Chowder (TV series)
Chowder is an American animated television series created by C. H. Greenblatt for Cartoon Network. The series premiered in the United States on November 2, 2007. The series follows an aspiring young boy named Chowder and his day-to-day adventures as an apprentice in Chef Mung Daal's catering company. Although he means well, Chowder often finds himself in predicaments due to his perpetual appetite and his nature as a scatterbrain. Chowder's guidance in his goal to become a master chef is influenced by Mung's wife, Truffles; Mung's assistant, Shnitzel; Mung's rival , Endive; Endive's apprentice, who has a perpetual crush on Chowder, Panini; as well as other side characters. "Chowder" ran for three seasons with a total of 49 episodes. It received mostly positive reviews, as well as one Primetime Emmy Award win, six Annie Award nominations, and two additional Emmy Award nominations during its run. The series finale, "Chowder Grows Up", aired on August 7, 2010. Plot. The series plot revolves around the titular character Chowder, an aspiring young cook in Chef Mung Daal's catering company. Though he is lighthearted and carefree, Chowder's actions habitually land him in  circumstances out of his control, partly due to his hunger and absent-mindedness. His caregivers, Mung and Truffles Daal, as well as Shnitzel, a rock monster who works for Mung, and Kimchi, Chowder's gaseous pet, try to aide Chowder in his ambitions to become a great chef, but they frequently find themselves undermined by the calamitous antics that ensue. Chowder is also undermined by Panini, a girl who has an unrequited love for Chowder, going so far as to say that he is her boyfriend despite the pair not dating. Episodes. A total of 49 episodes were aired in  the series. Season 1, which consists of 20 episodes, started with the series premiere, entitled "Burple Nurples/Shnitzel Makes a Deposit", and ended with the special "The Apprentice Games". Season 2 also contains 20 episodes, debuting with "The Arborians/The Garage Sale", and ending with "A Faire to Remember/Tofu-Town Showdown". Season 3 consists of only nine episodes, premiering with "Hands on a Big Mixer/The Blast Raz", and ending with the series finale, entitled "Chowder Grows Up". Characters. Each character is named after a type of food or dish. Production. Development. During his time working on Nickelodeon's  SpongeBob SquarePants, Greenblatt had been sketching various characters for his own animation series concept. Greenblatt originally based the premise on the idea of the sorcerer's apprentice style of story, such as "The Sword in the Stone". The plot devices were modified so that the story revolves around a master chef who teaches his young apprentice how to cook. Chowder himself was developed with no specific species in mind, but rather with the intentions of invoking the image of a child's soft squeeze toy. Some of the inspiration comes from Dr. Seuss, with other inspiration from Saturday morning cartoons . Greenblatt pitched the concept to Cartoon Network in the mid-2000s when he began working as a writer and storyboard artist for "The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy", and two years later the series was approved with another year for production before the pilot episode aired. Greenblatt estimates he spent about seven years working on "Chowder" before the show made it to air in 2007. Format. Episodes are produced in seasons which consist of twenty 24-minute episodes. Each episode is produced with a 30-second puppet sequence that is meant to run over the ending credits. Episodes can be purchased  from the iTunes Store in the United States which are delivered with the sequences as are episodes which are available on Cartoon Network's VOD website also within the United States. One of the unusual design features of the show is the patterns used on the clothing or players. The patterns are developed as a full-screen image and then sent to the production house, where the characters are modified to fill the patterns in over the character clothing. Using this technique, when a character moves, their patterns do not follow, but display as a "static" background. A similar technique  was used in the "Monkey Island" video game series (particularly for the character Stan), the Nickelodeon series "The Off-Beats", and the "Mr. Bean" animated series. The show is also known for the very wide variety of media used in various episodes. These include animation using watercolors and ink-and-paint in addition to the cartoon's classic pattern style. It also uses stop motion animation with real food, action figures, and clay; live-action scenes with the voice actors of the show and puppets; both marionette and hand-controlled. This was also sometimes used in "Courage the Cowardly Dog . It boasts one of the most diverse varieties of mediums used in any single series. Cancellation. Chowder" was canceled by Cartoon Network in August 2009, as the network felt the show did not fit its new demographic of older boys, favoring shows such as the live-action "Destroy, Build, Destroy" instead. On his blog, C. H. Greenblatt expressed relief about having his schedule freed up by the cancellation, saying: "I didn't really think there'd be this many upsides to having a show officially canceled by a network, but I'm feeling happier than I've been in a  long time. Since we've only got post-production, my schedule finally eases up. I haven't had a break like this in a long, long time... "Chowder" has opened up a lot of awesome possibilities for me, and creatively I'm feeling more inspired than ever." Home media. The entire series has been released in ten Region 3 fullscreen DVD volumes in Thailand from MVD Company Limited. Every episode of Chowder is also available on the iTunes Store. Reception. Critical response. "Chowder" received mostly positive reviews. Barry Garron of "The Hollywood Reporter" thought that the show would appeal to  children and adults alike, using exotic artwork, unusual settings, and a zany cast of characters. On Toon Zone, Ed Liu expands on the animation and crazy antics of the characters, pointing that "the humor is kid-friendly without being juvenile" and praising it for getting laughs, "without resorting to an excess of toilet humor, even if Chowder's pet happens to be a sentient fart cloud." Aaron H. Bynum on "Animation Insider" wrote, "Featuring brightly colored environments, stylishly matted/fixed background artwork and humorously designed characters with unique personalities to boot, "Chowder" is one of the network's largest creative  accomplishments in recent years." Cultural impact. In 2019, Lil Nas X announced that he will make a music video of a remix of his song "Panini" and named it after the "Chowder" character of the same name, and later made a music video for a remix of his song featuring characters from "Chowder". Although Greenblatt was not involved in the production of the music video, he did praise the video on his Tumblr blog.