The Sherry Show

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The Sherry Show is an American animated television series created by Ralf Hat for Cartoon Network. The series explores the adventures and times of Sherry Longlegs and her various neighbors in the fictional insect-ruled city of Bugvillie. The Sherry Show first aired on  Cartoon Network from February 12, 1997 to July 23, 2019. The series is based on a episode of another series, Instruments & Instruments, entitled, Longer Legs.

The Sherry Show is produced using hand-drawn animation; episodes take about five days to complete. Multiple episodes are worked on concurrently. Each The Sherry Show episode runs for about 22 minutes and includes two or three segments Twenty seasons and 400 episodes have been produced, and the series has currently been renewed for more. In 2014, The Sherry Movie was released to be the first theatrical film based of of The Sherry Show franchise. In the United States, most episodes are given a TV-Y7-FV rating, while some have a TV-PG-V rating on many occasions.

Pre Development
Instruments & Instruments was currently the most watched Deadpan production series at the time. It gained more that 14.5 million American viewers per season. Like The Sherry Show, Instruments & instruments had a large variety of characters throughout.

One episode of the show, "Longer Legs" featured the Longlegs family moving in next door to the brothers. The Longlegs family would have changed in The Sherry Show, for example, in Longer Legs, Sherry's parents are never seen, and only appear as shadowy figures. Bac acted somewhat strict in the pilot, but became friendly and optimistic later in the series.

The pilot was a huge success for  Cartoon Network. Sherry and her family later played secondary roles in Instruments & instruments, raising a larger fandom. Critics praised Sherry's character, and wanted more of her. Hat was excited to make a spinoff seres, which soon would have a positive impact on Deadpan Productions later on.

Golden Age (1997 - 2006)
The time at which The Sherry Show became famous/popular among  Cartoon Network was nicknamed the "Golden Age". This era came around the series from the years 1997 (when it first began) to 2006. There were eleven seasons produced, along with 220 episodes.

Viewership for each episode was mostly around 2.0 million American viewers. These episodes were considered to be the best episodes of the entire show. The Sherry Show was Cartoon Network's highest rated television series, and currently its flagship series.

Much merchandise and media was produced during the seasons, due to more popularity, and even some awards were won.

(2007 - 2013)
The Sherry Show unfortunately dropped in viewership during the years 2007 to 2013, which produced six seasons and 120 episodes. Although the episodes have had an important impact in the series, the viewership became more sleepier due to the rise of more Cartoon Network shows. This "depression" stopped after the series' film was released.

After Movie
The Sherry Movie was an instant hit when it first released in fall of 2014, it had a wide, important impact on the series as it grew with more fame. After the movie, seasons eighteen to now have been watched as an equal amount to the "Golden age episodes".

Development
The show was first conceived by Ralf Hat in mid 1996, after an episode of Instruments & Instruments, entitled "Longer Legs" aired on Cartoon Network, and gained a large popularity. It was intact the most watched episode of Instruments & Instruments during that time. The titular character, Sherry and her family became secondary characters in the show, and their characters were well received by critics.

A conference was held the following week, after the ratings for Instruments & Instruments raised up. About 19 people (main crew, channel executives, lawyers) where held in the conference. Hat discussed about making a spinoff series, which would star Sherry Longlegs as the main character, twelve out of nineteen of the people supported the idea.

Animation is done with cels for the first 6 seasons, digital ink and paint for seasons 7-16, and Adobe Flash from season 17-present. Animation is done by Paramount Television Animation from 1997-2000, Frederator in 2001, and Deadpan Animation Studios from 2002-present (when the studio was founded). Animation is done in only 4 weeks.

From the show's movie and other episodes, the main animators used new and imported animation equipment, which shows more details in color, shape, and movement.

Writing
Each episode of The Sherry Show takes about one to four days to fully write. All seasons have 20 episodes, with usually two segments in each, which may take up to a year to finally finish, just like other known series' such as Spongebob Squarepants or Family Guy. However, unlike many shows, The Sherry Show has a "unique" way of writing. To explain, the writing starts after the main crew (writers, producers, editors) discuss mainly on original ideas for the series.

Next step is possibly the most unique part. The main writers are to pick a few nouns, all different from the rest. After thinking of three nouns, Hat tries to make a plot out of the nouns. For example, if the nouns: kite, bird, and moon were picked, the crew would have to think of a plot using those words.

After writing a one to five sentenced plot, Hat expands it from a few sentences to four paragraphs (the average episode plot rate). After making the full plot for the episode, the rough draft is sent across the room, where the crew takes a look at it, suggesting ideas to add in or take out. Next step is to begin writing the entire script. A rough copy, and an improved copy. All of the episodes include running gags, punchlines, action moments, etc.

Last step is for the actors to read their script, only to see if they are comfortable to act it out If not the crew must find a way to add the line out. The system is repeated for nearly all episodes of the series, which leads a more random, creative idea throughout.

Animating
After writing and recording the full episode's script, the crews next stop is to animate the series. Seasons one to seven mainly use traditional hand drawn animation, which is often used with an SD camera. Seasons eight to fourteen use Adobe Flash. Seasons fifteen and up are animated using Toon Boom animation.

Animation usually takes about a week to complete. There are about three animation stills for every second of a 11 minute episode (1980 stills in total). The series also uses storyboards since its third season. Once the animation is finished, it is sent back to the United States where it is reviewed; the staff look for mistakes in the animation or "things that didn't animate the way intended". These problems are then fixed in Korea and the episode is finished.