06.26
What kind of family has a picture of a map on their wall?
Butch Hartman has made his mark as one of Nickelodeon’s most prolific creators, having produced over 300 episodes and several made for TV movies for that network. From Fairly Odd Parents to Bunsen is a Beast, he spent two decades crafting Nickelodeon’s animated content. If it weren’t for Spongebob, he potentially could have had a monopoly on the channel unseen since the Klasky-Csupo days. But as it stands, Butch mentions in interviews that he was never given the full freedom to do what he wanted with his cartoons, getting forced to add characters or having pitches rejected. And in the end, alongside two other long-time Nick producers like Cyma Zarghami and Dan Schneider, Butch left the network for new ventures, signaling the end of an era for not just the network, but for children’s entertainment in general.
And that would be a shame if Butch was actually as good as his reputation suggests. For all his years of work, I struggle to think of a magnum opus of his like Helga on the Couch is for Hey Arnold or Bad Bad Rubber Piggy is for Invader Zim. I’ve heard people suggest FOP’s Channel Chasers or Danny Phantom’s Ultimate Enemy, but neither grab me the same way other best episodes of Nicktoons do. The best of Hartman’s output has never risen above “acceptable” or “okay”, and even that level of mediocrity faded with each year into production. The once whimsical Fairly Odd Parents became a tired shell of yelling and forced running gags, and branched out into crossovers and live-action movies even when the show’s still running. It’s like those later Flintstones or Scooby-Doo movies where Fred meets the WWE or Shaggy meets KISS, except without any of the camp or novelty value that make a cheap nostalgic cashgrab ironically entertaining.
Then of course, there’s Butch’s other famous show. Danny Phantom was never that funny, and the action was never that great. The drama and comedy never fused into anything or complimented each other, instead contradicting the other side where attempts at genuine emotion were undercut by typical wacky jokes and shots at humor were muddied by inconsistent characters and redundant fight scenes. It floundered and never knew what it wanted to be, and whenever the show was ever actually close to figuring itself out, Butch would steer it back to his simplistic Spider-Man homage with no ambition other than churning out cheaper versions of what kids could get from watching other superhero cartoons. Yeah, that JelloApocalypse video praised the show for having plot progression and changing the status quo, but did he forget all the times Danny conveniently wiped people’s memories so they wouldn’t know he’s half-ghost? In fact, I’d say anything Danny Phantom did is already done better in recent dramedy cartoons like Steven Universe and Star VS, and even those carry the previous show’s flaws like characters meant to be the voice of reason but come off as hypocritical nags or the inability to ever follow through on interesting plots in favor of catering to a silly gag.
The problem with Butch’s shows is they never went above and beyond. They always sat in their place as children’s entertainment and never tried to do anything the riskier Nick shows did. I suppose that inability to challenge the executives or break free from formulas was what let Butch create so much content for the network. He was the safe, reliable creator who never oversteps his boundaries. But submissiveness in a job where you’re meant to be creative doesn’t work if you want to actually be creative. It’s why TUFF Puppy and Bunsen is a Beast feel so samey and generic. And even though I consider shows like The Loud House to be samey and generic, that show is finding success where Butch’s recent efforts aren’t. There’s a creative stagnancy to his work, where his cutesy throwbacks to cartoons of yore have now become his crutches. Butch is playing with sticks and arrows when other storytellers in the animation field have already leaped to lasers and thermal lances. He’s in the same situation that Seth MacFarlane and the Simpsons writers are in, that he’s let his prior success stall his ability to innovate or move forward, resulting in work that would have been seen as stale 10, 20, or even 30 years ago.
And instead of noticing this, or doing anything to show that he can be his own creator outside of Nick’s claws, Butch is making his own all-ages streaming platform. One where his pitch is heavily focused on bringing the family together again and blocking kids from all of those naughty sex and violence scenes. It doesn’t seem like Butch has learned from his prior mistakes, but rather the popularity he’s gotten from his “look at this character when they’re 10 years older!” YouTube videos have led him to believe he can form his own media empire. Leaving Nickelodeon to make his own Nickelodeon, forgetting how that Noog Network thing never went anywhere. Let’s go make garden shows, fitness shows, sports, and user-submitted videos, because it’s not like people can’t already do these through YouTube. But remember, keep it clean! Because after seeing the Danny Phantom fans get mad that season 3 wasn’t as dark as season 2, the TUFF Puppy fans draw rule 34 of Kitty Katswell, and the Fairly Odd Parents fans coming up with creepypasta, Butch came to the conclusion that his fans want a network that makes PBS children’s shows look edgy.
But that’s not to say Butch Hartman is completely out of his element these days. I fully respect and appreciate how outspoken he’s been in his YouTube videos and his Speech Bubble podcast. It’s cool that he’s been connecting with his fans and opening up about his history in the animation business. And anyone who can make all these cartoons and still want to make a network to go along with it? That takes heart. But I wish he would recognize that storytelling and comedy in cartoons are in a far different place than they were in the start of his career. You can’t keep telling the same old jokes for decades. Even when you’re a creator of masterpiece after masterpiece, you need to re-invent and freshen up your writing on a consistent basis to keep being a master of the craft. But who knows? Maybe he’ll actually do this with Elf Detective.