The Boondocks is an American animated sitcom, created by Aaron McGruder for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim.

The show focuses on a Black American family, the Freemans, settling into the fictional, friendly and predominantly White suburb of Woodcrest.

[2] The perspective offered by this mixture of cultures, lifestyles, social classes, stereotypes, viewpoints and racialized identities provides for much of the series' satire, comedy, and conflict.

The series ended its run on June 23, 2014, with a total of 55 episodes over the course of the show's four seasons, the last of which was produced without any involvement from McGruder, reportedly because "a mutually agreeable production schedule could not be determined".

On June 12, 2019, it was announced that Sony Pictures Animation would be producing a reboot of the television series that was set to premiere in 2022 with McGruder's involvement; John Witherspoon was also attached to the project to reprise his role as Robert Freeman before his death on October 29, 2019.

Following these runs, McGruder began simultaneously pitching The Boondocks as both a syndicated comic strip and an animated television series.

Hudlin left the project after the Fox deal fell through, though McGruder and Sony Pictures Television were contractually obligated to credit him as an executive producer for the first two seasons.

The series was produced in widescreen since the beginning, but the image was cropped to accommodate the 4:3 aspect ratio at the time of their original broadcasts as well as reruns.

[19] Though other evidence makes clear references to the show being set in the Columbia, Maryland area, where McGruder's own childhood was and where his father worked for the National Transportation Safety Board.

"[35] The show has also given input on subjects like the American government's response to Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq War, and other controversial political events that took place throughout the 2000s.

"[36] The series typically features appearances by well-known entities (singers, rappers, public figures) within Black popular culture as well as parodies of them.

[35] Other appearances and parodies within the show include R. Kelly on trial for sexual misconduct accusations, DMX's disbelief when told about Barack Obama running for president in an interview, and an episode that mimicked Juice.

[37][38] The series also parodies famous news reports including a broadcast in which a freshman in high school was called a "nigga" by his teacher, who thought the word was acceptable to use.

[33][34] It has used sardonic humor to teach lessons and get people thinking since it was a comic strip, critiquing the behavior of famous African Americans throughout the early 2000s.

[41] In his essay for The Culture Crypt, Niall Smith echoed Latimer's statements but focused on brothers Huey and Riley Freeman for much of his analysis, arguing that through them the series is able to achieve much of the satire and critiques of the Black-American community.

Smith also notes the importance of secondary characters such as Sarah Dubois, who—through her liking to womanizers and caricatures such as Usher, Pretty Boy Flizzy, and a Stinkmeaner-possessed Tom Dubois—serves to show "how society fetishes [sic] and reduces Black men to their most animalistic and negative qualities to appease others".

The show won a Special Honorary Academy Award Of Merit in 2006 for the episode "Return of the King", which recognized George Foster Peabody as the Breakout Visionary Achievement In Excellence, For The Most Historic Landmark-In-Crowning-Achievement Milestone In History.

"[52] Mike Hale of the New York Times has considered The Boondocks among the top television shows of 2010, citing "Pause" as a "painfully funny" satire of Tyler Perry being portrayed as a superstar actor and a leader of a homoerotic cult.

"[55] Numerous outlets predicted the show would encounter controversy prior to its November 2005 debut, due to its casual use of the word "nigga".

[60][61] Originally slated to air on November 16 and December 17,[61] "The Hunger Strike" and "The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show" were both heavily critical of BET.

An exclusive clip of "The Hunger Strike" was given to HipHopDX.com in late January 2008, before both episodes were included in full on the Season 2 DVD release in June 2008.

An anonymous source close to the show told HipHopDX.com that they heard BET had been pressuring Sony (the studio behind The Boondocks) to ban the episodes and threatened legal action.

However, BET's parent company, Viacom, did threaten legal action against Sony if said episodes were broadcast to air in the United States.

[62] Tyler Perry was reportedly infuriated by his depiction in the season 3 episode "Pause", first aired in June 2010, although he has officially given no response.

[67] McGruder launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $200,000 in order to produce a live-action film focusing on the character Uncle Ruckus.

[4][5] On September 18, 2019, it was announced that the reboot had been picked up with a two-season order for WarnerMedia's then-upcoming streaming service HBO Max.

It was also announced that McGruder would return as showrunner and serve as executive producer along with Norm Aladjem, Seung Kim and Meghann Collins Robertson.

[73][74][75][76] The reboot was originally set to begin with the Freemans settling into Woodcrest; and would follow them as they go on to fight the regime of Uncle Ruckus, who rules over the community government.

All four seasons have been released on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, both individually and as a box set spanning the entire series.