Mr. Meaty Explained

Composer:	Asher Lenz Stephen Skratt
Executive Producer:	Jack Lenz
Producer:	Jason Hopley Jamie Shannon
Editor:	Susan Cormack
Language:	English
Num Seasons:	2
List Episodes:	Episodes

Mr. Meaty is a teen sitcom created by Jamie Shannon and Jason Hopley. The show centers on two lazy teenage boys, Josh Redgrove and Parker Dinkleman, who work at a fast food restaurant called Mr. Meaty inside a shopping mall as they often encounter supernatural and bizarre situations. The series is set in the fictional town of Scaunchboro, based on Scarborough, Toronto.

Mr. Meaty originated as a series of 17 shorts that appeared as interstitials on Nickelodeon in the United States and CBC Television in Canada. A pilot episode featuring material from the shorts aired on December 30, 2005. The series officially premiered on September 22, 2006, and continued to air until May 23, 2009. It ended with a total of two seasons and twenty episodes, three of which are 22-minute specials.

Premise

Mr. Meaty centers on a pair of teenage boys working at a fast-food restaurant established in the fictional Scaunchboro Mall: the nerdy, gluttonous, awkward Parker Dinkleman (Jason Hopley) and the charming, popular, but uncaring and self-centered Josh Redgrove (Jamie Shannon). The boys are often placed in bizarre, supernatural or grotesque situations. They are also seen dealing with common teenage situations such as dating and peer pressure.^[1]

Characters

Main

Josh Redgrove: (voice by Jamie Shannon) A 16-year-old cashier and employee at Mr. Meaty.
Parker Dinkleman: (voiced by Jason Hopley) Josh Redgrove's best friend who works as a fry cook. Characters appearance and voice are based on former coworker (William Pawson).
Edward R. Carney: (voice by Marty Stelnick) He is the original founder and current owner of the Mr. Meaty chain.
Mr. Wink: The manager with an electric chip on the back of his head, he was once a kind and friendly individual.
Lizzy: (Alien who only worked there for a short time) She was cleverly disguised as an attractive young woman, being crushed on by both Josh and Parker for a short time.
Chip 2.6: First seen in Model Employee. He’s a robot, built to be the perfect Mr. Meaty employee.
Eddie: Parker's pet yeti who only worked at Mr. Meaty's for a little bit, but was shipped back to the Himalayas.

Minor

Ashley Steinberg: Her best friends are Brittney and Ashley 2. She seems to be the leader of the trio.
Brittney Of the three, she seems to have the most common sense and is almost always there to offer advice to Josh and Parker.
Art"ee"st Woman: The owner of Pantosphere.
Ashley 2: She and Brittney are followers of Ashley.
Goth Girl: She is a goth who went on a date with Josh to see the premiere of Star Raiders IV.
Gord: He wears his blond hair in beaded dreadlocks.
Ping: An employee who teaches Josh and Parker to be ninjas.
Doug: A beefy security guard with a buzz haircut, black shades, and a prominent bottom lip. He speaks with a macho attitude and is very dedicated to his job.
R.O.B.

R.O.B. is the Mr. Meaty security bot who only appeared in "Buffalo Burrito".

Ashley Steinberg: The long haired brunette who is very concerned.
Ashley 2: A member of the girl group of Scaunchburo Mall.
Brittany: The most reasonable and apparently liked girl of Scaunchburo Mall.
Tanya: A thick lipped girl with black shades and long dirty blonde hair.
Parkerina: (female version of Parker) who dressed in a cowgirl outfit, two red pigtails over his shoulders and with notable eyelashes.
Natasha: A European (probably Russian, due to her accent) member of the Against Josh Group who appears on the screen during the Against Josh Group meeting in "Parkerina".
Sky: A member of the girl's group.
Ken: Josh's older brother who is extremely annoying.
Darryl: Ken's best friend and his bodyguard.
Tyrone: Provides the music for The Tater Tots so they can break dance.
Tater Tots: Three 8-year-old Hip-Hop gangster brats.
Hamish: Parker's other best friend.
Natalie: A little vampire girl discovered in the freezer. She turned Parker and Josh into vampires.
Barb: Josh's ex girlfriend made of meat.
Leanne: Parker's girlfriend.
Brandon DuBois III: Parker's friend.
Gavin: Parker's friend.
Karlon Bugosi: A former actor who has now become a brain-eating zombie. Bugosi only appeared in "Dream of the Dead", in which he was the main antagonist and anti-hero.
Lucas E. Romero: A horror movie director who only appeared in "Dream of the Dead."

Production

Mr. Meaty began as a series of shorts that played between longer programs on Nickelodeon from 2002 to 2005. They were also featured on CBC's variety show The Void, on Nickelodeon's iTunes listings, and on the TurboNick website. The show was Shannon and Hopley's second production for Nickelodeon after Nanalan', as well as the Disney Junior series Ooh, Aah & You.

Neither of the series' creators had worked at a fast food restaurant prior to creating the show. However, Hopley had once worked at a movie theater's concessions stand, which gave him inspiration for some of the ideas in the show.^[2] He has also cited The Ren & Stimpy Show as a source of inspiration for the show's style of humor.^[2]

The show was created specifically for a teenage audience; of the target age group, executive producer Jack Lenz said, "Entertaining kids in their teens is not easy and it takes a very strong concept to catch on with this demographic. Mike Judge clearly nailed it with Beavis and Butt-Head and we believe that Mr. Meaty will do the same."

Nickelodeon commissioned a season of full-length episodes around September 2005.^[3] An 11-minute pilot titled "In Parker's Sight" aired on December 30, 2005. It was a retrospective featuring material from the earlier shorts. On September 22, 2006, the series made its official debut on Nickelodeon. The episode "Buffalo Burrito" had been released as a sneak peek on the iTunes Store two days earlier on September 18.^[4] The series moved to Nickelodeon's sister channel Nicktoons on February 23, 2007. Nicktoons aired the remaining episodes from March 10, 2007, to May 23, 2009.

Episodes

Season 2 (2008–2009)

Reception

Common Sense Media gave the series a rating of 3/5, stating that the humor was geared toward older children and noting that some viewers "will enjoy the idiosyncratic characters and their attempts to survive the uncertainties of puberty."^[5] Susan Stewart of The New York Times gave the show a positive review, calling its puppetry "a perfect medium for sending up the foibles of the teenage years" and commending the two main characters' "deft characterizations".^[6]

In May 2007, the show ranked as the fourth highest-rated Saturday morning program among children aged 2―11.^[7]

Notes and References

Web site: What's the Beef Over Mr. Meaty?. Broadcasting & Cable. Future plc. November 3, 2006. Downey. Kevin.
Web site: Chew on This: An Inside Look at the Unsavory Mr. Meaty. TV Guide. CBS Corporation. Davis. Michael. Sode. Scott. October 27, 2006.
Web site: Puppeteers serve up meaty kids fare for Nick. Kidscreen. Brunico Communications. September 1, 2006. Waldman. Dan.
Web site: Nick's Mr. Meaty Hits iTunes. Animation Magazine. September 19, 2006. Ball. Ryan.
Web site: Mr. Meaty TV Review. Common Sense Media. Ashby. Emily. 2005.
Web site: Lamb Chop, Your Peers Have Reached Puberty. The New York Times. Stewart. Susan. September 28, 2006.
Web site: Look who's watching: A snapshot of the US kids TV audience. Kidscreen. Brunico Communications. May 1, 2007.