Edward and Eric/Development

Needs no introduction.

## 1982

* Development of Edward and Eric dates back to 1982, with the creation of a humble short, Bad Luck Benjamin. Many characters and concepts from this short would later be revived for Edward and Eric. The short itself was originally a project for School of Visual Arts, but interest in it increased overtime.

## 1992

* Around October of 1992, Gary Sauls, the creator of Bad Luck Benjamin, decided to revisit the concept and make it into a series.
* During development, Sauls decided that he wanted his best friend, Edward Felker, to work on the show with him. Felker quickly agreed and arrived at Sauls' workplace. Sauls even renamed Benjamin into Edward to surprise him.

## 1993

* During an animation test, Felker's computer kept malfunctioning and it got him into a cussing fit. This had inspired Sauls to give Edward a nickname (one that would only appear in such situations), "PC Guy".
* Sauls eventually decided that Edward needed a quirky sidekick of some sort, thus resulting in the creation of his younger brother, Eric.
* The title of the show was eventually changed from "Edward and Eric's Comedy World" to just "Edward and Eric".
* Sauls took a different, lighthearted turn with something from Bad Luck Benjamin: instead of being cursed with bad luck, Edward, alongside Eric, would have an impossible amount of good luck that would help them overcome their problems and achieve mass fortune by the end of each episode.
* With the Pilot episode fully storyboarded, it was time for casting. Sauls quickly hired Andrew Rannells, who was living in his birthplace of Omaha, Nebraska at the time. He had auditioned for Sebastian and Stanley before finally settling for Edward.
* Eric also needed a voice (duh), so Sauls had hired another actor - however, this actor remains unknown to this day. All that is known about him is that he was an adult actor and that after recording all of the Season 1 episodes, Sauls felt that a child actor was more appropriate for Eric.
	+ When Josh Peck auditioned sometime in 1995, 2 years after Rannells was casted, Sauls had stated, "As soon as Josh's voice came on, we started smiling because he was appealing and different from what we were expecting. He gave life to the Eric we all know and love today." Nevertheless, Peck was sometimes very shy, and Sauls sometimes found it difficult getting him to recite his first few lines.

## 1994

* Sauls and Felker start working on Season 1 - or, more specifically, early versions of the Season 1 episodes that we all know today.
* The series was originally going to have the characters attend summer camp instead of school. However, "it didn't really take off", and this idea was scrapped as a result.
	+ This idea was revived in the actual series to a minor extent, as there are occasional Boy Scout-centered episodes.
	+ A few more elements from the summer camp idea were brought into the series as well, such as Lakeside City School being a boarding school.
* Speaking of Lakeside City School, it went through numerous changes. It was initially a public school before it became a boarding school, meaning things like dorms, uniforms and curfew weren't existent yet. Ironically, the school uniform went through a few designs before being settled on the one we all know today.
* The characters from Bad Luck Benjamin were all renamed, except for Edward who already was from the get-go. They also went through new designs that became their current designs. For example, the adolescent characters were supposed to wear different clothes in each episode, but this was changed to them wearing their school uniforms at almost all times.
* When it came to making minor characters, Sauls wanted to make sure each of them had unique personalities and appearances. This resulted in characters like Christian, Luke, Larry, etc.
* Because Season 1 was already starting development, Sauls thought that the series was an opportunity for any artists and animators in New York who needed a job. Eventually, several of them were hired, and before Sauls and Felker knew it, they had a group of 70 people working on the show with them.

## 1995

* By October, the series was being close to finished. However, several fixes to storyboards had to be made. This went from scrapping some lines, to completely changing endings. An infamous example of this is Monster Mania, where the original ending for it was Eric opening the fridge to make a sandwich, only for Frankenstein to brutally eat him.
	+ However, one of the most major changes involves Carver. From the beginning, he wasn't intended to be the main antagonist of the series, as he was planned to only appear in two episodes. However, Sauls felt that he had potential, so this was ultimately changed, thus resulting in the Carver we all know today.

## 1996

* Now that Season 1 was finished in good condition, the production team worked on some of the early Season 2 episodes in case the show was renewed for another season.
* It was time to cast voice actors for the rest of the characters. (WIP)

## 1997

* With everything else out of the way, it was time for the biggest moment of all: pitching the show. Sauls and Felker tried to pitch it to as many companies available, which was easier said than done and could have easily lead to the show being nothing more than a distant dream.
	+ Nickelodeon was interested, but they already had their eyes on a similar show. Felker stated Nickelodeon was "the kindest towards [him and Sauls]", as they also encouraged them to pitch to different networks and never give up.
	+ Cartoon Network never replied to them. Ironically, Cartoon Network would end up being the home for new E&E episodes in 2008.
	+ The Walt Disney Company was uninterested.
	+ FOX Broadcasting Company promised to put the show on Fox Kids, but they never called back. Sauls said he and Felker "definitely dodged a bullet", given how FOX Kids was "on its last legs" in the late 90s due to Kids' WB stealing its thunder, leading to its shutdown in 2002.
	+ PBS abruptly told them, "You guys aren't even trying."
* However, as soon as they pitched it to Warner Bros., the company immediately showed interest, but they did not accept the show right away. The executives informed Sauls they would "keep the packet", which he feared was their way of saying "We'll throw it in the trash later".
* Three days later, Warner Bros' executives phoned Sauls to let him know they had accepted Edward and Eric, but they "wanted to know if [he] could do this for 13 episodes". Sauls had a bad feeling the series sounded too generic for the company and was going to end up as a short-runner, so he didn't hesitate to book a flight to Burbank, California to show them the pilot, as well as give them more detailed information about the series. Upon doing so, the company's interest rose through the roof, so they renewed the series for two additional seasons before it even officially premiered.