# The Mighty B! season 1

The first season of The Mighty B! originally aired in the United States on Nickelodeon between April 26, 2008, and June 12, 2009. The season was produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Paper Kite Productions and Polka Dot Pictures, and series co-creators Amy Poehler, Cynthia True and Erik Wiese served as executive producers.
The series focuses on Bessie Higgenbottom (Poehler), an ambitious Honeybee scout with a dream of earning more badges than any other Honeybee, and turning into her superhero alter-ego The Mighty B. The season consisted of 38 eleven-minute segments, and one half-hour final titled "Dragonflies". Poehler, True and Wiese had been developing the series several years before its premiere. They talked about making a "female-driven" animated series, and it was picked up by Nickelodeon in early 2006 under the name of Super Scout.
The season received generally positive reviews. One reviewer called Bessie the "female answer to SpongeBob SquarePants". 1.92 million viewers among Kids 2–11 watched the series premiere, and the series averaged 3.1 million viewers each episode during the season.

## Episodes

All episodes in this season were directed by Erik Wiese & Larry Leichliter.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Written by | Storyboarded by | Original release date | Prod. code | Viewers (millions) |
| 1a | 1a | "So Happy Together" | Cynthia True & Erik Wiese | Erik Wiese | April 26, 2008 (2008-4-26) | 101A | 3.16 |
| In order to earn her Animal Appreciation badge, Bessie Higgenbottom adopts a dog where she names him Happy, and goes to enter in a dog show, but he runs away because he didn't want to be in it in the first place. Bessie apologizes to Happy and he returns. Bessie wins the dog show when it is revealed that Portia's "dog" Precious is really a rat. Note: This episode originally appeared in 2007 as a sneak peek on a bonus DVD packaged with the DVD release of SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis. This is also the only episode that contains minor original music composed by James L. Venable. ||||||||
| 1b | 1b | "Sweet Sixteenth" | Jessica Chaffin | Chuck Klein | April 26, 2008 (2008-4-26) | 101B | 3.16 |
| Bessie is eager to ride a new ride at the amusement park called "The Punisher", but is unable to because she is not tall enough to ride it. Every attempt she makes to get in fails. She has to go on the "stupid teacups" now, but Happy shortens the height checker, allowing Bessie to get on the ride, which is accidentally set for two times. ||||||||
| 2a | 2a | "Bee My Baby" | Story by : Cynthia True & Erik Wiese Written by : Will Berson | Chuck Klein | April 27, 2008 (2008-4-27) | 102A | N/A |
| When Gwen and Portia plan to go out, they trick Bessie and Penny into babysitting Gwen's five younger siblings. However, while babysitting, Penny and Bessie lose the baby. They chase the baby, while Happy takes care of the other kids. However, after they finally catch the baby, Bessie and Penny are kicked out of the house by Portia and Gwen, who treat themselves to a delicious meal. ||||||||
| 2b | 2b | "Bee Afraid" | Cynthia True & Erik Wiese | Erik Wiese | April 27, 2008 (2008-4-27) | 102B | N/A |
| Bessie is eager to earn the Happy Camper badge. However, while going on a camping trip, Penny tells a scary story about a nasty girl who was abandoned in the woods, which leads to Portia running away terrified and getting lost in the woods. A bear tries to attack Portia, but she is saved by Bessie, which allows her to earn the Happy Camper badge. ||||||||
| 3a | 3a | "Artificial Unintelligence" | Dani Michaeli | Piero Piluso & Andy Suriano | May 3, 2008 (2008-5-3) | 103A | N/A |
| In order to earn the Mad Scientist badge at the Honeybee Science Fair, Bessie builds a robot she names Emily. A jealous Portia goes inside Emily, controlling the robot. Meanwhile, Ben and Happy become furious at Emily and team up to destroy her, with Portia being sprayed by black ink during one attempt. Emily goes insane in the Science Fair, breaking every project. As Bessie is about to be disqualified from the science fair, Ben and Happy storm in, having found Emily's brain. They put it back in Emily and Portia is found inside the robot. Bessie wins the Mad Scientist badge. ||||||||
| 3b | 3b | "We Got the Bee" | John Ross Bowie & Dannah Feinglass | Fred Gonzales | May 3, 2008 (2008-5-3) | 103B | N/A |
| Bessie wants to join Portia's band, "The Pretty Pretty Princesses", but Portia will not let her because of her lack of musical talent, so she becomes the new drummer for Rocky's band, "The Integritones", where she and Portia both rock the whole bay area! ||||||||
| 4a | 4a | "Li'l Orphan Happy" | John Bowie & Jamie Denbo | Sherm Cohen & Louie del Carmen | May 10, 2008 (2008-5-10) | 107A | 3.60 |
| It's Mother's Day and Bessie learns that Happy does not know where his mom is. Bessie goes around town looking for her, but once she is found, she starts to teach Happy to break Bessie's rules. ||||||||
| 4b | 4b | "Body Rockers" | Jessica Gao | Ken Boyer & Louie del Carmen | May 10, 2008 (2008-5-10) | 107B | 3.60 |
| The Honeybees go on a field trip to the Science Exploratorium. Penny has to go to the bathroom while the other Honeybees are watching a short movie. Bessie goes with Penny to look for one, but they unintentionally get lost in one of the exhibits. ||||||||
| 5a | 5a | "Bat Mitzvah Crashers" | Jessica Chaffin | Sherm Cohen | May 17, 2008 (2008-5-17) | 104A | 3.63 |
| Bessie and Penny start crashing bat mitzvahs after attending Penny's neighbor Zanni's, and set their sights on the ultimate bat mitzvah being held by Portia's cousin, Chelsea. ||||||||
| 5b | 5b | "Super Secret Weakness" | Dani Michaeli | Octavio Rodriguez | May 17, 2008 (2008-5-17) | 104B | 3.63 |
| Bessie finds out that every superhero has a secret weakness. When she concludes that the Mighty Bee's weakness is zucchini, she plans to rid the whole bay area of the foul vegetable. ||||||||
| 6a | 6a | "An I See Bee" | Jessica Chaffin | Ray Angrum & Piero Piluso | May 31, 2008 (2008-5-31) | 105A | 3.03 |
| A fortune teller convinces Bessie that she can see the future, but her sunny predictions for Penny's birthday party are way off the mark, so she attempts to make things right. ||||||||
| 6b | 6b | "Woodward and Beesting" | Dannah Feinglass | Fred Gonzales | May 31, 2008 (2008-5-31) | 105B | 3.03 |
| Bessie tries to learn Portia's secret by becoming a reporter for the Hive Herald, but comes to the ridiculous conclusion that Portia is an alien. The truth: She has laryngitis. ||||||||
| 7a | 7a | "Doppelfinger" | Will Berson | Louie del Carmen | June 7, 2008 (2008-6-7) | 106A | N/A |
| Bessie begins to follow the advice of Fingere, Finger's evil French cousin, after Finger is injured in an origami competition which leads her and Happy into mischief to win the Origami badge. ||||||||
| 7b | 7b | "Little Womyn" | Jessica Chaffin | Fred Gonzales & Chuck Klein | June 7, 2008 (2008-6-7) | 106B | N/A |
| Bessie's mom becomes the troop leader and stops giving out badges because of the Honeybee structure and lack of self-expression. ||||||||
| 8a | 8a | "The Apprentice" | Jessica Chaffin | Sherm Cohen & Fred Gonzales | June 23, 2008 (2008-6-23) | 108A | N/A |
| Portia's mom takes Bessie as her apprentice to boost her cosmetics sales, but Bessie's zeal will give her much more than she anticipated. ||||||||
| 8b | 8b | "Beenedict Arnold" | Jessica Gao | Ken Boyer | June 24, 2008 (2008-6-24) | 108B | N/A |
| Bessie puts Happy on a strict health food regimen and workout schedule. Happy is not excited about this and he does not understand that Bessie only wants what's best for him, and leaves Bessie for Portia. ||||||||
| 9a | 9a | "Boston Beean" | Jessica Gao | Octavio Rodriguez | June 25, 2008 (2008-6-25) | 109A | N/A |
| Bessie is hosting a foreign Honeybee, Sissy Sullivan, who comes all the way from Boston. At first, the girls seem to get along perfectly fine, but when Bessie realizes that Sissy is better than her at everything, it inspires her competitive spirit. ||||||||
| 9b | 9b | "Penny Hearts Joey" | Story by : Nicholas Cofrancesco Written by : Dannah Feinglass | Lynne Naylor | June 26, 2008 (2008-6-26) | 109B | N/A |
| Penny develops a special connection with an animatronic kangaroo from a pizza arcade. ||||||||
| 10a | 10a | "Ten Little Honeybees" | Jessica Gao | Chuck Klein | June 27, 2008 (2008-6-27) | 110A | N/A |
| Portia's locket disappears during her birthday party, so Bessie goes on the case to try to find it. ||||||||
| 10b | 10b | "Toot Toot" | Cynthia True & Erik Wiese | Ken Boyer, Piero Piluso & Bernie Petterson | November 29, 2008 (2008-11-29) | 110B | N/A |
| Bessie accidentally farted during a troop meeting (due to her lactose intolerance) and is banned and shunned from the Honeybees which in turn bring them horrible haunting situations and they try to get Bessie back. And Bessie then reveals a badge that has never been given out before or long gone, the Toot Toot badge. ||||||||
| 11a | 11a | "Night Howl" | Jessica Chaffin | Eddie Trigueros & Sherm Cohen | September 9, 2008 (2008-9-9) | 113A | N/A |
| Bessie finds out Happy is leading a double life and going out every night to a bar. ||||||||
| 11b | 11b | "Hat Trick" | Story by : Cynthia True & Erik Wiese Written by : Jessica Chaffin | Ken Boyer & Fred Gonzales | September 10, 2008 (2008-9-10) | 113B | N/A |
| Bessie uses Happy in her magic act, but he soon gets bored and sneaks off without her knowing, causing a wild menajire to escape from the hat. ||||||||
| 12a | 12a | "Apoxalypse Now" | Jessica Gao | Chuck Klein | September 11, 2008 (2008-9-11) | 114A | N/A |
| Bessie tries to catch the chicken pox to earn the Chicken Pox badge. When she learns Ben has an immunity from her Mom, she tries to use him to get the chicken pox. In the end, it turns out Bessie is the one with the immunity, and now she must take care of the sick-as-a-dog Ben. ||||||||
| 12b | 12b | "Hive Jacked" | Jessica Gao | Lynne Naylor | September 12, 2008 (2008-9-12) | 114B | N/A |
| Bessie loses a bet and must let Portia and Gwen run the Hive for the weekend. However, when they refuse to give up the Hive after the ending time, Bessie, Ben, Happy, and Penny go to drastic measures to kick them out, even unknowingly using an outraged skunk in the process. ||||||||
| 13a | 13a | "Something's Wrong With This Taffy" | Jessica Chaffin, Jessica Gao & Cynthia True | Chris Graham | October 25, 2008 (2008-10-25) | 116B | N/A |
| Bessie sets out to uncover what's wrong with the latest batch of taffy. She finds out that it's fake honey making the taffy taste different. ||||||||
| 13b | 13b | "Name Shame" | Jessica Gao | Eddie Trigueros | October 25, 2008 (2008-10-25) | 116A | N/A |
| Portia finds out that Bessie's middle name is cursed and whenever somebody says it, something bad happens. It soon becomes a problem after she spreads it around all of San Francisco. ||||||||
| 14a | 14a | "Bee Patients" | Jessica Chaffin | Eddie Trigueros & Sunil Hall | September 8, 2008 (2008-9-8) | 112A | N/A |
| Bessie and Happy visit the doctor and veterinarian. Bessie is horrified to learn she is due for a booster shot. ||||||||
| 14b | 14b | "To Bee or Not to Bee" | Jessica Gao | Lynne Naylor | November 29, 2008 (2008-11-29) | 112B | N/A |
| Bessie wins the chance to have tea with Miriam Breedlove, the founder of the Honeybees, but Portia and Gwen sabotage her chance by feeding her false information and odd etiquette. ||||||||
| 15a | 15a | "Eye of the Honeybee" | Jessica Chaffin | Chris Graham & Ian Graham | January 9, 2009 (2009-1-9) | 117A | N/A |
| Bessie helps Penny find her hidden talent to play ping pong. Note: This episode hasn't been rerun since its original airing. ||||||||
| 15b | 15b | "Thanksgiving Beenactment" | Jessica Chaffin, Jessica Gao & Cynthia True | Sunil Hall | November 29, 2008 (2008-11-29) | 117B | N/A |
| Bessie and the Honeybees go on a trip to a town to learn about the pilgrims, but things go wrong when the pilgrims accuse Portia of being a witch when she disregards their rule against technology. Note: This episode hasn't been rerun since its original airing. ||||||||
| 16a | 16a | "Blindsided" | Jessica Chaffin, Jessica Gao & Cynthia True | Eddie Trigueros | January 5, 2009 (2009-1-5) | 118A | N/A |
| Happy takes Bessie's glasses and trades them for a bone. Bessie is unable to see clearly as she stumbles through the city to buy a new pair, leaving her in extreme danger from Portia and Gwen, not including a pack of pirranas, which Happy must repeatedly save her from. In the end, he loses his bone to save Bessie, and Bessie finds a replacement as thanks. ||||||||
| 16b | 16b | "Hen and Bappy" | Jessica Chaffin | Chris Graham & Sunil Hall | January 6, 2009 (2009-1-6) | 118B | N/A |
| The Hippie cooks the wrong recipe. After Ben and Happy eat his tasty treat, they switch bodies, where Happy uses this to get vengeance on Ben. In the end, Bessie and the Hippie switch bodies, and Ben, Happy, Bessie, and the Hippie start to make up one big, weird, body. ||||||||
| 17a | 17a | "Ben Appetit" | Cynthia True, Jessica Chaffin & Jessica Gao | Louie del Carmen & Sherm Cohen | January 7, 2009 (2009-1-7) | 115A | N/A |
| Bessie tries to get Ben to break his rule about food not touching other foods. In the end, he gets over it, and he and Happy try to get Bessie to get over her claustrophobia with her methods. ||||||||
| 17b | 17b | "Dang It Feels Good to Be a Gamester" | Jessica Gao | Chris Graham | January 8, 2009 (2009-1-8) | 115B | N/A |
| The Honeybees become preoccupied with playing a new video game and neglect their responsibilities. ||||||||
| 18a | 18a | "Portrait of a Happy" | Jessica Chaffin | Sunil Hall | June 8, 2009 (2009-6-8) | 119A | N/A |
| Bessie wants to have professional photos taken with Happy, but she must talk the photographer out of quitting his job. ||||||||
| 18b | 18b | "O Say Can Bess See?" | Jessica Gao | Sunil Hall, Justin Ridge & Ian Graham | June 9, 2009 (2009-6-9) | 119B | N/A |
| Bessie cannot see the hidden image in a magical eyeball poster she receives as an award. ||||||||
| 19a | 19a | "Macro Mayhem" | Mike Bell | Sherm Cohen, Sunil Hall & Ian Graham | June 10, 2009 (2009-6-10) | 120A | N/A |
| Bessie gets carried away with her new macramé hobby. ||||||||
| 19b | 19b | "Ben Screams for Ice Cream" | Story by : Cynthia True Written by : Jessica Chaffin, Cynthia True & Jessica Gao | Lynne Naylor | June 11, 2009 (2009-6-11) | 120B | N/A |
| Bessie lands the ice-cream man in trouble with his boss when she reports that he ran a stop sign. As a result, he leaves the neighborhood and the children suffer in the heat. Will Bessie solve this problem? ||||||||
| 20 | 20 | "Dragonflies" | Jessica Chaffin, Jessica Gao, Cynthia True & Erik Wiese | Louie del Carmen, Fred Gonzales & Ian Graham | June 12, 2009 (2009-6-12) | 111 | N/A |
| The Honeybees must team up in order to take on a rival scout troop from Oakland for use of the recreation center. ||||||||

## Production
### Conception

Several years before The Mighty B! premiered, co-creator Amy Poehler and her friends at Nickelodeon talked about making a "female-driven" animated television series. Poehler stated; "where this girl is at that great age [...] where you're not boy-crazy and you're not mean to other girls". She found that enthusiasm "fascinating" and wanted to "bottle it and take it like a pill". Bessie is loosely based on a character Poehler had played during her time at improvisational comedy troupes Second City and Upright Citizens Brigade as well as girls she looked up to when she was younger. She described Bessie as a "feisty, plucky, bossy, Honey Bee scout".
The Mighty B! was picked up for a pilot in early 2006 under the name of Super Scout. It was co-created by Poehler, Cynthia True and Erik Wiese. Brown Johnson, president of animation at Nickelodeon, was "absolutely thrilled to have a comedy team of the caliber of Amy, Erik and Cynthia create this iconic character for a new generation".

### Cast

Former SNL Amy Poehler voices Bessie Higgenbottom, a 9¾ year old Honeybee scout. Poehler describes her as "superoptimistic and a super spaz" and "a bit bossy, but with good intentions". She is based on a character Poehler had played during her time at improvisational comedy troupes Second City and Upright Citizens Brigade, but also girls Poehler looked up to when she was younger, which she called "the leaders". Poehler provides the voice of Bessie only, but for the episode "Boston Beean", she provided the voice of Sissy Sullivan, a foreign Honeybee scout from Boston whose voice sounded exactly like Bessie's. Dee Bradley Baker voices Happy, Bessie's dog which she found at the harbor in the first episode "So Happy Together". Andy Richter voices Ben Higgenbottom, Bessie's younger brother. Richter is also the voice of Mort on the Nick show The Penguins of Madagascar. Richter talked about The Mighty B!, quoting: "[...] another dream come true, to be able to do cartoon voices! And, also, to get to do cartoon voices for [Ben and Mort] two really funny, cool cartoons that my kids love and that I'm proud to have them love. It's pretty great." Dannah Feinglass voices Penny, Bessie's sidekick. Feinglass is also a writer for the show. Grey DeLisle voices Portia Gibbons, a Honeybee scout, Megan Cavanagh voices Hilary Higgenbottom, Bessie and Ben's single mother, Sarah Thyre voices Mary Frances Gibbons, Portia's mother, and Jessica DiCicco voices Gwen, Portia's friend.

## Reception
### Critical reception

The season received generally positive reviews from television sources and critics. Brian Lowry of Variety said that the show "has the kind of crazed energy and inventiveness that isn't associated often enough with girl-oriented children's fare [...] The Mighty B! opts for a more elevated approach – like that aforementioned roller-coaster jaunt, taking a free-spirited jump off the tracks and trusting its audience to hang on for the ride." David Hinckley of Daily News gave the show four stars, stating: "The Mighty B! has a decent shot at becoming a pre-tween fave." Aaron H. Bynum of Animation Insider called the show a "good, brainless cartoon [...] Viewers shouldn't ever be bored with Bessie [but] the comedy really doesn't try to do too much, which may ultimately work against it when the story calls for the characters to do too little.
Joanne Ostrow of the Denver Post called Bessie the "female answer to SpongeBob SquarePants". Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the show three stars out of five, saying: "The show maintains a chaotic pace, and there are no real attempts to teach strong positive lessons [...] Young tweens will likely enjoy Bessie's outlandish, fantasy-fueled adventures – which are fast-paced and, on the surface, entertaining." Ed Liu of Toon Zone called The Mighty B! a show that he admires more than he "truly love[s]", stating: "There is prodigious talent behind it and its wonderfully energetic, boisterous comedy. It's clearly trying very, very hard to be entertaining and largely succeeds [...] I almost feel bad for not liking The Mighty B! more than I do, and I'm still not sure why I don't enjoy it more". He also said that it was worth pointing out that more recent episodes of the show seem "more assured and funnier" than the eight episodes on the We Got the Bee DVD.

### Ratings

The Mighty B! premiered at 10:30am on April 26, 2008, and scored "above average for Nickelodeon programming" in the Nielsen ratings. It ranked in the top ten of all programming for combined broadcast and basic cable shows, with 1.92 million viewers in the Kids 2–11 demographic and a rating of 5.2/23. The Mighty B! had double the viewership as Bakugan Battle Brawlers, a show that aired simultaneously on Cartoon Network.
In September 2008, the show had an average of 3.1 million viewers, and in the second quarter of 2008, the show ranked among the top five animated programs on television. During the third quarter of 2009, it averaged 2.6 million viewers, and was number-one in its timeslot in the kids 2–11 and kids 6–11 demographics.

## DVD releases

A DVD called We Got The Bee was released on February 24, 2009. It contained eight episodes, behind the scenes footage, an animatic version of the episode "Bat Mitzvah Crashers" and a karaoke music video for "Running with the Rainbow Unicorn". A second DVD called BEEing Bessie Higgenbottom was released on December 8, 2009, where it contained seven episodes, a karaoke music video for "Buzz Off", an animatic of the episode "Bee Patients", and audio commentary of the episodes of "Bee Patients", "Ben Appetit", and "Name Shame", provided by Amy Poehler, Andy Richter, Dee Bradley Baker, Grey DeLisle, Erik Wiese, and Eddie Trigueros.