# That's Entertainment (Hazbin Hotel)

"That's Entertainment" is the pilot episode of the American animated musical television series Hazbin Hotel. The pilot premiered to YouTube on October 28, 2019. Written and directed by Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano, it was independently financed and animated over the course of three years by Medrano's independent animation group, SpindleHorse Toons.
Following the pilot's success, a spin-off series set in the same fictional universe, Helluva Boss, was produced by SpindleHorse Toons, and a full Hazbin Hotel television series was produced by SpindleHorse Toons in association with Bento Box Entertainment A24 for Amazon Prime Video, airing its first season in 2024.

## Plot summary

Charlie, the princess of Hell, pursues her seemingly impossible goal of rehabilitating sinner demons to peacefully reduce overpopulation in Hell, as an alternative to Heaven's annual "Extermination" of sinners ("I'm Always Chasing Rainbows"). She opens the "Happy Hotel" in hopes that patients will be "checking out" into Heaven. While most of Hell mocks her goal after she announces it during a televised interview ("Inside of Every Demon Is a Rainbow"), her devoted girlfriend, Vaggie, and their first test subject, adult film star Angel Dust, stick by her side. When Alastor, a powerful entity also known as "The Radio Demon", reaches out to Charlie to assist in her endeavors, her dream is given a chance to become reality ("Alastor's Reprise"). Alastor summons Husk and Niffty to serve as the hotel's bartender and maid, respectively. He prevents Sir Pentious from destroying the hotel, and renames the hotel the "Hazbin Hotel" afterwards.

## Production and release

Several of the pilot's main characters had already existed for years when Medrano began working with people at School of Visual Arts on the "Misfit Demon Gang" in her webcomic series ZooPhobia. Many aspects of these characters would later become the protagonists of Hazbin Hotel. The pilot was intended to be an adult comedy "with a raunchy, demonic aesthetic". It took over six months to write the episode, and over two years to animate it, with teasers released in the ensuing period to garner an audience of fans.
A music video of the song "Inside of Every Demon Is a Rainbow", featured in the pilot, was released on October 5, 2018 as a teaser trailer for the series, and it gained 54 million views by early February 2021. Additionally, an official French dub of the pilot was released on May 8, 2020. The podcast series HuniCast, co-hosted by Angel Dust's pilot voice actor Michael Kovach and pilot animator Ashley Nichols, featuring several skits involving various Hazbin Hotel voice actors and crew members, was also released from 2019 to 2023.

## Reception
### Critical reception

"Pilot"/"That's Entertainment" was critically acclaimed for its animation quality, music, and characters. Matthew Field of Go! & Express argued that the episode was part of the "animation renaissance" on YouTube, and said there may be "a lot more projects like Hazbin in the future". Lidia Vassar of the MSU Reporter praised the show, noting its "raunchy sense of humor and quirky art style". She also stated that she was looking forward to future episodes, enjoyed the "diversity of character designs", and stated that it is clear that the show's creators "put a lot of time and heart into this project". In December 2019, in an article about the current state of adult animation, CBR's Reuben Baron stated that while the pilot episode had garnered "some warranted criticism" because of its inappropriate and edgy humor, it was still a "clear labor of love from an animation standpoint".
Reviewers argued the pilot would have a positive influence on independent animation going forward, with Sean Cubillas for CBR praising the show for "quirky, ambitious, and dark humor" and some of the "fastest, wittiest, and raunchiest dialogue ever seen in independent animation".

### Expansion to full series

In August 2020, A24 picked up Hazbin Hotel for the production of a full series, co-produced with Bento Box Entertainment, with an entirely new cast of voice actors. In September, the first season's premiere was announced to be on Amazon Prime Video in January 2024, alongside an announcement that "season 2 is coming". The series premiered its first eight-episode season from January 19 to February 2, 2024.