Fanboy & Chum Chum

Wow...this is one of the worst shows ever on Nick. Nick has had many bad show recently. Including Zoey 101, Back at the Barnyard, Yakity Yak, Mighty B!, the new episodes of Spongebob (the old episodes are good), Victorious, and so forth. At the time, I thought the worst show on Nick was the Naked Brothers Band. But now, there's this show.

When I saw a preview for this show, I honestly thought "Is this a joke? Would people REALLY be stupid enough to make this show?". Then I saw the first episode. As I predicted, it was horrible. I thought "Wow. This will never catch on. Never." Well, so far, its almost completed it's first season, which blows my mind.

The show is about these two boys named Fanboy and Chum-chum. They wear superhero outfits, with their underwear above their costumes. In their pastimes, they like to make fart jokes, damage peoples properties, make more fart jokes, make weird mutated monsters, make MORE fart jokes, and did I mention THEY MAKE FART JOKES?????? Thats literally all they do! 95% of these jokes are about poop, farts, butts, pee, toilets, and so forth! Arrgghh! Well, let me tell more about this terrible show! Lets start with the theme song. It's probably the only good thing about the show. While not good at all, it's pretty catchy. There seems to be a lot of bad shows with catchy themes (Power Rangers, Pokemon, Yakity Yak, My Friend is a Squirell, etc.).

Then...the animation. While bright and colorful, it's painful to look at. I don't know how to describe it, but its awkward to look at...maybe it's because all the characters are poorly designed and are ugly. I don't know.

Speaking of characters, they suck. ALL of them. Like I said, everyone is ugly and unappealing. Everyone looks like they belong in a mental hospital! They all act like that too! There's a character named Boog (great name huh?) who's body shape is a hot dog. There's another person named Yo, who is the love interest. Usually, the love interest in a movie\show is either sexy, has a great personality, or both. Well, this character has NEITHER of that. She looks like the little girl from Orphan (2009) if she turned into a hippie. All this character does is stalk the two boys and says "Yer sooooooooooo coot! I wanna hugg yoo!" OVER AND OVER again.

Like I said above, the jokes are putrid. 95% of these jokes are about poop, farts, butts, pee, toilets, boogers, etc. Like heres a joke from the first episode. "I fart bubbles! Tee-hee!" or "Your the best poop ever!" C'mon! Who wrote these jokes, toddlers? Who finds this funny?

And finally, the episodes. Wow....I might puke! But whatever. The first the episode is about this evil janitor named Mr. Poopy. ENOUGH WITH THE POTTY JOKES!!! Anyways, Mr. Poopy is basically a rip-off of The Emperer from Star Wars. I would call him a spoof, but he is just WAAY to similar. Another episode rips-off a movie. What movie do you think it is? Its gotta be a well known movie right? Wrong! They rip-off The Mist (2007)! That isn't even a classic film (yet). What kid has heard of The Mist? Who would spoof an R-rated guts-and-gore horror film thats barely 3 years old? Another episode does a joke on Maximum Overdrive (1986). Again, what kid has heard of this film? Its might be more violent than The Mist! What were the writers of this show thinking? Were they high?

There have been many horrible shows in the world. But this might take the cake. This show is....horibblufuckis! I babysit many kids, at least 25. NONE of them like this show I swear. Everyone I know absolutely hates this show. We can all prayer that this show gets canceled before it can insult are intelligence much longer.

1/10. Dreadful show. DREADFUL!

Okay, I will start off saying that I am a fifteen year old girl who generally enjoys cartoons that are aimed at younger audiences. For example Spongebob Squarepants, Fairly odd parents and so on... I am usually very open minded about kids shows as they have a certain extent of 'immature' humour. But this show just take immature to a whole new level. First off, the animation is crap, it's bright and I just think generally painful to look at. The theme song...well 'nuff said. The characters are stupid and annoying. The humour is mainly 'pee pee' and toilet jokes which I believe is VERY unoriginal and just overall pants. I wouldn't suggest anyone over the age of four to watch this- it's just terrible. It's one of those kind of shows where you can feel your IQ dropping as you watch it. Definitely a no-go.

It's fun, it reminds me of my childhood, it's for kids so everyone needs to chill. I LOVE it. 10/10. should be on netflix.

Synopsis: Adults are probably gonna hate it. Children will probably like it, but they don't know why...and that's not a good thing.

Let's start with the theme song. The theme song is 35 seconds, with 5 seconds for the word "Brainfreeze", and 10 seconds dedicated to gibberish. The song, which features a mind-boggling 240 WPM (Seriously. I did the math.), is filled with phrases like "Look at our underwear!", and describes the main characters as "coo-coo and crazy". What's wrong here? First of all, coo-coo and crazy is an understatement, and lastly, normal speaking and listening pretty much has a range between 100 and 175 WPM, with 150 WPM being the ideal range that people feel comfortable. 180 WPM is where people start getting annoyed, complaining that they are being spoken to too fast. This begs the question, why are cartoons today so fast-spoken and hyperactive? However, the theme song is able to be comprehended...if you pause it every four seconds. Sadly, it's not even worth trying to comprehend.

Fanboy and Chum Chum (Chum Chum is voiced by Nika Futterman. Her credits include similar short-lived cartoons and "Give it to me, baby!" in the song "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)") are two very "special" boys. Fanboy wears a purple mask, gloves and cape, with a green leotard that he wears his underwear over. Chum Chum wears goggles and black gloves, and wears his underwear in the same fashion. They are also in terrible need of an orthodontist and an eye surgeon, as Fanboy has large buckteeth, and Chum Chum has teeth that resembles New York City's skyline. They also seem to have lazy eye in an effort to enhance their "zanyness". Kyle (voiced by Jamie Kennedy, who's previous work is far from children's shows) has already received orthodontic treatment, and seems to be a legit wizard. If you haven't found enough causes for concern about this show in this article so far...keep reading.

They are taught in school by Mr. Mufflin, who is a boring adult, fueling the flames of stereotype that cartoons seem to be so ready to provide children about their elders. Mr. Mufflin is annoyed by the boys (and rightfully so...but these clowns are the protagonists, so the kids probably find the teacher to be an antagonist...oh well...), lets us know that the boys have been held back a grade, and will likely be held back another. This comment is sparked by their disinterest in school, instead being more focused on what flavor of grape juice goes best with their lunch. Their hyperactivity is showcased as they flail their hands in the air and shouted constantly to get the teacher's attention for an insignificant matter. Only 2 minutes of the show has passed, and I'm already praying my son doesn't imitate this show.

So we already know the two "heroes" are stupid, hyperactive, and have zero attention span. Then the antagonist shows up: Kyle, a boy wizard. He despises Fanboy and Chum Chum, probably due to their obsession with his powers. In order to try to gain Kyle's respect, they attempt to convince him that they are wizards, also. Failing to dupe Kyle with simple street magic, Fanboy asks Kyle to pull his finger. Kyle refuses, and Fanboy graphically farts in Kyle's face, calling it "magic".

Let's talk about the music score. The music score makes "Tom & Jerry" scores look like John Williams Oscar-Winners. The music score is unimaginative, featuring simpleton accordion melodies for the annoying moments, and pseudo-superhero motifs for the hyperactive moments. Basically, the music is just as likely to knock off a few IQ points as the show itself is. It ain't no "Wonder Pets", let's just say that.

In the "Trading Day" (possibly an outdated "Training Day" reference, meaning it took a long time for this show to be green-lit out of desperation) episode, we meet the equally hyperactive girl, Yo. Time for an outdated reference. She is obsessed with digital pets (a fad that was born in the 90's, and pretty much died there) and Chum Chum. She wants to "own" him so he can fulfill her playground agenda. The kids are revealed to be slaves of commercialism, with every kid buying a toy robot soon after the ad airs. Fanboy imagines owning the toy, which reveals that Fanboy's favorite lunch is a jar of mayonnaise. Yuck. Fanboy fails to buy the toy, becoming the uncool kid in class (as if his hyperactive superhero gig wasn't enough). So, Fanboy makes a deal with Yo, and trades Chum Chum for the toy. Now we are teaching kids that friends and other kids are property? Oh, boy…

Fanboy starts to play with the robot, who is designed to do nearly anything you tell it to do, and never runs out of resources to fulfill these orders. Weird. Yo, meanwhile, is making Chum Chum carry her on his back and run like a pony. Fanboy begins to realize that he made a bad trade. Out of frustration, he tells the robot to "suck an egg" (my kid had better never say that), and the robot grabs a chicken out of thin air and sucks an egg out of it. That was the last straw for me. Some events ensue that destroys the robot, and Yo, who has since placed Chum Chum into a large glass dome to keep him as a human Tamagotchi pet, tells Fanboy that since her robot is broken, he has nothing to trade, therefore making Chum Chum hers (since Chum Chum is still apparently property). Fanboy pleas, and before you know it, they are both seen inside the glass dome, acting out for Yo's amusement.

What can children learn from this show? Well...nothing you want them to. I can tell you I'm sure of that. This show earns an "F", and will probably join the long, long list of cartoons from the 2000's that didn't make it 3 seasons.

I love animation and I love Nickelodean, but I loathe Fanboy and Chum Chum. For me, while not quite as awful as ChalkZone, Fanboy and Chum Chum is a terrible show with next to no redeeming elements and one of the few Nickelodean let alone animated shows I cannot tolerate.

Why is that so? Well here are some of my reasons:

Fanboy and Chum Chum does have a pretty thin premise. It is about two boys in superhero clothes with their underwear on top who just cause mayhem, or so it seems. I was hoping the story lines would make the most of this thin premise but they don't.

Instead, they are incredibly repetitive and predictable, with situations that are unoriginal and repeated seemingly over and over or to the extent that you can actually smell what's happening next. This is certainly not helped by the terrible humour or the uneven pacing.

The humour is quite frankly terrible. The bathroom humour is really overused, and I think it will go over children's heads as it did with mine. The writing doesn't fare much better either, it is very simplistic and childish rather than funny and smart. It is enough to make you snort in contempt or roll your eyes in disbelief.

The pacing is very uneven too. Although the episodes are quite short in length, every episode feels rushed or draggy.

That's not all that's wrong with Fanboy and Chum Chum. The animation is not great at all. Sure it is bright and plentiful in the colours, but if only everything else wasn't so awkward. The backgrounds can be static and the character designs are painfully forced. If you see Chum Chum's facial expressions or Fanboy's over-sized teeth just to name a few, you'll get the picture.

I also dislike the music. The incidental music is very bland and forgettable, but even worse is the theme song. It isn't just forgettable, it is too short and rushed, with lyrics that are pretty impossible to decipher or sing along to.

Even worse than that are the characters. All of them range from insufferably annoying like the two leads to dull like their teacher. And the voice acting is nothing to rave about either, shame because there are some talented voice actors there.

Overall, just awful and not recommended and this is coming from someone who considers animated films and shows some of her favourites. If I were in a harsh mood, I would give Fanboy and Chum Chum a minus rating. However, if I were in a good mood and feeling generous I'd give it a 1/10. Bethany Cox.