YMMV / Big City Greens

• Adorkable:
  • Cricket's a very excitable, happy-go-lucky child, eager to learn about city life.
  • Tilly's a bit of a weird one, but you can't help but love her.
  • Nancy Green can fall into this at times when she gets really close with her kids, or tries too hard to hide something.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Cricket a genuinely mischievous kid who wants to cause trouble for his own amusement and only pretends to have learned a lesson in order to get away with all the troubles he causes? On one hand, such behavior isn't uncommon for children his age and it (usually) isn't done out of malice. On the other hand, the blatancy of his ignorance can make it feel like he's doing it on purpose.
• Alternative Joke Interpretation: While watching a TV show that poses the question of whether or not paper can kill, Gramma holds up a sheet of paper and some scissors while declaring that she'll be ready if the answer is yes. Is she preparing to kill the paper to prove her superiority, or to fashion the paper into a weapon for herself?
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: The episode "Blue Tater" revolves around a blue potato that was said to be cursed with bad luck. Blue potatoes actually do exist. However, they first appeared in 2003, not as far back as many generations, and they don't give bad luck either.
• Anvilicious: The morals aren't explicitly heavy-handed, but every episode tries to teach the audience some kind of lesson (usually related to friendship or family values).
• Ass Pull: The set-up for "Impopstar"; Cricket just happens to be the spitting image of international pop star Zillon Brax, something that no one in Big City has ever noticed until this episode. Even Officer Keys, one of Zillon's biggest fans, never once in all his encounters with Cricket noticed the uncanny resemblance between them.
• Awesome Art:
  • Thanks to being traditionally animated, the show has a lot of Animation Bumps showcasing absolutely fluid animation combined with detailed and colorful backgrounds.
  • "Virtually Christmas" in particular was praised for its gorgeous usage of CGI. From the beautifully rendered soft textures, to the almost atmospheric lighting, to the unique stop motion-esque animation, it's no wonder why the episode took a while to develop.
• Awesome Music:
  • The main title music (performed by "The Mowgilis") can come off nostalgic to those who find it closely similar to the main theme of Harvey Beaks, which was performed by Ego Plum.
  • The ending theme sung by creator Chris Houghton. Like the title music, it manages to capture that nostalgic childhood feel.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Cricket himself is easily the show's most divisive character. Most fans find him funny and entertaining thanks to his wild imagination and mischievous nature, while detractors find him annoying if not outright obnoxious due to how reckless and impulsive he can be.
  • Tilly is liked for being a total sweetheart who serves as the most responsible one of the family while not being afraid to get her hands dirty if the situation calls for it. Others, however, feel that Tilly doesn't have enough personality beyond this to make her stand out, and that her Dissonant Serenity and Nightmare Fetishism comes off as a little too unnerving to swallow.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • In "Welcome Home", when Cricket and the others are looking a way to get to Gramma’s house, he takes a look under the manhole to see the sewer filled with alligators. Cricket quickly moves on and it's never mentioned for the remainder of the episode.
  • In "Tilly Tour", Tilly takes Gramma Alice to a place underneath the train bridge to see a cat-rat-raccoon-bird hybrid. Considering how grounded the show generally is, this stuck out as truly odd.
• Comedy Ghetto: Many discussions regarding Disney Channel's animated lineup during the early 2020s more often than not completely left out Big City Greens in favor of Amphibia and The Owl House, due to the former show's more comedic and episodic structure clashing heavily with the latter shows' more darker and lore-driven stories, and is treated as though it's undeserving of the same praise or devoid of merit simply for this difference in creative direction. Ironically, BCG has received far more airtime and ratings than the latter shows combined.
• Crossover Ship: Its becoming common for people to pair off Alice Green with Suga Mama from The Proud Family due to them both being elderly ladies who are tough as nails and tend to push their sons around.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Cricket is widely accepted as being neurodivergent (either autistic or ADHD) by a good portion of the fanbase. A lot of this stems from his occasional literal mindedness, his inability to sit still, his impulsiveness, and his preference to stick to his routines.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Officer Keys is well liked for his Nice Guy personality, and for generally averting the trend of animated cops being corrupt or incompetent (that's not to say he's entirely competent, but he's miles better than, say, Chief Wiggum).
  • Chip Whistler, for his Love to Hate personality and being a solid Foil to the Greens, as well as being played by Paul Scheer. He seems to devolve from this as of Season 2, setting him up as an official Big Bad.
  • Cricket and Tilly's new friends, Benny, Kiki, and Weezie, are fairly popular for being the source of some of the show's funnier moments.
  • Gabriella Espinosa, first introduced in "Valentine's Dance", later returning in "Gabriela's Fella", namely for her sweet personality and Relationship Upgrade with Cricket, and being played by Jenna Ortega.
  • Zillon Brax from "Impopstar", given the fact he's Cricket's splitting image, and even shares his Cloudcuckoolander personality. Also his Ax-Crazy fan Amaryllis.
  • Rick from "The Van", for being a considerate Nice Guy. Many people felt bad for him when his van was eaten by Marcus.
• Fandom Rivalry: A pretty intense although largely one-sided example with The Owl House, due to fans of the latter show developing a growing bitterness over BCG becoming Adored by the Network. The rivalry grew tenfold when TOH got cancelled after three seasons (with the third season in particular being cut down from the show's usual 10-20 episode format to just three 44-minute specials) whereas BCG ended up getting renewed for a fourth season, a rarity among Disney Channel originals, leading many to go as far as to unfairly accuse BCG of being the sole reason for TOH's cancellation. There's a similar one-sided rivalry with Amphibia, but it's nowhere near as intense.
• Fandom-Specific Plot: One thing that's recently become popular with fans is writing stories about how they think Cricket and Tilly's brother-sister relationship started when Cricket was born.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • It shares one with Phineas and Ferb, mostly due to the fact that both are lighthearted shows taking place in a big city. It also help that Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Perry the Platypus made an appearance in the Random Rings shorts.
  • It shared one with Star vs. the Forces of Evil, after both were presented in the 2018 Comic Con, with this one particular image cementing the friendliness.
  • The creators worked on Harvey Beaks, another slice of life show with eccentric characters, which naturally caused fans of the latter to overlap.
  • The show now seems to have developed one with both DuckTales (2017), Amphibia, The Owl House, and The Ghost and Molly McGee, largely thanks to being heavily promoted alongside the four other shows. Though regarding Amphibia and especially The Owl House, it has a tendency to alternate between this and Fandom Rivalry due to BCG's more lighter tone and Adored by the Network status.
  • The show also has one with The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder due to both being slice-of-life shows centered on family. Even Gramma Alice is very comparable to Suga Mama for her toughness and attitude.
• Growing the Beard:
  • A lot of people agree that the show improved near the end of Season 1, carrying on into Season 2. This is attributed to episodes focusing more on Character Development, backstories, and an increase in continuity.
  • Season 3 has received further praise for averting the status quo in numerous cases, such as Gloria purchasing her own coffee shop and the Greens moving back to their old farm, in addition to amping up the character development and backstories.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The Reveal that the Greens' house is threatened every generation becomes this in Season 2 when Chip is intent on destroying it rather than selling it, which is an even worse threat than the past.
  • Gloria's crush Kevin not showing up in "Valentine's Dance" becomes this in "Big Resolution", when she gets rejected by him.
  • Nancy liberating that dairy farm only to get arrested in "Uncaged" seems like a good crack-up, but once you find out in "Chipocalypse Now" she was doing such because the company was threatening the country farm, it becomes much sadder.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • One episode of Muppet Babies (2018) called "Doctor Fozzie" had, well, Fozzie being a doctor. Cut to six months later, and Fozzie himself would voice a dentist.
  • The Lilo & Stitch: The Series episode "Morpholomew", which is a crossover with American Dragon: Jake Long had Lao Shi (voiced by Keone Young) briefly date Mrs. Hasagawa (voiced by Amy Hill). They would eventually voice Gloria's parents in this series.
• Informed Wrongness: In "Urban Legend", Gramma is portrayed as being in the wrong for scaring strangers off her property. While her methods were drastically unorthodox, she still technically has the right to do so since it's her property and these strangers are basically trespassers.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Many fans of Amphibia started watching the show because of Gloria sharing a VA with Sasha Waybright.
• Memetic Molester:
  • Chip's Nightmare Face at the very end of "Reckoning Ball", almost with a hint of "Here's Johnny!" to boot.
  • The librarian in "Quiet Please", but especially where she almost attacks Cricket for making noise after finally finding a book his image, without him even knowing.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • This image of Cricket has become popular with the Latin American fanbase, who have been inserting it into screencaps of Disney movies.
  • The scene of Cricket screaming at the top of his lungs after stepping on a Lego brick has made the rounds as a meme, usually involving replacing the scream itself with another sound effect (yes, including the choir from "Gangsta's Paradise".)
• Misblamed: It's not uncommon for people to accuse the show of being the reason behind the cancellation of The Owl House due to BCG's status as a flagship series. While it's true that TOH got Screwed by the Network, it was for reasons completely unrelated to BCG. ^note According to Owl House creator Dana Terrace on her reddit, the show cancelled because one Disney executive didn't think the show "fit their brand".
• Moe: Cricket, Tilly, Remy, and many of the other kids in Big City are just so small and cute, you just can't help but want to hug them most of the time they're onscreen.
• Moral Event Horizon: Chip crosses this in "Chipwrecked" when he takes over the coffee shop and kicks everyone out. He also plans to tear down the Green house next, which could put an end to the family's longtime legacy if they don't find a way to save it. He crosses it even further in "Chipocalypse Now" when he's banned from Big City and attempted to kill Cricket and his family out of fury.
• Nausea Fuel:
  • In "Steak Night":
    • When Cricket and Tilly spotted chewed-up gum underneath the seat, Cricket was willing to try some and stretches a wad into his mouth.
    • Tilly tried to provide some food that the rats found, which was an old moldy slice of pizza that she tried to put it in her mouth before being stopped by Bill.
  • In "Mama Bird", Tilly tried feeding like what the mother bird would do their baby chicks, by devouring a stack of worms into her mouth and literally chewing with.
  • In "Skunked", after Mark launched Cricket into the pavement from the middle of the street, Cricket accidentally crushes the cockroach that Cricket found and rescued, with Mark attempting to revive it by giving it CPR, which he used his lips to do it. Then at the end of the same episode, one of the skunks sprayed in his mouth, after trying to protect Gloria from getting caught. Which left an extremely bad taste.
• Never Live It Down:
  • "Green Christmas" is this to Cricket, basically because of the flaws that he had caused infamously over the course of the previous episodes as well as what he did throughout the episode.
  • "Wild Side" is this to Bill, had only caused him to fall into the Took a Level in Dumbass territory throughout the episode.
• Periphery Demographic: While a majority of fans are within the target demographic (that is, young children), you'll still hear plenty of adults who admit to being into the series.
• Ron the Death Eater: A minor case with Cricket. While he's not a very perfect character and can be a bit of an annoying Bratty Half-Pint at times, he means well and is, for the most part, a Cheerful Child who means well and is very curious about the world around him. His detractors, on the other hand, often tend to ignore his redeeming qualities and ramp up his Bratty Half-Pint tendencies by painting him as a bad-tempered Spoiled Brat who throws fits whenever he doesn't get what he wants and enjoys bugging Tilly.
• Suspiciously Similar Song:
  • It's no doubt the song "Burgs' and Fries" from "Fast Foodie" is a parody of "Be Our Guest".
  • The Barry Cuda song sounds an awful lot like it's being sung by Little Richard, with fans comparing it to either "Tutti Frutti" or "Long Tall Sally."
• Vanilla Protagonist: Cricket is truly no Flat Character, but some fans prefer watching the antics of all the other characters he interacts with such as creepy Genki Girl Tilly, Bumbling Dad Bill, and Cool Old Lady with a heart of gold Gramma.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • There's a number of background characters that would've gotten any chance of being more notable without being used once before disappearing in the mists of time. In most cases, as a newly-introduced character, who is a voiced by guest star usually appears once, while the same happened to those not voiced by a guest star.
  • Poor Gloria. She may be part of the main cast, but hardly ever gets used in any merchandise, and has yet to appear in a single short or have her own musical number. Even after moving in with the Greens, she rarely gets involved in any of their adventures, to where Bill even lampshades this in "Sellouts" by saying he often forgets she lives with them now.
  • And where the heck was Chip's dad during the events of "Chipocalypse Now"? Did he even see Chip try to murder Cricket and his family on live TV?
  • Even after her Relationship Upgrade with Cricket, Gabriella has rarely been used, as to the point to as why she even there when writers rarely made her anything but interesting. Though this may be a consequence of her voice actress being busy with other projects at the time.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Nancy was completely unaware of Chip's plans to run her and the rest of the Greens out of town, and never actually gets to encounter him face-to-face. It would've been pretty interesting seeing someone as tough as Nancy face off against Chip.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: The show starts displaying shades of this as it becomes more and more continuity-driven, to the point even dark episodes can be interspersed.
  • In "Blood Moon", the animals (except Phoenix and Dirtbag) are turned into man-eating zombies and the Greens are almost Eaten Alive.
  • Expect a lot of this to occur whenever Chip Whistler is around, beginning S2. The largest example would be his Nightmare Face at the very end of "Reckoning Ball", while an even bigger example would be the climax of "Chipocalypse Now", where Chip becomes a complete psycho when the mayor bans him, and especially when Cricket and his family nearly die.
• The Woobie:
  • Remy, a lonely, sheltered rich kid with controlling parents who never had friends until meeting Cricket and Tilly.
  • Tilly, particularly in "Mama Bird", where she spends the entirety of the episode trying to care for a nest of lost, baby birds, only for them to repeatedly ignore her in favor of the less responsible Cricket.
    • Also for "Cricketsitter", when she tried her best to get Cricket to listen to her and keep him out of harm's way without breaking Bill's trust.
  • Bill. A single father that often struggles to keep his chaotic family under control.
  • Gloria, who constantly has to deal with Cricket and Tilly's antics disrupting her cafe. Her Woobie status would get even worse in "Critterball Crisis", where Cricket accidentally destroys her miniature Eiffel Tower replica and nearly loses her job. Then there is "Elevator Action", where she almost left Big City. It gets much worse when she and Cricket lose their jobs and Big Coffee is closed, thanks to Cricket's feud with Chip.
  • Cricket becomes one in "Phoenix Rises", after Phoenix runs away. He becomes an even bigger example when he realizes him being led to believe Chip changed his ways led up to Big Coffee being shut down, something he ultimately feels drastically sorry for.