| Revision as of 18:58, 14 January 2010 editAmaury (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers98,253 editsm →Season 1: May 1st, 2008 - July 3rd, 2008: Removing redundancy.← Previous edit | Revision as of 19:14, 14 January 2010 edit undoAmaury (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers98,253 editsm Typo.Next edit → | ||
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| Cruikshank introduced the Fred Figglehorn character in videos on the JKL Productions channel he started on YouTube with his cousins, Jon and Katie. He set up the Fred channel in October 2005. By April 2009, the channel had over 1,000,000 subscribers, making it the first YouTube channel to hit one million subscribers and the most subscribed channel at the time.<ref name=BatchBuzz>{{cite web |url=http://www.batchbuzz.com/detailedStoryDefault.php?id=751 |title=BB Suggests: The Best of Web TV |author=Editorial Team |date=2008-11-13|accessdate=2009-11-16}}</ref> However, on August 20, 2009, YouTube celebrities Ryan Higa and Sean Fujiyoshi and their channel, ], overtook the Fred channel as the most subscribed channel of all time.<ref> vs. shortly after 6pm EST, August 20, 2009. As of October 27, 2009, Fred was not on the top 100, bumping everyone from 3rd and beyond up a spot, and as of October 30, 2009 he came back.</ref> | Cruikshank introduced the Fred Figglehorn character in videos on the JKL Productions channel he started on YouTube with his cousins, Jon and Katie. He set up the Fred channel in October 2005. By April 2009, the channel had over 1,000,000 subscribers, making it the first YouTube channel to hit one million subscribers and the most subscribed channel at the time.<ref name=BatchBuzz>{{cite web |url=http://www.batchbuzz.com/detailedStoryDefault.php?id=751 |title=BB Suggests: The Best of Web TV |author=Editorial Team |date=2008-11-13|accessdate=2009-11-16}}</ref> However, on August 20, 2009, YouTube celebrities Ryan Higa and Sean Fujiyoshi and their channel, ], overtook the Fred channel as the most subscribed channel of all time.<ref> vs. shortly after 6pm EST, August 20, 2009. As of October 27, 2009, Fred was not on the top 100, bumping everyone from 3rd and beyond up a spot, and as of October 30, 2009 he came back.</ref> | ||
| As of January |
As of January 2010, The Fred channel has received over 74 million channel views, over 420 million video views since its launch, and with over 1.5 million channel subscribers, is listed as the number two all-time most subscribed You Tube channel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/user/Fred|title=Fred's Channel|publisher=]|accessdate=14 January 2010}}</ref> Cruishank has made many television appearances as both himself and Fred. Although Cruikshank voices Fred, the audio is digitally edited to sound higher pitched than Cruikshank's true voice. | ||
| == Content == | == Content == | ||
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Template:Infobox Internet celebrity
Fred Figglehorn (stylized on his page and on t-shirts as FЯED) is a fictional character who is the primary subject of a channel on the video-sharing website YouTube. The videos are centered around a fictional 6-year-old, Fred Figglehorn, who has a dysfunctional home life and "anger management issues".
The character of Fred is portrayed by Lucas Cruikshank (born August 29, 1993), a teenager from Columbus, Nebraska.
Cruikshank introduced the Fred Figglehorn character in videos on the JKL Productions channel he started on YouTube with his cousins, Jon and Katie. He set up the Fred channel in October 2005. By April 2009, the channel had over 1,000,000 subscribers, making it the first YouTube channel to hit one million subscribers and the most subscribed channel at the time. However, on August 20, 2009, YouTube celebrities Ryan Higa and Sean Fujiyoshi and their channel, Nigahiga, overtook the Fred channel as the most subscribed channel of all time.
As of January 2010, The Fred channel has received over 74 million channel views, over 420 million video views since its launch, and with over 1.5 million channel subscribers, is listed as the number two all-time most subscribed You Tube channel. Cruishank has made many television appearances as both himself and Fred. Although Cruikshank voices Fred, the audio is digitally edited to sound higher pitched than Cruikshank's true voice.
Content
Lucas Cruikshank has described the channel as "programming for kids by kids". The Fred channel was established on October 1, 2005 but was launched officially May 1, 2008 and is the fastest-growing channel in YouTube's history. It now has over one million subscribers, with the millionth on April 7, 2009 at around 3:45 pm.
The series is intended as a parody of people who, in Cruikshank's words, "think that everyone is so interested in them." Cruikshank believes that viewers either "automatically love Fred or automatically hate Fred, there is no in between". The character posts his videos to his YouTube channel, even though he is not supposed to be using his mother's video camera, or posting videos, or even having a YouTube account. Fred has a high-pitched "chipmunk" voice — making him sound more like a 6 year old and less like a 16 year old. According to Cruikshank, this effect and the hyperactive appearance of the character are achieved by speeding up the video. The song "Watch How I Do This" by Kev Blaze can often be heard in the videos.
The character lives with his recovering drug-addicted and alcoholic mother, whose voice is heard often in episodes. (Fred usually communicates with all characters off-screen unless it is an animal). But Fred's Mom has been seen in one episode, called "Fred on Halloween". It is implied that Fred has been the victim of child abuse (like being locked in a dog cage for three days), but he frequently speaks of his love for his mother, particularly after she was at rehab. He also has a crush on a girl in his Kindergarten class named Judy. Fred has described Judy as, "so mean... yet so attractive." According to "Fred Gets Babysat," Fred's birthday is sometime around late October because in the video at one point he says "My birthday is in like a month". This video was originally uploaded on September 29. Fred's grandmother is mentioned as briefly caring for Fred while his mother was in rehab, on account of alcoholism and drugs. In almost every episode, Fred sings a song he makes up. When his mother returns, in "Fred's Mom Returns", his grandmother leaves and his mother begins making him do chores such as picking up sticks. It is known that Fred has anger issues. In one episode, however, "Fred: A Star In His Own Mind", Fred dreams of being a famous actor, meeting fan girls and other famous actors, such as Saoirse Ronan. Fred's favorite meal is a TV dinner. However, in one episode Fred's mum takes away his TV dinner privileges. Fred's father was mentioned in the episode "Fred on Father's Day", where users find out that Fred's father, who is supposedly a rock star, is on death row in the state penitentiary.
Characters
Episodes
Classics: October 30th, 2006 - February 10th, 2008
| Episode No. | Episode Title | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fred on Halloween | Fred spends his Halloween at home while his mom parties. HE'S GOING TO HAVE SO MUCH FUN! |
| 2 | Fred on St. Patrick's Day | Fred celebrates St. Patty's Day and has a hackin' BLAST! |
| 3 | Fred Goes to the Park | Fred goes and plays at a park near his house! |
| 4 | Fred on the 4th | Fred celebrates the 4th of July by lighting fireworks and doing other fun stuff. |
| 5 | Fred Gets Babysat | Fred has to deal with an annoying babysitter! |
| 6 | Fred on Halloween 2 | Fred goes trick or treating for the first time! |
| 7 | Fred on Christmas | Fred goes to his aunt's house for Christmas! |
| 8 | Fred on Valentine's Day | Fred celebrates the day of LOVE! |
Season 1: May 1st, 2008 - July 3rd, 2008
| Episode No. | Episode Title | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fred on May Day | Fred tries to be nice by giving people in his neighborhood MAY DAY BASKETS! |
| 2 | Fred Loses His Meds | Fred accidentally loses his medication and really needs to find it! |
| 3 | Fred Gets Bullied | Kevin is mad at Fred for ding dong ditching his house so he wants revenge! |
| 4 | Fred Gets Detention | Fred is really scared that because he got detention, he won't be able to be a pediatrician. |
| 5 | Fred Goes to the Dentist | Fred goes to the dentist for the very first time! |
| 6 | Fred Stalks Judy | Fred takes his obsession with Judy to the next level. |
| 7 | Fred on Father's Day | Fred celebrates Father's Day even though he doesn't live with his dad. |
| 8 | Fred Goes Swimming | Fred tries out his new pool that his mom picked up at a local dump. |
| 9 | Fred Meets Bertha | Fred meets a girl named Bertha outside the community bar. Bertha seems really nice, but is she really? |
| 10 | Fred's Mom is Missing | Fred's mom hasn't come back home from the bar since Fred had his play date with Bertha. At first Fred is extremely happy, but then reality hits! |
Season 2: August 21st, 2008 - October 23rd, 2008
| Episode No. | Episode Title | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Fred's Grandma Has a Secret | Fred's Grandma has come to live with him and Fred discovers the truth about where his Mom has been. |
| 12 | Fred Goes Camping | Fred has big plans for his end of summer camping trip before he starts kindergarten, and looks forward to auditioning for the school play! |
| 13 | Fred Auditions For a Play | Fred auditions for the lead role in the school play GREASE and knows the drama teacher, Miss Amy, will use Fred's talents well!! |
| 14 | Fred's Mom Returns | Fred's excited his mom's coming home from rehab and knows he's doing a great job at Grease rehearsals since Miss Amy told him he doesn't have to come every day! |
| 15 | Fred: A Star in His Own Mind | Fred is sent to bed early after an outburst and has a fantastical dream! |
| 16 | Fred Sneaks into Judy's Party | Fred isn't invited to Judy's annual party but decides to ignore the snub and go anyway. |
| 17 | Fred Tries to Ride a Bike | Fred borrows Kevin's new bike to try to teach himself how to ride. |
| Special video | FRED WANTS TO BE A STAR!! (City of Fred?!) | FRED wants to be famous!! Upload a video response acting out your favorite movie/TV/play scene to show Fred how it's done!! |
| 18 | Fred Runs for President! | Fred enters the race for Kindergarten president so he can make a difference. |
| 19 | Fred Faces a Dirty Campaign | After Kevin and Judy turn the Kindergarten campaign negative, Fred is forced to fight fire with fire. |
| 20 | Fred on Election Day | The class has spoken. |
| Announcement video | Watch How I Do This (remix) | N/A |
Season 3: November 26th, 2008 - Present
| Episode No. | Episode Title | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | Fred on Thanksgiving | Fred celebrates Thanksgiving alone. |
| Announcement video | Fred on iCarly | Don't miss it! February 16 on Nickelodeon! |
| 22 | Fred Rescues the Neighborhood Squirrels | The neighborhood squirrels get into a dangerous situation, but luckily Fred comes to the rescue! |
| 23 | Fred Cooks for Judy | Fred wants to impress Judy, so he cooks her some delicious food. |
| 24 | Fred on April Fool's Day | Fred goes a tad bit overboard on his April Fool's Day jokes. |
| Announcement video | One Million Subscribers | Fred and Lucas thank you! |
| 25 | Fred Goes to the Doctor | Fred goes to the doctor to get his first physical. |
| 26 | Fred Throws a Party | Fred throws a party to celebrate the beginning of summer vacation, but will people actually show up? |
| 27 | Fred Gets Dissed at Bible School | Fred goes to bible school to become more in touch with his religion, but the other kids attending make fun of him using Year One jokes. |
| 28 | Fred Works Out | Fred works out because he wants to be muscular like his mom said his dad was, but things don't work out so easily. |
| 29 | Fred Tries Dancing | Fred auditions for the Disco Kids Dance Squad because Judy is in it. |
| Announcement video | Fred Talks About Teen Choice Awards | Fred chats about how he's going to go to the Teen Choice Awards and how you should vote for him at http://teenchoiceawards.com |
| 30 | Fred Sees a Therapist | After Fred draws disturbing pictures, his grandma thinks he needs to see a therapist. |
| 31 | Fred Goes on a Date With Judy | Judy asks Fred out on a date after her and Kevin break up, but will something go wrong? |
| 32 | Fred Has a Vocal Lesson | Fred wins a contest to have a lesson with an awesome vocal coach. |
| 33 | Fred Goes Fundraising | Fred goes fundraising around his neighborhood in hopes to win a bean bag. |
| 34 | Fred Gives Advice | Fred gives people advice and helps them with their problems. |
| 35 | Fred Finds a Creepy Doll | A creepy doll shows up on Fred's doorstop and is full of nothing but EVIL! |
| Announcement video | Fred Talks About His Christmas Music | Fred reveals that he has a sweet music video coming out! |
| Music video | Christmas Cash | Fred's music video for his original Christmas song, Christmas Cash! |
| Music video | Christmas is Creepy | The official music video for "Christmas is Creepy". The song came straight from Fred's heart. |
| 36 | Fred Has a Snow Day | Fred gets a day off school because it snowed so much! |
"It's Hackin' Christmas With Fred"
It's Hackin' Christmas with Fred is a four track Extended play released on November 10, 2009. It was co-produced with OMovies. The music video for the single "Christmas Cash" was released on YouTube on the same day the EP was released. The album is available online via iTunes. The Music Video for the Second Single, Christmas is Creepy was released on December 7, 2009. Both music videos were released on December 11, 2009 on Disney Channel and the two songs are currently playing on Radio Disney and Kidz Only digital TV station from Music Choice. It is also currently the #2 song on Radio Disney.
Sponsorship and appearances
Cruikshank's "Fred" has been sponsored since its inception by the Zipit Wireless Messenger (Z2), which has several cameos in various videos posted to the Fred Channel. Although the collaboration had originally been kept low-key, Fred now has a separate website promoting the Zipit and has starred in television ads for the device on Nickelodeon. Cruikshank has generated in excess of $100,000 from ad revenue and sponsorship, and has hired a licensing firm to market Fred merchandise. He made a cameo appearance as both "Fred" and himself on Nickelodeon's iCarly:"iMeet Fred", which originally aired on Monday, February 16, 2009. Walden Media also hired Cruikshank to promote the film City of Ember, along with the sci-fi novel it was based on, and cameos from the film's star Tim Robbins in Fred episodes and a mock movie trailer. Cruikshank recently launched a website to promote the Fred series and sell Fred t-shirts and other merchandise. The merchandise is also available at Hot Topic, Justice and Five Below stores. Cruikshank also recently appeared on The Tyra Banks Show. In June 2009, Cruikshank confirmed, via his Twitter account, that he is guest starring on an episode of the hit Disney series, Hannah Montana. He mentioned that they have filmed the episode, and that it airs December 6.
Awards and Nominations
| Year | Category | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Favorite User Generated Video | People's Choice Awards | Nominated |
| 2009 | Other Stuff Web Star | Teen Choice Award | Won |
Other channels
Lucas Cruikshank was originally a part of JKL Productions, a group made by the twins Jon and Katie as well as Lucas. Although Lucas formally left the group, JKL prefers to keep Lucas' "L" in their name. Lucas also deleted all his individual videos when he left JKL Productions, but he can still be seen in a few videos. In January 2009 he set up his own channel, called Lucas, in which he appears as himself.
References
- Stephen Hutcheon, with Tom Burton (2008-06-20). "Fast-talking Fred is the toast of YouTube". Retrieved 2008-10-26.
- ^ Andrew Keen. "Andrew Keen on New Media: Kids with cameras lead the way in giving web users their daily Fred". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help); Text "date-2008-07-28" ignored (help) - Editorial Team (2008-11-13). "BB Suggests: The Best of Web TV". Retrieved 2009-11-16.
- 1,356,784 subscribers for nigahiga vs. 1,356,423 for Fred shortly after 6pm EST, August 20, 2009. As of October 27, 2009, Fred was not on the top 100, bumping everyone from 3rd and beyond up a spot, and as of October 30, 2009 he came back.
- "Fred's Channel". You Tube. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
- Brook, Anderson. "The Teen Behind Fred". CNN. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
- Sioux City Journal: Nebraska teen making 'Fred' an Internet star
- "YouTube - Fred Figglehorn - Christmas Cash - Official Music Video". Retrieved 2009-11-29.
- "YouTube Sensation Fred Releases Christmas Album and Premieres Music Video - Pynk Celebrity". Retrieved 2009-11-26.
- "YouTube - Fred Figglehorn - Christmas is Creepy - Official Music Video". Retrieved 2009-12-23.
- Albrecht, Chris (November 18, 2008). "'Fred' Cranks Up the YouTube Views and Ad Dollars". Business Week. Retrieved July 7, 2009.
- Sanders, Pete (September 18, 2008). "Studios Hope YouTube Tie Sells Movie". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
- http://twitter.com/LucasCruikshank/status/5958993843
- http://www.pcavote.com/pca/awards/nominees/index.jsp?year=2009
- YouTube - jklproduction's Channel
External links
| Honorary titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byAnthony Padilla & Ian Hecox (Smosh) |
{{{title}}} August 14, 2008 |
Succeeded byRyan Higa and Sean Fujiyoshi |