Johnny Bravo (series)/Season 4

The fourth and final season of Johnny Bravo premiered on February 20th, 2004, during Cartoon Network's Fridays block. The season ended on August 27th, 2004.

Previous:Third Season

History

In December 2001, a holiday special based on the first season (written and directed by creator Van Partible) was aired, titled "A Johnny Bravo Christmas". A second special, "It's Valentine's Day Johnny Bravo", was produced and aired in February 2003. 

During that year, the series had been renewed for a fourth season, this time with Partible back at the helm. He wanted to bring the series back to its Season 1 roots, albeit with a (mostly) new crew. It was also given an updated time format, with each episode now consisting of two 11-minute segments (which was done once before with "The Sensitive Male!" and "Bravo Dooby-Doo") with no transition gag in-between. A new, flashier intro was made, though the original end card and credits returned. Unlike the seasons before it, episode title cards were no longer used. Despite Partible's avid dislike for the previous two seasons, he and the crew tried to mesh the seasons together for continuity purposes. Due to this, the characters of Carl Chryniszzswics and Pops were included, albeit retooled to flatter, minor roles and cameo appearances.

Partible and crew redesigned and reworked Johnny's world entirely for the holiday specials and then again for Season 4, making it more polished, while also attempting to visually mesh the two continuities together through designs (ie. Suzy's redesign is a mix of her original design and her Gary Hartle design) and the look of Johnny's home.

This season also had a much larger focus on Hanna-Barbera crossover gags (including a full episode with The Flintstones) and real-life guest stars, with appearances from celebrities such as Mr. T, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Don Knotts, Shaquille O'Neal, Richard Simmons, along with returning stars Donny Osmond and Adam West. Adult humor was phased out almost entirely, focusing more on pop-culture references and talking animal humor, both of which were present in the first season.

Despite the initial hype surrounding Van's return to the series, Season 4 received backlash and mixed reviews from both avid fans of the first season and fans of the previous retool, as both sides felt alienated and displeased with the changes. By the time it had begun airing in 2004, most fan-sites were still abandoned, likely due to the long wait between the specials and the season. The most common criticism regarded the over-saturation of guest stars (that could further date the show), the longer 11-minute run-time of each episode causing problems with pacing, and the changes in writing that contributed to (what was viewed as) much weaker humor than the previous seasons. This season is usually regarded by fans as the worst season of the show.

The season also had two 22-minute long episodes, "Johnny Bravo Goes To Hollywood", the premiere, and "Home Alone". Much like the holiday specials, certain stories go for a more emotional or heartwarming approach, such as the ending of "Gray Matters" and the plot of "The Time Of My Life", in which Johnny is given a high school backstory for his muscles. This was the final season, and no new Johnny Bravo cartoons would be produced until 2009 and 2011, with the short and made-for-TV film "Johnny Bravo Goes to Bollywood".

Episodes

This is a list of shorts (or segments) in Season 4:

1. Johnny Bravo Goes To Hollywood
2. Traffic Troubles
3. My Funny Looking Friend
4. Win An El Toro Guapo
5. Witch-ay Woman
6. Home Alone
7. Mini JB
8. Back From The Future
9. That's Entertainment!
10. Non, Oui, Oui Pour Johnny
11. Get Shovelized
12. T Is For Trouble
13. Gray Matters
14. Double Vision
15. It's A Magical Life
16. The Hunk At The End Of This Cartoon
17. The Time Of My Life
18. Run Johnny Run
19. Wilderness Protection Program
20. A Page Right Out Of History
21. Some Walk By Night
22. Adam West's Date-O-Rama
23. Johnny Makeover
24. Back On Shaq

Trivia

• Similarly to the first season, there are a few religious references. Excluding the specials, the most notable instance during this season is Johnny being referred to as "God's gift to women" in "Gray Matters".