Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Sheep in the Big City"

Two reviews of a cartoon starring a farm animal in a row? I know it's a bit strange, but somebody in the comments section of my It's Pony review asked if I could do a review of Sheep in the Big City. And I am nothing if not a people-pleaser. Unless those people are fans of Jellystone!. They'll just have to deal with me.

Sheep in the Big City premiered on Cartoon Network on November 17th, 2000, although its pilot first premiered in August of that year as part of the "Cartoon Cartoon Summer" programming block - and was, at the time, the highest-rated premiere for a Cartoon Network original series, impressively enough. It received two seasons, each one consisting of thirteen episodes (making for a total of twenty-six). The show's creator was Mo Willems. Does that name sound familiar? It should:

This is a great book.

The show's protagonist was a sheep creatively named Sheep ("baaaaa"s provided by Kevin Seal). He fled to the big city to escape the sinister Secret Military Organization, led by the villainous General Specific (also voiced by Kevin Seal), who want to use him for their Sheep-Powered Ray Gun. Of course, it's not easy for a sheep to adjust to life in the city - especially a sheep that doesn't talk. Unrelated sketches and shorts were peppered throughout the show, which is one of a few reasons - others including the Narrator, Ben Plotz (Ken Schatz), who interacts with the characters and the emphasis on quirky verbal humor - that the internet has a habit of comparing the show to Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Sheep in the Big City is one of the only Cartoon Cartoons-era Cartoon Network shows that I don't think I ever watched (the others, for those wondering, being Time Squad and Evil Con Carne). That could be because the show wasn't treated super well by Cartoon Network. According to TV Tropes, it was originally cancelled after the first season because of poor viewership... after the premieres of new episodes were delayed several times, with the last four episodes not airing until Sunday evenings in June and July. Popular demand led to the show getting a second season in September 2001, with the first four episodes airing in the same time slot that December before the show went on hiatus in January 2002. TV Tropes claims that this might have been because, after 9/11, Cartoon Network's executives got nervous about having a show on their schedule that featured the American military as comedic antagonists while the country was involved in the Middle East war and the Pentagon was in a state of disrepair. The last nine episodes were aired the following months on Sunday nights at 9 PM, when kids likely aren't watching TV. Apparently a third season was planned, but then Codename: Kids Next Door was greenlit and Mo Willems became too busy with that.

Fortunately, somebody uploaded all the show's episodes to the Internet Archive, which means that fans of the show can rewatch it even though it's not on any streaming services as far as I'm aware (apparently it was on Amazon Prime Video at some point and it might be on HBO Max in Latin America) - and those that never watched the show before, like me, can give it a try for the first time. We'll be watching the tenth episode, "Fleeced to Meet You". Let's meet up with Sheep in the Big City!

The episode starts off with a Star Trek parody. While I will give it credit for being less on the nose than usual Star Trek spoofs in cartoons (the characters don't resemble Kirk and Mr. Spock at all), the Spock equivalent having a really long name isn't a particularly funny joke.

If the Kirk equivalent were a more blatant William Shatner parody, you just KNOW the alien
would make a joke about him tasting like ham (get it?).

The cute-looking alien that they encounter, of course, eats the woman, and the Spock equivalent gives him a dollar and says "Nice work." Wow, the Spock equivalent put a hit out on his boss? I guess that's one way to take a jab at William Shatner...

After that, the actual storyline for this episode begins. The narrator tells us that for some people, the city is a dangerous concrete jungle full of mean people, but for others, it's a utopia where neighbor helps neighbor. Take Sheep, who's always doing nice things for others. You can always count on him to give you a helping hand.

Do I want to know where he got a severed hand?

General Specific could sure use a helping hand, because he can't capture Sheep no matter how hard he tries. Fortunately, his Angry Scientist (Mo Willems himself)... not a MAD scientist, an ANGRY scientist, he's very sensitive about that... has whipped up a plan to fix that. He's been updating the hard drive, soft drive, and squishy drive of General Specific's plan-creating robot, the Plot Device - gotta love the names in this show - making it the world's most powerful supercomputer. Alas, it does not have any superpowers.

You're probably wondering why the Angry Scientist has green skin. My guess: his mother is
the Wicked Witch of the West.

General Specific rewards the Angry Scientist for his accomplishment by sending him down a trapdoor.

"WRONG LEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!"

In comes the Plot Device (Stephanie D'Abruzzo), who explains to General Specific what their most recent plan is. Sheep is the only sheep in the Big City, right? So the Plot Device has hired a super-double-agent stealth-sheep to befriend Sheep and lure him into a trap. His name is "X Agent", according to his business card.

As General Specific demonstrates that there are several very mysterious letters of the alphabet (it makes sense in context, but I'm not going to tell you what that context is because I'm feeling mischievous today), we cut back to Sheep helping to make the city cleaner. Everybody else in town launches into a musical number about cleaning. How do they all know the words to the song? Did they rehearse every Thursday beforehand?

If you know what that's a reference to, you get... nothing, but I'm sure you're filled with pride.

General Specific might have a supercomputer, but the people of the Big City have a superHERO.
Surely HE can defend Sheep from General Specific.

And speaking of cleaning up, let's all take a look at General Specific's top secret military base. I love the sign reading "Please look the other way", as if he seriously believes it'll make nobody notice the building. I'd also like to know who his contractor was - that building is more crooked than Barnaby.

He's even got a MOAT around it. I'm sure THAT'S not going to raise any suspicion...

General Specific is preparing his plan of diabolicality, not cleaning up. And also sending more people down trapdoors. I guess when you have trapdoors set up all over your base, it's hard to resist sending people down them for no reason. After boarding a helicopter, he sends X Agent down to meet Sheep, who greets his fellow ovine with a cheery smile.

Don't be so trusting, Sheep. He could really be a wolf in sheep's clothing.

(Hey, SOMEBODY'S gotta make a lot of sheep puns, and if the episode's not gonna do it...)

Will General Specific's plot succeed? We'll find out... after this commercial for an airline. At We Care Air, they do everything to assure you are happy. The pilots even massage your feet. When they're supposed to be flying the plane. My recommendation would be to stick with United Airlines.

Y'know what? This gives me an idea. I think I'll randomly start interrupting my reviews with fake ads. It'll be like how YouTube videos are constantly interrupted by ads for things you already know exist and would have already watched or gotten your hands on if you wanted to, so there's no point in reminding us, YouTube.

Wanda apparently has a side job as a flight attendant.

And now, Chapter Two of our exciting episode...

Sheep is thrilled to meet another sheep just like him, and soon the two of them are out having a grand time. General Specific wants to see how the plan is coming along, but the Sheep-Monitoring System is being upgraded, so he'll have to settle for a dramatic interpretation of what the soldiers think Sheep and X Agent are doing. This dramatic interpretation must be seen for itself. Words can not do it justice.

Surely you're familiar with that hit Broadway show, CaBAAAAAAAAAAAAret?

Sheep and X Agent are playing Chess, something that the soldiers left out of their dramatic interpretation. X Agent is starting to have second thoughts about luring Sheep into General Specific's trap. Will he go through with it, or will friendship triumph over General Specific and his eeeeeeeeeeevilness? Before we find out, let's see what that superhero from before is up to.

The superhero, Completely Powerful Guy (Ken Schatz), can be summed up like this: he's a coward. And despite how powerful he is, he's vulnerable to a lot of stuff. He makes Captain Underpants look competent.

Also here is his faithful sidekick, Wonderful Boy (Christine Walters).

Then we get an ad for Bio-Technical Corporate Concern Limited Company (BTC for short). What do they sell? Even THEY don't know.

X Agent calls up General Specific, who tells him to meet him, with Sheep, at the rendezvous place - with much difficulty since X Agent is a sheep and can't speak English. But on the way there, X Agent defends Sheep from local scary little girl Lisa Rental (also Stephanie D'Abruzzo), so maybe he's not such a bad guy... oh, sorry, a BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-d guy... after all. Or maybe he IS, seeing as he promptly places Sheep onto a giant red "X" painted on the sidewalk, allowing General Specific to capture him and bring him back to his top secret military base.

I didn't mention this character before, but General Specific is accompanied by his much sharper second-in-command, Private Public (James Godwin). When General Specific is about to send X Agent down a trapdoor (what is it with this guy and trapdoors?), Private Public protests. "X Agent is more than a stealth spy sheep. He's a FRIEND," he insists. "And friends don't double-cross friends! Friends don't double-cross friends! Friends don't double-cross friends!"

Private Public looks a lot like the bus driver from Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, doesn't
he?

When X Agent hears that, he is immediately wracked with regret and saves Sheep by taking off his wool and pulling it down over General Specific's head. Get it? He pulled the wool over his eyes?

Sheep and Agent X escape in a helicopter, which Sheep jumps out of using his wool as a parachute while Agent X takes General Specific on a wild goose chase... well, a wild SHEEP chase anyway...

To conclude the show, we get an appearance from the Ranting Swede (Kevin Seal). His shtick is that he rants about things that drive him crazy. He'd fit right in on the internet, wouldn't he?

The Ranting Swede: teaching us to laugh at people with Swedish accents since 2000.

What's the Verdict?

Don't go into Sheep in the Big City expecting complex characterization and writing - the show's goal, first and foremost, is to make us laugh. And yes, it IS very funny. I didn't even mention ALL the jokes in this episode, there are a LOT of 'em. The comparisons to Rocky and Bullwinkle are very accurate, in fact I would say this is a better attempt at recreating the feel and fun of Rocky and Bullwinkle than the ACTUAL attempt at recreating the feel and fun of Rocky and Bullwinkle that same year (remember that movie? With Jason Alexander and Robert De Niro?). If you like Rocky and Bullwinkle, chances are you'll like Sheep in the Big City.

And remember, everybody: friends don't double-cross friends! Friends don't double-cross friends! Friends don't double-cross friends! Oh, and don't let the Pigeon drive the bus either.

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "It's Pony"

Jeez, how long has it been since I've reviewed a cartoon show that I've actually watched before and know that I like? Was it my review of Kappa Mikey?

Well, anyway, I don't normally do more recent cartoons - as in, ones that came out in the same decade as the year I'm posting the review - on this blog. That's probably because most cartoons made since I've created this blog are pretty well-known... for example, it's doubtful that anyone reading my blog hasn't heard of Hamster and Gretel or Middlemost Post, even if they haven't actually watched it. But I'm reviewing this show because A) it's been off the air for at least two years and B) I think it's really underrated. So, without further ado...

Why is It's Pony so obscure? I'll tell you why: because there's no justice. This show, created by Ant Blades, premiered on Nickelodeon in January 2020. Much like Breadwinners and (a far more well-known Nicktoon) The Loud House, the show got its start as a short in the Nickelodeon Animated Shorts Program. Apparently, the higher-ups liked the short enough to make it a show. And thank goodness they did. It's Pony also has the claim to fame of being the first Nicktoon to premiere in the 2020s.

The show focuses on a nine-year-old farm girl named Annie Bramley (voiced by Jessica DiCicco), who's still trying to adapt to life in the city, and her best friend, a pony named... well, Pony (voiced by Josh Zuckerman), a naive and eccentric pony who loves her more than anything. Pony generally winds up turning what would normally be a non-eventful activity - going to the bookstore, for example - into a bizarre adventure full of WHACKY SHENANIGANS. Other characters include Annie's parents George and Helen Bramley (Abe Benrubi and India de Beaufort) and several other kids who are Annie's friends.

Annie's the one on the right, Pony's the one on the left.

I stumbled upon It's Pony one night I believe in 2021 and quickly became anxious to watch more. This show is genuinely funny and charming, and I know it DOES have fans other than me, so why is it so obscure now? Well, you see, Nickelodeon for some reason decided to sabotage it. Reruns were moved to Nicktoons Network after the show's Christmas episode, then it was scheduled to return in March 2021 only for the premieres to be cancelled in favor of more SpongeBob SquarePants reruns. The United Kingdom got some new episodes, but it took forever for us in the United States to get those new episodes, and when they finally DID air they only aired on, again, Nicktoons Network - which I'm pretty sure not everybody has and since 2006 has basically just become a place for Nickelodeon to put shows they want to get rid of (and now just airs SpongeBob and The Patrick Star Show and nothing else. I love SpongeBob, but that's just ridiculous!). Unsurprisingly, the show wound up getting cancelled after two seasons. AND it was also removed from Paramount Plus.

This show, in my opinion, deserved at least one more season. It seemed to be getting even better with each episode. I'd say the chances of Nickelodeon bringing it back are very small, but in the meantime, you can find a couple full episodes on YouTube. As for me, I'm going to do my part to make more people aware of the show's existence... and what better way to do that than writing a review of it? So, let's watch an episode of the show's second season - this was when the show started to take a turn for the insane (not to the same level as Back at the Barnyard, but still pretty out there), so I think I'll get more joke material out of that season's episodes.

Specifically, we'll be watching the show's thirty-first episode, which consists of the segments "Pighog Day" and "Second Best Friend". This is It's Pony, everybody!

The episode starts off with Annie, Pony, and their friends Clara (Taylor Polidore), Heston (Josh Keaton), Gerry (Noshir Dalal), and Brian (Bobby Moynihan) excited because it's Pighog Day tomorrow! What is Pighog Day? It's a day where, at noon, somebody points at a pig, which marks the start of spring. Somehow. I'm not quite sure how it works.

Since Pighog Day is clearly supposed to be a parody of Groundhog Day, maybe I should've waited until Groundhog Day to post this review. But y'know what? It's my blog, so I do what I want on it.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, all of Annie's friends know that Pony can talk. Nobody questions it, even though he seems to be the only talking animal in... whatever the name of this city is (maybe they mentioned it in another episode, I don't recall). It's a cartoon, after all.

Everybody in this show desperately needs an eyebrow-trimming.

As the kids and horse talk about how exciting Pighog Day is, a limo pulls up behind them and out steps the city's mayor with the hat that the person who points at the pig - the "Hogger" - wears. She's going to dub one of THEM the "Hogger"! Pony thinks he's been chosen, but actually, she gives the hat to Annie. And as soon as it's put on her head, she falls over. Apparently it's a very heavy hat.

Something I love about this show is that it's not afraid to let Annie, who's a girl, partake in
physical comedy. This is one of the tamer examples, but I can assure you, she gets a LOT of slapstick
thrown at her.

Annie and Pony return home to tell her parents about Annie's being dubbed the "Hogger". Her father, instead of being excited, is horrified.

"That hat was made from an actual pig, Annie! It's PIGSKIN!"

"Ah! No! Take it off! That hat will only bring HORROR and SHAME!" George exclaims. How does he know this? He lets the family in on his deepest, darkest secret - when he was younger, he was once chosen to be the "Hogger". All he had to do was point at the pig... but when he pointed, the pig MOVED. Which somebody probably should have expected. It's a PIG, there's no guarantee that it'll stay in one place. He went to look for the pig, but he didn't see the cinnamon bun on the floor in front of him, which he promptly slipped on, and then everybody LAUGHED AT HIM. Because everyone in this city is apparently a sadist. Ha ha, that kid slipped on a cinnamon bun (who the heck left that cinnamon bun there anyway?). Let us all mock him.

In fact, everybody thought George's... not anticipating that the pig would move and then slipping on a random cinnamon bun so hilarious that he was laughed out of town, and his family had to move to the country. What's wrong with these people?

"Well, that's not gonna happen to ME," Annie insists. Plus, she can't back out NOW - everybody in the city already knows that she's the "Hogger", and the second she steps onto the balcony she receives applause. Pony, not so much.

There's something inherently amusing about Pony's design, but I can't put my finger on
what it is... maybe it's the long snout?

"Hey, hey, hey! Even the Hogger gets to have a private life! You'll all get to see my client tomorrow, at Pighog Day!" Pony tells the crowd. Yes, Pony is now Annie's agent. Believe it or not, he's got experience being an agent - he needs SOMETHING to do while Annie is at school, after all.

That's not his office, though. It's somebody else's, and they're not too pleased to find a pony and a
daredevil hanging around in their office. It's funnier in the actual episode, I'm just doing
a lousy job of describing it...

George still thinks that Annie should ask the mayor to pick somebody else, but Annie says that she'll be fine. After all, she's GREAT at pointing at things. Nonetheless, George insists that she at least practice. "There's a lot riding on this. It's up to YOU to restore our family name," he claims. So it's off to the park, where everyone is fawning over Annie and crapping their pants after she points at them.

George, Annie and Pony go to see the pig who Annie will be pointing at. Now Annie can practice pointing specifically at the pig, but wouldn't you know it? As soon as she points at it, it moves. Makes me wonder, is George really the only "Hogger" in the history of Pighog Day whose pig moved while they were pointing at it? And if so, why? Were all the pigs before his glued to the floor?

Must be a very fast pig, too.

"But... but, he was right there!" Annie protests. "They MOVE, Annie! They MOVE!" George declares. "If only they didn't have those LITTLE LEGS!" Pony kicks George out so Annie can focus, but when Annie tries to point at the pig again... it moves! AGAIN! Is Annie cursed?!

When she goes outside, Annie sees the pig playing cards with Pony. I'm guessing they're playing Porker... get it? Instead of "Poker", I said "PORKer"? 'Cause it's a pig? Please laugh. I'm trying so hard. Then the pig makes a dash for the cinnamon bun stand. "We have to get it back. You can't point at a pig if there's no pig to point at!" George points out. Fortunately, Annie and Pony manage to get the pig back remarkably easily. Now, how will they get it back to the barn without the mayor, who happens to be around because of course she is, seeing them?

The solution: Pony puts the pig in a disguise! Where'd he get the clothes? When Annie asks, Pony says, "Do you REALLY want to know?"

"If there's anything I've learned from Back at the Barnyard, it's that putting clothes on a pig
will automatically make everyone believe that it's a human being!"

Further complicating things is the arrival of an old lady who assumes that the pig is her date. Annie informs the woman that he's a pig, to which the woman says, "Well, I could say some things about that father of yours, too." Does she really not realize that her "date" is a pig, or does she just not care? Maybe she's got a thing for pigs. She'd hardly be the first cartoon woman who's expressed interest in a swine.

The woman and the pig walk off, Annie running after them only to have her way blocked by her fans. She eventually has to hide from them in a bush, where the guy whose clothes Pony stole so he could disguise the pig is hiding. HE'S the woman's date, and so the three of them head to the restaurant he had a reservation at, Chez Phil (usually impossible to get in, but everyone's busy with Pighog Day so he was able to get a reservation that day), where the pig and the woman are.

Meh, still a better love story than Bee Movie.

Pony is put in charge of swapping out the pig for the guy whose clothes Pony stole. Because Pony is... well, Pony, he messes that up. Multiple times. In his defense, it's hard to see with the sunglasses on.

Is whoever ordered that lemonade still going to get it?

Eventually, he winds up swapping the pig with Chez Phil's CHEF... which means that the pig is in the kitchen. Since pigs aren't exactly known for their cooking skills, this leads to the fire department being called, but at least they manage to get the pig. But it's almost noon! How will they get back to the Pighog Day ceremony in time? Pony looks at the fire truck...

...which drives right by them, after which Annie complains that they wouldn't give them a ride. This, my friends, is what is known as a "bait and switch". Fortunately, Pony has a plan... a plan that Annie apparently has no confidence in, because she calls up her father and tells him that they're not gonna make it. HE'LL have to be the Hogger. "You need to do this! It's the only way to save Pighog Day! AND yourself!" she insists.

So, what was Pony's plan? Remember how he was previously seen acting as the agent to a daredevil with a cannon? Well, they're going to shoot the pig out of the cannon and to the ceremony. Why don't they just shoot Annie there with the pig?

If this doesn't lead to a "when pigs fly" joke, I'm going to be very disappointed.

The pig (and the hat) make it to the ceremony just as George jumps onto the stage. And when he points at it... it doesn't move! The Bramley family name has been restored. And Pony also makes it rain cinnamon buns! This is one of several reasons why Pony is better than Pinkie Pie.

And also Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity (I actually like Twilight and Fluttershy).

Next segment!

Annie and her classmates have an assignment - do a portrait of your best friend. One classmate, Fred (Kal Penn), is building a Paper-Mache statue of HIS best friend, "a spiraling tower of self-belief and acceptance that reaches up to the sky". Beatrice (Megan Hilty), the Elmyra Duff-esque animal lover of the show, is painting herself with a guinea pig. Henrietta (Grey DeLisle-Griffin), who up until this point hasn't given us any indication that she's a goth, is stirring a vat of dark paint to represent her old friend darkness (or maybe she's just a big fan of the band Disturbed). Gerry and Annie have decided to paint each other. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, back it up... why isn't Annie painting PONY? Her ACTUAL best friend?

Well, this time, she wants to get a good grade. In the past, whenever she's tried to make a work of art - a wooden statue of Pony's likeness, a portrait of her parents, a clay bowl - Pony wound up ruining it.

I'm sure all the kids watching at home are going to get THIS reference.

So, she's painting Gerry, since he's her SECOND best friend. When Gerry hears that, he is thrilled, and promptly opens a bag of Not-Funyuns. As soon as he does, guess who shows up? HINT: they're a horse.

I sure hope Gerry doesn't offer any of those Not-Funyuns to Pony. I looked it up, onions are toxic to horses.

Apparently, horses are also lactose-intolerant, so if you have a horse, don't feed them ice cream
either.

Gerry tells Pony that they're painting their best friends for their art project. Beatrice loudly says that Annie is painting Gerry, presumably because she likes stirring up trouble for Annie. It initially seems like Pony is upset, but he isn't. He's okay with Annie having a second best friend. After all, HE has a second best friend too - Michael.

No, not ME. I'm not a character in It's Pony. This is another Michael. He's a fly.

Here is a screencap of Pony with Michael.

Annie does not know who Michael is, to which Pony reminds her that Michael has been with them through thick and thin. Then the episode gives us flashbacks to previous episodes of the show, but with Michael in them. I love this - it's almost like the show is parodying that cliche in TV shows where a character is just randomly introduced out of nowhere and the characters act like they've always known them (for example, to use another show about ponies, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic's randomly giving Twilight a brother out of nowhere).

In fact, it's revealed that Michael is responsible for that aforementioned wooden statue of Pony that Annie made getting destroyed... Pony let him hold it, and Michael has butterfingers. He thinks that Annie is just pretending not to know Michael because she's still holding a grudge. Annie says that no, she doesn't remember Michael because he randomly just made him up. "Hey, I believe in YOUR second best friend!" Pony protests. "Well, THAT'S because Gerry is an actual person," Annie informs him. Peering at Gerry, Pony murmurs, "Hmmm... ISH." Sometimes it's the simplest jokes that are the funniest.

Speaking of Gerry, he is currently SWATTING MICHAEL because he does not know that Michael is Pony's second best friend, and Michael was getting into his Not-Funyuns.

GASP!

Pony is horrified by the sight of Michael's act of violence against Michael. "FLY DOWN!" he yells, holding Michael in his hooves, before hailing a bus. The bus driver knows Michael too, and she's very concerned for his well-being. Pony climbs onto the bus, then pulls Annie on board, leaving Gerry to work on his portrait... not of Annie, but rather of his grandmother. Little does he know just what the episode has in store for him...

Cue the dramatic music.

Pony nervously tells Annie that Michael is a pretty big deal in his family - if they find out what happened, they're go after Gerry. They're like a mob. But smaller. And with more vengeance. Annie is unconvinced, but tell me, did you notice the fly on the window in the previous screencap? That's one of Michael's kin.

More and more flies have arrived to make Gerry pay. And they don't take checks.

You'd think I'd be freaked out by this since I'm afraid of flies (all bugs, really. I know most of them are
harmless, it's just my weird thing). But strangely enough, I find this hilarious. Maybe because these
flies aren't very realistic-looking (that's the main thing that freaks me out about flies).

The flies manage to open the window and swarm into the school. Gerry, you have made a powerful enemy in the flies. Not only do they put his head through the portrait he was painting, they actually chase him out of the school. I wonder, how did they find out so quickly that Gerry hurt Michael? I'm sure there's a delightfully absurd explanation that Pony could give us...

"We're gonna make you an offer you can't refuse... if you'd like to stay alive!"
"Revenge is a dish best served cold!"
"It's not personal, Gerry. It's strictly business... oh, wait, it IS personal!"
"We don't like violence. Blood is a big expense... but we're still going to make you pay!"
"Don't tell us you're innocent. Because it insults our intelligence and it makes us very angry!"
"Hasta la vista, Gerry!"
"...Moe, that's not a line from The Godfather."
"I panicked! It's all I could think of."

Pony rushes into the hospital once the bus gets there and screams to the receptionist that it's an emergency. To Annie's shock, the receptionist knows Michael too, and she agrees with Pony that it's an emergency - as do all the doctors and nurses. He's even placed in a human hospital bed.

They don't have little fly-sized hospital beds? Considering how seriously they're taking this,
you'd think they would've splurged for some...

A very, very confused Annie says that she has to get back to work on her project, which is due that day. Pony is outraged - how DARE Annie leave Michael in his hour of need?! Clearly, she still doesn't believe in Michael. "How is he gonna get better if you don't believe?!" he demands. In order for flies to get better, they need people to believe in them. It doesn't just apply to fairies.

Pony steps out of the room to get a cup of coffee. And a Danish. Or maybe a slice of pie. He's still deciding (but he's leaning towards the pie). Annie laments that she's going to fail art, then sighs... and her sigh sends Michael flying out the window. Thinking quickly, Annie draws Michael on the bottom of a glass jar sitting on a table before Pony can return. When Pony DOES show up (he went with the Danish, for those wondering), Annie tells him that Michael, uh, got better and tried to fly away, so she put him in a jar to keep him safe. Pony deduces that Annie believes in Michael after all, and that must be why he's getting better. But what's this? On the television in Michael's room, Annie and Pony see her school, where a reporter is reporting on Gerry's getting the crap beaten out of him by vengeance-fueled flies. "Gerry messed with the wrong fly," Pony points out. They must bring Michael to the school so his family won't murder Gerry.

And nobody's trying to help Gerry becaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaause? Oh, right, because they all know better
than to get in the way of Michael's family. They're very smart.

The flies chase Gerry to the top of Fred's spiraling paper-mache tower. Now they've got him cornered! Fortunately, Pony shows up and opens the jar, urging "Michael" to save Gerry. It takes him a few seconds to realize that the "Michael" in the jar is just a drawing. And clearly it was a random police officer nearby who drew Michael on the bottom of the jar! The FIEND!

"Admit it! You put a hit out on Michael!"

Annie tells Pony that SHE drew Michael on the jar, and that Michael blew out the window. Pony laments nobody believes in Michael. But then the bus driver says that SHE believes in Michael. Then the receptionist says that SHE believes in Michael too. Soon the whole crowd is chanting "We believe in Michael!" while Annie just stands there baffled.

But Michael isn't back yet. He needs more people to believe in him. I believe in Michael. YOU believe in Michael, don't you? He just needs you to believe. Say it. Stand up right now and shout "I BELIEVE IN MICHAEL!"

But does Annie believe in Michael? She finally admits that she, too, believes in Michael. And that is what was needed to restore Michael to full health.

MICHAEL LIVES!

But he'd better hurry - the flies are about to turn Gerry into a splat on the pavement.

Were the Not-Funyuns worth it, Gerry? Were they?

Filled with the strength of a lot more than ten flies plus two, Michael zips to the school and saves Gerry just as his family has sent him flying off the Paper-Mache tower. "HE'S ALIVE!" Pony cheers. Only problem is, Michael can't hold Gerry's weight, so the other flies have to pitch in and get Gerry down safely... but then his shirt tears and he falls into the vat of paint Henrietta was using.

Gee, Gerry's looking blue...

Annie has learned a valuable lesson: something as little as a fly can be a pretty big deal. Speaking of little things, there's a spider by Pony's hoof. Maybe the spider can be Pony's THIRD best friend... oh, wait, Pony just stomped on it. Never mind.

Annie winds up using the drawing of Michael on the jar as her art project. Her teacher dubs it "a decent portrait of a really ugly fly". "Oooh, you shouldn't have said that..." Annie says nervously. She is correct.

"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer... to the pavement, that is!"
"If history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone. And we're going to use YOU
as an example!"
"We don't feel we have to wipe everyone out, lady. Just YOU!"
"...uh, that 'Never hate your enemies, it affects your judgement' quote... was that from the second
Godfather or the third one?"
"Dang it, Moe..."

And thus Annie's art teacher is killed by flies. The end.

What's the Verdict?

I highly urge you to seek out It's Pony if you haven't already. This is definitely one of my favorite post-1990s Nicktoons, and one of the most underrated as well. Every joke lands, the animation is good (I think this was done with Adobe Flash but it manages to avoid the fidgety and flat movements of some other Flash-animated shows), and the characters are all likeable - it's very hard to pull off "endearingly dumb" characters in animation, if done poorly Pony could've wound up an extremely annoying character (like Pinkie Pie) or another Patrick Star knockoff. But there's an earnestness to Pony that, combined with Josh Zuckerman's delightful performance, makes the character fun to watch, with the hammier moments characters like this usually have used more sparingly so he doesn't feel obnoxious. It helps that Annie makes for a fun straight man to Pony's antics.

I enjoyed both segments in this episode, but of the two I definitely found "Second Best Friend" better. The entire thing is just so ridiculous and over the top (Gerry ignites the wrath of FLIES) that it's hard not to find it hilarious. And this is just ONE of the episodes of this show with plots like this. And unlike other shows that use absurdity and bizarre situations to get laughs (Jellystone!, I'm looking at you), the show has actual wit to it and, again, doesn't rely entirely on characters screaming and randomness.

It's Pony likely never had a chance of becoming as big a hit as SpongeBob or The Fairly OddParents, but it certainly deserved better and if Nickelodeon hadn't essentially sabotaged it, I feel it had the potential to be at least as successful as, say, The Loud House or the more recent Rock, Paper, Scissors. Though I doubt we would've gotten any spin-offs or an It's Pony movie... not that we NEED any, honestly, I don't think we needed any SpongeBob spinoffs either. But what do I know? I'm not a TV executive...

To end this review, I guess I might as well suggest we get #bringbackitspony going on social media. I know the chances are slim, but hey, it's worth a shot.

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Grossology"

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

Look, I'm just gonna be blunt here: I don't like gross-out humor. Snot, drool, barf, farting, that sort of thing... maybe I'm just an oversensitive ninny, but I've never found it funny. I just find it disgusting. With that in mind, this show having the word "Gross" in the name doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

Okay, okay, what exactly IS Grossology? Well, you see, it started as a 1992 children's book written by Sylvia Branzei. The book's Amazon page dubs it a "guide to all things gross". The book spawned a couple sequels, some CD-ROMs, a traveling exhibition, and - of course - a TV show. The Grossology show, developed by Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott for Nelvana, premiered on YTV in Canada on September 29th, 2006. In the United States, the show's first season aired on Discovery Kids, then the second season aired on Qubo. Fifty-two episodes were made.

I've never read the original Grossology books, but from my understanding the series has very little in common with them aside from the name and subject matter. It focuses on two teenage secret agents named Ty (voiced by Michael Cohen) and Abby Archer (voiced by Krystal Meadows), who work for the Department of Grossology, a secret government bureau that handles all the problems too disgusting for anyone else to want to get involved with. Usually these problems involved a supervillain who has something to do with a bodily function or something like that. Sounds repulsive, doesn't it?

But this isn't just a gross-out show, no, no... it's also EDUTAINMENT! According to TV Tropes, anyway. I assume this means the show teaches the kids watching at home about head lice and farting while Ty and Abby fought the villains weaponizing them.

I don't know how big of a fanbase this show has. I found some fanart on DeviantArt and a few posts praising the show on Tumblr, so there are SOME fans at least. As for me, I've never watched the show - like I said, I don't like gross things in my cartoons. But who knows? Maybe I've misjudged it. Maybe it's actually really good. We'll be watching the ninth episode of the show, "It's Gotta Be the Shoes", to find out.

SUGGESTION: Don't read this review while eating something. Probably not the best idea.

We start off with two basketball players in the locker room. One of them takes off his shoe, complaining about how much his feet hurt, and shows us his smelly sock. Okay, I guess that's not TOO disgusting...

I mean, the sweat stain's a little gross, but aside from that, I can stomach it.

Then he takes off his sock and DEAR LORD WHAT IS THAT?!

What is going on with his foot?! Does playing too much basketball turn your foot into a sea lamprey?! Particularly disgusting is how there is GREEN SLIME leaking out of it. Is there a scientific name for this? Is it Nickelodeon-itis?

After that bit of nausea-inducing imagery, and the theme song, we are treated to a commercial for basketball shoes called KVK1s. Instead of Michael Jordan, the ad stars basketball player Keith Van Kobbler. Oh, I get it. Van Kobbler. Sounds like "cobbler". And cobblers make shoes. At least when they don't have elves doing all the work.

Abby and Ty are watching the ad with two friends whose names I don't know at the mall. Ty isn't fooled by the commercial's claims that the shoes will automatically make you the new Shaquille O'Neal, saying, "If a scientist is the best, it's not because he has the coolest test tubes." But the two friends and Abby are completely suckered in.

Or maybe Abby just has the hots for Keith Van Kobbler. It's a little unclear.

We then see Abby at a basketball court, where she has to put up with the annoyingness of Paige, her snobbish popular girl rival - basically the Sharpay of Grossology. Her voice actress, Melissa Altro, also provided the voice of Muffy Crosswire from Arthur, ANOTHER character whose shtick was that she was an obnoxious snob more often than not. So it's kind of like Muffy in her teenage years.

Muffy... I mean, Paige has on a pair of KVK1s, and she's all too happy to rub it in Abby's face that she has them and Abby doesn't. Apparently, the contour fitting of the shoes gives your foot "a tight, foamy hug", each shoe has a spray that creates optimum humidity for maximum comfort, the insoles massage your feet, and there's even a stereo accessory that allows the shoes to play music.

That stereo looks more like an iPod to me (maybe it IS and Paige just said "stereo"
so Apple doesn't sue the showrunners).

AND the shoes have "super-bounce capability" - which means that the soles inflate. Ty still thinks it's ridiculous that everyone wears the shoes just because some pro athlete wears them, but Abby is totally getting suckered in (or at least tempted to buy the shoes just to make Paige shut up).

Just then, the two get a call from the head of the Bureau of Grossology, simply known as The Director (Paul OSullivan), who tells them that they have a situation at the basketball arena - a "festering fungus-filled" situation. "Cool!" Ty and Abby exclaim, clearly having a much better appreciation for disgusting things than I do. It's time to get suited up!

Yeah, Paige might have cool shoes, but does she save the world on a regular basis? I didn't
think so.

Somehow, ALL of the basketball players have wound up with what Abby dubs the nastiest case of Athlete's Foot in history. Hmmm, it looks like they were all wearing KVK1s before they got them. Juste une coincidence?

Ty takes a closer look at the KVK1s and discovers that they're all filled with fungus. Abby suggests that they take a sample to their friend Lab Rat for analysis. Lab Rat (Deven Mack) works as tech support for the Bureau of Grossology... which from now on I'm just going to call B.O.G. because it's a lot easier to type... and is basically the Wade to Ty and Abby's Kim Possible.

Apparently, this character's design was actually inspired by Deven Mack's appearance.
That's pretty neat.

Lab Rat explains what Athlete's Foot is. The fungus it creates chomps on old skin cells and then starts to multiply... and I don't mean it starts doing arithmetic. It causes dry skin, intense itching, inflammation, and blisters. Suddenly, I don't feel so bad about never being super-athletic anymore. "But why were so many different strains of fungi found in one shoe?" Lab Rat asks.

Ty thinks that the KVK1s have something to do with the Athlete's Foot, but Abby is all "No way, Keith Van Kobbler would never let that happen!" Ty says that there's only one way to find out for sure - do some snooping. So it's off to the shoe store they go. And once they get there, Abby buys a pair of KVK1s, claiming that it's "research". Uh huh, sure. I'm sure that's also why she's cuddling a giant cardboard cutout of Keith Van Kobbler, too.

Honestly, I've seen people with more disturbing crushes on celebrities on the internet.

While Abby is fawning over the cardboard cutout, she mentions that they live in Keith Van Kobbler's hometown, and that he went to Ringworm Junior High like they do, which is why they're building a statue of Keith Van Kobbler. I do wonder if that will be an important plot point...

Before they can do any more snooping (or, in Abby's case, fawning over a cardboard cutout), Ty and Abby must head to class. On the way there, they discover that everyone in school has the foot fungus as well - and that includes Paige. And what were they all wearing beforehand? KVK1s! Abby insists it's just a coincidence, to which Ty says, "You'd better hope so - you tried those shoes on too!"

Back home, Abby tells their parents that she needs a pair of KVK1s... despite how obvious it is that they cause foot fungus. Something tells me Abby's a few sodas short of a six-pack. Question for anyone who's seen more episodes of the show - do Ty and Abby's parents know that they work for the B.O.G.? Or is this one of those "we have to keep it a secret because [REASONS]" kind of shows?

Also, why do so many cartoon dads wear sweater vests?

It's a good thing their parents won't buy Abby the shoes, because Lab Rat's done an analysis on a brand new pair of KVK1s bought by the B.O.G. for research purposes and it turns out they're just as fungus-filled as the used ones from the locker room. And just because you have the fungi on your feet doesn't necessarily mean you'll get Athlete's Foot - the conditions have to be juuuuuuuuuuuust right, just like the conditions of a foot inside a KVK1. "It's like they were MADE for the job!" Lab Rat claims. "These shoes are the cause of the funky feet!"

Ty suggests that they go to the shoe factory, which is completely automated, and look for clues. Here they find robotic arms attached to a conveyor belt dunking the soles of the shoes in some sort of swirling rose gold goop. When Ty scans the goop with his... handheld computer thing, he discovers that it's a mixture of the super-fungi they found in the shoes AND locker room. Abby declares that Keith Van Kobbler will freak out when he's informed of somebody sabotaging his shoes. I could chalk this up to her being naive, but I dunno, just because Keith's promoting the shoes doesn't necessarily mean he KNOWS that the company making them is using them to spread Athlete's Foot. Of course, I already know from the episode's Wikipedia description that he does, but I'm just trying to understand her perspective.

I love Ty's expression here.

Then they find an office that, judging from the basketball trophies and framed jersey on the wall, must be the office of Keith Van Kobbler. "Why would Van Kobbler have an office in the shoe factory if he's just a spokesperson?" Ty asks. And why are there photos of new basketball players on the rise, wearing KVK1s, on the wall with giant red "X"s on them? Basketball players who have recently gotten Athlete's Foot?

Oh, look, Keith Van Kobbler just slipped out from behind the cardboard cutout of himself he has in his office. Perhaps HE could shed some light on the situation.

Who on Earth keeps a cardboard cutout of themselves in their office anyway?

Abby promptly goes gaga over Keith, but Ty demands to know why he's intentionally giving anyone who buys his fancy new shoes foot fungi. "What? Why would VK do such a thing?" Keith asks. "If someone is spiking VK's shoes, VK will have to stop them. VK thinks that we should work together to solve this mystery before anyone else gets hurt. What do you say, kids?" But first, he suggests a game of one-on-one and tosses a basketball their way... a basketball that promptly explodes, tying up Ty and Abby like a girl from a cartoon show on DeviantArt.

Still think he's just an innocent pawn here, Abby?

Yep, Keith's evil. But Abby just assumes Keith thinks they're the ones who are sabotaging his shoes... okay, seriously, how stupid IS Abby? "VK's at the top of his game! And when all these ball players get laid up with Athlete's Foot, no one will ever be able to break VK's records!" Keith gloats. "So THAT'S what you're up to! You're eliminating the competition!" Ty exclaims. What's more, Keith says that the first shoes were a test, and that next he shall send his shoes to stores all over the world! And he's going to dunk Ty and Abby in the vat of "fungus broth". How despicable. I bet LeBron James would never do this to HIS fans...

There's a flaw in Keith's plan, though... won't the world eventually realize, like Ty and Abby did, that everyone who got the foot fungus just so happened to get them from wearing KVK1s? And then stop buying them?

Maybe Keith just thinks everyone else in the world is as dumb as Abby.

As they travel down the conveyor belt, Abby laments that someone she was a huge fan of turned out to be a jerk. I would compare this when I found out that Tom Kenny was an insensitive jerk, but A) I've learned that saying bad things about Tom Kenny is a great way to get hateful comments sent my way, and B) at least Tom never did anything as awful as intentionally giving people Athlete's Foot. Fortunately, Keith put KVK1s on Ty and Abby's feet before he left, and they manage to make the soles of their KVK1s inflate, causing them to clog up the machine they're about to go into and then explode, sending Ty and Abby flying to safety. On the downside, Abby now has Athlete's Foot.

I think even Mort from Madagascar would find this episode disgusting.

Keith is now at the school, preparing to give a big speech before the unveiling of his statue, when Ty and Abby show up and confront him over, y'know, the evil scheme. He fights them with a basketball that ricochets around the room as though it were made of Flubber, destroying whatever it touches - including Ty and Abby's slime-shooting guns. And also a Deluxe Edition of KVK1s that have rockets in them. How will they ever beat him? Well, Lab Rat did mention earlier that Keith doesn't play defense. So they start pelting him with whatever balls they can find. Volleyballs, tennis balls, footballs... and eventually Abby does a slam dunk and traps Keith in the net.

Looks like Keith Van Kobbler has been Keith Van Klobbered.

We cut to Ty and Abby at home, watching hockey on TV, when their parents enter the room and reveal that they got them... AVA1s, not KVK1s. They're kind of like KVK1s, but they're pink and presumably do not cause foot fungus. And that's about it.

Wait, what happened to Keith? Does the world find out that he intentionally gave everyone foot fungus to eliminate the competition? Are they still putting up a statue of him at the school? Are they still selling KVK1s in stores? No sort of explanation as to how the foot fungus problem got solved? Okay, then.

So what have we learned today? Well, I've learned a few things...

- Basketball players are evil.
- Being popular at school is worth getting foot fungus.
- You can intentionally give people Athlete's Foot and just get a slap on the wrist.
- Abby is dumb as a rock.
- Just because a show is gross doesn't automatically mean it's bad.

What's the Verdict?

I thought Grossology was okay. Alright animation, great performances from the voice actors, a couple of chuckle-worthy moments, likeable characters (aside from the ones we were meant to dislike), certainly better than something like Ned's Newt or Spliced. What's my main problem with it? Well, as you might have guessed, I don't like looking at peoples' fungus-infested feet. And since other episodes of the show focus on bad guys who weaponize farting, snot, vomiting, and pink-eye (among other things), I doubt I'll be seeking out any more episodes of the show. But like I said, it's fine for what it is, and I wouldn't suggest that anyone NOT watch it. Just be prepared to be disgusted, okay? I give it three stars out of five. If you'd like to watch Grossology yourself, you can find episodes on YouTube.

Oh, and on the off-chance you DID read this review while you were eating something... my apologies. But hey, you can't say I didn't warn you.