| Johnny Bravo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | |
| Created by | Van Partible |
| Voices of | |
| Theme music composer |
|
| Opening theme | "Johnny Bravo" |
| Ending theme | "Johnny Bravo" (instrumental)[b][c] |
| Composers | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes |
|
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producers |
|
| Running time | 23 minutes |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | Cartoon Network |
| Release | July 14, 1997 (1997-7-14) – August 27, 2004 (2004-8-27) |
| Related | |
| What a Cartoon! | |
Johnny Bravo is an Americananimated comedy television series created byVan Partible forCartoon Network. The second of the network'sCartoon Cartoons (afterDexter's Laboratory), it aired from July 14, 1997, to August 27, 2004. The titular Johnny Bravo (voiced byJeff Bennett), who is loosely based onElvis Presley andJames Dean, is a blonde-haired sunglasses-wearing, muscular, and dimwitted young man who lives with his mother and attempts to get women to date him, though he always falls short because of his actions. He ends up in bizarre situations and predicaments, often accompanied bycelebrity guest characters such asDonny Osmond orAdam West. Throughout its run, the show was known for itsadult humor and pop culture references.
Partible pitched the series toHanna-Barbera's animation showcaseWhat a Cartoon!, basing it on his senior thesis project he produced while attendingLoyola Marymount University. Apilot short aired on Cartoon Network in 1995. 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, for the series' fourth season, Partible returned and restored the show to its original format and style. In its four seasons, a total of 67 episodes have aired. The first three seasons were produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, while the fourth season was produced byCartoon Network Studios.
Johnny Bravo was nominated for fourAnnie Awards, oneYoungStar Award, and twoGolden Reel Awards. The series helped launch the careers of several animators, includingSeth MacFarlane andButch Hartman. Spin-off media include comic books, DVD and VHS releases, collectible toys, T-shirts with Johnny's well known phrase "Whoa Mama", and video games.
The series centers on Johnny Bravo (voiced byJeff Bennett),[h] a sunglasses-wearing, muscular, conceitednarcissist and dimwitted self-proclaimedwomanizing person with 1960s surfer vibes, a blondepompadour and anElvis Presley-esque voice, apparently of Italian heritage, who lives in Aron City (a nod to Presley's middle name). 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 harming him in a comedic way due to his boorish manner. Johnny's companions are Bunny "Momma" Bravo (Brenda Vaccaro), his lively, caring, extroverted, more sensible mother, who wears cat eye sunglasses; and Little Suzy (Mae Whitman), a talkative and intelligent young girl from the neighborhood who likes to agitate Johnny, although he rarely remembers her name.
Recurring characters include Carl Chryniszzswics (Tom Kenny), a geek who idolizes Johnny despite being bullied and bossed around by him; Pops (Larry Drake), the unscrupulous owner of the local diner who provides advice to Johnny, along with food made from atypical ingredients; Master Hamma (Brian Tochi), a Japanesemartial arts instructor who teaches Johnny but never considers him a student due to being the weakest and most pathetic student in the dojo;Donny Osmond (himself), a cheery and optimisticteen idol who irritates Johnny; and Jungle Boy (Cody Dorkin), a jungle-dwellingferal child with super strength and the ability to speak to animals.
Much of the series' humor is derived from celebrity guest star appearances and references to popular culture. For example, an episode in season 1 is based around homages toThe Twilight Zone,[1] and in another episode, one of theVillage People can be seen in the background.[2] The series has had numerous guest stars, includingAdam West,Shaquille O'Neal,Seth Green and the aforementioned 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 ofThe New Scooby-Doo Movies, which would feature appearances from popular 1970s icons, but guest stars were used informally after the second season began.[3][4] ManyHanna-Barbera characters had cameo appearances in the series, including the cast ofScooby-Doo,Speed Buggy,Jabberjaw,Fred Flintstone,Yogi Bear,The Blue Falcon,Black Widow, andHuckleberry Hound.
Adult humor is a frequent presence. 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", and in another, when Johnny is hit by a tranquilizer dart and is informed he has only six seconds of consciousness left and to "use it wisely", he immediately pulls out agirlie magazine. In regard to the adult humor, Hartman stated that "being concerned with the content of the episodes wasn't our main focus", and creator Partible remembers: "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]
In the show's first and fourth seasons (when Van Partible was the showrunner), Johnny was a tad smarter and was not a complete doofus and was able to react with clever quips. For example, in the episode "Bearly Enough Time", Johnny was successfully able to cleverly trick Chronos the Time Bear. After Chronos told Johnny he had 20 minutes to put him to sleep, which Johnny was able to do with just a few seconds left, Chronos woke up a few seconds later because of the loud alarms and said that Johnny's time was up but when Johnny told the bear he still had 12 minutes left (pointing to the VCR), Chronos said that was just the VCR to which Johnny made his escape.
While attendingLoyola Marymount University,Van Partible produced his senior thesis projectMess O' Blues (1993), an animated short film about an Elvis Presley impersonator.[3] His roommate, actor Chistopher Keene Kelly (Blacklist, Succession) and recent LMU Film School graduate, Writer/Producer/Voice Actor, Lee J. Bognar (The Expatriat Act, Sioux Me, SNL, The Man Show) worked with Partible to punch up his short story and lend their voice talents to the project, as well as animating some of the cells. That partnership proved key when Partible accidentally destroyed the soundtrack while editing the final cut just before the screening for grading, in front of a live packed theater at LMU. Bognar, who already had several feature films under his belt at Disney (Sister Act) and Paramount (Thing Called Love), swooped in and quickly assembled the actors and musicians to perform the soundtrack - live. The musicians played acoustically and the voice actors did the sound effects when they weren't speaking their lines. The rare spectacle of a liveFoley session presentation, expertly executed by such young, inexperienced performers is a great source of pride for Loyola Marymount's School of Film and Television to this day. It received a standing ovation from the packed theater, and caught the attention of a Rep from Hanna-Barbera. Shortly after, Partible's animation professor screened the film to a friend who also worked forHanna-Barbera, and the studio loved it. They asked Partible to develop it into a pitch for a seven-minute short, which they would own.
For the new short, Partible revised his main character fromMess O' Blues, renaming him "Johnny Bravo" and making him "this '50s iconicJames Dean-looking character that talked like Elvis." He was also inspired byMichael Jackson's "impetus for using whip snaps and cracks" (like inCaptain EO) for whenever Johnny striked a pose.[5] 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 usingdigital ink and paint.[2]
The short, titledJohnny Bravo, was aired onCartoon Network's animation showcase,World Premiere Toons,[3] on March 26, 1995. Two more shorts followed:Jungle Boy in "Mr. Monkeyman" in 1996 andJohnny Bravo and the Amazon Women in 1997.
The name Johnny Bravo derived from creator Van Partible's middle name, Giovanni Bravo, asGiovanni is an Italian name for John or Johnny.[6]
The popularity of the shorts led to Cartoon Network commissioning a first season ofJohnny Bravo, consisting of 13 episodes. The crew of the first season consisted of several writers, animators, and directors fromWorld Premiere Toons, includingSeth MacFarlane,Butch Hartman,Steve Marmel, andJohn McIntyre. Veteran animatorJoseph Barbera also served as a creative consultant and mentor for the first season.[7][8] Partible stated in a 1997 interview the goal of the series was to have "animation reminiscent of the old Hanna-Barbera cartoons".[8]
It was Hanna-Barbera's first production afterTurner Broadcasting System was purchased byTime Warner.
Johnny Bravo premiered on July 14, 1997,[9] and the first season completed production in December of that year.
After the first season,Johnny Bravo was put on hiatus, until it was picked up for an unexpected second season in 1999. Van Partible was fired duringWarner Bros.takeover of Turner Broadcasting and Kirk Tingblad took over as director, leading to a major retooling in the show's visual style, tone, humor, and characters.[10] The show retained this format for the third season.
The series was put on hiatus 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, with Van Partible returning and co-directing all of the fourth season episodes, although the Jungle Boy character from the first season never returned.
| Season | Segments | Episodes | Originally released | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | Network | ||||
| 1 | 38 | 13 | March 5, 1995 (1995-03-05)[11] | December 15, 1997 (1997-12-15)[12] | Cartoon Network | |
| 2 | 66 | 22 | July 2, 1999 (1999-07-02)[13] | January 28, 2000 (2000-01-28)[13] | ||
| 3 | 51 | 17 | August 11, 2000 (2000-08-11)[14] | June 14, 2002 (2002-06-14)[14] | ||
| 4 | 24 | 13 | February 20, 2004 (2004-02-20)[15] | August 27, 2004 (2004-08-27)[15] | ||
| Specials | N/A | 2 | December 7, 2001 (2001-12-07) | February 14, 2003 (2003-02-14) | ||
| Television film | 2011 (2011) | Cartoon Network (India) | ||||
Johnny Bravo was Cartoon Network's highest-rated program in 1999, garnering a 2.2 rating in households and a 4.4 rating among children aged 6 to 11 years, its target demographic.[16] In 2009,IGN rankedJohnny Bravo No. 71 for its Top 100 Animated Series list.[17]
After the series ended in 2004, the No. 5Kellogg's Chevrolet was given a special paint scheme with Johnny Bravo on the hood. It was driven byKyle Busch in the 2005 Sharpie 500NASCAR race.
On the long lasting impact of the show, writer/directorButch Hartman states:
WhenJohnny Bravo first came out, I don't think a lot of people had high hopes for it, and I think it was really cool that proved 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 seriesFamily Guy. Shortly after the series' first season was completed, writer/director Butch Hartman left to work onNickelodeon'sOh Yeah! Cartoons, from which those shorts spun off his own success,The Fairly OddParents. Steve Marmel, writer forJohnny Bravo, has been a producer and writer forThe Fairly OddParents since its premiere in 2001, and is also the creator of the live-action sitcomSonny with a Chance. In addition toJohnny Bravo, director John McIntyre directed episodes of several other Cartoon Cartoons, and more recently served as a supervising director on Cartoon Network's original seriesThe Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.
In 2023 Indian Entertainment JournalPinkvilla namedJohnny Bravo among the top 10 cartoon shows of the 1990s. They mentioned the running gag of Johnny Bravo chasing after women and getting beaten up by them while also featuring other action and comedic themes such as getting lost in distant places while attempting to travel to simple locations and his subsequent explorations and adventures as having great comedic influence in future cartoons.[18]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Annie Award | Best Individual Achievement: Voice Acting by a Male Performer in a TV Production[19] | Jeff Bennett (as Johnny Bravo) | Nominated |
| 1998 | Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television Production[20] | Steve Marmel (for "The Perfect Gift") | Nominated | |
| YoungStar Award | Best Performance in a Voice Over Talent[21] | Mae Whitman (as Little Suzy) | Nominated | |
| 2000 | Annie Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Television Production[22] | Kirk Tingblad (for "Noir Johnny") | Nominated |
| Outstanding Individual Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production[22] | Mary Hanley (for "Noir Johnny") | Nominated | ||
| 2001 | Golden Reel Award | Best Sound Editing — Television Animated Series — Sound[23] | 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[24] | Roy Braverman (for "It's Valentine's Day, Johnny Bravo") | Nominated |
JBVO: Your All Request Cartoon Show was a programming block that aired Sundays on Cartoon Network from April 2, 2000, to mid-2001. It was hosted by Johnny Bravo, along with some infrequent guest stars such as Chicken (fromCow and Chicken) and Dexter (fromDexter's Laboratory). Callers would write into the show via mail or through the Cartoon Network website[25] 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. One caller of the show named Jennifer requested an episode ofDragon 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.[26] Afterward, Johnny apologized to the caller for the inconvenience.[26]
After the series ended, a spin-off ofJBVO namedToon FM was launched in Europe. The series had a few unique changes, such as Godzilla presenting the weather. The spin-off also hadBrak fromSpace Ghost as the co-host.[27]
There was also a similar spin-off of theJBVO concept itself entitledViva Las Bravo, a summer block that aired from 2005 to 2006 on certain European variants of Cartoon Network.[28] Every day Johnny would announce three cartoons, and 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.
Johnny Bravo first appeared in theCartoon Network Starring series fromDC Comics from 1999 to 2001. Newer stories were then included for Cartoon Network's Cartoon Cartoons anthology comic from DC comics from 2001 to 2004. As well as the comics successor, Cartoon Network Block Party, from 2004 to 2009. In February 2013,IDW Publishing announced a partnership with Cartoon Network to produce comics based on its publishing properties. Johnny Bravo was one of these titles announced to be published.[29]
A video game titledJohnny Bravo in The Hukka Mega Mighty Ultra Extreme Date-O-Rama! was released on June 9, 2009, for theNintendo DS andPlayStation 2.[30] The PlayStation 2 version was released exclusively in Europe and Australia byBlast! Entertainment, while the DS version was released in North America byMumboJumbo.
Characters fromJohnny Bravo are featured in the Cartoon Network gamesCartoon Network: Block Party,Cartoon Network Racing,Cartoon Network Speedway,Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall, andCartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion.
In October 2002,Variety reported thatWarner Bros. had secured thefilm rights to make a live-actionJohnny Bravo feature-length film "as a potential starring vehicle" forDwayne "The Rock" Johnson.[31] However, no further developments regarding this project have been announced since then.
Warner Bros. stated in an interview that they were "...in conversations withCartoon Network" forDVD collections of various cartoons, among which wasJohnny Bravo in 2006.[32]Johnny Bravo: Season 1, a two-disc set featuring the complete first season which contains all 13 episodes, was released byMadman Entertainment inAustralia and New Zealand (Region 4) on October 10, 2007. On November 4, 2009, the complete second season was released.
A Region 1 release of the first season, with different cover art and new special features, was released byWarner Home Video on June 15, 2010. The release is first in an official release of severalCartoon Cartoons on DVD, under the "Cartoon Network Hall of Fame" name.[33]
The PlayStation 2 version of the video gameCartoon Network Racing contains the episodes "Doommates" and "Johnny's Telethon" as unlockable extras.
| Season | Title | Release dates | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | ||||
| 1 | Scooby-Doo and the Toon Tour of Mysteries | June 2004 | — | ||
| Nine Creepy Cartoon Capers | August 10, 2004 | — | |||
| Cartoon Network Christmas Rocks | October 4, 2005 | October 18, 2010 | |||
| The Complete First Season | June 15, 2010 | — | |||
| Hall of Fame #1 | March 13, 2012 | — | |||
| 2 | Scooby-Doo and the Toon Tour of Mysteries | June 2004 | — | ||
| 3 | Cartoon Network Christmas: Yuletide Follies | October 5, 2004 | — | ||
| Grossest Halloween Ever | August 9, 2005 | — | |||
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