When South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s names come up, it rarely gets mentioned that the renowned duo had their own live-action sitcom at one point. Partially inspired by classic TV comedies like The Honeymooners and Fawlty Towers, 2001’s That’s My Bush! centered around a fictional version of George W. Bush and his wife, Laura (as portrayed by Timothy Bottoms and Carrie Quinn Dolan). Each episode touched on a specific hot-button issue—like abortion or capital punishment—while simultaneously parodying conventional sitcom tropes.
Although That’s My Bush! was well received, the series underwent significant revisions before it aired. For starters, Parker and Stone were so certain that Al Gore would win the 2000 presidential election that they’d originally planned to make him the focus of the show. After Bush came out victorious, the series went from Everybody Loves Al to That’s My Bush!, but stuck with the basic premise of having the president be a lovable character with a sassy maid and a wacky next-door neighbor.
Then came the issue of Bush’s twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna. Parker and Stone initially wanted to include them to lean into the family-sitcom aspect of the show, but an odd behind-the-scenes slip-up ultimately prevented them from appearing at all. You see, in December 2000, it was reported that Parker and Stone were going to feature the Bush twins as “sex-hungry lesbians.” This was based on a leaked script in which the girls apparently “nuzzle, suck, and coo at one another in a borderline incestuous romp.”
The ‘South Park’ Creators’ Forgotten George W. Bush Sitcom Had an Even Weirder Backstory
By the end of the scene in question, Dick Cheney walks in just as Jenna’s trying to taste a candy cane lying in Barbara’s lap, prompting Jenna to ask, “You want a suck, Dick?” On-brand as this all sounds for Parker and Stone, the pair insist that they never intended for the lesbian angle to be a part of the show.
According to them, one of the writers came up with the fake scene for the auditions, and neither of them was aware of it. However, the script somehow made its way onto the internet, leading to a huge fight with Comedy Central, who ended up prohibiting Parker and Stone from involving the Bush twins.
Barbara and Jenna’s fictional personalities were reworked into Kristen Miller’s klutzy Princess Stevenson character, but in the end, That’s My Bush! was canceled after just eight episodes due to its high production costs (each show reportedly came out to around $1 million).
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