| Genre: | Comedy Teen sitcom |
| Creator: | Tim McKeon Adam Pava |
| Theme Music Composer: | Paul Buckley |
| Open Theme: | "Out of Jimmy's Head" |
| End Theme: | "Out of Jimmy's Head" |
| Composer: | Paul Buckley |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Network: | Cartoon Network |
| Producer: | Pixie Wespiser |
| Camera: | Multi-camera |
| Cinematography: | Bob Hayes |
| Location: | Downey, California |
| Company: | Brookwell McNamara Entertainment Cartoon Network Studios |
| Num Episodes: | 20 |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Runtime: | 22 minutes |
Out of Jimmy's Head (abbreviated as OOJH) is an American live-action/animated teen sitcom created by Tim McKeon and Adam Pava for Cartoon Network. It is based on the network's 2006 film Re-Animated, and is the first live-action/animated television series produced by Cartoon Network. The series was produced by Cartoon Network Studios and Brookwell McNamara Entertainment (the latter known for Disney's shows such as Even Stevens and That's So Raven). The creators, Tim McKeon and Adam Pava, were originally writers for other Cartoon Network shows such as Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, before creating Weighty Decisions, a short on the network's Sunday Pants anthology series. They were also writers on the Nickelodeon animated series, As Told by Ginger.
The series premiered on Cartoon Network on September 14, 2007, to coincide with the release of the Re-Animated film on DVD, and was the only series on the network to be affected by the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike. It then made its Canadian premiere on Teletoon on Saturday, September 6, 2008. It also aired on Boomerang in Australia. The U.S. run of the series ended with the airing of the series' final episode on May 29, 2008. The series never streamed on Max.
Although Renegade Animation did the pilot film's animation, due to budget and time constraints, the series' animation was produced in-house at Cartoon Network Studios through their flash division. Cartoon Network did not acknowledge the series again until 2018, where Golly had a cameo role on OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, in the season two episode, Crossover Nexus, along with a small cameo with Dolly and Crocko in the 20th anniversary mural from 2012.
The show met critical failure. Because of this, this show was considered to be lost media, due to Cartoon Network erasing the show from all online streaming websites, including its own. The show got a DVD release exclusively in the United Kingdom, containing only the first three episodes. However, in October 2023, all twenty episodes have been found and released on the internet, with it also being viewable on YouTube.
The series follows the backstory established by the film. After receiving the brain of deceased cartoonist Milt Appleday following an accident, 13-year-old Jimmy Roberts finds himself inexplicably capable of seeing and communicating with Appleday's characters, resulting in a variety of odd predicaments at the hands of Jimmy's interactions with them. However, he also must deal with Appleday's son Sonny, who intends to kill him and obtain his brain so he may gain notoriety as a cartoonist, and take over the world.
See main article: Re-Animated.
For Out of Jimmy's Head, Cartoon Network ordered 20 episodes, which were filmed from May to September 2007. In airing the series, Cartoon Network split the series into two seasons. The first season of the series premiered in September 2007 and lasted 13 episodes. The channel later aired the remaining seven episodes as the second season, starting in March 2008, one week after the airing of episode 13, which was considered part of the first season. The series' hiatus between seasons (actually between episodes 12 and 13) coincided with the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, which led many to believe that writing on the series had been interrupted. In fact, writing and production for all episodes had been completed in September. However, the strike did prevent the writers from being involved in editing and post-production, including the infamous decision to add a laugh track beginning with episode 8, "Skate Night". Due to low ratings the show was not renewed.
It was the last Cartoon Network original series to be broadcast in full screen 4:3 before Cartoon Network started its own high-definition feed, although it was produced in a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9.
Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times wrote: "Cast aside all that clutter, though, and this is really just another show about a seventh grader trying to fit in. It’s also a show with a sly sense of humor when it’s not being self-consciously frentic", and praised Bil Dwyer for his comedic role.[1] Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media rated the show 3 out of 5 stars and wrote: "It's just fun fluff. It is worth noting that the show is an improvement on the movie in terms of Jimmy's increased confidence and ability to fend off peer pressure, which is certainly a welcome change".[2]
Despite the negative reviews from critics, the show received some accolades: the program's cast won a combined Young Artist Award in 2008 for "Best Young Ensemble Performance in a TV Series",[3] then was nominated at the same ceremony for "Best Family Television Series", and finally Tinashe Kachingwe with Caden Michael Gray were nominated for "Best Performance in a TV Series – Supporting Young Actress" and "Best Performance in a TV Series – Recurring Young Actor", respectively.