Has TV been feeling a little too normal for you lately? Yearning for that “WTF am i watching” vibe? Allow us to introduce you to Eternal Family, a streaming service that will well and truly scratch your itch for the bizarre. From lubed up musical advice, a realistic version of Family Guy and more smooth-brain animation than you can shake a stick at, delving into the huge variety of content demands you be ready for anything.
Eternal Family’s chaotic catalogue is now available free via 9Now on PEDESTRIAN TELEVISION, and we spoke with Drew Marshall, about the minds behind the madness.
PEDESTRIAN TV: How would you describe Eternal Family to your grandmother?
Drew Marshall: I’d try to use general words that anyone could understand — a video streaming platform where people can sign up to become a member and access a library of videos that are fun to watch and hard to find.
But my tone would be implying it’s a bunch of weird stuff that you might not “get” but makes me and my friends happy to watch. She’s smiling back either way.
If you had to introduce someone to Eternal Family, what three shows or episodes would you show them?
We’re doing a bit of mixup lately, but I’d have to go with some classics:
Alan Resnick’s Enterings is our version of watching a master at work. This is what happens when you give someone like Alan zero notes and enough budget to rent a suburban LA home for a weekend. Dog included.
Dole episode one was a real group effort from a lot of the main people involved. We even got Joe Pera and Tim Robinson to join us for cameos. Dole is Cole Kush’s (co-founder / animator / director) alter-ego character — an odd character who sort of just floats through life seemingly unfazed by anything.
Scary Car by Simple Town is another one I’d recommend for fans of unconventional filmmaking combined with eccentric humour — it’s about for friends who get lost in the woods in their car when strange things start to happen. It may be Simple Town’s best work?
How did the idea of Eternal Family come to life? What’s its origin story?
Eternal Family is the brainchild of Cole Kush – he was dreaming of a cohesive world for all his little characters to dance around and contemplate their existence. When it started to take shape, he began looking into alternative ways of presenting the “Eternal Content” and found some new tools to start your own video streaming service, only he ended up inviting his real friends to make stuff instead of just the 3D ones in his head.
What’s your personal favourite Eternal Family program?
As much as it was crazy to make — the first Family Night episode was probably the biggest achievement to date. It was a real group effort and completely washed in chaos but we ended up making a pretty whacked out piece of content.
Family Night carried on in a few different forms including some live events in NY and LA — but the first couple episodes were the crescendo of us not knowing what we were doing but going for it anyways. Also helped having people like Tim Heidecker and Conner O’Malley on board.
What do you think is the most chaotic piece of Eternal Family content?
There’s a few to choose from. This one is a bit of a deep cut, but if you watch the Eternal Family Presents: Jason Harvey episode about half-way through you’ll be graced by “Fart 3D” which was Jason’s BFA thesis project that he submitted to the utter shock and bemusement of his professors. Jason’s academic pursuits are now presented for your entertainment pleasure!
What’s it like collabing with Mac Demarco?
Mac is a wild lad, or at least used to be. These days you get him to lube up his face and talk gear and he’s all game. Actually that’s only true about the gear talk, he’s not so crazy about the lube part, apparently it’s quite the process to take off. But generally, he is a kind and supportive man with a peculiar brain and ability to find the little corners of a good joke (or song) that most would never see. We appreciate him for it!
What have you got in-store for 2024? Any cool projects on the horizon?
We started presenting more older, unique, hidden gem stuff, I.e. stuff that was made back in 70s to 90s. Our hope is to not just present weirdo movies and shows from that era, but also to dig up obscure treasures and surface them for eager audiences looking to gobble up the latest in perverse reissue culture. This time we’re doing videos!!!
But yes, we’ll be expanding the scope towards older stuff and hope to dish more your way in the new year!
Eternal Family’s chaotic catalogue is now available for free via 9Now on PEDESTRIAN TELEVISION.