Craig McCracken built a mansion and filled it with the abandoned. Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends premiered on Cartoon Network on August 13, 2004, with a 90-minute television film, and ran for six seasons before signing off on May 3, 2009. The premise is one of the sharper ideas in kids’ animation: imaginary friends physically manifest when a child thinks them up, and when that child outgrows them, they move into a Victorian home full of rooms, waiting to be adopted by someone new.
Trailer, via Cartoon Network.
Mac and Bloo’s Arrangement
Mac is eight, clever and a little shy. His mother tells him he is too old for Bloo, his troublemaking best friend. Rather than lose him, Mac brings Bloo to Foster’s after seeing a television advertisement, and learns the residents are available for adoption. He persuades Frankie, Mr. Herriman and Madame Foster to let Bloo stay on one condition: Mac visits every day. That deal is the engine of the whole series, and it never stops being a good one.
The Staff Who Run the House
Madame Foster founded the place. Her imaginary rabbit, Mr. Herriman, enforces the rules as business manager. Her granddaughter Frankie handles the day-to-day. Around them sit hundreds of residents, each thought up by a different child for a different reason. The show treats that crowd as a population, not a backdrop, which is why episodes about nothing in particular still land.
A Flash-First for Cartoon Network
Foster’s was the network’s first series primarily animated using Adobe Flash. Production was based in Burbank, California, with additional animation from Boulder Media in Ireland. The look holds up: flat, bright, built for expression rather than depth. McCracken conceived the series with his partner, Lauren Faust, after the two adopted dogs from an animal shelter.
Keith Ferguson and the Voice Cast
Keith Ferguson plays Bloo. Sean Marquette plays Mac. Grey DeLisle covers Frankie, the Duchess, Mac’s mother and Goo. Phil LaMarr is Wilt and Jackie Khones, Tom Kenny is Eduardo, Candi Milo is Coco, Madame Foster and Cheese, and Tom Kane is Mr. Herriman. It is a deep bench, and the show leans on it.
Awards and the Case for It
Foster’s won 12 awards from 35 nominations, including five Annie Awards and seven Emmy Awards. Entertainment Weekly has since named it among the best Cartoon Network series.
| Run | Start | End | Seasons | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | August 13, 2004 | May 3, 2009 | 6 | 79 |
Where It Stands
The premise does the heavy lifting, and it earns that. What dates the show is its pace: the everyday-predicament structure can drift, and Bloo’s mischief wears thinner across six seasons than it does in the first. The adoption rule remains the sharpest thing here. It gives every joke a stake.
The 7.8 of 10 is fair. A great idea, executed with real craft, that occasionally mistakes noise for momentum.
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