Back in 2016, when KaBlam was gaining attention via the splat, it was one of the best and most creative cartoons in nickelodeon history. I still feel that way for seasons 1 and 2. Season 1 admittedly re-cycled the surprising shorts segments in the first few episodes, but both it and season 2 are still among the best of 90s nickelodeon.
However, season 3 and 4 just don't compare. They're not as bad as other cartoon seasonal rots, but compared to the first two, Henry and June's friendship was more one-dimensional. So when watching the Henry and June show, I was hoping the old character dynamic would be brought back. I was wrong.
Henry went from being a dorky, lovable television geek to a bit of a jerkass starting with the season 3 premiere "More Happiness than Allowed by the Law." June went from being a dainty, "Clarissa Explains it All" level tomboy, to basically the voice of reason out of the two in the previously mentioned episode and to some extent "A Nut in every bite." And unfortunately this tv movie uses that template. Like at the beginning when Henry buys a car with both his and June's money causing June to beat him up in a long drawn out chase sequence during the premiere of their own show (by the way, H&J segments should have never attempted slapstick due to their simplicity in animations contrasting Clampett and Antonucci cartoons).
In a nutshell, this episode is about Henry and June being pissed off that nobody saw their new show. So some kid from the episode "Going the extra Mile" convinces them to go to a school full of rich, famous tv stars like the Olsen Twins. Where they soon realize the life of fame isn't as great as they hoped. This leads me to another problem with this special:
What made KaBlam so unlike other cartoons was the comic book presentation of flipping through cartoons. In retrospect, the series takes a lot of influence from "You can't do that on Television" and "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (being a spin off to "All That"), but it was blend of art-styles and side cartoons that weren't small. They weren't just a student film, but fleshed out mini shows. This episode doesn't have that. Literally.
The Henry and June show banks off of if you enjoy watching a half-hour of these two characters without the added stuff that gives KaBlam a distinct identity. Because of this, in my opinion, The Henry and June Show is not good times. It's understandable as to why this never became its own series. It's worth a watch if you've got nothing better to do, but it's not God's gift to animation. It seemed like just a fun experiment. Honestly I'm more embarrassed by the fact that it's been 22 years and yet their still hasn't been a review for this yet.
