Johnny Bravo

***Johnny Bravo*** is an American animated television series created by Van Partible for Cartoon Network, and the second of the network's Cartoon Cartoons, which aired from July 14, 1997, to August 27, 2004. The series centers on the title character, who is loosely based on Elvis Presley. Johnny Bravo is a sunglasses-wearing, muscular young man who lives with his mother and attempts to get women to date him, though he is usually unsuccessful. He ends up in bizarre situations and predicaments, often accompanied by celebrity guest characters such as Donny Osmond or Adam West. Throughout its run, the show was known for its adult humor and pop culture references.

Partible pitched the series to Hanna-Barbera's animation showcase *What a Cartoon!*, basing it on his senior thesis project he produced while attending Loyola Marymount University. A pilot short aired on Cartoon Network in 1995. The series was renewed for a second season in 1999, during which Partible left, and the show was retooled under the direction of Kirk Tingblad. In 2003, for the series' fourth season, Partible returned and restored the show to its original format and style. In its four seasons, a total of 67 episodes have aired. The first three seasons were produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, while the fourth season was produced by Cartoon Network Studios.

*Johnny Bravo* was nominated for four Annie Awards, one YoungStar Award, and two Golden Reel Awards. The series helped launch the careers of several animators, including Seth MacFarlane and Butch Hartman. Spin-off media include comic books, DVD and VHS releases, collectible toys, and video games.

## Premise

The series centers on Johnny Bravo (voiced by Jeff Bennett), a sunglasses-wearing, muscular, conceited narcissist and dimwitted self-proclaimed womanizer with a pompadour and an Elvis Presley-esque voice, apparently of Italian heritage, who lives in Aron City (a nod to Presley's middle name). Episodes typically revolve around him trying to get a woman to go on a date with him, though his advances are usually rejected and result in the woman in question harming him in a comedic way due to his boorish manner. Johnny's companions are Bunny "Momma" Bravo (Brenda Vaccaro), his lively, caring, extroverted, equally dimwitted mother; and Little Suzy (Mae Whitman), a talkative and intelligent little girl from the neighborhood who likes to annoy Johnny, although he rarely remembers her name.

Recurring characters include Carl Chryniszzswics (Tom Kenny), who idolizes Johnny despite being bossed around by him; Pops (Larry Drake), the unscrupulous owner of the local diner who provides advice to Johnny, along with food made from atypical ingredients; Master Hamma (Brian Tochi), a Japanese martial arts instructor who teaches Johnny but never considers him a student due to being the weakest and most pathetic student in the dojo; Donny Osmond (himself), a cheery and optimistic teen idol who irritates Johnny; and Jungle Boy (Cody Dorkin), a jungle-dwelling feral child with super strength and the ability to speak to animals.

Much of the series' humor is derived from celebrity guest star appearances and references to popular culture. For example; one season 1 episode is based around homages to *The Twilight Zone*, and in another episode, one of the Village People can be seen in the background. The series has had numerous guest stars, including Adam West, Shaquille O'Neal, Seth Green and the previously mentioned Donny Osmond. In the first season, creator Van Partible intended for the show's middle segment to be a form of "Johnny Bravo Meets...", a parody of *The New Scooby-Doo Movies*, which would feature appearances from popular 1970s icons, but guest stars were used informally after the second season began. Many Hanna-Barbera characters had cameo appearances in the series, including the cast of *Scooby-Doo*, Speed Buggy, Jabberjaw, Fred Flintstone, Yogi Bear, The Blue Falcon, Black Widow, and Huckleberry Hound.

Adult humor is a frequent presence. In one episode, when Suzy calls Johnny to ask if he wants to come over, Johnny nonchalantly tells her to "[call] back in 15 years when [she is] a co-ed.", and in another, when Johnny is hit by a tranquilizer dart and is informed he has only "30 seconds of consciousness left" and to "use it wisely", he immediately pulls out a Girlie Magazine.

In regard to the adult humor, Hartman stated "...being concerned with the content of the episodes wasn't our main focus", and creator Partible remembers that "No one was really watching Cartoon Network [...] As far as content, they were pretty lenient on all the kind of things that were going on."

## Production

### Development

While attending Loyola Marymount University, Van Partible produced his senior thesis project *Mess O' Blues* (1993), an animated short film about an Elvis Presley impersonator. Partible's animation professor showed the film to a friend who worked for Hanna-Barbera, and the studio loved the film. They asked Partible to develop it into a pitch for a seven-minute short, prompting him to sell the project to Hanna-Barbera.

For the new short, Partible revised his main character from *Mess O' Blues*, renaming him "Johnny Bravo" and making him "this '50s iconic James Dean-looking character that talked like Elvis." He was also inspired by Michael Jackson's "impetus for using whip snaps and cracks" (such as in *Captain EO*) for whenever Johnny striked a pose. Voice actor Jeff Bennett was cast as Johnny, based solely on his young, hyped Elvis impression. Partible, with a small team of animators, animated the short themselves in-house at Hanna-Barbera using digital ink and paint.

The short, titled *Johnny Bravo*, was aired on Cartoon Network's animation showcase, *World Premiere Toons*, on March 26, 1995. Two more shorts followed: *Jungle Boy in "Mr. Monkeyman"* and *Johnny Bravo and the Amazon Women*.

The name Johnny Bravo derived from creator Van Partible's middle name, Giovanni Bravo, as Giovanni is an Italian name for John or Johnny, or possibly from an alias given to Greg Brady in The Brady Bunch episode “Adios Johnny Bravo”.

### Original seasons

The popularity of the shorts led to Cartoon Network commissioning a first season of *Johnny Bravo*, consisting of 13 episodes. The crew of the first season consisted of several writers, animators, and directors from *World Premiere Toons*, including Seth MacFarlane, Butch Hartman, Steve Marmel, and John McIntyre. Veteran animator Joseph Barbera also served as a creative consultant and mentor for the first season. Partible stated in a 1997 interview the goal of the series was to have "animation reminiscent of the old Hanna-Barbera cartoons".

*Johnny Bravo* premiered on July 14, 1997, and the first season completed production in December of that year.

### Retool

After the first season, *Johnny Bravo* was put on hiatus, until it was picked up for an unexpected second season in 1999. Van Partible got fired during Warner Bros. takeover of Turner Broadcasting and Kirk Tingblad took over as director, leading to a major retooling in the show's visual style, tone, humor, and characters. The show retained this format for the third season.

The series sat in limbo once again until it was renewed for a fourth season in 2003, which aired in 2004. The final season of the series returned to the humor of the original shorts and first season of the series, with Van Partible returning and co-directing all of the fourth season episodes, although the Jungle Boy character from the first season never returned.