The Frankie Foster discussion thread

[L.G.]

Originally Posted by Cassini90125

It's a doable idea but it assumes that Frankie's parents are missing. We don't know that, or anything about them at all, really. For all we know they could be living just down the street and simply not be on speaking terms with Frankie. I'm hoping that we'll get more details about her parents, and other aspects of her background, in the few remaining episodes. There are too many mysteries surrounding my favorite character; I want some answers.

Not on speaking terms?? What could Frankie have done that her parents won't speak to her??

[Xroc88]

She Probably owned them with her awesomeness.

[Cassini90125]

Originally Posted by L.G.

Not on speaking terms?? What could Frankie have done that her parents won't speak to her??

I didn't state it as a fact, only as a possibility. It's speculation; as I've said, we simply have no information about her parents or the current state of Frankie's relationship with them, if any. During the course of the series she's mentioned them only once, in Who Let The Dogs In?, and all she said about them was that they told her there's no such things as ghosts.

We've discussed this topic before but with the show winding down there's the possibility that we may finally get some answers; if so, I'm willing to bet we'll get them in the series-ending movie, which would be a good place for a lot of loose ends to be tied up. Either way, it couldn't hurt to take another look at the subject of Frankie's parents here and now. What does everyone think? Are Frankie and her parents on speaking terms? Are they estranged? If so, why? Or have we never seen them for no reason other than the writers never having gotten around to writing about them? My own feeling is that there's some degree of estrangement between them, and I think it's related to her work at Foster's. I have long believed that the reason Frankie doesn't have an Imaginary Friend is because her parents wouldn't allow her to have one (for whatever reason); having been denied one of her own, she went to work at Foster's to take care of everyone else's IF's and make sure they get adopted so that other kids might have what she never had herself. There could be some lingering resentment over all that on both sides. That's my belief, anyway, at least the basics of it; there are many other possibilities, ranging from sensible to ridiculous. (One theory I heard in the ridiculous category was that Frankie works at Foster's because a judge sentenced her to do community service there. Possible, but highly unlikely.)

Okay, I'm done rambling. What do the rest of you think?

[L.G.]

I doubt there's bitterness between Frankie and her parents: I fear that her parents may actually have passed away when she was very young. Sad yes, but IMO, why else haven't we heard from them or Frankie's grandpa for that matter?

[Cassini90125]

That is a possibility. It's likely that Madame Foster's husband is gone but I don't think that's the case with her parents, mostly because I doubt Cartoon Network would want the subject of dead parents brought up in a children's cartoon. It could make for a powerful storyline but the execs aren't likely to see it that way.

[Lynnie]

Regarding Frankie's parents, the way I always saw it was that for some reason or other they couldn't care for her, so Madame F gained custody of her. Perhaps one of them is deceased, and the other just wasn't responsible enough to care for a child by themselves. So the state handed her over to her grandmother instead. I've also entertained the thought of them living on the other side of the country, and Madame F wanted to "show off" her IFs to her granddaughter when she was little. Frankie loved it there so much, she asked to stay, and vacations just to visit turned into a permanent residence sometime during her teen years, perhaps when she started middle school or something. As for why her parents have been mentioned really only once in the entire history of the show so far, it's possible she wasn't very close to her parents and, not that she has any remorse or anything, she simply doesn't think about them much, and in turn doesn't bring them up. Madame F isn't in the show enough I don't think for us to really expect her to bring them up, although she may bring them up "off camera".

And as for why Frankie never had an IF herself, my thoughts have always been that she spent so much time at Foster's, whether visiting or actually living there, to feel the need to imagine up one of her own.

[Cassini90125]

For those interested, one of the things I asked Craig about at the Con this year was the nagging question of what Frankie's college major was. Surprisingly, he told me that they never picked one. So I guess we can keep speculating until doomsday, but none of us will be completely right or wrong. I'm going with social work, for now, anyway; it's a difficult major, as Dylan noted, it's a pretty good fit for her, and several people I know who went into that field have similar personalities. But in truth her major could be something completely unrelated, like mathematics or agriculture. We'll likely never know for sure.

I also learned that Frankie's natural father is in fact Madam Foster's son, as most people have assumed, so ideas about her being an Imaginary Friend herself or adopted or an alien can safely be thrown out.

[Xroc88]

Originally Posted by Cassini90125

For those interested, one of the things I asked Craig about at the Con this year was the nagging question of what Frankie's college major was. Surprisingly, he told me that they never picked one. So I guess we can keep speculating until doomsday, but none of us will be completely right or wrong. I'm going with social work, for now, anyway; it's a difficult major, as Dylan noted, it's a pretty good fit for her, and several people I know who went into that field have similar personalities. But in truth her major could be something completely unrelated, like mathematics or agriculture. We'll likely never know for sure.

I also learned that Frankie's natural father is in fact Madam Foster's son, as most people have assumed, so ideas about her being an Imaginary Friend herself or adopted or an alien can safely be thrown out.

hahah frankie an alien? I lol'ed.

[Cassini90125]

Originally Posted by Xroc88

hahah frankie an alien? I lol'ed.

It was one of the sillier theories about her background, yeah. Don't recall where I read it, though. I don't think anyone other than the loon who dreamed it up ever believed it.

[Medikor]

I think Frankie being an imaginary friend would make more sense than an alien. I could see a very lonely and neglected child thinking up a loving and thoughtful individual like her, but an alien? That may just be thinking a little too hard.