Chowder (TV series)

Chowder is an American animated surreal comedy television series created by C. H. Greenblatt for Cartoon Network. It premiered on November 2, 2007, and ended on August 7, 2010, after three seasons with a total of 49 episodes.

The series follows an aspiring young boy named Chowder and his day-to-day adventures as an apprentice in Chef Mung Daal's catering company. Although he means well, Chowder often finds himself in predicaments due to his perpetual appetite and his nature as a scatterbrain. Chowder's guidance in his goal to become a master chef is influenced by Mung's wife, Truffles; Mung's assistant Shnitzel; Mung's rival Ms. Endive; her apprentice Panini, who has a perpetual crush on Chowder; as well as other side characters.

The show had one win and two nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards as well as six nominations at the Annie Awards.

The series revolves around the titular Chowder, who works as an apprentice to chef Mung Daal at his catering company. Though he is lighthearted and carefree, Chowder's actions habitually land him in circumstances beyond his control, partly due to his large appetite and absent-mindedness. Mung and his wife Truffles, Mung's rock monster employee Schnitzel, and Chowder's gaseous pet Kimchi all try to aid Chowder in his ambitions to become a great chef, but frequently find themselves undermined by the calamitous antics that ensue. Chowder is also undermined by Panini, a girl who has an unrequited love for Chowder, going so far as to say that he is her boyfriend despite the pair not actually dating.

Each character is named after a type of food or dish.

During his time working on Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants, Greenblatt had been sketching various characters for his own animation series concept. Greenblatt originally based the premise on the idea of the sorcerer's apprentice style of story, such as The Sword in the Stone. The plot devices were modified so that the story revolves around a master chef who teaches his young apprentice how to cook. Chowder himself was developed with no specific species in mind, but rather with the intentions of invoking the image of a child's soft squeeze toy. Some of the inspiration comes from Dr. Seuss, with other inspiration from Saturday morning cartoons.

Greenblatt pitched the concept to Cartoon Network in the mid-2000s when he began working as a writer and storyboard artist for The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, and two years later the series was approved with another year for production before the pilot episode aired. Greenblatt estimates he spent about seven years working on Chowder before the show made it to air in 2007. Chowder was animated by Hong Ying Animation.

Episodes are produced in seasons which consist of twenty 22-minute episodes. Each episode is produced with a 30-second puppet sequence that is meant to run over the ending credits. Episodes can be purchased from the iTunes Store in the United States which are delivered with the sequences as are episodes which are available on Cartoon Network's VOD website also within the United States.