About Us
In 1996, two University of Missouri students met for the first time by chance. Ric de Barros, a student at the Kansas City campus, received an e-mail from Chris Gough, a student on the Columbia campus, about collaborating on content for the You Can’t Do That On Television website that Ric started the year prior. While working on that website together, they discovered they both had a passion for writing and film/television production, so they formed Bargo Productions, a portmanteau of their last names. Their mission was to create passion projects for niche audiences.
In 1999, Bargo Productions began pre-production on How’d This Get Online? When it was released on March 21, 2000, it was the internet’s first-ever original animated web series that ran the length of a standard half-hour show and was twice featured on Animation Magazine’s website. Between 2000 and 2009, Bargo produced several animations, podcasts, and live-action projects. This era, known as Wave 1, was before YouTube, meaning many of these projects were primarily screened at film festivals or had small cult followings online.
After a 13-year hiatus, Bargo Productions is starting Wave 2 of productions with three projects in pre-production. The first of the new batch, a brand-new podcast called Lucidus Somnia, is launching first.
March 21, 2000How'd This Get Online?
How'd This Get Online? was the first animated web series that ran the standard length of a half-hour TV show when it debuted on March 21, 2000.
January 1, 2001The Girl Show
The podcast before podcasts, The Girl Show served as a satire of everything society expected teenaged girls to like from makeovers to NSYNC.
January 6, 2002Injustice Woman
Injustice Woman was a satire of the superhero movie genre rising in popularity in the early 2000s. It featured the first Black female superhero to have her own animated series. Injustice Woman also featured an original soundtrack performed by the series' star.
October 15, 2003D.I.V.A. Teens
Released in 2003, D.I.V.A. Teens was a satire of music industry drama combined with the magical girl genre of anime. Think Destiny's Child meets Sailor Moon. Incidentally, D.I.V.A. Teens stars both Cristina Vee and Laura Post, voice actors for Sailor Mars and Queen Nehellenia respectively, in the current incarnation of Sailor Moon.
June 15, 2006You Still Can't!
Created as original content for the You Can't Do That On Television website in 2006, You Still Can't! served as an hour-long animated homage to the original series. It was packaged with the complete series of How'd This Get Online? for fans to order for free for a limited time on DVD.
December 18, 2009Optimal Delusions
Optimal Delusions was a sitcom that tells the tale of a former child star turned author, who plots her own comeback with a self-funded reality show about said comeback.
January 14, 2023Lucidus Somnia
Government experiments on unassuming persons have fanned the flames of conspiracy theories since the 19th century, but Kendra and Michael make it their mission to unveil the truth. Lucidus Somnia is a sci-fi podcast set in the year 1991 that tells the story of how two teenagers changed the world. Coming soon.
