraman Tiga, Serial Experiments Lain, and The Big O which Shinta Reviews covered recently that I think you two might be interested in viewing). As for my favorite UPN show, easy choice with Star Trek Voyager, the show that basically kept the network afloat in the early days before the rise of shows like Everyone Hates Chris, America's Next Top Model, Veronica Mars and what was Friday Night Smackdown

Well Scott Adam is 2000% too white. He’s a trumpet for crying out loud. And upn actually used to give black shoes a spot. That’s why Chris Rock turned down major networks to put everybody hates Chris, a show way too good for UPN it.

UPN deserved to be on the Terrible TV Shows Wiki(Miraheze). They make so many dick moves that the only good shows available on the network gets mistreated in a worse way; and the network went into obscurity.

I'd like to argue that it's not a case of Dumb or Evil. But instead should be measured in a gradient from dumb to evil. Yes they are very stupid but firing someone because "they are too white" sounds like something evil AND stupid since it's pretty much a horrible excuse to dump someone you don't deem useful anymore

UPN- Lets fight racism, with racism.