Clarence | |
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Genre | Comedy [1] Slice of life |
Created by | Skyler Page |
Directed by |
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Creative director(s) | Nelson Boles (2014–15) David Ochs (2015) |
Voices of |
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Theme music composer | Simon Panrucker |
Opening theme | "King of the World" |
Ending theme | "Good Habits (And Bad)", performed by Saba Lou |
Composer(s) | James L. Venable Simon Panrucker |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 3 |
No. of episodes | 130 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) |
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Producer(s) |
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Running time | 11 minutes |
Production company(s) | Cartoon Network Studios |
Distributor | Warner Bros. Television Distribution |
Release | |
Original network | Cartoon Network |
Picture format | 1080i HDTV |
First shown in | February 17, 2014 (pilot) |
Original release | April 14, 2014 – June 24, 2018 |
External links | |
Website |
Clarence is an American animated television series created by Skyler Page for Cartoon Network. The series revolves around a young boy named Clarence and his two best friends Jeff and Sumo. Page, a former storyboard artist for Adventure Time and revisionist for Secret Mountain Fort Awesome , developed the series at Cartoon Network Studios as part of their shorts development program in 2012.
Skyler Dale Page is an American animator and voice actor. He is best known as the creator of the Cartoon Network animated series Clarence, as well as for his tenure as a writer and storyboard artist on the series Adventure Time.
Cartoon Network is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment, a subsidiary of AT&T's WarnerMedia. The channel was launched on October 1, 1992, and primarily broadcasts animated television series, mostly children's programming, ranging from action to animated comedy. It operates usually from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM (ET/PT) and is targeted at children in between 7-15. Its overnight daypart block Adult Swim is aimed at adults and is treated as a separate entity for promotional purposes and as a separate channel by Nielsen for ratings purposes. A Spanish language audio track for select programs is accessible via second audio programing (SAP); some cable and satellite companies offer the Spanish feed as a separate channel by removing the main English-language audio track.
Adventure Time is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network. Produced by Frederator Studios and Cartoon Network Studios, the series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake —a dog with the magical power to change shape and size at will. Finn and Jake live in the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo, where they interact with Princess Bubblegum, the Ice King, Marceline the Vampire Queen, BMO, and others. The series is based on a 2007 short produced for Nicktoons and Frederator Studios' animation incubator series Random! Cartoons. After the short became a viral hit on the Internet, Cartoon Network commissioned a full-length series, which previewed on March 11, 2010, and officially premiered on April 5, 2010.
The pilot aired after the 2014 Hall of Game Awards show on February 17, 2014. The series officially premiered on April 14, 2014 and was seen by approximately 2.3 million viewers, outperforming shows in its same demographic in the time slot. The series' pilot was nominated for a Creative Arts Emmy Award.
The Hall of Game Awards was an award show held by Cartoon Network. The inaugural show was hosted by Tony Hawk and aired on February 25, 2011. There were four installments of the awards, the last being held in 2014.
The Creative Arts Emmys are a class of Emmy Awards presented in recognition of technical and other similar achievements in American television programming. They are commonly awarded to behind-the-scenes personnel such as production designers, set decorators, video editors, costume designers, cinematographers, casting directors, and sound editors.
On April 4, 2017, Spencer Rothbell confirmed that the show's third season would be its last as Cartoon Network did not renew the series for a fourth season, [3] which ended on June 24, 2018.
The show focuses on the daily life of Clarence Wendle, a fun-loving, dimwitted, and spirited boy, and his best friends: Jeff, who is the more intellectual type, and Sumo, who often uses drastic measures when solving problems.
Clarence lives with his divorced mother Mary and her boyfriend Chad in the fictional town of Aberdale, Arizona located near Phoenix. Each episode focuses on the daily-life situations and problems that Clarence and his friends encounter, and their everyday adventures and life experiences as kids.
Arizona is a state in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the Western and the Mountain states. It is the sixth largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona shares the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico; its other neighboring states are Nevada and California to the west and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California to the south and southwest.
Phoenix is the capital and most populous city of Arizona, with 1,660,272 people. It is also the fifth most populous city in the United States, and the most populous American state capital, and the only state capital with a population of more than one million residents.
Other characters include students and faculty at Aberdale Elementary, Clarence's school. Certain episodes focus on the life of supporting characters, like the citizens of Aberdale and Clarence's classmates.
A nice guy is an informal term for an adult male who portrays himself with characteristics such as being gentle, compassionate, sensitive and vulnerable. The term is used both positively and negatively. When used positively, and particularly when used as a preference or description by someone else, it is intended to imply a male who puts the needs of others before his own, avoids confrontations, does favors, gives emotional support, tries to stay out of trouble, and generally acts nicely towards others. In the context of a relationship, it may also refer to traits of honesty, loyalty, romanticism, courtesy, and respect. When used negatively, a nice guy implies a male who is unassertive, does not express his true feelings and, in the context of dating, dishonestly uses acts of ostensible friendship and basic social etiquette with the unstated aim of progressing to a romantic or sexual relationship.
Sean Giambrone is an American actor and voice actor whose roles include Adam Goldberg in the sitcom The Goldbergs, and Ron Stoppable in the Disney Channel live action version of Kim Possible. He voices Jeff Randell in Clarence, and Russell in Russell Madness.
Thomas James Kenny is an American actor and voice artist. He is known for voicing the title character in the SpongeBob SquarePants TV series, video games, and films. Kenny has voiced many other characters including Heffer Wolfe in Rocko's Modern Life; the Ice King in Adventure Time; the Narrator and Mayor in The Powerpuff Girls; Carl Chryniszzswics in Johnny Bravo; Dog in CatDog; and Spyro from the Spyro the Dragon video game series. His live-action work includes the comedy variety shows The Edge and Mr. Show. Kenny has won a Daytime Emmy Award and two Annie Awards for his voice work as SpongeBob SquarePants and the Ice King.
Katie Crown is a Canadian-American actress, voice actress, comedian, and writer. She is known for voicing Izzy in Total Drama, Fin in Stoked, Mary Wendell and Mrs. Baker in Clarence and Tulip in Storks.
Eric Edelstein is an American actor, character actor and voice actor. He is best known for playing the role of Bobby Mallison in Shameless, Chad in Clarence, Paddock Supervisor in Jurassic World, and Grizzly "Grizz" in We Bare Bears.
Jason Christopher Marsden is an American actor, voice actor, director and producer.
At their 2013 upfront, Clarence was announced along with various other series. [4] The show was created by Page, a former storyboard artist for Adventure Time and revisionist for Secret Mountain Fort Awesome . [5] He is the fourth creator on the network who graduated from the California Institute of the Arts, [6] and at age 24, he is also the youngest. [7] As part of their shorts development program in 2012, the show was developed at Cartoon Network Studios; four others, Steven Universe , Over the Garden Wall , We Bare Bears and Long Live the Royals also came from this initiative. [8]
Page, together with creative director Nelson Boles, conceived the show at CalArts. It was further considered when Page became hired at Cartoon Network Studios. A crew of two or three polished the pilot episode; after it had been picked up, a crew of 30 to 35 writers, storyboard artists, revisionists, colorists and designers were employed. Meanwhile, animation is outsourced to South Korea through the Saerom Animation. [9] :20 Page explained that the hardest part of production was keeping pace, especially where once an episode is completed, one must start over. He called this "exciting", but "very challenging". [9] :21
According to writer Spencer Rothbell, the show was created with a naturalistic tone, similar to cartoons of the 1990s, combined with a more modern feeling. Given this naturalism, writers can reference works that have inspired for them or fit the genre of an episode. He ultimately felt that it was about "empowering kids and having fun". [10] Rothbell also avoids "pigeonholing" into one type of story, and that while some plots are mostly character-driven, others are "based on one idea that we think is really funny". [11] Inspiration also came from the shows Page watched as a child, which invoked more poignant and relatable situations. Despite this, elements of fantasy are allowed, and that conveying both incongruous to one another was one technique he particularly enjoyed. Boles noted that the art direction called for inconsistent character design to avoid having to fit model sheet with the universe perfectly—a result of what he dubs the Simpsons effect. [9] :20 Attention is also paid to background characters in order to expand variety in its plot and universe. [9] :20–21
Clarence, Jeff, Sumo, and Belson appeared in "The Grampies", the short accompanying the Uncle Grandpa episode "Pizza Eve", along with other Cartoon Network characters from currently running and ended cartoons. Belson had a speaking role in that short. [12]
In the Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Boredom", Clarence and Mary make an appearance, alongside Uncle Grandpa and Regular Show characters.
In the end of the Steven Universe/Uncle Grandpa crossover episode, Say Uncle , UG looks over the list of characters from former and current Cartoon Network shows and saw Clarence is the last on his list.
In July 2014, Skyler Page was fired from Cartoon Network Studios due to cases of sexual harassment. [13] [14] [15] A Cartoon Network spokesperson confirmed that the series would continue despite his absence. [16] Spencer Rothbell later became head of story and the voice of Clarence. [17]
After Page was fired from the show, Nelson Boles, who was previously the series creative director, served as series showrunner for the remainder of the first season. Stephen P. Neary, one of the storyboard artists for the show, took over as showrunner for the second season and onward after Boles left the series early in the second season. [18]
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | ||||
Pilot | May 21, 2013 (Online) February 17, 2014 (TV) | ||||
1 | 51 | April 14, 2014 | October 27, 2015 | ||
2 | 39 | January 18, 2016 | February 3, 2017 | ||
3 | 40 | February 10, 2017 | June 24, 2018 | ||
Shorts | 14 | July 6, 2015 | June 24, 2018 |
Clarence was originally previewed at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con International. [19] Cartoon Network had commissioned twelve quarter-hour episodes, with the pilot episode airing after the Hall of Game Awards show on February 17, 2014. [8] The pilot was nominated for an "Outstanding Short-format Animated Program" at the 65th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2013. [20] [lower-alpha 1] The first episode, broadcast April 14, 2014, was met with an estimated 2.3 million viewers, outperforming shows in its same demographic in the time slot by double and triple digit percentages. Meanwhile, preliminary data identified it as the most watched series premiere for the network that year. [21]
In Canada, Clarence premiered on Cartoon Network on April 14 [22] and on Teletoon on September 4, but it was later moved exclusively to Cartoon Network. [23] [24] The series premiered on October 6 on Cartoon Network in Australia and New Zealand [25] [26] and on November 3 on Cartoon Network in the United Kingdom and Ireland. [27] In India, the series debuted on June 1, 2015 on Cartoon Network. [28] . The last 13 episodes of the show aired first in Germany before airing in the United States. [29]
In a three-star review, Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media alerted parents of "a similar brand of absurdity and crudeness" as Adventure Time—though less severe—but praised the cast as "oddly likable". [30] Nancy Basile of About.com applauded the dialogue for its lengthiness, and considered the relationships between the characters to be dynamic and genuine, with some comedy thrown in. [31] Whitney Matheson of USA Today found Clarence to blend optimism and surreal humor in "just the right amount", and encouraged children and parents alike to watch its premiere. [32] In Animation Magazine , Mercedes Milligan described it as "a breath of fresh suburban air" and a celebration of childhood. [9] :20 Nivea Serrao of TV Guide contrasted the show with most fantasy animated series. [10] Brian Lowry of Variety called it "so quirky and idiosyncratic as to feel fresh", although it sometimes tread in "well-worn territory", but found the character designs unattractive. [33]
The show gained considerable press after featuring a gay couple in the Season One episode "Neighborhood Grill", with coverage in various tabloid and entertainment news sites, [lower-alpha 2] and in LGBT-oriented sites as well. [lower-alpha 3] The scene involves two male characters greeting each other with kisses on the cheek while at a restaurant. Rothbell originally had the couple kiss on the lips after receiving flowers from the other, but this went unapproved by the network. He added that the scene was a "minor throwaway moment", albeit "better than nothing", and anticipated that "one day the main character can be gay and it won't be a big deal". [37] Joe Morgan of Gay Star News called the buildup to the scene "an old joke", [42] a notion shared by Dan Tracer of Queerty , although he praised their portrayal "just as normal people". [43]
Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
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2013 | Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program | "Clarence" (Pilot) | Nominated |
2015 | British Academy Children's Awards | International | Clarence | Nominated |
2016 | Annie Awards | Best Animated TV/Broadcast Production For Children’s Audience | "Turtle Hats" | Nominated |
Title | Season(s) | Episode count | Running time (minutes) | Release dates (Region 1) | Episodes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cartoon Network Holiday Collection | 1 | 1 | 11 | October 7, 2014 | 3 | |
Mystery Piñata [44] | 12 | 132 | February 10, 2015 | Pilot, 1–2, 4–5, 7, 11–12, 15–16 18, 21, 23 | ||
Dust Buddies [45] | September 15, 2015 | 3, 6, 8, 10, 14, 17, 19–20, 25–26, 29, 36 |
David Richard Paul "Dave" Wittenberg is a South African-born American voice actor from the Los Angeles area who provides voice-overs in English dubs of Japanese anime shows, as well as animations and video games.
The Buzz on Maggie is an American animated television series created by Dave Polsky for Disney Channel. The series centers on an ambitious and expressive tween fly named Maggie Pesky and her family and friends. The show is set in Stickyfeet, a city for insects located in a dump. While conceptualizing the series, Polsky wanted it to contain a playful aspect at adolescence and director Dave Wasson formed the overall look of the characters, being heavily influenced by early Walt Disney cartoon shorts. The Buzz on Maggie was Disney's first series to be fully animated in Adobe Flash, a process done by Bardel Entertainment and Future Thought Productions.
Stephanie Sheh, who also goes by the alias Jennifer Sekiguchi, is an American voice actress, ADR director, writer and producer who has worked for several major companies, including Cartoon Network and Sony. She is often involved with voice-over work in English dubs of anime, cartoons, video games and films. Her notable voice roles include Orihime Inoue in Bleach, Hinata Hyuga in Naruto, Eureka in Eureka Seven, Mikuru Asahina in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Mitsuha Miyamizu in Your Name.
Ren and Stimpy, created by John Kricfalusi, are the title characters in the Nickelodeon animated series The Ren & Stimpy Show and the TNN series Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon". Kricfalusi created the characters during his stay at Sheridan College and they first appeared on film in the pilot episode "Big House Blues". Ren is a scrawny, violently psychotic, emotionally unstable Chihuahua dog, and Stimpy is a fat, stupid, dimwitted, good-natured Manx cat. They are often at odds with each other on the show, though they do share moments of closeness together.
Regular Show is an American animated television sitcom created by J. G. Quintel for Cartoon Network that aired from September 6, 2010, to January 16, 2017. The series revolves around the lives of two working-class friends, a blue jay named Mordecai and a raccoon named Rigby—both employed as groundskeepers at a local park. They usually try to solve a simple problem but then it leads to a surreal, extreme, and often supernatural misadventure. During these misadventures, they interact with the show's other main characters: Benson, Pops, Skips, Muscle Man, Hi-Five Ghost, Margaret and Eileen.
Total Drama is a Canadian animated comedy television series which is an homage and parody to common conventions from reality television. The show and its sequel seasons are collectively referred to as the Total Drama series. It premiered on the Canadian cable television specialty channel Teletoon in Canada on July 8, 2007, and on the American cable television channel Cartoon Network in the United States on June 5, 2008. All of the contestants have distinct personalities that serve as main plot points with the characters consisting of the eponymous fictional reality series and the contestants therein. The style of this series is similar to that of Survivor. Total Drama was met with critical acclaim upon release and has developed a cult following.
Secret Mountain Fort Awesome is an American animated television series created by Peter Browngardt that debuted in 2011 on Cartoon Network. The show revolves around a fraternity of five monsters who unleash wild stunts upon the public from their eponymous mountain fort. The show is loosely based on the antagonists that appeared in Browngardt's animated short, Uncle Grandpa, and employs Mike Conte of the heavy metal band Early Man as composer.
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The fifth season of Adventure Time, an American animated television series created by Pendleton Ward, premiered on Cartoon Network on November 12, 2012 and concluded on March 17, 2014. The season was produced by Cartoon Network Studios and Frederator Studios. The season follows the adventures of Finn, a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake, a dog with magical powers to change shape and size at will. Finn and Jake live in the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo, where they interact with the other main characters of the show: Princess Bubblegum, The Ice King, Marceline the Vampire Queen, Lumpy Space Princess, BMO, and Flame Princess.
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