The Mighty B!

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The Mighty B! is an American animated television series and the twenty-sixth major Nicktoon co-created by Amy Poehler, Cynthia True, and Erik Wiese for Nickelodeon. The series centers on Bessie Higgenbottom, an ambitious Honeybee girl scout who dreams that, by collecting every Honeybee badge in existence, she will become a superhero known as the "Mighty Bee". Bessie lives in San Francisco with her dog Happy, her 6-year-old brother, Ben and her mom, Hilary.
The series premiered on April 26, 2008 which was the morning after Poehler's film Baby Mama had premiered. She had said prior to the premiere, "I'm going to go to bed and stay in my pajamas until 10:30 a.m. and watch Mighty B". Since its debut, the show attracted an average 3.1 million viewers.
A second season with 20 episodes premiered on September 21, 2009. The second season was also the last, since The Mighty B! was not featured in Nickelodeon's list of renewed shows for the 2010–2011 TV season.
The series was nominated for six and four s, and winning one Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation. It also garnered one Artios Award nomination and one Golden Reel Award nomination.
==Production==
===Development===
Several years before The Mighty B! premiered, co-creator Amy Poehler and a number of people at Nickelodeon met together and thought about making a "female-driven" animated television series. Poehler stated that the series would be pitched as: "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".
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 Studios, was "absolutely thrilled to have a comedy team of the caliber of Amy, Erik and Cynthia create this iconic character for a new generation". Poehler said that she was "thrilled that the world will finally meet the funny and sweet girl-tornado that is Bessie Higgenbottom [...] Erik, Cynthia and I are so pleased to be working with the wonderful people at Nickelodeon In the words of Bessie, it's been awesome!"
Bessie is loosely based on a character Poehler had played during her time at improvisational comedy troupes and , in addition to drawing inspiration from girls she looked up to when she was younger, to whom she called "the leaders". She described Bessie as a "feisty, plucky, bossy, Honey Bee scout" and called her "our hero [...] who goes on all these adventures in hopes of collecting all these badges". Poehler referred to the show as "double the action, triple the adventures and quadruple the awesomeness". During an interview with , when asked if Poehler was trying to appeal adults with the show, she wrote: {C}"Yeah. What I love about SpongeBob SquarePants is that it's very watchable for an adult. But kids like it because they don't feel like they're being pandered to. That was what we were looking to do with The Mighty B! [...] We wanted to do a show that had a strong female character who didn't have too many rainbows and unicorns."
==Characters==
===Main characters===
*Bessie Kajolica Higgenbottom (voiced by Amy Poehler) is a 9 3/4 year old Caucasian girl who's lifetime goal is to collect every Honeybee badge to become her alter-ego superhero known as The Mighty B. She has total devotion to the Honeybees. She lives in an apartment above her mom's café in San Francisco with her dog/best friend Happy and her brother Ben. Bessie is often portrayed as a wildly imaginative, ambitious, cute, confident, friendly, innocently naïve, hyperactive, nerdy, optimistic, and a hardworking young girl. She is a devoted member of the Honeybees and has the most badges in Honeybee history. Bessie can also be naïve and sometimes has no backbone until she is driven to the edge. Bessie loves taffy-selling season and often thrives to sell the most boxes. Her role model is the founder of the Honeybees, Miriam Breedlove. Bessie always sends her emails if something is wrong or if she wants advice. Bessie always is a strict follower of rules and regulations especially with the Honeybees. Due to her talkativeness Bessie can easily annoy people. Bessie has orange hair which she wears as spiral pigtails. Her main attire is a brown uniform hat w/ a yellow oval representing the honeybees, a pair of round glasses, a white undershirt, a yellow dress with a brown sash, a pair of white bobby socks and a pair of black shoes.
**Finger is Bessie's imaginary friend, a face drawn on her left-hand index finger. She often talks to Finger and pretends to listen to him giving advice to her. Finger's expression changes with the mood of the plot even when Bessie isn't shown to draw that face on Finger, for example he might have a frown if Bessie is sad. Whenever Bessie needs some worldly advice, she seeks Finger's perspective of the matter. Bessie often restates Finger's imaginary question for the audience to understand what he is saying. Finger may seem like a figment of Bessie's imagination, but sometimes, it seems as if he has a mind of his own. At bedtime, Bessie even has a pillow for Finger. Finger's French cousin, Finguerre, is evil, and was eliminated by Finger by drowning, his drawn-on face melting in a swimming pool.
*Happy Higgenbottom (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) is Bessie's pet dog and best friend. Happy is often portrayed as an egotistical, generous, helpful, lazy, smart, smug, and lovable dog. Happy was separated from his mom once when he was a puppy. He then started working as a secret agent for S.H.A.D.O.W. and was owned by K.G. Bianca. However, Happy grew tired of the secret agent life and faked his own death but apparently gets some of his left ear torn off. So he decides to live the life of a stray. Until, of course, Bessie finds him and takes him to her house for a dog show in order to get the Animal Appreciation badge. Happy doesn't seem so happy with that idea and even leaves once at the show. However, when leaving, he begins to feel sorry for Bessie and decides to come back just in time. Thus, Happy became Bessie's pet dog and best friend. Happy usually helps or gets dragged into Bessie's adventures. Happy doesn't speak however he usually makes dog sounds. Happy has blue fur and a red collar.
*Benjamin "Ben" Kajolica Higgenbottom (voiced by Andy Richter) is Bessie's 6-year-old Caucasian brother. Ben is a fat, thumb-sucking scaredy-cat, but hopes to be Bessie's sidekick when she becomes the Mighty Bee. He isn't quite there yet, so Bessie often refers to him as her "trial sidekick" or says that she'd "possibly consider [him] for sidekick candidacy." Though he won't admit it, Ben feels his sidekick position was compromised when Happy came into the picture, hence Ben and Happy's unspoken rivalry. As Bessie's only sibling, Ben tends to get stuck wearing a girly costume or used for bait, but he puts up with it if it'll help Bessie get a badge. He's sometimes accompanied by Mr. Pants, a teddy bear who he talks to and plays with. Ben had a fear of foods touching because Bessie used to mash his food together when they were little. He is shown to play the tuba. In Oh Brother, What Art Thou?, Ben thinks that Happy is taking his place as future sidekick so he decides to get revenge on Bessie by becoming The Hurtful Hornet with Mr. Pants being Mr. Evil Pants. Only for it to result in a big misunderstanding and Ben turning good again and Mr. Evil Pants behind bars. Ben often comes up Bessie's ideas without taking the credit. Ben has orange spikey hair and his main attire is a small size light blue short-sleeved shirt, a pair of dark blue pants, a pair of black shoes and most of time, he would also wear a red cape to show that he's ready to be a sidekick.
*Penelope "Penny" Wabigal Lefcowitz (voiced by Dannah Feinglass) is a 10-year-old girl who is also a Honeybee scout. Penny is somewhat dopey, but is very kind and nice. Penny is Bessie's clumsy, fat and dim-witted best friend. However, in 4 episodes or so, she also shows loyalty to Portia and Gwen and is occasionally torn between them and Bessie. She has a big heart and is always willing to help her friends, whether it be Bessie or Portia. She shared a kindred friendship with Joey the animatronic kangaroo in "Penny Hearts Joey." Penny is also shown to suffer from asthma. Penny has brown hair which she wears as pigtails. Her main attire is A white undershirt, a yellow dress with a green sash and a pair of black tights.
*Portia Gibbons (voiced by Grey DeLisle) is the "pretty and posh" 10 year old valley girl and Honeybee scout. Although she does not wear the standard uniform of the Honeybees, she partakes in the regular scout activities provided from her Mother and Honeybee troop leader, Mary Frances Gibbons. Portia is Bessie's rival throughout the series, often pulling pranks on her and calling her "Messie" even though Bessie's innocently naïve side takes the best of her and makes Bessie think that Portia is just joking. Along with her best friend Gwen, Portia will stop at nothing to prevent Bessie from achieving her goal of becoming "The Mighty Bee" because their just mean like that. Portia is often seen carrying a mean and domineering attitude as the typical valley girl would, especially towards Bessie. She lives in a normal-sized house, but fully expects to be treated like a celebrity. Used to getting her way, Portia does not accept being told "no" (which everyone, except for Bessie, pretty much goes along with). Portia loves makeup, celebrities, anything spa-related. She is also incredibly lazy. Portia expects things to be done for her, because she has better things to think about, like tanning and moisturizing which gives her very pink skin. Portia has blonde hair which she wears as a ponytail. Her main attire is a white long-sleeved vest with a light blue sash, a light blue skirt and a pair of ight blue and white stripped knee-length socks.
*Gwen Wu (voiced by Jessica DiCicco) is a 10 year old Asian girl and Honeybee scout who is Portia's best friend. She is seen with a large family, but none of their names are known. Gwen is mainly seen at Portia's side, working as a lieutenant. She's always equipped with a “witty” comeback, which usually entails calling Bessie and Millie a nerd. Her interests include cheerleading, music, and fashion. She is the co captain as one of the Pretty Pretty Princesses in “We Got the Bee.” She has a head for business and is very clever. She can be a bit of a bully (especially when it comes to Millie), and she's come to believe that hanging out with dorks like Bessie would ruin her reputation yet she can be nice at times especially when Portia isn't around. Her parents haven't appeared in the show (with the exception of Mr. Wu, who is possibly her father), but in she is shown to have five younger brothers including a baby brother. Gwen has black hair and her main attire is a red undershirt, a white short-sleeved shirt, a white skirt, a pair of red slacks and a pair of black sneakers.
=== Supporting Characters ===
*Rocky Rhodes (voiced by Kenan Thompson) is a 13-year-old African-American boy who works part-time as a waiter at Hillary's Café and is a skateboarder. In "We Got the Bee", it's revealed that Portia has a crush on him. Rocky is a budding teen heartthrob: he's nice, cool, and in a rock band. Rocky plays bass for the Integritones, a teen garage band that would totally make it if they only could find a drummer that who would stick around for more than a week. He has brown hair which is somewhat curly and covers his eyes and his main attire is a green T-shirt with yellow star, a pair of denim shorts and a pair of brown knee-high boots.
*Hilary Kajolica Higgenbottom (voiced by Megan Cavanagh) is the single mother of Bessie and Ben. She owns and operates a coffee shop called Hilary's Café. She can be bowled over by Bessie just as much as everyone else is, but tends to handle her role as a parent in a free-spirited way. She's always full of good karma and positive energy and lets Bessie and Ben's imaginations run wild—unless they make a mess in the house or put themselves in danger. Though she can be forgetful at times, but she's also displayed high intellect. She is also a hippie. Hilary has orange/red hair and her main attire is a dark green dress, and knee-length brown boots.
*Mary Frances Gibbons (also known is Mrs. Gibbons and voiced by Sarah Thyre) is the Honeybee troop leader and Portia's mom. An advanced social climber, she is banking everything on her mall-pretty daughter. She became a Troop Leader because she plans one day to run for PTA President and she wanted to show how good she was with children. She forced Portia to join the Honeybees and considers the troop a mother-daughter bonding activity. During troop meetings, MF shows blatant favoritism towards Portia and gets frustrated with Bessie because her Honeybee achievements constantly outshine Portia's. Mary also is a certified Patty Faye Cosmetics representative and jumps at any time to push Patty Faye. She often helps Portia cheat to get a badge. It's also shown that her butt is on the wrong side. She has orange hair and her main attire is a white undershirt, a light blue short-sleeved shirt, a pair of blue jeans and pink boots.
*The Hippie (voiced by Matt Besser) is a hippie who roams around town without a care in the world. He is barefoot. When he's not painting murals or riding his unicycle, he operates a magic/pawn shop. At times when no other adult will understand Bessie and her friends, the Hippie will, and usually can help in some way. He and Happy seem to be on the same wavelength. The Hippie has orange hair, a huge beard and a flower on the top of his head. His main attire is a light green short-sleeved shirt, a belt with a peace sign as the belt buckle and a pair of blue jeans.
*Millie Millerson (voiced by Grey DeLisle) is a 10-year-old girl and Honeybee scout with a slow way of talking, and loves shiny or reflective objects, such as tinsel or confetti and fear of clowns. She has a pet turtle named Chester Turtleton. Millie is hypoglycemic. She also wears braces. Millie has light blonde hair and her main attire is a pink headband with a bow, a white undershirt, a yellow shirt with a brown sash, a darker yellow skirt, a pair of knee-length pink socks and a pair of black shoes.
===Recurring characters===
*Chang Wu (commonly known as Mr. Wu and voiced by Keone Young) is Gwen's father and he is the owner of a popular Chinese restaurant called Mr. Wu's Restaurant, a neighborhood favorite, located in Chinatown. He is loved by the Higgenbottoms especially Bessie. He very sweetly humors Bessie in all of her crazy schemes and sometimes getting pulled in for moral support. He has black hair and his main attire is a propeller hat, a long white buttoned shirt, a pair of blue jeans and a pair of shoes.
*Donald (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) is an African-American mailman who is usually annoyed and even frightened by Bessie. He has black hair and he wears the typical mailman uniform.
*Miriam Breedlove (voiced by Niecy Nash) is the founder of the Honeybees and Bessie's idol. She once went to brunch with Bessie, after Bessie won a competition. Miriam also confronts Honeybee taffy makers in San Francisco when Bessie contacts Miriam, telling her that the taffy is not being made with real honey.
*Chelsea Gibbons (voiced by Jessica Chaffin) is Portia's even more conceited, bratty, and snobby cousin. She is the only character that intimidates Portia. She used to be in the Dragonflies troop, but quit because she thought it was lame. She has also had a Bat Mitzvah which could have people assume that she is Jewish.
*The Beavers (the leader and Ronnie voiced by Grey DeLisle) are a troop of blue-uniformed boys with massive overbites, beaver tails, and childish male chauvinism. The Beaver troop seem to be categorized as clumsy, non-athletic, and somewhat geeky.
*Anton St. Germain (voiced by Matt Besser) is usually shown and even called the Judge. He's a good friend of Mrs. Gibbons, though the integrity of their friendship is unclear. In “So Happy Together,” he accepted a bribe from Mary Francis to let Portia win the Honeybee Dog Show, but in “Artificial Unintelligence” he belittled Portia's science fair project. He is quite wealthy and owns luxuries such as Persian rugs and a doll museum. He also has purple hair.
*Chai Gallagher (voiced by Grey DeLisle) is a cynical news anchorwoman, who turns up in several episodes reporting on assorted major events in San Francisco.
===Minor characters===
*Sissy Sullivan (voiced by Amy Poehler) is a 9 3/4 year old Caucasian girl and honeybee Scout from Boston. In Boston Beean, she and her mother visit Bessie and Hilary and is similar to her, but seems to posess skills that surpass Bessie's and even befriends Portia Gibbons, much to Bessie's frustration. Unlike Bessie, she has freckles and a pink nose. Also, she has dark puffy red hair which like Bessie, she wears as pigtails. It is also worth noting that at first, Bessie thought Sissy was from an entirely different country and culture. Her main attire is a blue uniform hat with a yellow oval, a pair of square glasses, a white undershirt, a dark blue dress with a light blue sash, a pair of white bobby socks, and a pair of black shoes.
*Cherry (voiced by Maya Rudolph) is a 10 year old Caucasian girl and the powerful leader the Dragonflies scouts who stand by what she says. She is very mean-spirited and was trained for hand-to-hand combat and long division. Being part of the Dragonflies, Cherry goes around pushing other troops out of their turf. She doesn't back down and will go to great lengths to get her way. She is dishonest, yet level-headed and clever. Cherry keeps her troop in check with constant snapping of her fingers, showing how dominant she is. Cherry is also sarcastic and likes to start fights. She's a spoiled brat, even more so than Portia or Chelsea. She has 3 freckles on each side of her face and 2 freckles between her eyes. She also has hot-pink hair which she wears as a ponytail and her main attire is a black leather jacket, a pink/purpleish T-shirt with a purple circle, a black skirt, a pair of white socks and a pair of black shoes.
*Maude (voiced by Grey DeLisle) is a hulking 10-year-old girl and is one of the three main henchwoman that serves with Cherry. she is big and strong plus she can beat up anyone that would stand in her way. She also has purple female dog, Cha-Cha who seems fond of Happy.
*Bibi (voiced by Audrey Wasilewski) is a 9 year old African-American girl and Dragonfly scout who is as dim-witted as Penny is.
*Laurie is a longfaced 10 year old African-American girl who doesn't really talk much.
==Episodes==
Season	Episodes	Originally aired	Originally aired
Season	Episodes	Season premiere 	Season finale
1 	20 	 	
2 	20 	 	
==Home media==
A DVD of selected episodes from the series, entitled We Got the Bee was released in February 2009; it contained eight episodes from the first season, behind-the-scenes footage and a music video. Another DVD, a manufacture-on-demand release titled BEEing Bessie Higgenbottom, was released in December 2009, including seven more episodes from season 1. Unfortunately, it was discontinued on June 4, 2021.
All 40 episodes from across both seasons are available to watch on iTunes and Amazon Prime.
The Mighty B! was released on Paramount+ in 2020.
== Broadcast history ==
* Nickelodeon (original run, April 26, 2008-June 12, 2011 reruns (June 13, 2011-December 2, 2012; January 8, 2013-May 23, 2016)
* NickToons (April 26, 2008-October 25, 2013; December 19, 2015; February 14, 2016)
* TeenNick (2008; March 1, 2021-December 19, 2021)
* Paramount+ (December 8, 2020-present)
==Critical reception==
The series received generally positive reviews from television sources and critics but at the same time received mixed reviews from fans. One review from Brian Lowry of Variety explained it contains a "kind of crazed energy and inventiveness that isn't associated often enough with girl-oriented children's fare [...] [and] 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, while writing that The Mighty B! "has a decent shot at becoming a pre-tween fave." Aaron H. Bynum of Animation Insider called the series a "good, brainless cartoon [...] [Because] viewers shouldn't ever be bored with Bessie," but criticized part of its humor for not "try[ing] to do too much, which may ultimately work against it when the story calls for the characters to do too little.
Denver Post contributor Joanne Ostrow declared the protagonist of the series a "female answer to SpongeBob SquarePants". Among the favorable reception was a mixed review from Common Sense Media's Emily Ashby. She said while it "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 what 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 noted 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 10:30 AM 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 2–11 demographic and a rating of 5.2/23. The Mighty B! had double the viewership as Bakugan, making it the first Nicktoon to double its viewership.
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 children's 2-11 and children's 6-11 demographics.
== Gallery ==
File:TheMightyB!Paramount+cover.jpeg|Paramount+ cover
File:TheMightyB!Season1AmazonPrimecover.jpeg|Season 1 Amazon Prime cover
File:TheMightyB!Season2AmazonPrimecover.jpeg|Season 2 Amazon Prime cover
File:BessieHiggenbottomturnaroundmodelsheet.jpeg|Bessie Higgenbottom turnaround model sheet
File:TheMightyB!April26th2008seriespremiere.jpeg|The series' premiere on April 26, 2008
File:TheMightyB!July9th2008airing.jpeg|An airing of "Woodward and Beesting" on July 9, 2008
File:TheMightyB!July24th2008airing.jpeg|An airing of "Super Secret Weakness" on July 24, 2008
File:BessieHiggenbottomGravjetRacing.jpeg|Bessie in the cancelled crossover video game, SpongeBob SquarePants and the Nicktoons: Gravjet Racing
==Awards==
The Mighty B! and its crew were nominated for seven Annie Awards. The show was also nominated for five Daytime Emmy Awards, winning two as well as two Primetime Emmy Awards, and was also nominated for one Artios Awards|Artios Award and one Golden Reel Award.
Award 	Category 	Nominee 	Result
2009 Golden Reel Awards 	Best Sound Editing – Television Animation 	 	Nominated
2009 Artios Awards 	Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Animation TV Programming 	Sarah Noonan 	Nominated
2009 Annie Awards 	Best Animated Television Production for Children 	 	Nominated
2009 Annie Awards 	Best Character Design in an Animated Television Production 	Bryan ArnettFor "Bat Mitzvah Crashers" 	Nominated
2009 Annie Awards 	Best Production Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form	Seanna HongFor "Bee Patients" 	Nominated
2009 Annie Awards 	Best Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production or Short Form 	Eddie TriguerosFor "Name Shame" 	Nominated
2009 Daytime Emmy Awards 	Outstanding Children's Animated Program 	 	Won
2009 Daytime Emmy Awards 	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation 	Larry Murphy 	Won
2009 Daytime Emmy Awards 	Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program 	Amy Poehler 	Nominated
2009 Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Animated Program (Less than an Hour) 	The Dragonflies 	Nominated
2010 Annie Awards 	Best Animated Television Production for Children 	 	Nominated
2010 Annie Awards 	Best Character Design in a Television Production 	Bryan ArnettFor "Catatonic" 	Nominated
2010 Annie Awards 	Best Storyboarding in a Television Production 	Sunil HallFor "Catatonic" 	Nominated
2010 Daytime Emmy Awards 	Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program 	Amy Poehler 	Nominated
2010 Daytime Emmy Awards 	Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program 	Erik WieseAlex KirwanCynthia True 	Nominated
2011 Annie Awards 	Best Animated Television Production 	 	Nominated
2011 Annie Awards 	Best Character Design in a Television Production 	Bryan ArnettFor "Stuffed Happens" 	Nominated
2011 Annie Awards 	Best Voice Acting in a Television Production 	Amy Poehleras Bessie Higgenbottom 	Nominated
2011 Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Animated Program 	O Brother, What Art Thou?/Stuffed Happens	Nominated
==References==
==External links==
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