Editing That's My Bush! (section)

===Writing===
The entire idea behind the series was to parody sitcoms. The premise developed into one of the U.S. President in office. Parker recalled the idea came about three months before the [[2000 United States presidential election|2000 presidential election]]. The duo were "95 percent sure" that [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] candidate [[Al Gore]] would win, and tentatively titled the show ''Everybody Loves Al''.<ref name="Parker2" /> It was, essentially, the same show: a lovable main character, the sassy maid, the wacky neighbor.<ref name="Stone2">{{Cite video | people=[[Matt Stone|Stone, Matt]]| date=October 2006 |title=That's My Bush! The Definitive Collection: "A Poorly Executed Plan" |id=Audio commentary |medium=DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures#Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount Home Entertainment]]}}</ref> Parker said the producers did not want to make fun of politics, but instead lampoon sitcoms.<ref name="Parker2" /> The duo watched a lot of ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'' in preparation.<ref name="Stone2" />

The duo signed a deal with [[Comedy Central]] to produce a live-action sitcom, titled ''Family First'', scheduled to debut on February 28, 2001.<ref name="salon">{{cite news|url=http://www.salon.com/news/politics/feature/2000/11/08/parker_stone/index.html |title=Bush or Gore, it's trippy either way |author=Carina Chocano |date=November 8, 2000 |work=[[Salon.com]] |access-date=June 17, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103095650/http://www.salon.com/news/politics/feature/2000/11/08/parker_stone/index.html |archive-date=November 3, 2012 }}</ref> They threw a party the night of the election with the writers, with intentions to begin writing the following Monday and shooting the show in January 2001 with the inauguration. With the [[2000 United States presidential election#Results|confusion of who the President would be]], the show's production was pushed back.<ref name="Parker2" /> The duo wanted to write a "family sitcom", with the Bush family.

Comedy Central, however, prohibited Parker and Stone from including the Bush twins ([[Jenna Bush Hager|Jenna Bush]] and [[Barbara Bush (born 1981)|Barbara Pierce Bush]]). The writers then turned the Bush twins character into Princess.<ref name="Parker2" /> "An Aborted Dinner Date" was the show's pilot episode. The episode features Felix the Fetus, made and operated by [[the Chiodo Brothers]], who later worked with Parker and Stone on ''[[Team America: World Police]]'' (2004).<ref name="Stone1">{{Cite video | people=[[Matt Stone|Stone, Matt]]| date=October 2006 |title=That's My Bush! The Definitive Collection: "An Aborted Dinner Date" |id=Audio commentary |medium=DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures#Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount Home Entertainment]]}}</ref> They also created the cat Punk'kin in "The First Lady's Persqueeter". The show's producers consider the second episode aired, "A Poorly Executed Plan", the ''true'' first episode.<ref name="Parker1">{{Cite video | people=[[Trey Parker|Parker, Trey]]| date=October 2006 |title=That's My Bush! The Definitive Collection: "An Aborted Dinner Date" |id=Audio commentary |medium=DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures#Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount Home Entertainment]]}}</ref>

This was Parker and Stone's first live-action production in association with the [[Writers Guild of America, West]].<ref name="Stone2" /> The show's writers got a big dry-erase board and on one side, they would write down political ideas (abortion, capital punishment) and on the other side would be typical sitcom stories (frat buddies show up, trapped in a small space).<ref name="Parker3">{{Cite video | people=[[Trey Parker|Parker, Trey]]| date=October 2006 |title=That's My Bush! The Definitive Collection: "Eenie Meenie Miney Murder" |id=Audio commentary |medium=DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures#Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount Home Entertainment]]}}</ref> They would then combine the two ideas, in what Stone described as "a ''[[Three's Company]]'' mix-up kind of thing."<ref name="Stone3">{{Cite video | people=[[Matt Stone|Stone, Matt]]| date=October 2006 |title=That's My Bush! The Definitive Collection: "Eenie Meenie Miney Murder" |id=Audio commentary |medium=DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures#Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount Home Entertainment]]}}</ref>