Misplaced Pages

Jimmy Two-Shoes
Genre	Slapstick Comedy Animated sitcom Surreal humor Urban fantasy Black comedy
Created by	Edward Kay Sean Scott
Developed by	Alex Galatis Kevin Gillis Mark Evastaff
Directed by	Kyle Marshall Sean Scott
Voices of	Cory Doran Brian Froud Tabitha St. Germain Sean Cullen Dwayne Hill
Opening theme	"Jimmy Gets Around" (1º season) "Jimmy's Gonna Be Your Best Friend" (2º season)
Composers	Jack Lenz (S1) Kevin Gillis (S1) Asher Lenz (S2) Stephen Skratt (S2) Lenz Entertainment (S2)
Country of origin	Canada
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	52 (104 segments)
Production
Executive producers	Joan Lambur (S2) Ira Levy Peter Williamson Kevin Gillis (S1) Marc Buhaj (S1) Daniel Wineman (S1)
Producers	Kevin Gillis (S1) Mark Evastaff (S2)
Editor	John McKinnon
Running time	22 minutes
Production company	Breakthrough Entertainment
Original release
Network	Teletoon (Canada) Disney XD (United States)
Release	February 13, 2009 (2009-02-13) – July 15, 2011 (2011-07-15)

Jimmy Two-Shoes (also known as JTS; or as Jimmy Cool in most parts of Europe, Asia, and Israel) is a Canadian animated children's television series created by Edward Kay and Sean Scott. It was produced by Breakthrough Entertainment and animated by Mercury Filmworks and Elliott Animation. It aired on Disney XD in the United States, Teletoon in Canada, Jetix (later Disney Channel or also Disney XD) in Eurasia. The series centers on the exploits of the happy-go-lucky title character, who lives in Miseryville, a miserable town filled with monsters and demon-like creatures.

The series originally premiered in the United States on February 13, 2009, and in Canada on March 21, 2009. The final episode aired on July 15, 2011 in the United States, and April 5, 2012 in Canada, with reruns continuing until December 2017.

Premise

The series follows the adventures of Jimmy, a happy-go-lucky boy who makes it his mission to find fun everywhere he goes. This is a challenge because Jimmy lives in Miseryville, the unhappiest town around, run by the megalomaniacal Lucius Heinous the Seventh. Miseryville has one main industry: Misery Inc., purveyors of putrid products guaranteed to cause grief; and they do not come with a money-back guarantee. Along with his best friends Heloise (part-time genius, full-time soul-crusher who is secretly in love with Jimmy) and Beezy (adventure lover, couch potato, and Jimmy's definitive best friend), Jimmy is determined to surf past all obstacles and bring his infectious enthusiasm to the whole town.

Characters

Some of the key characters from the show are:

Main characters

• Jimmy Two-Shoes: The protagonist of the series, Jimmy is a 14-year-old boy known for his boundless optimism and thrill-seeking nature. He is determined to spread happiness in Miseryville, often clashing with its ruler, Lucius Heinous VII.
• Beezy J. Heinous: Jimmy's best friend and the son of Lucius Heinous VII. Beezy is characterized by his laziness and self-centeredness but remains loyal to Jimmy.
• Heloise: Another close friend of Jimmy, Heloise is a brilliant inventor with a sadistic side. She harbors a secret crush on Jimmy and often expresses her feelings through her actions.

Supporting characters

• Lucius Heinous VII: The ruler of Miseryville, Lucius is often at odds with Jimmy due to his attempts to bring joy to the town. Lucius is bitter and prefers to keep Miseryville as it is.

Locations

• Miseryville - The town under the control of Lucius Heinous VII; its purpose is to sustain the lowest quality of life possible. The planet Miseryville is on (and Miseryville may be the entire planet) is shaped like the Miseryville logo, and has a red sky and three suns. Its inhabitants mostly consist of monsters and other demon-like creatures, except for Jimmy and Heloise, who appear to be the only humans to inhabit it. Lucius' factory overshadows the town, and beyond that, it is surrounded by all sorts tall mountains, grassy meadows, forests, and volcanoes. It seems as though all of the lakes and other places that should normally contain water contain lava instead, but the characters can swim in them without burning up (usually). Although it is stated that it has never snowed in Miseryville, "Invasion of the Weavils" shows Jimmy going to two places that have snow and ice. There are screens and cameras that Lucius (and occasionally Samy or Heloise) use to communicate to Miseryvillians all over town, some hidden in the most unlikely places, such as cakes and trees. The quality of the town seems to fluctuate depending on the story: some episodes depict it as a terrible place to live populated near-exclusively by aggressive demons and monsters who desire nothing other than inflicting torment upon those around them and ruled by Lucius with a tyrannical iron-fist, while others portray it as a fairly decent residence, mainly due to Jimmy's contagious optimism and Lucius' incompetence at running the town. Nevertheless, it does have various fun places like theaters, swimming pools, beaches, etc. (although they all seem to have some horrible twist). "Scent of a Heinous" notably depicts a school during an ad for Heinous Perfume, complete with buses, searchlights, chain gates, lockers, and a total of three schoolgirls. There are strong implications throughout the series that Miseryville is (or is located in) Hell, such as the demonic population, copious amounts of heat and lava, the usage of misery as a euphemism for eternal damnation, the title of "A Cold Day in Miseryville" being a version of the expression "A cold day in hell", and Lucius' (the ruler of the location) name being a pun on Lucifer, aka Satan.
• Misery Inc. - A huge factory run by Lucius, which resembles a large face. The workers in the factory make various products intended to make people miserable. Anyone working for his company gets no vacations besides a one-week vacation that applies to everyone in Miseryville, sick days, bathroom breaks, pay, or general benefits from the occupation, and the longest they can get to rest is five seconds. The factory is destroyed in many episodes (usually because of Jimmy, at least in part). Heloise has a laboratory there, Lucius has an office where he predominantly dwells, there is a huge "conference room", and TVs and cameras everywhere.
• Clownburg - A section of Miseryville where the Rodeo Clowns live.
• The Abyss of Nothingness - Seen in a few episodes, it is said to be a vast black hole filled with misery and despair from which no one can escape (although almost everyone who has been thrown into it appears perfectly fine in later episodes with no explanation as to how they got out). Lucius tries to use it to get rid of Jimmy and Heloise. In "Happy Birthday, Lucius", it is renamed "The Birthday Abyss of Nothingness" and has a party hat floating over the top. In "The Racing Bug", Jimmy and Beezy run into it only to reappear only seconds later with Beezy wearing a parka and Jimmy wearing traditional Mexican clothing.
• Jimmy's House - In-between Beezy and Heloise's houses, Jimmy's is a simple white house with a red roof, two windows, and a light red door. Their houses are separated by hedges (Jimmy and Beezy can be seen playing games such as "Ultra Target" around it, a game where one player catapults another towards a giant circular board with different colored squares on it. Different "bonus points" are given depending on the day of the week). When chained to the side of the house, Cerbee will sometimes drag Jimmy's house away, usually bringing it back after a few days. Jimmy's bedroom, shown in a few scenes, is extremely large.
• Beezy's House - Extremely similar to his father's house in appearance, yet usually shown to consist of a big, uncouth pile of junk and unassorted items inside (so much so that in "Bus Driving BFF", Chuck describes it as the darkest and most disgusting place in Miseryville), Beezy's house sports a skull-like appearance, horns and two windows that resemble eyes on its gray surface. "Ghost Smackers" shows that a ghost made up of rejected pizza crusts that Beezy never ate also lives there until Beezy ate him. In "The Butley Did It", Lucius hires a butler named "Butley" to clean it. After doing so, many different treasures are uncovered, such as a skateboard half-pipe and a coffee table. It is also shown that there is a cannon in his house, as he fires himself out of it in one episode.
• Heloise's House - Heloise's house is a tall, blue building. It is filled with traps and gadgets that are usually triggered by Jimmy and/or Beezy when they pay her a visit. Despite the assortment of death-traps, her house appears to be a normal on the inside. The living room is very large with a fireplace and a couch. It hoards a secret shrine dedicated to Jimmy that can be accessed through a bookcase (or fireplace as of "Pet Rocky"). Contrary to her personality, there are many stereotypically girly things inside her domicile, such as a pink computer and other various decorations. The backyard is filled with tombstones, and contains a barbecue, which she uses quite often.
• Miseryville Beach - A beach beside an ocean of lava. Most people don't swim in it because it's filled with sea monsters, and under the sand reside lava worms that eat the citizens.
• The Chocolate Lake - A lake of chocolate hidden under Misery Inc. that appears in "There Will Be Chocolate". Lucius has forbidden anyone to even touch it, but Jimmy, Beezy, and Heloise stumble upon it and end up using the substance for everything.
• Miseryville Golf Course - A mini-golf course that was built on a volcano.
• Misery Island - A popular vacation spot that is only visited during Spring Break. It has two sides; one pleasant and nice, the other evil and deadly.

Production

According to Edward Kay, a 6-minute not-for-air demo was funded by one of the investors with the intention that the series would be a black comedy for an older youth audience. The original concept for Jimmy Two-Shoes has the location taking place in Hell, where Jimmy is accidentally sent after his untimely death. Several characters from this initial pitch have similar appearances yet different, darker attributes from their finalized television counterparts. The concept was later re-worked and revamped with many of the mature elements removed as it was considered too "edgy" for a 6-11 market.

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2009)

Season 2 (2010–11)

Broadcast

Jimmy Two-Shoes was broadcast in Canada on Teletoon in the English, and French-language channels, in the latter case under the name of Jimmy l'Intrépide. In the United States, it aired on Disney XD, premiering on February 13, 2009. The show began broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland on April 18, 2009, on Jetix, in pair with the show's premiere in the rest of Europe on the same channel. In most of Europe, the series was called Jimmy Cool and it aired mainly on Jetix, Disney Channel, and Disney XD; in Italy, Jimmy Jimmy, and in France it is Jimmy l'Éclate. The New Zealand premiere was in 2010 on TVNZ. The show aired in Southeast Asia on Cartoon Network and Latin America on Nickelodeon starting in 2009. A DVD of the series was released on May 28, 2013.

Reception

Common Sense Media described the series as "(a) jumbled stew of violent humor, overly arch wit, and broad jokes that may not be tough for kids to grasp (but may be too silly for grown-ups)", and said that it's best for teens and young adults who still have a juvenile sensibility.

Awards

Jimmy Two-Shoes won the award for the best animated television program for children for the episode "Toast Busters/Beezy 2.0" at the Awards of Excellence 2013. The series was also nominated for 2 awards for best-animated series or program and best performance in an animated series or program at the 2011 Gemini Awards, but lost to Hot Wheels Battle Force 5.

References

1. ^ "Disney TV | Disney Italia". Disney TV Italia.
2. ^ "Awards of Excellence 2013 – The Youth Media Alliance". Youth Media Alliance. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
3. ^ Jimmy Two-Shoes - IMDb, retrieved 2022-09-07
4. ^ "Jimmy Two Shoes - Volume 1". Amazon. 28 May 2013.
5. ^ "Jimmy Two Shoes TV Review | Common Sense Media". www.commonsensemedia.org. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
6. "Jimmy Two-Shoes (lost test pilot of Canadian children's animated TV series; 2006) - The Lost Media Wiki". The Lost Media Wiki.
7. "Jetix UK Promos". www.parkproductions.co.uk.
8. "Disney Channel | Actualités des Chaînes et Séries Disney". Disney TV FR.
9. "26th Annual Gemini Awards 2011". Tribute. Archived from the original on 2022-02-26. Retrieved 2022-09-26.

Notes

1. This episode did not air in the United States, due to its use of toilet humor.

External links

• Full credits for "Jimmy Two Shoes"
• Jimmy Two-Shoes at IMDb
• Jimmy Two-Shoes at epguides.com

• 2000s Canadian animated television series
• 2000s Canadian children's television series
• 2009 animated television series debuts
• 2009 Canadian television series debuts
• 2010s Canadian animated television series
• 2010s Canadian children's television series
• 2011 Canadian television series endings
• Canadian children's animated action television series
• Canadian children's animated adventure television series
• Canadian children's animated comedy television series
• Canadian children's animated fantasy television series
• Canadian flash animated television series
• Disney XD original programming
• Canadian English-language television shows
• Jetix original programming
• Canadian teen animated television series
• Teletoon original programming
• Television series by 9 Story Media Group