Personally, I feel Ed, Edd n Eddy declined in quality back then as a kid when the show's creator, Danny Antonucci, decided to send them off to school and took the slapstick to the extreme compared to the first two seasons, which had a more calm and laidback feel. The third season, however, was when they had amp up the slapstick as well as Eddy's personality but the show was still good regardless. I feel like the negative traits actually started in Season 4 with the offending episodes being If It Smells Like an Ed, Your Ed Here, Sorry, Wrong Ed, and Stiff Upper Ed, as well as Eddy generally becoming increasingly more of a unlikable jerk-face of a leader who outright abuses his friends in either a short-tempered manner or just for fun. Season 5 then took all of this negative traits from Season 4 to the extreme, with the offending episodes being Cleanliness Is Next to Edness, No Speak Da Ed, Pick an Ed, Tinker Ed, The Good, the Bad, and the Ed, Smile for the Ed, and even A Fistful of Ed I can honestly saw was a pretty bad episode too in and out of itself. These episodes were all nothing but very harsh torture episodes for the Eds (in general) and the slapstick was completely unfunny and instead can be seen as cruelty for comedy. In addition, the Eds don't get along well with each other and mistreat one another, making their dynamic pretty much gone on top of all three Eds having been flanderized (especially Eddy). Generally, the show was at its worst when it did not focused on the scams and instead focused on giving the Eds very unfair treatment in a forced attempt to further submit them to their buttmonkey status. The three holiday specials (minus the endings of both the Christmas and Halloween specials respectively) and the movie finale were the only ones saving grace. Now don't get me wrong, Season 5 still had some decent episodes like Truth or Ed, This Won't Hurt an Ed, Every Which Way Ed, Boom Boom Out Goes the Ed, and May I Have This Ed?. So in general, before Ed, Edd n Eddy ended on a magnificent note that left a lasting legacy on the fans and critics alike with its heartwarming movie finale, it declined in quality when Antonucci overdid the portrayal of the humor and the characters.
Same can be said for Billy & Mandy in Seasons 6-7, with the offending episodes being The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name, Scary Poppins, Be A-Fred, Be Very A-Fred, Everything Breaks, The Show That Dare Not Speak Its Name, Billy Gets an 'A, Waking Nightmare, and The Incredible Shrinking Mandy. These episodes I mention generally represented Billy and/or Mandy's character butchering or genuine torture scenarios for Grim in addition to the episodes making much less sense and the humor being beyond disgusting unlike it already was. And to be honest, I always thought Billy and Mandy themselves were useless and bland protagonists to begin with long before Seasons 6-7 arrived on the block. Grim was the only main character I liked aside from his buttmonkey status that the show's creator, Maxwell Atom, kept on spewing out for him. Its crossover with KND, which aired 3 days after the last episode Heartburn, was lackluster and Billy & Mandy's personalities were officially ruined for me by then. Billy & Mandy also never really got an actual series finale either. The second Halloween special, Under-fist, was just set up for a future spin-off series, which Cartoon Network at the time declined due to Atom's contract expiring and/or the executives of the network at the time wanting to focus more on becoming Disney/Nickelodeon-esque with live-action.
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Same can be said for Billy & Mandy in Seasons 6-7, with the offending episodes being The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name, Scary Poppins, Be A-Fred, Be Very A-Fred, Everything Breaks, The Show That Dare Not Speak Its Name, Billy Gets an 'A, Waking Nightmare, and The Incredible Shrinking Mandy. These episodes I mention generally represented Billy and/or Mandy's character butchering or genuine torture scenarios for Grim in addition to the episodes making much less sense and the humor being beyond disgusting unlike it already was. And to be honest, I always thought Billy and Mandy themselves were useless and bland protagonists to begin with long before Seasons 6-7 arrived on the block. Grim was the only main character I liked aside from his buttmonkey status that the show's creator, Maxwell Atom, kept on spewing out for him. Its crossover with KND, which aired 3 days after the last episode Heartburn, was lackluster and Billy & Mandy's personalities were officially ruined for me by then. Billy & Mandy also never really got an actual series finale either. The second Halloween special, Under-fist, was just set up for a future spin-off series, which Cartoon Network at the time declined due to Atom's contract expiring and/or the executives of the network at the time wanting to focus more on becoming Disney/Nickelodeon-esque with live-action.
Share your thoughts.