Think my biggest problem is that when I say I won't do something, I do the exact opposite. Think it's best I explain. I made an off-the-cuff statement on Foster's on Twitter and deviantArt, and just assumed people would be like "Well I respect your opinion." But surprisingly, people seemed to agree with me in some regard. I'd wonder if this goes over well, but feedback is rare on my front.
Rambling
It should go without saying, but the mid-late 2000s was Cartoon Network's biggest dark period, and for perspective this embodies the Stuart Snyder and Jim Samples era, one who had his heart in the right place but couldn't justify it, the other who had as much foresight as MrEnter, but even Enter didn't cause a bomb scare.
Now, what made Cartoon Network so great at the time was that they were still in their infancy (when it came to original programs that is), Dexter's Laboratory was the second show on the network to gain any kind of traction (and I know about The Moxy Show) and back in the day, the era was dedicated to creator-driven programs, they'd let people put on whatever, and only cut back where need be done. Though you don't see me waxing praise over classic Cartoon Network, just know I do respect it, and I mainly dislike Powerpuff Girls because I'm no fan of Craig McCracken's style of humor. (hi Dan)
People say the downfall began when Samples was dismissed from Cartoon Network, but ever since CN's first rebrand since the checkerboard era, it led to one big tumor. As mentioned countless times, the people at Cartoon Network had no idea what to do in the mid-2000s, which is why this era was mainly dedicated to imports and direct-to-video holdovers, along with whatever still-running shows they had and their originals at this point.
The funny thing is, a stark majority of CN's shows from this era held up very poorly. Let's go over the list. People hardly talk about Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi and that show was tone deaf when it came to anime tropisms (to the point one character from it served as a representation of toxic weeaboos.), and made by a company who's work is on the low ebb on a financial basis.
My Gym Partner's a Monkey was borderline doomed from the start, and I only have one episode (comprising the A and B segments), I still like.
Camp Lazlo, no word on whether or not Joe Murray was paid to be on the network, but the show feels like it took everything Rocko's Modern Life did right, and did the exact opposite. Or maybe I'm just old?
Class of 3000... actually it's still good to this day. Funny how the one show that didn't last compared to the others manages to hold up.
ReAnimated. Yeah, this was during the Samples era. Thought Snyder directly wanted to compete with Nick and Disney? ReAnimated came out before that for the exact reason, and Snyder just wanted to at least see if it would improve ratings, even if the shows sucked.
Then there's Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends. I figured I'd get some people who say they like the show out of their like for McCracken, but people actually seem to agree the show held up poorly. So whatever I may say, I won't be alone.
Finally
I grew up in the era I blithered on about before, so I had seen this show plenty of times. My thoughts on it span to many shows of the time. I didn't have a strong opinion on them, I just watched them when they were on, unless of course I'm suckered in by promotions that lead us into thinking we'd be in for something kickass, only to get a bog-standard episode that often doesn't live up to the hype. This was a dime a dozen for Nickelodeon when it came to SpongeBob and iCarly.
Funny thing is, I kinda felt like I hated this show early on. Like, this was one of the first shows I recall that I outright began to hate. When episodes I saw that I hated came on, but I had no other channel to switch to, I often muted the TV.
It's pointless to go into the plot of the whole show as it follows a non-serialized premise. Just the escapades of a foster home for imaginary friends and the people who live in and come to visit there. So let's get into the one thing people stated they hated outright, the characters.
People have said that Bloo was their most hated character but... I'm about to blow your minds. The episodes I muted happened to be ones where Bloo got his comeuppance. I basically hate everybody, but I don't hate Bloo as much as everyone else. Maybe I'm all about "Don't stoop to their level.", who knows? This goes for a lot of shows with episodes like that for the record, and may very well have turned me into the troubled jackass I am today.
Many of the characters are the sum of their parts, going through arcs that are either expected or nullified by the next episode. This could be fine if you don't expect anything much from the characters, it worked in ChalkZone because one-note characters are otherwise pushed to the side. But there're so many one-note characters it's something, even Cheese which was Cartoon Network's mascot, one of many at the time is no exception to this rule. Duchess? Enough said.
I can't put it to words why I hate these characters, because I don't know what to say, but if I had to guess, Mac and Frankie were condescending at times annoyed me the most out of the show, smug and too eager to lay on some comeuppance. It doesn't have to be shown to exist, it's felt.
I will never get why Craig McCracken is adamant on not showing the faces of most characters. Is this trying to be philosophical when he does it to Mac's mom? Where she embodies moms the world over? There's no mystery to her, she is around for whatever extent she needs to be, and if my theory is true, what's the point of hiding Ms. Bellum's face for so long? She's a terrible character so it'd be no loss if she has an ugly face.
Let's be real, anyone who had tried to hide the faces of characters either abandoned them overtime because it proved to be pointless (i.e. Fairly Odd Parents, The Loud House, someone who did webcomics on here), or actually made a decent joke out of it (Cow and Chicken made it clear mom and dad didn't have any upper halves.)
This was common in classic cartoons, but it went down like that because they weren't the focal point to the story. If there is a point to it, I don't know what it is.
I guess the one character I hate the most out of all of them is Madame Foster. The cooky senile old lady characterization gets to me something fierce, and yeah, she is pretty one note too. Anything she does is just one other aspect to her cooky aspect, it gets even older than she is.
The episodes themselves are either forgettable or, for me at least, make you question your views on morality. The most fun I had with any episode was that one special centered on Wilt, otherwise I can do without anything else.
They say the last season jumped the shark, but I don't think I saw much of it.
Animation
The show utilizes a retro aesthetic. I'm mixed on this in general. I hate shows that use it which people liked (Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi and Foster's), but like it in shows that people don't care about (Yakkity Yak and Gerald McBoing Boing) I'd mention My Life as a Teenaged Robot but I'm currently in the middle with that.
This looks like hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi with a higher budget, not cheap enough to look crap, but not expensive enough to look fluid.
Overall
You learn a little something new every day. I learned that I'm less alone than I thought with my opinions on cartoons, and that there's a building stigma on Cartoon Network shows from this era. Maybe I can get away with a negative review of Camp Lazlo, but first, I'm not entirely done with Foster's. See you next episode.
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