Chowder - "The Dinner Theater" - Talkback [6/25]

[nakak]

Premieres: June 25th at 8:00 PM Eastern
Repeats: June 26th at 3:00 PM Eastern

Writers: Kevin A. Kramer, C.H. Greenblatt, William Reiss
Directors: Eddy Houchins & Kris Sherwood

A half-hour Chowder episode premieres tonight!

During the gang's mystery-themed dinner, Chowder begins to fear that Gazpacho may hurt someone and decides to solve the mystery before it's too late.

[limel]

According to C.H. Greenblatt, this was supposed to be a "special" episode:

This week's episode was supposed to be promoted as a special, so I figure at least I could get the word out. It's a half-hour story about the catering company putting on a mystery dinner theater show. Waiting for Guffman was a big inspiration. I love that film so much, probably because I had so many crazy theater friends in high school.

This is one of those episodes where nothing actually happens. I always like those kind of stories - the much ado about nothings. They're harder to write but give you more time for little character bits; like Shntizel standing in line at a bank, or the cast from Evil Con Carne stuck in traffic on their way to a heist. I want to give a big thanks to Bill Reiss for making it turn out so well.

http://nerdarmada.blogspot.com/2009/...r-theatre.html

Count me as excited!

[MasterofRoku]

I like how 'Baron Von-Bon Bon' was talking to Chowder in the fruit stand.

[Anyone00]

"No one dies in a musical!"
"I die a little."

Best line ever.

[Freedom Fighter]

Wow.. Dana Synder's really killing me as Gazpacho this week... or should I say, Baron von Bomm Bomm! Really got into it... and poor Chowder, thinking he was dead (and so was Gazpacho and Panini). And I'm not a Chowder-Panini fan by any stretch, but wow... Chowder wanting Panini to be killed to catch Baron in the act. Harsh...

Chowder's plan in the end, though, didn't work out as planned. All sorts of oddness. He's so cute when he's so naive, though.

[mojokingbee1]

Nice concept, but too confusing and poorly executed. But it was nice seeing Gorgonzola and Cerviche again.

[metaXzero]

That was a funny episode. IMO, an improvement over the hit-or-miss quality of the last few episodes. <3 Gazpacho the most in this episode.

Ah poor Panini. This was the most insincere and cruel Chowder has ever been to Panini. Especially that plan of wanting Panini to get killed to catch Baron von Bonbon in the act.

I hope this episode got the views it deserved.

[HEATXZ]

XD very hilarious episode
I like many things from this episode mostly Gazpacho with a Ax

[The Huntsman]

Nice concept, but too confusing and poorly executed.

Sadly, I agree. There were some really funny moments, but the plot seemed to move in a rather haphazard manner. I was really looking forward to this one, too.

Ah poor Panini. This was the most insincere and cruel Chowder has ever been to Panini. Especially that plan of wanting Panini to get killed to catch Baron von Bonbon in the act.

I felt bad for her as well, especially since it got even worse for her at the end, but Panini hasn’t exactly treated Chowder appropriately in previous episodes. Panini may not be “evil”, so it’s not really karmic retribution, but having her get knocked down from time to time is a welcome change of pace.

[chdr]

Am I the only one who wasn't impressed at all with this episode?

Everything just fell flat, and Chowder felt a little too stupid this week. A shame too, because I was looking forward to this one.

Definitely one of the weakest episodes of the series in an already weak season.

[nakak]

A pretty big letdown. Like most of you, I too was looking forward to it. I know Chowder isn't exactly the smartest in the show, but yeesh. He was downright brain-damaged in this one.

There were few funny parts, though. I admit that I laughed at how Chowder was being unusually cruel to Panini, when he plotted (in FRONT of her) to have her killed just to catch the murderer in the act.

Did the voices for Miss Endive and Gorgonzola seem off in this episode?

[protege]

All i have to say is- Ceviche- is she supposed to be so bland?

[nakak]

All i have to say is- Ceviche- is she supposed to be so bland?

Ceviche is a HE.

But yeah. Even though he's always been the calmest of the kids, I was amazed at how deadpan he was.

[blazecat]

Nothing in this episode really did it for me. It was just really bland. Although I will admit that I liked seeing Gorgonzola and Ceviche again. Although I don't know why he (Ceviche) was so robotic. And also, his love for Panini is disturbing.

[Mesousa]

This episode was very, very, very funny! I pretty much laughing all over the place!

Gazpacho's Baron Von Bonbon alter-ego should at least make a cameo or something like that in a future episode.

Ceviche's deadpan-ness was also a highlight for me. Man, I wonder how his voice actor (if I'm correct, he's also a kid) would react to his own role...

And while I didn't mind Chowder's stupidity in this one, his comment about hoping Panini would die...was not cool. I mean, now he's sorta abusing her now, too.

And you know what happens when it comes for me to see characters get abused or is the abuser, right?

But, it was a great episode, nonetheless.

[Blackstar]

This episode wasn't a great one, honestly, but there were some genuinely funny moments. EX:

Chowder: Nobody dies in a musical.
Gorgonzola: I die a little.

Also, the breaking the 4th wall gags are getting a tad overdone for my tastes. I don't know how many episodes Chowder has left, but here's hoping that the writers will tone them down after this.

[Mickialla]

Am I the only one who wasn't impressed at all with this episode?

Everything just fell flat, and Chowder felt a little too stupid this week. A shame too, because I was looking forward to this one.

Definitely one of the weakest episodes of the series in an already weak season.

No, you're not the only one.

I only saw half of this episode but ummm...what to say, what to say...

I was looking forward to this episode. A half hour long, awesome. And C.H likened it to episodes like the one where Schnitzel goes to the bank, in terms of humor. But this episode was just all over the place and none of it really did anything for me. Gazpacho's usually a hit with me, but he's also become bland in his last few appearances (except last week's Gazpacho Fights Back, which I liked). Chowder's losing his cute charm since he seems to be screaming at the top of his lungs more and more frequently, which frankly gets annoying really easily. Asides from that one line with Gorgonzola about musicals, I didn't giggle a bit.

I don't know if it's because of staff changes or what, but Chowder is slowly losing his charm. I still like the show and will enjoy watching the older episodes, but I hope they can get it together. Because I am still mad that the show may be canceled, and I feel guilty when I say its losing its charm. Hopefully the next few episodes will pick it up. Otherwise, I like Flapjack now more than Chowder, despite how much I still dislike (some) of the show's designs.

[Silverstar]

After getting hyped up for "The Dinner Theater" by C.H.'s blog post, I have to say I felt a bit let down by this one.

I get that there wasn't supposed to be a real plot in this one, but the whole episode just rambled and skewed out in all directions. It was indeed about nothing, but not in a good way.

Plus, several of the characters seemed out of character: Chowder was shrill and annoyingly dim-witted here, plus Nicky Jones seemed to be shrieking 2/3 of his dialogue. It's established by now that Chowder doesn't want to be Panini's boyfriend, but he never struck me as the sort to flat-out physically abuse her. I wasn't all that amused by his treatment of Panini here. Normally I enjoy Gazpacho in anything he does, but he just didn't make me laugh here. And I don't know if Ceviche's character is supposed to be deadpan now or if his voice actor was just having an off-day, but his emotionless delivery of his lines failed to amuse.

All in all, not a very good episode. Not unwatchable, but not up to their usual standards. I have to second the notion that the recent crop of episodes have been missing something. I hope things pick up before the series gets the ax (if that indeed is going to happen).

[Daxdiv]

Eh I saw the episode, nothing really clicked with me. Like other said, deadpan Ceviche was boring, I think they might have made him more boring. With episodes like this, I can see why CH Greenblat might be worried about his series getting canceled.