JBVO: Your All Request Cartoon Show (originally titled WBVO: Your All Request Cartoon Show in the pilot) was a Sunday night programming block on Cartoon Network, acting as a spin-off of Johnny Bravo. The block began on April 2, 2000, and presumably ended on August 26, 2001. The block consisted of Johnny hosting his own talk show where he would answer real phone calls, e-mails, and letters from fans. These would include a request to play a cartoon, usually a specific Cartoon Cartoon or one from the Warner Brothers catalogue such as Looney Tunes. Much like the original Johnny Bravo series, Johnny is voiced by Jeff Bennett. He is joined by the off-screen voice of producer Craig Gordon.
On the Cartoon Network website, there was a JBVO page where viewers could vote in a weekly poll (the "JBVPoll"), request a cartoon via "e-mail", watch a cartoon clip, or sign up for Johnny Mail, a newsletter sent by real e-mail.[1] The poll was updated through 2001, but the options to request online or sign up for the newsletter appear to have been removed by that time.[2] Before the website got a new look in 2002, the JBVO page was replaced by an error message.[3]
JBVO occasionally had other Cartoon Network characters co-hosting with Johnny, such as Scooby-Doo or Chicken from Cow and Chicken, or a call from a notable real-life guest star. There were also a few short segments during the show, such as one named "Bravo's Gallery of Fine, Fine Art," which showcased art of Johnny sent in by fans. JBVO is sometimes compared to a previous, failed block on the network, hosted by a CGI-animated dog character, entitled The Moxy Show.
On December 9-10, 2000, there was an event named the JBVO Weekend, which contained a marathon of the show starting at noon on both days. During this event, Johnny opened the hotline for fans to vote for their six favorite cartoon movies to be aired that Sunday, leading up to a new hour-long JBVO special. There was also a "JBVO Weekend Crawl" to sign up for online, where fans could enter in their names and random phrases to see on TV. The guest caller during the event was former NBA all-star Grant Hill on Saturday. Shaggy Rogers and Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory made guest appearances during the one-hour special. A sweepstakes was also held where kids could enter to win a Hot Wheels Tornado Twister Track Set or a Jewel Girl Barbie doll.
JBVO originally had an 8:00 PM timeslot on the network, which was moved to 7:30 PM, and eventually moved even earlier to 6:30 PM. On certain Sundays, a rerun of the show would air instead of any new segments.
History[]
A pilot episode for JBVO, then titled "WBVO," aired in the US on December 27, 1999, months after the Johnny Bravo series' second season had begun airing. Aside from the title, the main difference between the pilot and the series that followed was that Johnny had a live-action woman co-host.
JBVO was the first and only known block with a talk show format to be hosted by Johnny in the United States. In the United Kingdom, there was a block entitled Bravo Bravo circa early 1999 which used a morning talk show concept. In 2000, there was a week long event where Johnny "hosted" Cartoon Network live in the UK from February 21-25, two months before JBVO officially premiered in the US.[4][5] This event was called The Big Bravo-Live!, as it was based on another successful block Johnny hosted in late 1999 by the same name. It is unknown what the event looked like, but it was animated live using Alive Productions' ("Alive Animation's") Multi-Standard Instant Cartoon Images (MICI) system, unlike JBVO's use of FilmBox On Air, with the option to call.
While JBVO saw no other iterations in the United States, it and/or The Big Bravo-Live! led to future European blocks in the same format, such as Toon:FM, which reused animation assets and included Brak from Space Ghost Coast to Coast as a co-host, Viva Las Bravo, and Big Bravo Breakfast. This was also likely due to the popularity of the Johnny Bravo series outside of the US, as evidenced by the Date-O-Rama video game and both versions of Johnny Bravo Goes To Bollywood.
In recent years, JBVO and the international blocks surrounding it have been deemed "lost media", as there is a severe lack of information on most of the episodes or the blocks themselves, nor have they been properly released to the public since their airing. In most known European blocks in English that resemble JBVO, Johnny is voiced by his UK voice actor, Marc Silk.
Production[]
JBVO was animated using a beta version of Kaydara's FilmBox On-Air software. A selection of animation clips were sequenced together and triggered by an operator based on the conversations Johnny was having with live callers. The 2D-animated sequences used for Johnny were traditionally hand-drawn by artists on hundreds of cels, which had been digitally scanned and ported into the program. To cover basic speech sounds, a full range of mouth formation images were created digitally. Using the On-Air's Voice Reality real-time lip-sync technology, these images were triggered in the correct order when the speech of an actor playing Johnny, such as Jeff Bennett, was recognized.[6]
Trivia[]
- Some, if not all callers were mailed a studio VHS tape copy of the segment in which their request was featured in.
- A girl named Allyson who requested the Powerpuff Girls episode "Buttercrush," allegedly the show's first caller ever, received a letter with a photograph of Johnny attached.[7]
- A caller named Jennifer once requested an episode of Dragon Ball Z, which was too long for airtime, causing Johnny to improvise by fast-forwarding the footage and commenting over it.
- There are three or more JBVO commercials promoting different aspects of Cartoon Orbit, such as cZones, being an Orbiter (trading with others), and cToons.
- According to the TV guide column in an Oregon newspaper, JBVO was still airing as late as August 2001.[8]
- The JBVO Cartoon Orbit commercials were still airing on the network into October of that year.
- On the What's In My Head Podcast, Johnny Bravo creator Van Partible revealed that a producer at Cartoon Network had once asked him what his thoughts on the spin-off were and what he would have done with it, as he was not involved with its production. This was before Partible pitched "A Johnny Bravo Christmas," which premiered in December 2001.
- There was a 'JBVO: Your All Request Cartoon Show' trademark filed for use on paper and printed goods on April 12, 2000. This trademark was extended through 2002, but abandoned in June 2003.[9]
- There was also a version filed for clothing use. 'JBVO' was once used in the URL for the Johnny Bravo section of the online Cartoon Network Shop, however no merchandise made for the spin-off itself is known to exist. This trademark was also abandoned in June 2003.[10]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ "Cartoon Network: JBVO". Archived from the original on May 10, 2000. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
- ↑ "Cartoon Network: JBVO". Archived from the original on March 8, 2001. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ↑ "Cartoon Network: JBVO". Archived from the original on December 18, 2001. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ↑ DeMott, Rick (February 15, 2000). "Johnny Bravo Live On Cartoon Network". Animation World Network. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
- ↑ Banner Ads Advertising The Big Bravo-Live!. Geocities.com. Archived from the original on December 12, 2002. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
- ↑ Moltenbrey, Karen (August 2000). "Cartoon Jockey", Computer Graphics World. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
- ↑ Cartoon Network's Fridays: The Fansite - JBVO. ToonZone.net. Archived from the original on June 12, 2004. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
- ↑ Statesman Journal from Salem, Oregon. August 19, 2001. Newspapers.com. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
- ↑ "JBVO: Your All Request Cartoon Show" Paper Goods Trademark. Justia.com. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
- ↑ 'JBVO: Your All Request Cartoon Show' Clothing Trademark. Justia.com. Retrieved April 19, 2021.