Big Nate

Here's a five-minute preview clip, featuring the show's opening theme. Nate's presented as a Fourth-Wall Observer, not unlike Ferris Buller, while begrudging his science project requiring a partner. Interestingly, in addition to the limited timing on the animation, it also takes advantage of a Medium Blending approach:

As a fan of the comic strip since I was a kid, that whole clip just put a warm smile on my face. Looking forward to this one!

I wasn't feeling the jokes for most of it, but they got better towards the end. I do like the artistic choices, even if I still wish they had the original pupils.

Two shorts for the series have been released: How To Pull A Proper Prank, and Theater Antics. Fun Fact: Despite not having a confirmed release at the time, a clip of Theater Antics (in the thumbnail) was shown during Nick's Tooned In game show last year.

The first couple of episodes are out today. By the way, Lincoln Peirce had make original comic panels for each episode's credits.

I watched the first episode.

It’s actually pretty good and very faithful to the source material.

I finished this show recently. The slice-of-life stuff usually isn't my cup of tea, but I tried it considering the people who worked on it and I ended up having a good time. The online shorts don't really represent the show. While there is gross-out humor, it's not frequent and most of it happens in the Valentine's Day episode. Not every joke hits, but the best ones actually got some laughs from me. There's a surprising amount of dark, edgy humor. There's a variety between slapstick, quips, and tons of blended media.

The last part leads to some neat animation switches between CGI, 2D, realistic photos, and other stuff. It made the show interesting to look at. The regular animation is also pretty good, with some expressive models and very textured designs and objects. I know some people won't like how the eyes look, but you can get used to them pretty fast.

I liked the characters overall, with Dee Dee probably being my favorite of the kids. Nate's voice kind of annoyed me, but the show did a good job making him likable. I think Teddy is the only one who doesn't really seem to have much a personality to stand out, and his voice doesn't really fit the character model that much. I also like the performances by Kevin Michael Richardson and Michael Rivkin as Principal Nichols and Mr. Galvin. I was surprised they got Jack Black in a guest role, even if it was for a one-off role. I guess they spent a lot of money on the show, considering the frequent use of licensed music.

Overall, it's a fun show. Nothing huge, but I'd check out the second season whenever it comes out.

New episodes will premiere in August.

I finished watching the rest of the season recently. Overall, it was pretty good, just as the previous two episode batches. I continue to be a fan of the animation and art style used. I noticed they didn't have as many horror-themed episodes, but there's more musical numbers instead. I think I liked Dee Dee's romantic number the most, and as foreshadowed by her little moment in "The Pimple", she gets a girlfriend.

I'm also glad they gave some focus on Teddy, specifically his math-genius side that was prominent in the comic, but not here until now. And despite the show's cynical humor, "Nate on a Hot Tin Roof" gave the teachers a surprisingly wholesome ending.

The season finale wasn't my favorite episode and it was disappointing Jack Black didn't come back as Brad Gunter, but it did bring things to full circle.

The title drop (complete with the classic Nickelodeon splat logo) was a fun gag, and I liked the reveal that Gunter was seeing him all along. The fact that you can spot him in the background if you rewatch to those episodes was a nice surprise, and it's some effort a lot of shows and movies that pull this type of reveal usually don't bother with. I wasn't as impressed with the other reveal that he was part of Nate's imagination, since the first episode kind of hinted that anyway.

Overall, a solid first season. I'm looking forward to the second season, whenever that comes.

The show has been nominated by GLAAD for "Outstanding Kids & Family Programming – Animated"!

Nice! It also got Annie Awards 2023 nominations for Best TV/Media for Children and Best Writing for TV/Media.

First 10 episodes of Season 2 will premiere on July 7th. Here's an article and a new trailer.

The show has been abruptly removed from Paramount Plus, Nickelodeon, and any official sites. Though at the moment, it can still be bought on other sites.

I'm surprised they're doing that with this show since it's been one of the more well-promoted and merchandised shows. It even got a couple of renewals and some award nominations.

I… I dunno. I dunno what’s happening. Hopefully, it’ll pop up on Netflix or something.

Apple TV has some unaired episodes of season 2, though they can only be viewed in the Canadian version and it's up to episode 18. Hopefully they're resurface somewhere.