The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

***The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy*** (also shortened to just ***Billy & Mandy***) is an American animated television series created by Maxwell Atoms for Cartoon Network and the fourteenth of the Cartoon Cartoons, albeit on when it was part of *Grim & Evil*. It follows an extremely dimwitted happy-go-lucky boy named Billy and a cynical remorseless girl named Mandy who, after winning a limbo game to save Billy's pet hamster, gain the mighty Grim Reaper as their best friend in eternal servitude and slavery.

*Billy & Mandy* began as a series of segments on *Grim & Evil*, from which it was a spin-off, along with *Evil Con Carne*, on August 24, 2001. Although the 2003 episodes were produced for *Grim & Evil*, the show ran as a separate series from June 13, 2003, to November 9, 2007, on Cartoon Network. Two made-for-TV movies, *Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure* and *Billy & Mandy: Wrath of the Spider Queen*, aired on March 30, 2007, and July 6, 2007. A crossover special with fellow Cartoon Network series, *Codename: Kids Next Door*, entitled "The Grim Adventures of the KND", aired on November 11, 2007. One more made-for-TV movie, *Underfist: Halloween Bash*, intended to serve as a pilot for a new spin-off series, aired on October 12, 2008. During its run, the series won two Emmy Awards and one Annie Award, with nominations for one Daytime Emmy Award, three Golden Reel Awards, and two other Annie Awards. *Billy & Mandy* has also been made into a video game as well as various licensed merchandise.

## Premise

The series is centered around the exploits of Billy (Richard Steven Horvitz), an idiotic and happy-go-lucky boy; Mandy (Grey DeLisle), a cynical and cold-hearted girl; and Grim (Greg Eagles), a Jamaican-accented Reaper. After Billy and Mandy cheated at a limbo match against Grim (in retaliation for putting the limbo rod too low for them to go under), he is enslaved in a permanently unwanted friendship with the children. Grim is miserable in the first days of his servitude, and even fantasizes about killing them multiple times. However, as the time passes, he gradually adapts to the new life, and even grows to care for Billy and Mandy, if only somewhat. Despite this, he retains a love–hate relationship with the two and desires to eventually break free from his servitude.

Billy and Mandy use Grim's supernatural abilities and powers to venture into supernatural locations or environments, such as the Underworld, or the Netherworld, inhabited by an assortment of grotesque monstrous beasts. The pair also use Grim's enormously strong supernatural abilities or ties with a number of beastly characters to achieve goals or desires for themselves, often with twisted results. Famed fictional monsters including Dracula, the Wolfman, and the bogeyman are also comically depicted in the series.

Supporting characters include Irwin (Vanessa Marshall), a nerdy awkward boy who has a crush on Mandy; Harold (Richard Steven Horvitz), Billy's father who is even dumber than his son; Gladys (Jennifer Hale), Billy's loving yet mentally unstable mother; Mindy (Rachael MacFarlane), the snobby, stuck-up, and spoiled queen bee of Billy and Mandy's school; Sperg (Greg Eagles), the local bully who has a sensitive side; Fred Fredburger (C. H. Greenblatt), a simple-minded, irritating underworld creature who loves frozen yogurt and nachos; Dracula (Phil LaMarr), a selfish elderly vampire who is revealed to be Irwin's paternal grandfather in the final season of the show.

The show lacks continuity for the most part, as many episodes end with characters killed, exiled, or stuck in a situation. Characters sometimes display an awareness of some events from previous episodes, but there are no clear character arcs or coherent plot lines tying the show together.