My Gym Partner's a Monkey

My Gym Partner's a Monkey
File:Adamandjake.png Adam Lyon and Jake Spidermonkey
Genre	Animated Sitcom
Created by	Julie McNally-Cahill Timothy Cahill
Written by	Tom Sheppard Mitch Larson William Reiss
Directed by	Timothy Cahill
Voices of	Nika Futterman Tom Kenny Rick Gomez Grey DeLisle Maurice LaMarche Phil LaMarr Brian Doyle-Murray Cree Summer
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	98 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Julie McNally Cahill Timothy Cahill Brian A. Miller and Jennifer Pelphrey (for Cartoon Network Studios) Jeff Prezenkowski (for Cartoon Network)
Running time	22 minutes
Production company	Cartoon Network Studios
Original release
Network	Cartoon Network
Release	December 26, 2005 (2005-12-26) – November 27, 2008 (2008-11-27)

My Gym Partner's a Monkey is an American animated television series created by Timothy and Julie McNally Cahill and produced by Cartoon Network Studios. It premiered on Cartoon Network on December 26, 2005. The story revolves around Adam Lyon, a human who, after a clerical error listed his surname as "Lion," is forced to transfer to Charles Darwin Middle School, a school for local anthropomorphic zoo animals, where he is partnered with Jake Spidermonkey in gym, with whom he quickly becomes best friends.

The series aired 96 episodes, one special and a feature film during its run. The series ended its 4-season run on November 25, 2008. On April 27, 2012, this series returned to Cartoon Network to show reruns on the revived block, Cartoon Planet.

My Gym Partner's a Monkey was a ratings success for Cartoon Network, gaining millions of viewers. The series was met with generally positive reviews from critics. It was nominated for four Annie Awards and one Emmy Award, winning the Emmy Award.

Overview

See also: List of My Gym Partner's a Monkey episodes and List of My Gym Partner's a Monkey characters

Adam (left) and Jake (right)

The story revolves around Adam Lyon, a human. After a clerical error listed his surname as "Lion," Adam is forced to transfer from Chester Arthur Middle School to Charles Darwin Middle School, a school for local anthropomorphic zoo animals. Shortly after his transfer, he is partnered with Jake Spidermonkey in gym (hence the title). While Jake enjoys having fun at the expense of others, he quickly becomes attached to Adam, and the two become best friends. The majority of the show's humor derives from Adam's attempts to reconcile his human limitations, as well as his outsider status, with the demands of an animal-centric school and social scene. Adam and Jake are seen hanging out with their "gang," which consists of Adam, Jake, Windsor Gorilla, Slips Python, Guadalupe "Lupe" Toucan and Ingrid Giraffe.

Much of Charles Darwin Middle School is modeled after specific habitats. There are fish tubes created so that the fish can breathe and swim around. There are also vines and bodies of water. Some animals like Bull Sharkowski use devices to allow them to live outside of their natural habitat. In Bull's case he uses what looks like headphones full of water that go around his gills. The main characters have been able to breathe in water in the early episodes for some mysterious reason.

Charles Darwin Middle School appears to be the only animal school around, as it is later explained in the episode "Uniformity." In the episode, there are high end east coast schools for animals. Also, there is a school for plants called Creeping Broad-Leaf Sedge Middle School (CBLSMS) where Jake is sent to due to a clerical error calling him a spider plant (only in one episode). The school competes against human schools in athletics and other events. In one episode where Adam signs up to return to his old school for a day transfer, all the teachers and staff seem to replicate their animal counterparts.

History

See also: List of My Gym Partner's a Monkey episodes

The series was created by husband and wife, Timothy and Julie McNally Cahill. After a pilot airing on December 26, 2005, the series had a two-episode premiere on Cartoon Network's Fridays block on February 24, 2006. The My Gym Partner's a Monkey-based television film The Big Field Trip aired on January 14, 2007 as part of season 3. A special episode, "That Darn Platypus," aired on Cartoon Network on May 6, 2007 as part of Cartoon Network Invaded, a mini-series that aired all 5 specials from May 4 to May 28, 2007. The series ended its 4 season-run on November 27, 2008, with the episode "A Thanksgiving Carol". Reruns of the series are shown on the revived block Cartoon Planet since April 27, 2012.

Two DVD volumes of the series have been released in Australia. The first, My Gym Partner's a Monkey - King of the Jungle (featuring 6 episodes, 150 minutes), was released on April 4, 2007 and the second, My Gym Partner's a Monkey - Monkey Business (featuring 7 episodes, 154 minutes), on January 23, 2008. Both are available for purchase on Amazon.com. There have been no further volumes released. All the seasons are available on the iTunes Store.

Reception

My Gym Partner's a Monkey was a ratings success for Cartoon Network. On the series' Cartoon Network Fridays block two-episode premiere at 9:00 and 9:30 P.M. EST, the first episode was seen by 1,193,000 and the second by 1,281,000 children ages 2–11, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research. The 9:30 P.M. telecast ranked as the #1 telecast on all television, broadcast and cable, with both boys 6–11 and boys 2–11 in the time period. The series went on top the Fridays block ratings, gaining millions of viewers.

My Gym Partner's a Monkey received generally positive reviews from critics. William Barker of Web Wombat gave the King of the Jungle DVD a positive review, awarding it with a score of 70%, saying: "With an original - dare I say unique? - premise, My Gym Partner's a Monkey makes for a somewhat refreshing change from super heroes and mutants, and the cut-out animation style is captivating, though far from novel. It's not the most impressive cartoon show I've ever seen, but it's quite cute and fairly amusing - even for the older primates among us." Larisa Wiseman of Common Sense Media awarded the series 3 out of 5 stars, saying: "It's difficult to tell what age group the show's producers were aiming at -- the animation style and slapstick by themselves would seem to appeal mainly to grade-schoolers, while the jokes and life lessons are definitely aimed at the tween set. The sly humor may even give some adults the occasional laugh-out-loud moment. Overall, My Gym Partner's a Monkey is commendable for its effort to include a subtle message in each episode. Younger viewers will probably find Jake's sometimes-annoying goofiness amusing, and will definitely find the story lines entertaining."

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result
2006	Annie Awards	Writing in an Animated Television Production	Tom Sheppard for "Nice Moustache"	Nominated
		Production Design in an Animated Television Production	Dan Krall for "Grub Drive"	Nominated
2007	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation	Narina Sokolova for The Big Field Trip	Won
	Annie Awards	Writing in an Animated Television Production	Tom Sheppard for "The Butt of Jake"	Nominated
		Best Animation Production Artist	Jim Worthy for "Meet the Spidermonkeys"	Nominated

External links

• Official website
• Template:Bcdb
• My Gym Partner's a Monkey at IMDb
• Template:TV.com show