Fridays Talkback: Foster's (or Impostor's?) (Sept 16, 2005)

[One Radical Dude]

http://fridays.toonzone.net/talkbacks/fridays.gifhttp://fridays.toonzone.net/talkbacks/fosters.gif

Imposter's Home for Um...Make 'Em Up Pals

5

Time: 7:00 PM Eastern/6:00 PM Central (catch it again at 10 PM ET)

Summary: A human, passing himself off as an imaginary friend shows up at the house, and Frankie is out to prove him a fraud.

5

Notes: Next week, catch a new episode of Foster's. Don't forget to visit FostersFriends.com to adopt an imaginary friend. Next Saturday, the Titans return with a new episode on Toonami.

[Bubblegum Girl]

Man I felt sorry for Frankie. She really had it rough in this episode. I knew that Goofball was an imaginary friend.

[One Radical Dude]

I, too, felt bad for Frankie. Right now, I gotta say that this is probably Season 3's weakest episode. Hopefully, "Duchess of Wails" will be an improvement. I'll watch it again to get a better look at the episode, since I was interrupted.

[Red]

Yeah thanks, I'll be back next week, very stressed out, and kinda tired of making these with little replies when I used to get like 30 a week.

[One Radical Dude]

Yeah thanks, I'll be back next week, very stressed out, and kinda tired of making these with little replies when I used to get like 30 a week.
Yeah, what gives? I'm very disappointed in the lack of responses for a lot of these topics. Anyway, I'm glad I gave you a break here. Take care of yourself.

[Scirel]

This was just like the bendy episode.. grr...

[livingfruitvirus]

The idea that he was an imaginary friend crossed my mind, but how come he was so confused about himself and his kid, stuttered and hesitated all the time? And how come he had homework? If they had just come up with a humorous explanation for that, I would've been satisfied.

[Lychii]

Gosh. I had a bad though that this ep might of been horrible. >_<

Anywho.. I wish that Goofball really was a human. it would have been a bit more intresting in my eyes. I mean, the way he stuttered and had human friends ... why did he have human friends in whereever Fosters is?

I did like the scene where Frankie went crazy near the end. For some reason I got the Ren and Stimpy vibe. (ig. Ren going mad) Overall, I think this ep was pretty weak, even with it's surprise ending.

[One Radical Dude]

Originally, I was going to give it a "C", after watching the episode for the first time. I didn't see the first airing through its entirety. I watch it the second airing through it's entirety, and so....I've decided to barely give it a B-. The reason? Well, although I agree that watching this episode sort of felt like watching Bendy over again, but Frankie sort of deserved Herriman's punishment. She assumed that "Goofball" John McGee wasn't an imaginary friend, and she was proven wrong. Goofball McGee is the second humanized imaginary friend to Prince Charming (from the other Frankie-centered episode, "Frankie My Dear"). So, yes, I feel sorry for Frankie that she had suffered and missed the rock concert, but it's her own fault for being wrong about Goofball. The scene where Frankie was cleaning near the end of the episode (with what I assume are imaginary mice friends) reminded me of Cinderella, that was kinda neat. Anyway, not as bad as I had thought earlier, but this is my least favorite episode in Season 3.

[Rurouni Kenshin]

I only caught the second half, but I thought it was cute, better than the Bendy episode, much better than Bendy.

[don Jaime]

I flunked this one. This was a muddled mess of writing. He's a teenage boy in disguise whose friends show up to mooch too, whoops, his phone call to Canada was real and he's from there, so where'd these kids calling him a different name come from again? FH plays itself too straight to get away with these surrealistic SpongeBobbish plottwists. The similarity to the Bendy short goes beyond the lout not getting his just desserts. Frankie fills Wilt's role there as the trusted member of the group being treated like dirt for no particular reason. She also meekly taking licks that would provoke a violent assault in other episodes; she's punched out a date for less, and has chased Herriman around too. Not good. Hope next week is better.

[Freedom Fighter]

It's episodes like these that really harp at home at how rough Frankie has it working at Foster's. Granted, she really loves all (with a few exceptions) of the friends, but she kinda has to, considering she does all the work to keep 'em happy. But that can only take you so far...

Throughout the whole episode, I was all with Frankie realizing Goofball was a fake, and was interested in seeing how she could prove it... or how everyone else could be so stupid. And 'John' wasn't doing a good job at 'faking' it. Which made it all the more surprising when we find out he really is an imaginary friend! Stupified and shocked, I was.

Loved a bunch of the little things too... Frankie's variation of a swear jar with Bloo, Frankie struggling to get a shopping cart, her imitiation of one of the Marx Brothers while first in costume, and of course, the Cinderella mice.

Despite all that, though... this wasn't all that good of an episode. Entertaining, yes. Funny and full of laughs? Not so much...

For that, "Imposter's..." will only earn a 7 out of 10. Would've been better, but Frankie is only worth so much...

[I.R Joey]

I'm going to have to be the voice of dissent in this episode. Personally I thought is was a really good episode. Very ammusing, and very true to Frankie's charecter. Did I see the end coming a mile away? Yes did I enjoy every second of it? Yup.

Tom Kenny (I think it was Tom Kenny) did a really nice job as Goofball. It was vaugely Spongebobish, but with a hint of conartist in it to make us question if he was really who he said he was.

Frankie being stressed out, and going nuts is one of the best things about this series. I personally think they executed that part of her personality very well. Everything from the grocery line, to the cleaning, to her dealing with Goofball's friends.

And how could you not laugh at the bit where Herriman thinks Goofball is talking about Heaven when he's really talking about Canada. That's hillarious.

And the Frankie's right Bloo is wrong jar was a great visual gag in my opinion.

Sure this episode wasn't a gag a minute, it wasn't even the best Frankie episode (that honor is still reserved for Frankie My Dear), but it still deserves a solid B.

[One Radical Dude]

Lauren (Faust), if you're around, I want to know if "Imposter's Home for Imaginary Friends." was the original title, and why it was changed. I'm not sure if you'll be around to see it, but I would appreciate you explaining this to us. Thanks.

[Sam Hill]

Sorry but this episode had too many plot holes for me to give it a good grade.

Watching it, it almost seems like the writers were originally going to have Goofball be a human then changed their minds at the last second.

[I.R Joey]

This was just like the bendy episode.. grr...

I have to disagree. It was fundamentaly diffrent from the Bendy episode because Frankie kind of brought it down on herself. When you think about it Goofball really didn't do anything wrong (unless you consider being stupid a crime). Frankie kept on trying to prove that she was right and it kept on blowing up in her face. So it was diffrent than the Bendy episode because justice was served to the offending party (that sounds very poetic doesn't it?) And the person who was innocent was rewarded. In that way it was the polar opposite of the Bendy episode.

And I still can't understand why people roast the Bendy episode (and let Sight for Sore eyes pass), I thought it was very funny. Everything from Frankie defending her punk rock fandom, to Bloo's last line "but Bendy stole a cookie!" as justification of wrecking the mansion was right on the mark. Plus it had that part at the begining with Bendy's first kid which kind of ringed true for me. You had a kid blaming his imaginary friend for stuff (which happens.) Frankie and Mr. Herriman assuming (like most of us would) that the kid was blaming his imaginary friend for stuff, and of course the parents who can't believe that their kid could do anything wrong. It was interesting stuff.

Oh and if any of the Foster's staff is reading this I too would like to read your input on this.

[Shadow_Wolf75]

Man, I hate this show as it is, but this ep was just lame. If I was Frankie, I would've said "to hell with this crap, I'm outta here!" and walked. Not to mention the various nasty things I would've done to Herriman, but then I'm evil like that and the rabbit annoys me. :evil:

[Girl_named_Goo]

Lauren (Faust), if you're around, I want to know if "Imposter's Home for Imaginary Friends." was the original title, and why it was changed. I'm not sure if you'll be around to see it, but I would appreciate you explaining this to us. Thanks.

It was always "Imposter's Home for, uh.. Make 'Em Up Pals" which is a long one for us!

And I.R. Joey-- I know I still owe you a reply about PPGZ, but as far as Foster's is concerned, I see that as usual you've been able to see exactly what we were trying to accomplish with both Bendy and Imposter's. Perhaps these are shows that have to be paid very close attention to (which you could say might be a failure on our part to be clear) or, we are grossly underestimating people's emotional reactions to things.

I'm starting to wonder what I should take from of these sort of responses. I don't want to upset people with our stories, but I don't want to write stories about everybody getting along, holding hands and skipping down the lane, either. Conflict is more interesting than.. well, non-conflict. Will people be more satisfied if Frankie is content with her crappy job and everyone appreciates her hard work? Would it be more fun to watch Mr. Herriman ask her to do things nicely and thank her at the end of the day? Would it be better to guide everyone to the predictable ending and then give it to them? I personally don't believe so, but from the looks of things I might be wrong.

I'd like to reiterate that we never sit down in our writer's meetings and try to come up with stories that upset people. We try to come up with stuff that we think is funny. Some people agree with us, and others don't. We have discovered that there are shows that we LOVE that fans seem to hate (Squeakerboxxx) and some that we HATE that fans seem to like (Sight For Sore Eyes.) We're just taking our best guesses, you know?

And BTW- I like to offer up my pathetic excuse for SFSE-- it was one of those shows that suffered from extensive notes and several re-writes and a schedule that didn't allow us to throw it out or do it over. That's a factor in TV animation production that lots of fans seem to forget about.

-LF

[90'sCartoonMan]

When you think about it Goofball really didn't do anything wrong (unless you consider being stupid a crime).
Goofball REALLY took advantage of Frankie, though. Foster's has some crazy rules, letting the imaginary friends get away with eating as much food as they want and not taking any blame. I sure hope Frankie makes a lot of money.

Anyway, I liked this episode, although I eventually saw the ending coming. It makes it funnier if Goofball is a real imaginary friend and his speech patterns were just a quirk. Plus, Frankie as Goof Goof was hysterical!

[DocForbin]

I think after reading Ms. Faust's remarks I have a better appreciation for this ep. All right, it might have been a tad bit flat, but honest to God I thougth Goofball was an actual human himself.

If she does happen to read this, I tip my hat off to her. Having one of the creative geniuses behind one of the better animated programs on TV today drop in is a great honor. :D

Speaking of "Frankie My Dear", she did mention in that ep that she did get a college degree. My hunch is it has to be in child psychology. Why? Because it would help her deal with why kids create imaginary friends and how they come to get rid of him. For some reason it would work. It just kind or reminds me of that ep of ST: TNG where an alien took on the form of a girl's imaginary friend and Counselor Troi was the only one who could get through to the two of them. Call it one of my pet theories (OK, the kind of theory The Question on JLU would subscribe to, but it works for me as Hunter used to say). :evil:

[One Radical Dude]

It was always "Imposter's Home for, uh.. Make 'Em Up Pals" which is a long one for us!

And I.R. Joey-- I know I still owe you a reply about PPGZ, but as far as Foster's is concerned, I see that as usual you've been able to see exactly what we were trying to accomplish with both Bendy and Imposter's. Perhaps these are shows that have to be paid very close attention to (which you could say might be a failure on our part to be clear) or, we are grossly underestimating people's emotional reactions to things.

I'm starting to wonder what I should take from of these sort of responses. I don't want to upset people with our stories, but I don't want to write stories about everybody getting along, holding hands and skipping down the lane, either. Conflict is more interesting than.. well, non-conflict. Will people be more satisfied if Frankie is content with her crappy job and everyone appreciates her hard work? Would it be more fun to watch Mr. Herriman ask her to do things nicely and thank her at the end of the day? Would it be better to guide everyone to the predictable ending and then give it to them? I personally don't believe so, but from the looks of things I might be wrong.

I'd like to reiterate that we never sit down in our writer's meetings and try to come up with stories that upset people. We try to come up with stuff that we think is funny. Some people agree with us, and others don't. We have discovered that there are shows that we LOVE that fans seem to hate (Squeakerboxxx) and some that we HATE that fans seem to like (Sight For Sore Eyes.) We're just taking our best guesses, you know?

And BTW- I like to offer up my pathetic excuse for SFSE-- it was one of those shows that suffered from extensive notes and several re-writes and a schedule that didn't allow us to throw it out or do it over. That's a factor in TV animation production that lots of fans seem to forget about.

-LF Well, Lauren, I have to say that it seems like there are more positive reviews here than there was on TV.com. When I saw the episode the first time (I recorded parts of it that I missed), I wasn't too impressed. At the time, I thought if I had posted my comments on the episode, it would be unfair, so I watch the second airing without interruptions. My first impressions of it changed for the better. Season three has been great, so far, and I'm not just saying that to make you feel better! Don't take some of the negative feedbacks too seriously, the crew is doing a fabulous job.

I agree that I don't wanna see an episode where everyone's nice, and holding hands or any of that kind of malarkey. I agree that conflict make this series a lot more interesting. I loved Camp Keep a Good Mac Down a lot, it's one of my recent favorite episodes, but a few people cried foul because Bloo was made to be extremely self-centered....much so that he left his friends starving and hungry. Some people on the boards (maybe not so much here, but on TV.com) have said that it's to the point where they are starting to hate Bloo. Bloo is my favorite character of the series, and yes...I'll admit that there are some things I'd hope something happened to him, but he's still #1 in my book because he's such a great, entertaining character.

Anyway, if some of these people are making you feel like that you and staff are not doing a great job, don't let them bring you down. We may have be heard more easily, since you're reading posts online, but there may be millions more people that enjoy some of these episode that some have criticized here. A lot of readers from this forum and TV.com are mostly older than the mainstream/targeted audience. If you and the crew can managed to entertain a 24-year-old individual (which BTW, I am 24)...that's great, isn't it? :p I say keep up the good work, Lauren, and thanks for visiting, as always.

[don Jaime]

Will people be more satisfied if Frankie is content with her crappy job and everyone appreciates her hard work? Would it be more fun to watch Mr. Herriman ask her to do things nicely and thank her at the end of the day? Would it be better to guide everyone to the predictable ending and then give it to them? I personally don't believe so, but from the looks of things I might be wrong.

I don't think it's the conflict that's an issue - at least, it isn't for me. It's the unfairness that gets to be unbearable. Frankie suffers similar treatment in a different episode, "Busted." After being taken for granted and ordered around by Mr. Herriman, she finally explodes and chases him around his own office with a broomstick. Bloo's selfishness is usually tempered as well; he dishes it out and gets it back in turn all through "Squeakerboxxx." (An awesome episode, by the way. I'm amazed to hear somebody doesn't like it.) In "Imposter's" Frankie never really gets her own back. Had the disguise sequence lasted longer, or she had gone overboard glorying in getting the red nose off before she realized what Goofball was, or maybe even if Bloo was shown putting coins into the jar again at the end, it might have helped. I don't know for sure. I know I can't imagine an episode with Duchess or Terrence where they're never paid back for their boorishness. It's the same for Bendy, or the residents and Herriman in "Imposter's."

There is still the puzzle of where those three teenagers came from. Goofball was lost in a strange town, yet his friends knew where to find him? And he couldn't head back to Canada with them? I'm overanalyzing a cartoon here, but the teenagers do strain credibility.

This makes the second episode of "Foster's" that I don't really like, out of, well, a lot. I can't say that for any other show on now. You're doing a swell job.

You didn't used to write Digimon fanfiction...did you?

[The Huntsman]

I'm sure Lauren has her fair share of sycophants, Radical, what she needs is people she can trust. Suffering is good to an extent, I feel that the past few episodes just went overboard, or at least failed to get resolved properly by the ending. In the most recent episode, I would have been fine if either Frankie would have managed to go to the concert after realizing the error of her ways or if she would have just been right and revealed him for being a fraud. But to have suffering and a poor ending just doesn't seem to be proper in my personal opinion. Take Berry Scary, for example, that had a great ending because it was very well developed and I personally consider Berry Scary to be the absolute best episode of the series. However, the past two episodes just weren't ended in a proper manner and I feel that hurt the episodes most of all.

[AkirQueen]

The only comment I have about this episode is that the animation in this episode seemed more "jumpy" than previous ones. It just stood out for some reason...

[Bubblegum Girl]

or maybe even if Bloo was shown putting coins into the jar again at the end
Well at the credits there's a scene where Bloo was climbing on top the book shelf and Frankie tells him that's a bad idea and Bloo replies he give her a quarter everytime that happens and he falls down and he gives Frankie a quarter.

[Shift]

The idea that he was an imaginary friend crossed my mind, but how come he was so confused about himself and his kid, stuttered and hesitated all the time? And how come he had homework? If they had just come up with a humorous explanation for that, I would've been satisfied.Actually, they did. John Larry McGee's parents were talking about how it only took them 45 minutes to get there by train "A", even with two stops, and Goofball then told Franky that she was way off while holding the homework folder. The joke is that when he was supposedly doing the "train A/train B"-type math homework, he was literally talking about a real train "A" and "B" and was trying to figure out a real problem, and so he was commenting on how Frankie was way off on the question. I didn't see it at first, either; I had thought that he was talking about Frankie's assumptions of him being human, and I didn't even think about the train.

[Karl Olson]

And BTW- I like to offer up my pathetic excuse for SFSE-- it was one of those shows that suffered from extensive notes and several re-writes and a schedule that didn't allow us to throw it out or do it over. That's a factor in TV animation production that lots of fans seem to forget about.

-LF


That issue with notes didn't use to be something that seemed to came up at CN back in the day, atleast from what I've heard. Has there been a change in the studio's dynamic and management that's resulted in more notes from above (IE:executive-never-animated-or-wrote-anything-type people?) If so, that kinda bites. CN Studios seemed to be at it's best when it was almost completely unbridled.

As far as what you should take from fan reaction (particularly fan-reaction from people entirely outside of your target demographic,) I think you should try and watch out for people who just want to see their little fan dreams come true at the cost of engaging and really fun programming.

Besides, I'd rather see cartoons with guts and gumption than pasturized content that's part over-kiddification (cause kids are smarter than all too many people give them credit for) and part outright fanservice (IE: "I like Frankie, therefore I don't like seeing her character have any problems." That'd be like Elmer Fudd never catching crap from Bugs Bunny. It'd also be unfunny.) Personally, I think cartoons with real "edge" usually are shows more focused around it's storyboards than it's scripts (the opposite of Foster's, I know,) but either way, the conflict is key, cause conflict done right is comedy. I'm glad to hear you're going for conflict. It's part of why Bloo's been working better as a character BTW. He starts much more trouble very knowingly and uncaringly at time goes on, which is a really Original Bugs Bunny/Early Bart Simpson/Master Shake-type personality trait, and it results in funny actions and funny dialogue. If anything, you should try and push it farther. I mean, I wouldn't even necessarily to justify it with "well, atleast the aggravator got theirs in the end." In a lot of great cartoons, usually, they learn little to nothing at all from the experience. Done right, that's yet another joke that can be worked into the story (see Shake and the stolen TVs in the first Mooninites episode.)

Again though, I wouldn't put much stock in what a 20-something fan would say about a cartoon that's not directly meant for them. :anime:

[Girl_named_Goo]

I feel I should clarify-- SFSE was an unusual example. We get very little notes for Foster's. That said, we do know what we are and aren't allowed to get away with nowadays. There are certain jokes we were allowed to make in the past that we can't now, but that's what happens when a tiny fledgling network becomes larger and more popular. It is still possible to make funny shows while keeping the 6-11 demographic in mind. We really don't feel the need to complain at this point.

And as for storyboards--yes we are a scripted show, but storyboards are so insanely important to us. A poorly done board can destroy a great script, and we go out of our way to find writers who can write great stuff to be storyboarded, not just said, and board artists who can make what you SEE as funny as what you HEAR (if not funnier.) Too many writers focus on funny dialogue and gloss over funny visuals. You can tell a great joke without saying a word, and that's where storyboarding comes in. I think some scripted shows treat storyboarding like a technical aspect of the process, but since both Craig and I come from a storyboarding background, we put extremely, EXTREMELY high value on boards. We feel that the story part of the show doesn't end at scripts.

[Girl_named_Goo]

forgot to comment on this--


As far as what you should take from fan reaction (particularly fan-reaction from people entirely outside of your target demographic,) I think you should try and watch out for people who just want to see their little fan dreams come true at the cost of engaging and really fun programming.

thanks-- I must admit that I've finally learned to keep that in mind!! :anime:

[don Jaime]

Well at the credits there's a scene where Bloo was climbing on top the book shelf and Frankie tells him that's a bad idea and Bloo replies he give her a quarter everytime that happens and he falls down and he gives Frankie a quarter.

Those are never shown on the Friday night episodes. We might have to go a few seconds without the lame actors and lamer puppets.

[Behonkiss]

One thing I can say about this is that the facial animation was great. I hadn't laughed out loud from Frankie's expressions after World Wide Wabbit until this aired.

Other than that, I don't really know what to say without talking about my feelings on Season 3 as a whole, so I'll stop.

[One Radical Dude]

I feel I should clarify-- SFSE was an unusual example. We get very little notes for Foster's. That said, we do know what we are and aren't allowed to get away with nowadays. There are certain jokes we were allowed to make in the past that we can't now, but that's what happens when a tiny fledgling network becomes larger and more popular. It is still possible to make funny shows while keeping the 6-11 demographic in mind. We really don't feel the need to complain at this point.

And as for storyboards--yes we are a scripted show, but storyboards are so insanely important to us. A poorly done board can destroy a great script, and we go out of our way to find writers who can write great stuff to be storyboarded, not just said, and board artists who can make what you SEE as funny as what you HEAR (if not funnier.) Too many writers focus on funny dialogue and gloss over funny visuals. You can tell a great joke without saying a word, and that's where storyboarding comes in. I think some scripted shows treat storyboarding like a technical aspect of the process, but since both Craig and I come from a storyboarding background, we put extremely, EXTREMELY high value on boards. We feel that the story part of the show doesn't end at scripts.
It's great that you and Craig focus a lot on the storyboards, because I feel that this is one of the strengths this series has. You guys do a fabulous job there. Keep it up. ;)

[I.R Joey]

That issue with notes didn't use to be something that seemed to came up at CN back in the day, atleast from what I've heard. Has there been a change in the studio's dynamic and management that's resulted in more notes from above (IE:executive-never-animated-or-wrote-anything-type people?) If so, that kinda bites. CN Studios seemed to be at it's best when it was almost completely unbridled.

As far as what you should take from fan reaction (particularly fan-reaction from people entirely outside of your target demographic,) I think you should try and watch out for people who just want to see their little fan dreams come true at the cost of engaging and really fun programming.

Besides, I'd rather see cartoons with guts and gumption than pasturized content that's part over-kiddification (cause kids are smarter than all too many people give them credit for) and part outright fanservice (IE: "I like Frankie, therefore I don't like seeing her character have any problems." That'd be like Elmer Fudd never catching crap from Bugs Bunny. It'd also be unfunny.) Personally, I think cartoons with real "edge" usually are shows more focused around it's storyboards than it's scripts (the opposite of Foster's, I know,) but either way, the conflict is key, cause conflict done right is comedy. I'm glad to hear you're going for conflict. It's part of why Bloo's been working better as a character BTW. He starts much more trouble very knowingly and uncaringly at time goes on, which is a really Original Bugs Bunny/Early Bart Simpson/Master Shake-type personality trait, and it results in funny actions and funny dialogue. If anything, you should try and push it farther. I mean, I wouldn't even necessarily to justify it with "well, atleast the aggravator got theirs in the end." In a lot of great cartoons, usually, they learn little to nothing at all from the experience. Done right, that's yet another joke that can be worked into the story (see Shake and the stolen TVs in the first Mooninites episode.)

Again though, I wouldn't put much stock in what a 20-something fan would say about a cartoon that's not directly meant for them. :anime:

Karl's pretty much on the mark with alot of hs comments. Sometimes people get so caught up in making their favorite charecters lives perfect, or pairing up two people (often in contrived ways) that they forget that there are proper charecter dynamics and other things to be observed. Every story needs obstacles, even ones with ultimately happy endings. And of course there's always the danger of listening only to the obsessive internet fans and not getting the opinion of the average elementry school kid (and they're the huge, overwhelming majority). I mean I'm sure that many fans will jut tell the creator that they're brilliant no matter what kind of episode it is. I imagine the key is to kind of weed out the sycophants (or the unsubstantiated critics), and get to the honest insights (even when they're not celibratory).

It could be said that a good storyboarder caan make a bad script look average, an average script good, and a good script into something phenomenal. I kind of have an interest in visual storytelling myself (read Eisner's book this summer), and I imagine that in animation it is almost improtant to have the visuals that are compositionally, and asthetically sound. Of course there are some shows out now that intentionally go for a cheep, paper cut out look, but that's just their thing.

As for Bloo I've always interpreted him as being a jerk. I can't understand why people suddenly are suprised, or appaled by his behavior. At his core Bloo is a jerk, but the reason we don't hate him is because he's so oblivious to the concerns and feelings of others. In other words it's not like he's doing it to be spiteful intentionally, he's just kind of naturally selfish.

So Cartoon Network has tightened up on it's restrictions? That's odd. You would assume that given how much more liberal Toonami and some of the other blocks have become. Time was that we would have scoffed at the idea of a TV PG Naruto. But I guess it's a diffrent department of CN that you guys work under so I guess their are diffrent rules. Still it's hard to imagine the network that allowed Mojo Jojo to have brains exposed every other episode has become more conservative with content.

Anyway, hope that the next batch of Foster's episodes are up to the standard that we've come to hold for the show.

[One Radical Dude]

As for Bloo I've always interpreted him as being a jerk. I can't understand why people suddenly are suprised, or appaled by his behavior. At his core Bloo is a jerk, but the reason we don't hate him is because he's so oblivious to the concerns and feelings of others. In other words it's not like he's doing it to be spiteful intentionally, he's just kind of naturally selfish.

That's exactly what I believe, Joey. Listen, I'm not trying to be disrespectful or anything towards that group, but I don't understand why there are some people that act so surprised to see Bloo being so self-centered..or act as if they've never witnessed it before. He's been that way since the early episodes (even in SW, he was a jerk towards Coco). I apoligize if any fan is disturbed by any of my comments, but it is something I had to say.

[Shadow_Wolf75]

Conflict is more interesting than.. well, non-conflict. Will people be more satisfied if Frankie is content with her crappy job and everyone appreciates her hard work? Would it be more fun to watch Mr. Herriman ask her to do things nicely and thank her at the end of the day? Would it be better to guide everyone to the predictable ending and then give it to them? I personally don't believe so, but from the looks of things I might be wrong.
Like someone else has already said, it isn't so much the conflict as it is that Frankie gets the short end of the stick CONSTANTLY. She's like the dumping ground for everyone in that entire house . . . you'd think she'd go postal more often, especially when it comes to Herriman. The rabbit is pompous, arrogant, and completely oblivious to anything Frankie does right. And he NEVER gets any kind of comeuppance . . . yes, I guess there was WWW, but I really don't think that was enough. *shrugs* I dunno, I guess Herriman's just the kind of character that brings out that lovely sadistic streak I have . . .

[One Radical Dude]

Someone brought this up on another forum, and I can't believe I didn't think about it sooner. Remember "Everyone Knows It's Bendy?" Frankie didn't treat Bloo, Ed, Coco, and even Wilt very fairly (how could she not trust Wilt?). So, in a sense, I feel even less sorry for what happened to her on "Imposter's...", and she kinda deserved it.

[The Huntsman]

Someone brought this up on another forum, and I can't believe I didn't think about it sooner. Remember "Everyone Knows It's Bendy?" Frankie didn't treat Bloo, Ed, Coco, and even Wilt very fairly (how could she not trust Wilt?). So, in a sense, I feel even less sorry for what happened to her on "Imposter's...", and she kinda deserved it. Lauren herself said that Frankie disregarded their comments in the Bendy episode due to time restrictions. If you're going to go and bring up a flaw in the structure of the episode as a logical arguement then I'm afraid that it's not going to hold much weight in conversation. I'm growing weary of this, it isn't as simple as you make it out to be and I...

Forget it, it doesn't matter.

[don Jaime]

Lauren herself said that Frankie disregarded their comments in the Bendy episode due to time restrictions. If you're going to go and bring up a flaw in the structure of the episode as a logical arguement then I'm afraid that it's not going to hold much weight in conversation. I'm growing weary of this, it isn't as simple as you make it out to be and I...

Forget it, it doesn't matter.

All writers have deadlines and space or time restrictions. That's not an excuse for writing out of established characters. "Bendy" would have been better served leaving Wilt and the others out, and have Bendy dump all of the blame on Bloo. "Imposter's" showed an impossibly meek and incompetent Frankie. It was like watching some odd Hong Kong knock-off of FH instead of the real thing. These Frank Grimes-ish episodes don't suit the show to begin with, and then they're written all odd. I've seen better from this show, and it's what I've come to expect. If the show is going the direction of "Hey, let's dump all over _____ today!" then I'll go someplace else. But I'd rather stick with the good show. Simple as that.

[One Radical Dude]

All writers have deadlines and space or time restrictions. That's not an excuse for writing out of established characters. "Bendy" would have been better served leaving Wilt and the others out, and have Bendy dump all of the blame on Bloo. "Imposter's" showed an impossibly meek and incompetent Frankie. It was like watching some odd Hong Kong knock-off of FH instead of the real thing. These Frank Grimes-ish episodes don't suit the show to begin with, and then they're written all odd. I've seen better from this show, and it's what I've come to expect. If the show is going the direction of "Hey, let's dump all over _____ today!" then I'll go someplace else. But I'd rather stick with the good show. Simple as that.
This episode could have been better, if Frankie would have displayed more backbone towards Herriman, but that's not what happened here. I agree that I'd like to see fewer "let's dump on ____" episodes, but I also prefer some conflicting for the episodes.

[Huntsman, excuse me, but am I angering you? If you have a problem with me, I suggest you PM me. I realize that we have a strong disagreement over the discussion.]

[speedster]

If I was Frankie, I would've said "to hell with this crap, I'm outta here!" and walked. :evil:
i have a feeling.. i'd know where she'd have walked to.

[Cartoonboy900]

This wasn't really a great episode. It was the worst episode of the season, but not in the series. I'll probably give it a C.

[New Noise]

I missed the episode. I'm watching it today at 2.