Huh-huh: MTV revives Beavis and Butt-head

(REX FEATURES)

A pair of delinquent American teenagers who divide the world entirely between "stuff that's cool" and "stuff that sucks" and spend most of their waking hours watching TV and giggling at scatological jokes will re-launch their entertainment careers, after MTV announced the unexpected return of Beavis and Butt-head.

The animated programme, which ran for 200 episodes from 1993 to 1996 and blazed a trail later followed by satirical cartoons such as South Park, will return this summer to poke fun at the feckless generation who represent the target audience of the youth-oriented television channel. Both Beavis and Butt-head will be given voice by Mike Judge, the original creator of the series and also responsible for King of the Hill.

MTV did not elaborate on the the storyline of the rebooted series, though it is understood that the pair will barely have changed during their 15 years off-screen. They will remain ignorant and ugly, and continue devoting their days to slacking off. The duo's catchphrase will continue to be, "Huh-huh-huh".

Back in the 1990s, when the show started, this caused outrage among moral conservatives, who accused Beavis and Butt-head of glorifying ignorance and delinquency. Despite, or perhaps because of the furore, the programme was a huge hit. Highbrow viewers swiftly pegged it as an ingenious satire, which used its idiotic protagonists to poke fun at MTV's target audience of nihilistic teenagers.

It sold to more than 30 countries and spawned a 1996 film Beavis and Butt-head Do America, co-starring Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. But the big question now is whether Beavis and Butt-head can make waves in a media environment altered beyond recognition since their last appearance.