Johnny Test (TV Show)

Front Row (left to right): Dukey, Johnny
Back Row (left to right): Susan, Gil, Hugh, Mr. White, Mr. Black, Lila, Sissy, Mary

Johnny Test is an American/Canadian animated television series created by Scott Fellows. It premiered on Kids' WB, on The WB Television Network, on September 17, 2005 and concluded its run on December 25, 2014 (January 2, 2015 in other countries) with 6 seasons. Despite the merger of the UPN (CBS Corporation) and that programming block's parent channel into The CW Television Network,

The show still continued to air on Kids' WB, on The CW, with its second and third seasons, through October 28, 2006, to March 1, 2008. The series currently aired in the United States on Cartoon Network starting on January 7, 2008, and in Canada on Teletoon, on September 8, 2006. The series aired on Cartoon Network in over 75 countries in 19 languages. It also aired on other channels that vary by country. The show was produced by Warner Bros. Animation for the first season, then from the second season by Teletoon. and later seasons by Cookie Jar Entertainment. Starting from season 6, the show is produced by DHX Media.

On May 2, 2020, Johnny Test: The Lost Web Series premiered on YouTube. However, the first episode was privated 2 days later.

In January 2020, WildBrain announced that their Vancouver studio was hiring for a new Johnny Test project separate from the web-shorts. On May 6, 2020, WildBrain confirmed the series had been picked up by Netflix for two more seasons and a 66-minute interactive special set for release in 2021, with Fellows returning as showrunner and executive producer. The first of which was released on July 16.

Plot

Johnny is the troublesome, narcissistic, curious, spoiled and widely disrespected member of the Test family, which consists of his super-genius 13-year-old twin sisters, Susan and Mary, his talking (and talkative) companion dog, Dukey, and his over-the-top parents, his mother Lila, who is a full-blown workaholic businesswoman, and his father Hugh, who is a obsessive-compulsive househusband who likes total hygiene and meat loaf.

The Test twins use their younger brother as a guinea pig for their other experiments (thus their surname of Test) in their secret laboratory, with which they try to impress Gil Nexdor, their pretty boy next-door neighbor.

In some episodes, throughout the series, Johnny often messes with his sisters' inventions, causing trouble and mayhem, but just as often proves himself to be extremely clever such as by frequently tricking his genius sisters into giving him gadgets or superpowers in order to use them in combat and other situations, or saving the day from whatever danger happens to show up, like unwillingly battling evil villains found in Porkbelly and/or anywhere else in the process.

At times Johnny will try his worse to tackle many issues, often using his sisters' inventions to do so and often putting himself and/or others in danger as a result, and then try to undo the disasters and messes that he has done. His main arch-nemesis is Bling-Bling Boy (Real name: Eugene K. Hamilton,) a fellow arch-rival of the Test sisters and frenemy of Johnny and Dukey, who has a big crush on Susan, who does never reciprocate his feelings, and often resorts to try and force her to be his girlfriend.

On the other hand, fellow bully Bumper and The General, from the army base Area 51.1, and Mr. Black and Mr. White, two federal agents from the Super Secret Government Agency (SSGA), sometimes help, distract, or annoy, the kids on most occasions.

Broadcast history

The early years

Johnny Test began airing in the United States in 2005 on The WB's Saturday morning block, Kids' WB. It was tested for unused pilot episodes on October 2, 2004 and released to TV on September 17, 2005. On September 9, 2006, it began airing in Canada on Teletoon. During the airing of the second season, The WB and UPN merged into The CW, where it would air the second and third seasons. The show was cancelled on December 25, 2014, in other countries it ended on December 29, 2014 or January 5, 2015, however the show still aired reruns on Cartoon Network’s sister channel Boomerang until mid-2016, as well as international Cartoon Network channels until 2019, with it last airing on Cartoon Network in Latin America.

Cartoon Network

Johnny Test premiered on Cartoon Network in the United States on January 7, 2008. Shortly after, in July 2008, the series concluded its run on The CW network after the third season. Johnny Test would air new episodes on Cartoon Network starting with the fourth season on November 9, 2009. During all of this, the show continued to air on Teletoon in Canada.

Cancellation

Despite the confirmation of a seventh season in June 2013, the series ended after the conclusion of the sixth season on December 25, 2014. When James Arnold Taylor, Johnny's voice actor, was asked about the seventh installment in June 2015, he claimed that there were no plans for it. A seventh season was confirmed in May 2020 to release to Netflix.

The Lost Web Series

On March 15, 2019, it was announced by the official Johnny Test YouTube channel that new episodes would be coming soon. On May 2, 2020, over a year after announcement, it premiered, but was later taken down for unknown reasons and hasn’t been seen since.

Netflix Revival

On January 2020, it was announced that WildBrain Studios in Vancouver was hiring for a revival of Johnny Test which is separate from the webseries. The show was picked up from Netflix for two more seasons and a 66-minute interactive special, the first of which released on July 16th 2021. The interactive special, titled Johnny Test's Ultimate Meatloaf Quest was released on November 16th, later that same year. The second season was released on January 22, 2022, which was confirmed by staff and crew that it won’t be picked up for another season, marking the end of the series.

Trivia

• This show was based on the childhood memories of the creator, Scott Fellows.
• The show was recently released in Netflix Japan on September 1, 2015, 10 years after the original release.
• The “Johnny” part in the logo uses the font, “Badaboom BB”.
• With the exception of the interactive special, all episodes are about 9-11 minutes long and there are no other half hour episodes or specials. The closest one to a half hour episode are the pairings of Johnny X: A New Beginning & Johnny X: The Final Ending and Johnny's 100th Episode & Johnny's Next Episode, but they are still formatted as separate segments.
• Johnny Test seemed to be on a floating timeline since despite how long the series is the characters never aged, continuity errors and inaccuracies occurred, and holidays like Christmas and Valentine’s Day being celebrate than once.

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