Fillmore!

I hate detective shows, I literally can't stand watching them. But strangely, there's something cutting edge about Fillmore that drew me to watch it. It could be a number of things.

The story lines? They were amazing, especially how a case that seems so simple can have so many plot twists and turns, and so many shocking answers. Even as a teenager, I don't work out who is the culprit until they work it out! Maybe the characters? Of course the best characters are Fillmore and Ingrid, but there's other characters I love, too. Namely, of course, O'Farrell. You can't help but love him! Other factors are, of course, the brilliant voice actors, especially Tara Strong. I love the voices she makes! If I could, I'd definitely make more episodes.

Unfortunately, it's down to Disney, and therefore, we will lose yet another great show.

This show probably would be funny on it's own, but as a kid growing up in the 70s and Quinn Martin Productions, this show is hilarious. From the onslaught of punnery to the running sports team jokes (X middle school never had a basketball or football team, but I do remember them in a Bocci ball field and miniature golf tournament). It was the tongue-in- cheek detail (a papier-mache volcano in the science fair named Mt. Cliché) as well as the mock seriousness of the crime that really made the show so enjoyable. It even had a killer opening montage, closing with unmanned bikes flying over a cliff ala Mannix.

The characters are great, every fundamental of a 70x cop show was met with certain beautiful overkill, Chief (no-first-name) Vallejo, as well as the forensic and investigative members with the comic relief (a cartoon with a comic relief character) of O'Farrell. It even had mayor in the principal of X Middle School voiced by Wendy Malick. I loved her on this show, her biting, witty threats were hilarious.

If anyone ever finds out this show is being released on DVD, iTunes or Google, please let me know. Or if you can find Scott Gimple's email addy. I just want to tell him how much I enjoyed his work and how can I get it.

I've been watching this show on ABC's Saturday morning line-up, and I must say, I actually like this show. The show is about kid named Cornelius Filmore who is a hall monitor at X Middle School (quite a weird name for a school), whom along with his partner Ingrid Third prevent mischief in the hallowed halls of the school. What I like about this show is how Filmore, and Ingrid have a comissioner like boss in their hall monitor jobs, and I also love it how this show pays homage to old 1970's cop shows. I think that's pretty cool, and a great concept. Overall, I think "Fillmore!" is a great show, though I'm sure it might not be as great to some people. 10/10.

Disney have built a reputation of making good cartoons, ever since Steamboat Willy, via the Jungle Book and then to the Lion King. But it's the TV cartoon series at which they excel: Recess, Lloyd in Space, Dave the Barbarian, Kim Possible, House of Mouse...all made in recent years. Fillmore deserves to be in the same list.

As a wonderful satire on hard boiled detective series, with the "government" (in this case, the principal) constantly threatening budget cuts if crimes aren't solved, this is great fun. The interesting thing is that Fillmore takes more after Agatha Christie than Law & Order - it's a show of twists and turns, with the least obvious suspect turning out, at the very end, to be the one behind the model train crash or whatever.

Due to time constraints - 20 rather than 45 minutes, for instance - it can't go into the same detail on either the cases or the supporting detectives. But the writers do an admirable job of having an interesting support cast: Officer O'Farrell, Jr Commissioner Vallejo and Principal Folsom are all fun little sketches of characters, though Tahama and Anza are pretty much Kirk's redshirts.

As for the leads, both are perfectly usable and are given some great lines. The voice acting is excellent from everybody, and this truly deserves a long run.

As well as being notable for all of its main characters being named after names and places in California (Fillmore and Third, Folsom, Vallejo), "Fillmore!" basically takes the cop show and transfers it to school even more so than "21 Jump Street" and "The Mod Squad" did - on those shows the enforcers came in from the outside, here the school is self-enforcing, with our heroes Cornelius Fillmore and Ingrid Third as a team working as part of the Safety Patrol for X Middle School, an institution for learning that seems to be crammed full of miscreants from the evidence here, from simple bullies to forgery, robbery, etc.

Like "Police Squad!" and "Funky Squad," "Fillmore!" is in the mold of 1970s shows, here complete with a Quinn Martin-type gravel-voiced announcer ("Today's episode: 'Masterstroke Of Malevolence'! Act One: 'A Broken Masterpiece'!" For some reason the act titles appear on screen, but the overall episode titles never do...), bosses constantly leaping down our heroes' throats, and the kind of theme tune that cop shows today wouldn't go near. All of this just adds to the fun for adults watching, but "Fillmore!" doesn't go overboard with the grown-up references - it knows who its main audience is, and it hits it fair and square. It's a cliche, but this really is fun for all the family... I'm willing to bet that the movie version of "S.W.A.T." won't be half as good.

"Fillmore! I'm on it!"