Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

**Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends** (also known as **Foster's Home**, or simply **Foster's** for short) is an American animated television series created by Craig McCracken for **Cartoon Network**.

The entire series was avaliable at launch.

## Premise

Set in a world in which imaginary friends coexist with humans, it centers on a boy named Mac who is pressured by his mother to abandon his imaginary friend Bloo. After the duo discover an orphanage dedicated to housing abandoned imaginary friends, Bloo moves into the home and is kept from adoption as long as Mac visits him daily. The episodes revolve around Mac and Bloo as they interact with other imaginary friends and house staff and live out their day-to-day adventures, often getting caught up in various normal or surreal predicaments.

## Characters

### Main

* Mac
* Bloo
* Wilt
* Eduardo
* Coco
* Frankie Foster
* Mr. Herriman
* Madame Foster

### Recurring

* Terrence
* Duchess
* Cheese
* Goo

## Production

McCracken conceived the series after adopting two dogs from an animal shelter and applying the concept to imaginary friends.

#### Release

The series premiered on August 13th, 2004 and ended on May 3rd, 2009.

## Reception

*Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends* became one of Cartoon Network's most successful original series and received critical acclaim and industry accolades, including five Annie Awards and seven Emmy Awards, winning a total of twelve awards out of thirty-five nominations. It has since been named by *Entertainment Weekly* as one of the best Cartoon Network shows and by IGN in their list of best animated series at number #85.

### Critical Response

Anita Gates of *The New York Times* praised the series' premiere 90-minute episode and stated that the series would promise to be an "admirable tale of loyalty and adventure-based learning with a contagious sense of fun". Mike Pinsky, in a review on *DVD Verdict*, praised the art design and the characterizations, particularly singling out *Cheese* as possibly "the quintessence of Foster's surreal charm" in his season two review. David Cornelius of *DVD* Talk called the series "one of the best shows of any kind [then] on television, a winner for viewers of any age" and "a wildly inventive mix of creative wonder, comic genius, and well-crafted chaos". In a season two review, also on *DVD Talk*, Cornelius called the show "flat-out perfect". Joly Herman of *Common Sense Media*, an advocacy group focused on appropriate technology and media for children, was less enthusiastic about the show, rating it 2 stars out of 5. Herman praised the creativity and diversity of the characters and the show's premise, but criticized the storyline and writing, which presented "confusing messages" for young children.

The series was named the 85th best animated series of all time in a list of the top 100 animated series by *IGN*, which called it very funny and endearing. *Entertainment Weekly* named the show the 6th best Cartoon Network show in their top 10 list, praising its "catchy magical-realist setting" and the characters "you genuinely learned to care about".

## Navigation

- Films: Ben 10: Race Against Time | Foster's Movie: Destination Imagination | Regular Show: The Movie | Steven Universe: The Movie