Johnny Bravo originally appeared in two animated shorts created for Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons and was one of several characters to be given an ongoing series.
The first season was mostly written and animated by Partible with Butch Hartman (creator of the Farily Odd Parents) and Seth MacFarlane (creator of Family guy). However, after the first season, Cartoon Network "retooled" the series, without Partible's involvement, with new writers and new character designs.
Johnny Bravo set in the fictional Aron City, tells the story of the boorish skirt-chasing titular character constantly seaching for a woman willing to date him. Something almost always goes wrong (Johnny either ends up getting pummeled by the girl of the week, or ends up the victim of one of the show's twists, or is left in strange predicaments).
Johnny Bravo (voiced by Jeff Bennett) — Johnny has the looks of James Dean and sounds like Elvis Presley, except for having a Fonzie-like appearance. He is incredibly narcissistic and dim-witted. He is also notable for the distinctive sound effects that accopany his often blindingly quick movements (usually done while trying to impress a women) the crack of a bullwhip being the most popular.
Bunny Bravo (voiced by Brenda Vaccaro) — Johnny's mother — a rather atypical person — she seems to have a "flower power" past and sometimes reveals some surprising hidden talent or other. She's very dedicated to her son, although she's aware of his low intellect and womanizer attitude, so she sometimes doesn't treat him and his problems seriously.
Little Suzy (voiced by Mae Whitman) — a little red-haired girl (8-year-old) from the neighborhood (often called "that annoying neighbor girl" by Johnny), very cunning and talkative. She seemed to have a crush on Johnny in earlier seasons. Her parents were never showed. It was revealed in an episode about her birthday that Farrah Fawcett is her cousin.
Carl Chryniszzswics (voiced by Tom Kenny) — local genius and geek, very interested in science, but somehow weird and timid. He seems to be Johnny's only friend, although Johnny often denies that. He sometimes uses Johnny as a guinea pig for his experiments' sake. He used to bully Johnny in high school, as he was much taller than Johnny.
Pops (voiced by Larry Drake) — greedy owner of a local chili restaurant, could be considered as Johnny's substitute father. Alas, his tips and advice often turn out to be useless and provoke trouble for Johnny and the gang. Johnny's real father does not appear in the show. His chili is made from rather suspicious ingredients and he serves food made from many animals, such as opossums and pandas.
Donny Osmond (voiced by himself) — Often used as a minor, laughingly useless character in some key episodes, Donny is seen as cheery and extremely optimistic to the point of foolishness. This personality is a stark contrast to often very serious Johnny, thus causing tension between himself and Donny. In his first appearance he was Johnny's nanny.
Trivia
When Johnny enjoys something, usually something he tastes or sees, he often exclaims enjoyment by saying, "Mmm, (object)-y!" and laughs. For example, he would say "Mmm, lemony!" when tasting something with a lemon flavor. This gag started on the show Pee-wee's Playhouse and had been used on The Simpsons by Homer Simpson.
Johnny appeared in the video game Backyard Baseball 2005 on a poster advertising "Channel 12". ("Channel 12" is probably a spoof of Cartoon Network.)
When the series was retooled, the artwork style was adapted to resemble the Sam & Max underground comics of Steve Purcell.
Previously, there was some belief that the character Johnny Bravo was based on the south Australian post-modern artist Bill Page, but it has now been resolved that Bill actually re-invented his image after watching the cartoon, and then tried to claim credit for being a model for the character in a poorly thought out publicity stunt.
It is popularly believed that Johnny's name came from Greg Brady's stage name from an episode of The Brady Bunch, and it is possible that creator Van Partible was influenced by this source. However, in an interview that aired on Cartoon Network prior to the debut of Johnny Bravo as an ongoing series, Partible stated that "Johnny Bravo" was a derivation of his full given name, "Giovanni Bravissimo Partible".
In the episode "Perfect Gift", a cow kicks over a lantern, starting a fire, which is a reference to The Great Chicago Fire
In the episode "Aunt Katie's Farm," after destroying the set and ruining the show, Johnny jumps up and down and continues to yell, "Four feet good! Two feet bad!" over and over. This is an obvious reference to George Orwell's Animal Farm.
Several episodes have spoofed The Twilight Zone, including Nightmare at 20,000 feet (with a clown instead of a gremlin), It's a Good Life (where Johnny has to babysit Timmy, an all-powerful six year-old who can actually make people go to the cornfield), and Living Doll (where Little Suzie gets a homicidal doll called Little Talky Tabitha). These episodes usually begin and end with a narrative similar to that of Rod Serling's, referring to "the zone where normal things don't happen very often."
In one episode, Suzie mentions a cat that loves lasagna from a book. This is a reference to Garfield comic books. The book was also orange with black stripes, Garfield's fur pattern.
Some notable inclusions include Mark Twain and Scooby Doo and the gang. The episode with Twain was a reworking of The Prince and the Pauper and ended with Johnny, his duplicate, and Mark Twain in prison for doing another rendition of the story. In the case of the popular canine, this was in the episode "Bravo Dooby Doo," when the Scooby Doo's cast meet Johnny, with Velma briefly developing a crush on Johnny, but soon changing her mind by the episode's end; while Daphne was a bit harsh towards him, He offered Daphne a huge dinner plate in one scene and she stomped on his foot, hard. Also here have a homage paided to Velma's catchphrase, "Jinkies!", when Johnny and the gang are being chased by the evil gardner Johnny exclaims, "Jinkies," then wonders, "Jinkies, Jinkies. Hey, isn't that a breakfast cereal or something?"
In one episode of Johnny Bravo, Johnny is invited to his next door neighbour's birthday party. A part of this episode features a teenager examining the presents of guests before they are allowed into the party. In the initial airing of this episode, when one of the present is examined and suspected to be a bomb, it is quickly disposed of. When the present is revealed to have actually been a clock, the respective child refers to the teenager as "Captain Spaz", this episode was later re-aired with the line "Captain Spaz" being changed to "Captain Stupid".
The episode "Panic in Jerky Town" was a satire of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which also included a reference to the movie Soylent Green when Johnny believed Pops had been ground up into Jerky as Jerky Jake's secret ingredient, he yells "It's people! Jerky Jake's Beef Jerky is made of people!", an altered form of the famous quote from the climax of the movie.
The cartoon character is unrelated to Puerto Rican record producer and former salsa bandleader (now a Latino gospel producer) Johnny Lopez, whose alias since the mid-1960s is "Johnny El Bravo".
The titles of many Johnny Bravo episodes are send-ups of famous films and stories, such as 'Backdaft' (As opposed to Backdraft), 'A Reject Runs Through It' (A River Runs Through It) and '20 000 Leagues Over My Head' (20 000 Leagues Under The Sea). One of the more obscure ones is 'Schnook of the North' a reference to the documentary film Nanook of the North, considered by some to be the first true documentary film ever made. There is also an interestingly-titled episode called 'Auteur! Auteur!' (a possible send-up of the Al Pacino film title "Author! Author!") where Johnny Bravo directs a film. In its most simplified definition, auteur is a French term for a director who can take a script and, from that, craft a unique film through his own artistic abilities (the opposite being a hack director who takes the script and uses it like an instruction book). The joke is that in this episode, Johnny himself is the 'auteur', though it becomes quite evident that he is no artist.
In a change of character, Johhny was host of the Cartoon Network special "The Golden Anvil Awards." While Johnny is usually portrayed as a stupid, talentless, uncivilized clod in his series, Johnny was portrayed as a clever, witty and charming host. For example, after the Mayor of Townsville appeared nude onstage to accept his "Best Nude Scene" award, Johnny commented that "there's one thing he won't be able to lie about in his re-election campaign."
In the "Bravo Dooby-Doo" episode Johnny and the gang are uncovering the masks. One of them is Joe Barbera. Joe Barbera made this episode and Johnny replied "Who's that?"
Relevant quality search results and fast easy navigation throughout the
different sections of the site, make Americola.com
a great entertainment
search engine offering
celebrity biographies, high resolution
celebrity photos, videos and more.
