Last
month, Cartoon Network premiered an eleven minute sneak preview of their new
show “Clarence”, which really in a lot of ways set the pace for the show. Surprisingly, when the show made its official
debut on April 14th, 2014, that sneak peak wasn’t replayed because
it felt like a nice introduction that if people missed before could help get
them hooked like I am. (I watched it
twice)
The
premiere of “Clarence” featured two eleven minute episodes, which I can only
assume would be numbers two and three in what would ultimately become Season
One. In the first of the two, Clarence
goes with Jeff and Sumo to a fast food place that has a name and feels like KFC
but overall the products and play area of McDonald’s or Burger King.
Jeff,
who only likes the fries, learns about germs and having fun, and while this is
a funny episode and I can understand why they did it, I’d like to discuss an
underlying theme in this episode and that is kid’s meal toys. When
ordering, Jeff is very specific about wanting the “boy toy”, only to later be
disappointed by receiving the “girl toy” of some sort of cow in a dress.
While I
understand that this was done for the reason of this is how children think and
all, perhaps we as adults need to condition our children and youths in general
to realize that there are no such things as “boy toys” and “girl toys” because
boys can play with My Little Pony or Hello Kitty just as much as girls can be
Transformers or G.I. Joe.
What is
funny though is that the scrappy, very weird Sumo (Who has Clarence cut his
hair in the preview episode) takes the unwanted toy and befriends it, while
also becoming quite sullen over leaving the restaurant and forgetting it
there. I like the fact that it doesn’t
have the innocently playful or too smart for his own good kid playing with the “girl
toy”, but rather the one who you would most likely think in society wouldn’t
want to play with it.
In the
second half of this premiere, Clarence and Amy (who is introduced for the first
time) climb a giant rock out in the woods, get into a pine cone fight with some
kids who seem like bullies, yet Clarence just seems to be too naïve to realize
they are bullies.
Oh, and
Sumo is there for some reason.
I love
the fact that Clarence eats the moss. I
have decided that I enjoy this show, as I have explained it to others, because
it has the coolness factor of “Regular Show” mixed with the offbeat comedy of “Adventure
Time” only it’s about younger kids and doesn’t take place in a magic land where
everyone is made of candy. It’s very real, but not too real as sometimes
it can be odd. Sure, life is odd at
times as well, but this goes above and beyond that a little bit for the show,
right? As the parent of a two year old,
I shouldn’t be looking forward to this show becoming my life soon… should I?
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