Your Top Five Least Favorite Episodes

[emperor26]

1.) Emancipation Complication
2.) Setting A President
3.) Cuckcoo For Coco Cards
4.) Bye Bye Nerdy
5.) When There's A Wilt, There's A Way/ Everyone Knows It's Bendy

[Voxxyn]

1. Imposter's Home For, Um... Make 'Em Up Pals ~ A vile and traumatic mess. A callous insult to Frankie and her fans. A complete disgrace to Foster's.

2. Where There's A Wilt There's A Way ~ Just like "Imposter's"--same writer, same long-winded title, same unwarranted cruel treatment of sympathetic and beloved characters.

3. Foster's Goes To Europe ~ Basically a mish-mash of inconsistent scenes and gags assembled together under a very basic premise... up until the ending, which is brutally coldblooded and absolutely disgraceful on part of the entire crew. Eurotrish was an entertaining one-shot character, and the fact she manages to return home might be considered as the saving grace--except she gets cynically mocked and rejected in the ending credits. Yes, they definitely weren't trying to hurt people's feelings...

4. I Only Have Surprise For You ~ The meanspirited nature of this episode took a while to kick in for me, but once it did, it stung pretty badly. Like with the other listed episodes, the writers completely misunderstand conflict and making characters "suffer for their art". It's funny to see the egocentric, larger-than-life Looney Tunes cast endure extreme physical pain--but it is NOT funny to see a sympathetic and wholesome kid like Mac become psychologically traumatized over what should be a day of joy and happiness.

5. Phone Home - This had a very promising storyline and setup -- Bloo envying Wilt and his heroic achievements -- that really deserved it's own half-hour episode. Ironically, though, it didn't even bother to make proper use of it's 11-minute runtime, as it derailed with the annoyingly obvious saga of Cell Phone Guy. The Groucho Marx chicken was cool, at least.

Additionally, I find it almost impossible to get into any episode in which Frankie is absent or only makes a blink-and-miss-it background appearance("The Big Leblooski", "Eddie Monster", "One False Movie", "Infernal Slumber" and "Make-Believe It Or Not"). They definitely aren't bad episodes because of it, but for me at least, the show loses a lot of color and warmth without Frankie.

[Ditchy McAbandonpants]

I had a feeling that it was only a matter of time before someone posted a topic like this...the evil cousin of the Top 10 Fave Episodes thread, if you will. You many notice that I've bashed out another monstrously long post, and I'm sorry about that (is that OK? ); this wasn't so enjoyable to write, either.

Now, these aren't in any order, nor are they actually my picks for "worst episodes" per se - there are one or two that I think are actually worse than some of the ones I've picked. These are just episodes with which I have specific problems that I want to highlight.

Adoptcalypse Now

This episode had its moments (notably, Herriman's realisation that he doesn't wear any pants), but I feel the writers really miscalculated in their assumption that I could sympathise with Mac and Bloo's efforts to sabotage Adopt-A-Thought Saturday. I've always loved the poignancy of the Foster's concept, which was evoked very well at the end of "Good Wilt Hunting"; Foster's is really like an orphanage, a place for lost and abandoned friends to stay until they can find a loving family, and another chance at happiness both fr themselves and for their child. Wilt even says as much in this episode when he's reprimanding Bloo for his actions, but he and Mac, in their self-serving quest to ruin the day, simply ignore him. Obviously the audience is supposed to do the same, but I just couldn't.

My So-Called Wife

It feels a little harsh to include this episode in this list, because it did make me laugh a few times, but the fact is I was really disappointed by how this one turned out. There's a Chinese proverb I learned that really summed up how I felt about this episode - "to paint legs on a snake", ie to ruin something by adding things which are superfluous. The central premise, of the stuffy Mr Herriman having to give the insane Coco the My Fair Lady treatment to pass her off as his wife, is fantastic, but the writers seemed unable to follow it through, instead adding a huge host of entirely extraneous additional plotlines and twists (Bloo's sarcasm lessons, Mac and Bloo inexplicably deciding to crash the party, the ludicrous millionaire games plotline, Mr Factor turning out to be a conman) that gave us a few laughs but completely compromised any narrative coherency, and also rendering the great central plotline practically irrelevant. Coco doesn't get many showcase episodes, and I was sad to see how this one was hijacked.

Imposter's Home For Um...Make' Em Up Pals

I wrote a very long analysis of exactly what I thought went wrong with the infamous "Imposter's..." in the "Goofball John Magee" topic on the "Supporting Characters" board, so if you want my full thoughts on this episode, head over there. In short, I don't despise the episode with the same fervour a lot of others do, because I don't believe the writers actually intended it to be mean-spirited or malicious; I think it was intended to be twenty minutes of zany fun with a surprising and emotionally satisfying ending. Needless to say, that therefore makes the actual execution a mind-bogglingly colossal failure in all respects, as what it came across as was a deeply, deeply irritating story of an extremely obnoxious character harassing an extremely likeable character and getting no comeuppance for it whatsoever. The episode is not evil, in my opinion; just rubbish.

Foster's Goes To Europe

EuroTrish was an amusing parody of Don Bluth-brand schmaltz, but otherwise this was just another example of how to completely mismanage audience reaction. Just like "Imposter's..." here we had a very sympathetic protagonist (Mac) being walked all over for twenty minutes by entirely unsympathtic antagonists (everyone else really, but mostly Bloo). What kind of satisfaction are we supposed to take from that? And that's not even mentioning the ludicrously mean-spirited ending...in my opinion, the character of Madame Foster was generally handled really quite badly right up until late Season Three. The idea was always that she's supposed to be a really lovely, pleasant and sprightly old dear who's occasionally prone to the odd burst of craziness or belligerence for comedic effect, but for most of the first three seasons, her pleasant side was just kind of assumed; they didn't bother to actually show it very often at all. As a result, the impression I got of her was that she was just a senile, actually quite unpleasant old lady. They've since rectified this with episodes such as A Lost Claus, Bloo's The Boss and Emancipation Complication, but her actions in Foster's Goes To Europe still stand out as the series's nastiest moment.

Camp Keep A Good Mac Down

This suffers from a similar problem to the previous two episodes, but Mac isn't quite as sympathetic here. In fact, this is one of those episodes where none of the characters is particularly sympathetic; the writers aren't trying to engage you emotionally here, they're just using the characters' established schticks to drive forward a series of events. This isn't a problem in itself, as many great episodes have come from this template (Bus The Two Of Us being a standout); the problem is that they unbalance the whole dynamic by making Bloo so utterly unlikeable. This is a show whose emotional basis and underlying theme is one of friendship, primarily the one between Mac and Bloo. Sure, Bloo is a hyperactive, overly impulsive and often selfish character, but if you just make him an obnoxious jerk to the extent he doesn't even seem to care about his friends, you undermine the entire basis of the show. This and the previous two episodes I mentioned formed a quick-fire triple whammy at the beginning of Season Three which could have actually killed the show dead; the writers have thankfully since got it right back on track, but they need to make sure they remember and learn from the mistakes they made then.

[Mr. Marshmallow]

I am REALLY surprised to find "Camp" and "My so called Wife" on here, because I laughed my ass of at those two episodes. I know each his own and all, but I really enjoyed those.

1. I Only have Surprise for you

Aside from Eduardo's great performance just "doing what everyone else does" I can't stand to watch a second of this travesty anymore. This episode is nothing more then a flaming red hot poker in the eye for Mac and myself, a hardcore character bashing episode with NO resolve.

Frankie even got SOME resolve from her nightmare episode, but I refuse to find the humor or enjoyment in seeing a kid becoming psychologically damaged and permanently terrified of his own birthday by his own BEST FRIEND. It's painful to watch any of it just knowing that it's just a means to cripple poor Mac.

2. Foster's home for um....Make'em up pals

While happy at the end, Frankie didn't deserve any of the hellish crap she was put through in this episode. Anyone with a pair of eyeballs and a BRAIN could come to suspect Goofball was a fake. This episode did nothing but abuse, drain, and suffocate Frankie and abuse her contributes to this house hold.

Watching her scrubbing scene is like having pins jammed in my skin, it's just too painful to take without cringing. Frankie didn't deserve this, and Frankie fan or not, no one should have to put up with someone like Goofball EVER.

3. Make-Believe it or not

I'll be honest, I have no idea why this episode was popular because frankly, it made my head hurt. Goo being knocked down a peg took way too long to come around, and to continue seeing her act so arrogant in her "perfect imagination"ness, was still annoying.

The logic in this episode is completely backwards and confusing, even for this show. Bloo closing the door on Mac is a sight I will NEVER forget no matter what anyone says. And to top it all off, Frankie, Herriman, and Madame Foster apparantly vanished into thin air and no reason was given, poor choice.

4. Bye Bye Nerdy

You know, it's amazing to think Bloo and Mac are best friends considering Bloo puts Mac through emotional, mental, and now SOCIAL hell through out most of the show. Bloo thinking Mac was a nerd simply because of that single image he briefly saw was pretty stupid.

As was his half assed ideas how to make Mac cool. I didn't really find them funny because they were too lame to be considered comical, plus, when did Bloo become an expert on labeling what's cool and what's nerdy? He hasn't been to Mac's school often, and in the end, Mac just ends up getting hurt.

5. Adoptcalypse Now

Not a bad episode but not a great one either. It seems odd to me that Mac wouldn't understand the point of a Foster home until now, and I don't think he would be the kind to go out of his way to ruin everything his friends and the others worked to put up. Mac can be sad, but not THIS stupid about things.

I also despite the obvious irony and appropriateness of the ending tie up scene, didn't really like it. It just bothered me thinking Wilt, Frankie, and Mr. Herriman would be "okay" with tying Mac and Bloo up in a closet. Bad image.

[HappyFoppy]

1. [Toilet Medal. Whoo.] Phone Home.
What Herriman did to Bloo was mean. It's unbelievable Bloo was told there's no price to it, he even admitted Wilt won, which is unlikely for Bloo, but no-one cares, until Mac comes in and gets a freaking CAR? Stingy, especially towards Bloo. Oh yeah, I guess you didn't notice, but the sound sample at the end makes it more annoying!

2. [Dirt Medal. Yup.] Foster's Goes to Europe.
Madame Foster was harsh to everyone and everything. Who the hell steals a ticket from an 8-year old and a bunch of IF's? Sure, CN though it's funny, but emotionally, no.

3. ["This was left under my bed" Medal. Here we go.] Beat with a Shtick.
(New Guy = Anti-Bloo) + (Bloo = Anti-Ed) + (Madame Foster = Anti-Bloo) + (Terrence = Anti-Mac) + (Bloo = for Terrence) = Horrible. No-one, or hardly anyone was really supporting Bloo, and what Bloo did to Mac just for TERRENCE, was unbelieveble. Side note: It's _always_ on tv here, I've seen it 6 á 7 times.

4. [Carton Medal. All right.] Camp Keep a Good Mac Down.
Mac etc etc goes camping, Bloo eats all food, everyone is in trouble, Madame Foster dissapears for days and no-one wonders about her (meanwhile, Frankie is at home with no-one telling her to do chores), Everyone gets saved by bees, but whatever, Wilt _was_ almost dead, but in the end, all other things that happened was Herriman who got mad on little bunnies. In my line of sight, nothing really happened in this episode. Just some straight gags with nothing fitting chars.

5. [Wooden Medal. Almost cut my finger for this one. OH SNPA. ): ]Everyone Knows it's Bendy
No-one took time to listen to Bloo, and at the end, Bendy _got_ catched, but because Bloo did something worse, does that mean Bendy doesn't get any punishment? Riiight.

[billytheskink]

1- Blooooo - Though I know many would disagree, I found this episode to the least entertaining round of Frankie-torment. Not that such things are normally entertaining... The ending really sunk this episode. One of 2 episodes that made me genuinely angry (the other hit #3).

2- Phone Home - What little happened in this episode was extremely unentertaining. Easily the worst episode plotwise and entertainment-wise.

3- Imposter's Home for Um... Make-em' up Pals - Everyone loves to hate it, so why should I be the exception?
The only thing keeping it out of a tie for first is that I do think that Frankie, Goofball, and Herriman's dialouge in the office is hilarious.


4- Camp Keep a Good Mac Down - This episode was one heck of a frustrator. I found myself more frustrated than the cast. Add to that the failure of most of the jokes and gags (they annoyed me more than entertained me). As HappyFoppy said, nothing really happened; and that nothing had little entertainment value.

5- Foster's Goes to Europe - Another frustrating episode. Instead of laughing at the character's frustrating experiences (which is plenty possible when done right) I just got frustrated along with cast. "Twist" ending didn't help.

Where there's a Wilt, There's a Way just barely missed the cut, but make no mistake, I did not enjoy it. I made an exception for the much reviled Everyone Knows It's Bendy because of "I'm Punk Rock..." The Trouble With Scribbles used to really annoy me (and still does a bit), but not anywhere close to enough to get on a list such as this.

I've found little worth hating in the other episodes.

["C" the Dragon]

Here's MY top 5 least favorite:

5. Bye Bye Nerdy: Mac becomes a nerd, Mac finally becomes cool, but turns back to a nerd. Not cool.

4.Bloo Done It: This really irks me, especially the song. The only thing I like about this is Bloo's story of Uncle Pockets.

3.Only A Surprise For You: At first I enjoyed it, then I hated it when everoyone got mad at Mac for breaking some other friend's party when Mac thought it was his, began to lighten up massively at the part when Mac is making Artie's party a blast as a clown, and then... I permently hated it when Mac gets laughed at the end and Bloo succeds again. Not funny.

2. Imposter's Home For, Uh... Make `em Up Pals: Frankie not getting to have the fun of seeing the concert all because of some snotty and lazy friend. Terrible.

1. Everyone Knows It's Bendy: Oh, man, THAT episode was the worst! Everyone, including Wilt, gets blamed, and Bendy won at the end! I HATE it when that happens!!

Those are my opinions of the top 5 most terrible episodes.

[Voxxyn]

I didn't see anything wrong or upsetting with "Bloooo". It was a very intense and physically harsh time for Frankie, but since it was a misunderstanding on her part and the hook-armed friend didn't really do anything remotely malicious, I'm able to enjoy it. It wasn't like a certain Season 3 episode that did nothing but abuse and destroy her in every way possible, and cynically mock and insult her fanbase.

[fosters home fan]

In order from 1(worst) to 5

1.Imposter's home for blablablablabla.

Cruel and malicious treatment to Frankie(which she did NOT deserve),plus since WHEN did everyone start to hate Frankie?! I mean Goofbarf was a SLEAZEBAG! Every time this wreck of an episode comes on I FLIP THE CHANNEL!WHAT WAS THE FOSTERS CREW THINKING?!


2.Emancipation complication:the musical number sucked,plus it was kinda boring.


3.I only have surprise for you:Just,meh plus Mac wasn't treated very nicely,either.


4.Challenge of the superfriends:zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzenough star wars parodieszzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzz


5.the trouble with tribblesscribbles:I just didn't like this one.

[billytheskink]

Originally Posted by Voxxyn

I didn't see anything wrong or upsetting with "Bloooo". It was a very intense and physically harsh time for Frankie, but since it was a misunderstanding on her part and the hook-armed friend didn't really do anything remotely malicious, I'm able to enjoy it. It wasn't like a certain Season 3 episode that did nothing but abuse and destroy her in every way possible, and cynically mock and insult her fanbase.

I disagree. I had this discussion with Mr. Marshmallow some time ago.

The Season 1 unnamed episode continues to irk me more than the Season 3. It's a writer issue.