What is your idea about the perfect cartoon? List the humor, the type/how many characters, if it should have continuity, etc.
Now, I know there are probably going people saying "Well there is no such thing as the perfect cartoon", but pretend a network called you down to their office and asked you for what do you think does and does not make a great cartoon. My example:
CHARACTERS:
- Not too many. Too many characters can cause a lot of "Why was this character made but never used?" issue or distract from the really good and possible characters. Probably no more than 4 main characters. (IE: Drawn Together and Foster's Home)
- Little kid or non-human characters to be the main characters. Those types of characters are usually more fun and little kid plots have lots of humor possibility to them. Some of the best characters are little kids or non-human. (IE: Bender [Futurama], Cartman [South Park], Grim [Billy & Mandy])
- Solid character structure. None of that "One joke/gag only" stuff or that "Crazy and stupid" stuff either. Those get old very fast and if I ever want to connect with a cartoon character, they have to have a personality that has many jokes possible and even has a soft/rough spot rather than one-dimensional, depending if the character is outrageous or super nice. (IE: Billy, Cheese, and GIR do not have solid character structure, mostly the insane-gag character who's just occasional there to break tension.)
HUMOR:
- No toliet humor, fart jokes, gross-out jokes, or anything that makes me disgusted rather than giddy.
- Exaggeration and character roleplay is funny when used only occasionally. Too much makes it unfunny. (IE: The Simpsons having those several episodes of the characters telling stories that have the cast re-enact them.)
- Gag-jokes should only exceed the "Used 3 times" limit in an episode if it doesn't repeat itself. Repeating the gag gets annoying, especially if it's not funny the first time. However, if you change the gag up throughout it's joke-telling, it can feel fresh and new and be funnier than the first time told. But overall, try and steer away from gag-jokes. (IE: Many South Park episodes that use gags that get tiresome.)
- Stay in plot with jokes. Too many random or cutaway jokes will get old and very fast. Soon, you'll crave for plot and want to get back to the original task at hand. (IE: Family Guy)
- Shock humor is funny, but try not to heavily rely on it.
CONTINUITY:
- Small mentions of previous episodes is a nice touch to future episodes, as long as you don't make a long joke based entirely on a previous episode that the casual viewer wouldn't understand that much. Too much continuity can be bad if you need to watch a show from "Day 1" just to understand anything. (IE: Arrested Developement, even though it's a great show, I doubt most of the viewers who turned on their TV to that show understood a lot of the jokes from a Season 2 or 3 episode. This is live-action, but it's still a good example about how too much continuity can be bad.)
You can follow this format or use your own.
Now, I know there are probably going people saying "Well there is no such thing as the perfect cartoon", but pretend a network called you down to their office and asked you for what do you think does and does not make a great cartoon. My example:
CHARACTERS:
- Not too many. Too many characters can cause a lot of "Why was this character made but never used?" issue or distract from the really good and possible characters. Probably no more than 4 main characters. (IE: Drawn Together and Foster's Home)
- Little kid or non-human characters to be the main characters. Those types of characters are usually more fun and little kid plots have lots of humor possibility to them. Some of the best characters are little kids or non-human. (IE: Bender [Futurama], Cartman [South Park], Grim [Billy & Mandy])
- Solid character structure. None of that "One joke/gag only" stuff or that "Crazy and stupid" stuff either. Those get old very fast and if I ever want to connect with a cartoon character, they have to have a personality that has many jokes possible and even has a soft/rough spot rather than one-dimensional, depending if the character is outrageous or super nice. (IE: Billy, Cheese, and GIR do not have solid character structure, mostly the insane-gag character who's just occasional there to break tension.)
HUMOR:
- No toliet humor, fart jokes, gross-out jokes, or anything that makes me disgusted rather than giddy.
- Exaggeration and character roleplay is funny when used only occasionally. Too much makes it unfunny. (IE: The Simpsons having those several episodes of the characters telling stories that have the cast re-enact them.)
- Gag-jokes should only exceed the "Used 3 times" limit in an episode if it doesn't repeat itself. Repeating the gag gets annoying, especially if it's not funny the first time. However, if you change the gag up throughout it's joke-telling, it can feel fresh and new and be funnier than the first time told. But overall, try and steer away from gag-jokes. (IE: Many South Park episodes that use gags that get tiresome.)
- Stay in plot with jokes. Too many random or cutaway jokes will get old and very fast. Soon, you'll crave for plot and want to get back to the original task at hand. (IE: Family Guy)
- Shock humor is funny, but try not to heavily rely on it.
CONTINUITY:
- Small mentions of previous episodes is a nice touch to future episodes, as long as you don't make a long joke based entirely on a previous episode that the casual viewer wouldn't understand that much. Too much continuity can be bad if you need to watch a show from "Day 1" just to understand anything. (IE: Arrested Developement, even though it's a great show, I doubt most of the viewers who turned on their TV to that show understood a lot of the jokes from a Season 2 or 3 episode. This is live-action, but it's still a good example about how too much continuity can be bad.)
You can follow this format or use your own.
