Johnny Bravo

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Johnny Bravo
File:Johnny Bravo short poster.jpg
Genre Animated sitcom
Created by Van Partible
Written by Van Partible
Gene Grillo
Jed Spingarn
John Crane
Paul F. Kozlowski
Steve Marmel
Butch Hartman
Craig Bartlett
Craig Lewis
Seth Macfarlane
Directed by Van Partible
Kirk Tingblad
Russell Calabrese
Robert Alvarez
Nathan Chew
John McIntyre
Rumen Petkov
Butch Hartman
James Tim Walker
Voices of Jeff Bennett
Brenda Vaccaro
Mae Whitman
Tom Kenny
Larry Drake
Theme music composer Louis Fagenson
Opening theme "Johnny Bravo"
Ending theme "Johnny Bravo" (Instrumental, Season 1 & 4)
Composer(s) Louis Fagenson
Christopher Neal Nelson (scores and ending, Season 2–3)
Guy Moon (additional music, Season 1 only)
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 4
No. of episodes 67 (whole)
178 (segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Sherry Gunther (Season 1)
Van Partible (Seasons 2-4) (Seasons 2-3 uncredited)
Producer(s) Cosmo Anzilotti (Season 1)
Gary Hartle (Season 2–3)
Jed Spingarn (co-producer, Season 2–3)
Running time 23 minutes
Production company(s) Hanna-Barbera (1997–2001)
Cartoon Network Studios (2001–2004)
Release
Original network Cartoon Network
Picture format NTSC (480i)
Audio format Dolby Surround (1997–2002)
Dolby Digital (2002–2004)
Original release July 14, 1997 (1997-07-14) –
August 27, 2004 (2004-08-27)
Chronology
Related shows What a Cartoon!
External links
Website

Johnny Bravo is an American animated television series created by Van Partible for Cartoon Network, and the 2nd of the network's Cartoon Cartoons. The series centers on the titular character Johnny Bravo, a muscular and boorish man who tries to get women to date him, though he is usually unsuccessful. He ends up in bizarre situations and predicaments, often accompanied by celebrity guest characters such as Adam West or Donny Osmond. Pop culture references and sly adult-oriented jokes comprise much of the show's humor.

Partible pitched the series to Hanna-Barbera's animation showcase What a Cartoon!, basing it on his senior thesis project he produced while attending Loyola Marymount University. A pilot short aired on Cartoon Network in 1995, and was followed by two more shorts; the popularity of the shorts led to the network commissioning a half-hour series, which premiered on July 14, 1997. The series was renewed for a second season in 1999, during which Partible left and the show was retooled under the direction of Kirk Tingblad. In 2003, Partible returned to the series for a fourth season, restoring it to its original format and style. It ended on August 27, 2004, with a total of four seasons and 67 episodes.

Johnny Bravo received generally positive reviews and is regarded as an iconic Cartoon Network series. During its run, the series was nominated for 4 Annie Awards, 1 YoungStar Award, and 2 Golden Reel Awards. The series is notable for helping launch the careers of several cartoonists, including Seth MacFarlane and Butch Hartman. Spin-off media include comic books, DVD and VHS releases, collectible toys, and video games.

Premise

The series centers on Johnny Bravo (voiced by Jeff Bennett), a muscular, boorish, and dimwitted womanizer with a pompadour hairstyle and an Elvis-like voice. Episodes typically revolve around him trying to get a woman to go on a date with him, though his advances are usually rejected and result in the woman in question causing him harm in a comedic way. Johnny's companions are Bunny "Momma" Bravo (Brenda Vaccaro), his lively, extroverted mother; Little Suzy (Mae Whitman), a talkative and intelligent little girl from the neighborhood who has a crush on Johnny; Carl Chryniszzswics (Tom Kenny), an eccentric and timid nerd who idolizes Johnny despite being bullied by him; and Pops (Larry Drake), the greedy owner of the local diner who provides advice to Johnny.

Recurring characters in the series include Master Hamma (Brian Tochi), a Japanese martial arts instructor who teaches Johnny; Donny Osmond (himself), a cheery and optimistic teen idol who irritates Johnny; and Jungle Boy (Cody Dorkin), a little boy who resides in the jungle with talking animals and possesses incredible strength.

Much of the series' humor is derived from celebrity guest star appearances and references to popular culture. For example; one episode of the first season is based around homages to The Twilight Zone,[1] and in another episode, one of the Village People can be seen in the background.[2] The series has had numerous guest stars, including Adam West, Shaquille O'Neal, and Donny Osmond. In the first season, creator Van Partible intended for the show's middle segment to be a form of "Johnny Bravo Meets...", a parody of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, which would features appearances from popular 1970s icons, but guest stars were used informally after the second season began.[3][4] Many Hanna-Barbera characters appeared in the series, including the cast of Scooby-Doo, Speed Buggy, Jabberjaw, Fred Flintstone, Yogi Bear, The Blue Falcon, Black Widow, and Huckleberry Hound.

Adult humor is found in many episodes of the show. In one episode, when Suzy calls Johnny to ask if he wants to come over, Johnny nonchalantly tells her to "[call] back in 15 years when [she is] a co-ed." In regard to the adult humor, Butch Hartman stated "...being concerned with the content of the episodes wasn't our main focus", and creator Van Partible remembers that "No one was really watching Cartoon Network [...] As far as content, they were pretty lenient on all the kind of things that were going on."[3]

Production

Development

File:Johnny Bravo short poster.jpg
Poster for the Johnny Bravo pilot, as seen on World Premiere Toons.

While attending Loyola Marymount University, Van Partible produced his senior thesis project Mess O' Blues (1993), an animated short film about an Elvis Presley impersonator.[3] Partible's animation professor showed the film to a friend who worked for Hanna-Barbera, and the studio loved the film. They asked Partible to develop it into a pitch for a seven-minute short, prompting him to sell the project to Hanna-Barbera.[4]

For the new short, Partible revised his main character from Mess O' Blues, renaming him "Johnny Bravo" and making him "this '50s iconic James Dean-looking character that talked like Elvis." Voice actor Jeff Bennett was cast as Johnny, based solely on his young, hyped Elvis impression.[3] Partible, with a small team of animators, animated the short themselves in-house at Hanna-Barbera using digital ink and paint.[2]

The short, titled Johnny Bravo, was aired on Cartoon Network's animation showcase, World Premiere Toons,[3] on March 26, 1995. Two more shorts followed: Jungle Boy in "Mr. Monkeyman" and Johnny Bravo and the Amazon Women.

Original seasons

The popularity of the shorts led to Cartoon Network commissioning a first season of Johnny Bravo, consisting of 13 episodes. The crew of the first season consisted of several writers, animators, and directors from World Premiere Toons, including Seth MacFarlane, Butch Hartman, Steve Marmel, and John McIntyre. Veteran animator Joseph Barbera also served as a creative consultant and mentor for the first season.[5][6] Partible stated in a 1997 interview that the goal of the series was to have "animation reminiscent of the old Hanna-Barbera cartoons".[6]

Johnny Bravo premiered on July 14, 1997,[7] and the first season completed production in December of that year.

Retool

After the first season, Johnny Bravo was put on hiatus, until it was picked up for an unexpected second season in 1999. Van Partible left production and Kirk Tingblad took over as director, leading to a major retooling in the show's visual style, tone, humor, and characters. The show retained this format for the third season.

The series sat in limbo once again until it was renewed for a fourth season in 2003, which aired in 2004. The final season of the series returned to the humor of the original shorts and first season of the series (although the Jungle Boy characters from the first season never returned).

Broadcast

From 2005 to 2008, Johnny Bravo aired in reruns The Cartoon Cartoon Show, along with segments of other Cartoon Cartoons from that time period, including Dexter's Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls. From 2012 to 2014, the series aired in reruns on the revived block Cartoon Planet.[8]

Reruns of Johnny Bravo aired on Cartoon Network's retro animation sister channel, Boomerang, from January 22, 2008 to January 4, 2015.[9][10][11]

Reception

Critical reception

In 2009, IGN ranked Johnny Bravo No. 71 for its Top 100 Animated Series list.[12]

After the series ended in 2004, the No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet was given a special paint scheme with Johnny Bravo on the hood. It was driven by Kyle Busch in the 2005 Sharpie 500 NASCAR race.

Legacy and influence

On the long lasting impact of the show, writer/director Butch Hartman states:

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When Johnny Bravo first came out, I don't think a lot of people didn't have high hopes for it, and I think it was really cool that prove exactly what kind of character he was. No one really thought it was going to go anywhere. Not only has it gone somewhere, it's actually still around, it's very iconic now, 15, 16 years later.[3]

The title character is considered "iconic", and his catchphrases are relatively common in popular culture.[3]

The show's creative team went on to create many successful television series throughout the 1990s and 2000s, including writer Seth MacFarlane, creator of the popular animated series Family Guy. Shortly after the series' first season was completed, writer/director Butch Hartman left to work on Nickelodeon's Oh Yeah! Cartoons, from which those shorts spun off his own success, The Fairly OddParents. Steve Marmel, writer for Johnny Bravo, has been a producer and writer for The Fairly OddParents since its premiere in 2001. In addition to Johnny Bravo, director John McIntyre directed episodes of several other Cartoon Cartoons, and more recently served as a supervising director on Cartoon Network's original series The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result
1997 Annie Award Best Individual Achievement: Voice Acting by a Male Performer in a TV Production[13] Jeff Bennett
as Johnny Bravo		 Nominated
1998 Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television Production[14] Steve Marmel
for "The Perfect Gift"		 Nominated
YoungStar Award Best Performance in a Voice Over Talent[15] Mae Whitman
as Little Suzy		 Nominated
2000 Annie Award Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Television Production[16] Kirk Tingblad
for "Noir Johnny"		 Nominated
Outstanding Individual Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production[16] Mary Hanley
for "Noir Johnny"		 Nominated
2001 Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing — Television Animated Series — Sound[17] Glenn Oyabe, Kerry Iverson, Jesse Aruda, and John Bires
for "The Johnny Bravo Affair/Biosphere Johnny/Spa Spaz"		 Nominated
2004 Best Sound Editing in Television Animation — Music[18] Roy Braverman
for "It's Valentine's Day, Johnny Bravo"		 Nominated

Media

JBVO: Your All Request Cartoon Show

JBVO: Your All Request Cartoon Show is a short-lived programming block that aired Sundays on Cartoon Network from April 2, 2000, to May 21, 2001. It was hosted by Johnny Bravo, along with some infrequent guest stars such as Chicken (from Cow and Chicken). Callers would write into the show via mail or through the Cartoon Network website[19] to call the show and request a cartoon from Cartoon Network's cartoon library, which would then be played, with an exception of half-hour-long shows. Notably, one caller of the show requested an episode of Dragon Ball Z. Being that it was a half-hour long, Johnny regretfully had to fast-forward through the entire episode with Johnny providing only expositional commentary. Afterward, Johnny apologized to the caller for the inconvenience.[citation needed]

There was also a similar spin-off of the JBVO concept itself entitled Viva Las Bravo, a summer block that aired in 2005 and 2006 in certain European variants of Cartoon Network.[citation needed] Every day Johnny would announce three cartoons, with the one getting the highest votes via email or on CartoonNetworkHQ.net would be shown for two hours the next day. He would also constantly appear in commercial breaks, cracking jokes or answering humorous emails and phone calls.

Comics

In February 2013, IDW Publishing announced a partnership with Cartoon Network to produce comics based on its properties. Johnny Bravo was one of the titles announced to be published.[20]

Video game

A video game titled Johnny Bravo: Date-O-Rama! was released for the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 consoles.[21]

Proposed film

It was reported in 2002 that Warner Brothers Pictures had secured the rights for a live-action Johnny Bravo feature film "as a potential starring vehicle for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson."[22] However, by 2015, no further developments regarding this project had been announced.

Home releases

Warner Bros. stated in an interview that they are "...in conversations with Cartoon Network" for DVD collections of various cartoons, among which is Johnny Bravo in 2006.[23] Johnny Bravo: Season 1, a two-disc set featuring the complete first season which contains all 13 episodes, was released by Madman Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand (Region 4) on October 10, 2007. On November 4, 2009, the complete second season was released. MVD Company Limited also released Season 1-5 in 2009.

A Region 1 release of the first season, with different cover art and new special features, was released by Warner Home Video on June 15, 2010. The release is first in an official release of several Cartoon Cartoons on DVD, under the "Cartoon Network Hall of Fame" name.[24]

Region 1

Title Release date Episodes Description
Johnny Bravo: Season One June 15, 2010 1-13 This two-disc release includes all 13 episodes from the first season, a look-back documentary, pencil tests, and episode commentaries.

Other releases

  • Scooby-Doo and the Toon Tour of Mysteries: "Bravo Dooby Doo", "Noir Johnny"
  • Cartoon Network Halloween: "Bravo Dooby Doo"
  • Cartoon Network Christmas: "A Johnny Bravo Christmas"
  • Cartoon Network Halloween 2: Grossest Halloween Ever: "Frankenbravo"
  • Cartoon Network Christmas 2: Christmas Rocks: "Twas the Night"
  • Cartoon Network Summer: "Super Duped"

References

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  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ http://www.idwpublishing.com/news/article/2507/
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ http://variety.com/2002/film/news/wb-to-rock-with-bravo-1117874555/
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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