Cartoon Cartoon-cember Part 2: Johnny Bravo

God did I love Johnny Bravo, this was one of Cartoon Network’s best cartoons in my book. Getting started back in 1997. The showed center around the silly antics of a muscle beefcake named Johnny Bravo who could pass himself off as an Elvis impersonator. Each episode revolved around Johnny trying to impress a woman and getting her to go on a date with him the only problem is Johnny is a narcissistic idiot who comes on too strongly to women and often says the wrong thing to them which often gets him beat up and losing the girl at the end of each episode. The show had a wide and lovable cast that started off small but quickly grew after the first season. He had a loving mother who loved and cared for them, the little neighbor girl named Suzy who was smarter than Johnny in every way possible and possibly had a crush on him which Johnny ignores. His best friend was Carl, a geeky genius who was very loyal to Johnny despite Johnny constantly making fun of him and Pops a greedy diner owner who was a little crazy but often gave Johnny tips and advice which would usually get Johnny in more trouble. The show also had another character named Jungle Boy but he wasn’t all that popular and only appeared in like 3 episodes.

The animation style and story-telling for the series was like a roller coaster for me. The animation style in season one was kinda blend and Johnny had some personality but wasn’t really all that interesting of a character and just went through the motions of trying to get the object of his affection to like him but it did have some very creative stories. One of my favorite episodes is the twilight zone episode, while I admit I’ve never watched the show I knew about the strange stories and formula of the series so seeing Johnny Bravo do them was a nice treat. In season 2 the series got a complete makeover, the animation got better and livelier, side characters were used more (this season also introduced Carl and Pops), the episodes were funnier, and Johnny’s personality came out more. He became a lovable idiot. Season 2 and 3 were the funniest because it showed Johnny as a lovable idiot always getting himself and his friends into trouble but still trying to get the girl to like him. The show took a down turn in season 4 with many of the side characters having lesser roles, going back to the animation style from season 1 and the stories not really being all that funny. Probably the most well-known episode in the series was the crossover episode with Scooby-Doo where they make the strong hint that Fred and Daphne are doing each other. I wasn’t even a fan of Scooby-Doo but even I knew those two were having sex off-screen when they went to search for clues. The show also had a number of guest celebrities such as Adam West, Don Knotts, Donny Osmond, Mark Hamil, and other Hanna-Barbera characters. In closing I really liked Johnny Bravo and even though I wasn’t a big fan of season 4 I admit they were funny just not as funny and creative as seasons 2 and 3 so I say if you’re in need of good laugh check this show out. Cartoon Network is 2 for 2 lets see what else they bring to the party.

Posted in Cartoon Cartoon-cember, Specials and tagged , , , .