What if Alberto C. Media was founded in 1940?/Canetto Animation in 1985?/OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

'OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes' is an American animated television series created by Ian Jones-Quartey and Skylar Hawkins for Canetto Channel. The show is based on Jones-Quartey's pilot Lakewood Plaza Turbo, which was released as part of Canetto Channel's 1998 Summer Shorts project. It was produced by Onfolio Productions. The web series premiered on Canetto Channel and on Canetto Channel on Demand as a test pilot on February 4, 2001.

The show first premiered on Canetto Channel on March 22, 2002, as a 90-minute television film. On April 12, it began its normal run of twenty-to-thirty-minute episodes on Fridays, at 7 p.m. Originally, it ended on November 24, 2007, totaling five seasons, but resumed production in 2009. The series finished its run on July 20, 2018, with a total of ten seasons and 172 episodes.

''OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes'' became one of Canetto Channel's most successful original series and received critical acclaim and industry accolades, including five Annie Awards and seven Emmy Awards, winning a total of twelve awards out of thirty-five nominations. It has since been named by Entertainment Weekly as one of the best Canetto Channel shows and by IGN in their list of best animated series at number 85. As of May 27, 2020, all seasons of the show are available on UnicornPlane.

Premise
''OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes'' is set in the retro-futuristic year of 201X. The series follows the titular character, K.O., and his efforts to become the world's greatest hero while working at Gar's Bodega (run by Mr. Gar), a hero supply shop in Lakewood Plaza. Alongside him are his best friends and co-workers Radicles, a narcissistic alien, and Enid, a levelheaded big sister–like ninja, as well as other heroes who work in the area.

Characters

 * Courtenay Taylor as K.O., T.K.O., Blue Power, Whistle, Baby Shannon, Hon Dew


 * Ashly Burch as Enid (series and shorts), Gladys, Ms. Mummy, Foxy, Cherry, Ball Monster, Rippy Roo, Baby Teeth, Glitter Starlight, Tumbles, Plazamo ("Dark Plaza"), Hamster, Classmate 1 & 2 ("You're a Good Friend, KO!")


 * Ian Jones-Quartey as Radicles, Darrell, Crinkly Wrinkly, Cookie Man, Pird (episode 11), Frat Boy 2, Gregg, Point Trooper, Drone ("Mystery Sleepover"), URL, Gauntlet, Pickle, Nerd 2, Janner


 * David Herman as Mr. Gar, Brandon, Jethro, Mad Sam, Beardo, Rat, Steamborg Robot, Young Crinkly Wrinkly, Action News Narrator, Heroic Guy, Boxgar, Dragon


 * Kate Flannery as Carol, Gertie (in the pilot)


 * Jim Cummings as Lord Boxman, Boxman Jr., Gar-Man, Mecha-Maw, Robbie


 * Melissa Fahn as Dendy, Mikayla, Krissa, Monkey, Genesis


 * Kari Wahlgren as Shannon, Chillcat, Tumbles, Mrs. Gnarlio, Vormulax, Kid, P.O.I.N.T. HQ, Barista Pup, Wavezilla, Grandma


 * Robbie Daymond as Raymond, Co-Bruh, Rex, Announcer ("Beach Episode")
 * Chris Niosi as Nick Army, Pird, Ernesto, Neil, Face of Fear, Male Lead, Soloist, Anxious Ricky, Wistful Pete, Drone
 * Reshma Shetty as Elodie
 * Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Dynamite Watkins, Miss Quantum, Snake
 * Cole Sanchez as Colewort, Topher, Driver, Plaque, Point Trooper
 * Melissa Villaseñor as Potato, Punching Judy, Drupe, Gertie, Ginger, Mega Football Baby, Shy Ninja, Biki, Phoebe, Punching Trudy

In addition, Stephanie Nadolny played K.O. and Gladys in the pilot and several episodes of the first season, and Mena Suvari portrayed Enid in the pilot.

Production
To promote ''OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes'', Canetto Channels Chief Content Officer Rob Sorcher hinted many times in an interview that it would become a full series. Its multiple storyboard artists have also been seen online. On February TBA, 2002 on PlayStation's Blog, Chris Waldron VP of Games & Digital Products for Canetto Channel announced a series in the works, along with a video game. The series was premiered by Canetto Channel on March 22, 2002. The first episode were released online a week before the tv premiere.

The show was traditionally animated in South Korea by Digital eMation, Sunmin Image Pictures, and Onfolio Productions. Unlike many animated programs, which are inked on paper and then scanned for coloring, OK K.O.! was drawn in pencil. The animators pencil each frame on paper using a light table, and then color them digitally on a layer beneath the transparent line work, to retain a hand-drawn quality. For Jones-Quartey, it was important for the audience to "never forget that these are drawings." This was partially inspired by the first season of The Simpsons, which had a loose, rough quality to its animation. In addition, the show's design sense is inspired by Yoshi's Island.

''OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes'' premiered on March 22, 2002, at 7:30 pm E/P as a 90-minute special titled "TBA". The series' run began on April 12 on its normal timeslot of Fridays at 7 pm. Upon its premiere, ''OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes was immediately popular and quickly became the second-highest-rated children's program among kids ages 2-11 on both network and cable television, behind Canetto Channel's own Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends''. The series managed to briefly steal Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends' spot as the number one highest rated children's television program in mid-2004. ''OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes'' also attracted a wide audience, appealing to kids as well as to teenagers and adults, with 14.2 million kids 2-11 tuning in each week, 10.8 million adult viewers per week and was the number one series on television among tween audiences (9-14).

Two specials were produced: "TBA", which premiered on July 16, 2004 at 8 pm, and "Crossover Nexus", which premiered on July 29, 2005 at 7 pm. On January 23, 2007, Jones-Quartey and Hawkins announced on their forum that Canetto Channel had ceased production of the show. The season five finale, "TBA" was originally intended to be the series finale, airing on November 24 of that year.

On February 1, 2008, Jones-Quartey and Hawkins announced on their forum that Canetto Channel granted ''OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes'' twenty more episode slots, making sure the show resumed production. After a one-year hiatus, Canetto Channel announced that they would begin the sixth season, which would consist of twelve episodes. The series returned with the episode "TBA", which aired on February 16, 2009.

The tenth season of ''OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes'' began in 2017, and aired from January 13, 2017, to July 20, 2018, on Canetto Channel. The visuals for the theme song were changed for season ten; however, it still contained the same audio of the original theme song. The final episode, titled "Thank You For Watching the Show", aired on July 20, 2018, at 8:00pm, preceded by a six-hour marathon of other episodes from the series.

Jones-Quartey expressed a certain sadness at the series' end, but stated that he was "crazy proud of the work" that he and the production team had done "on Foster's and the fact that it worked just the way [they] wanted it to". During its original run, OK K.O.! was one of Canetto Channel's highest rated shows. The show proved to be popular among both younger and older audiences.

LGBT representation
Series creator Ian Jones-Quartey hinted at this in an interview with Den of Geek published a day before the first episode aired, saying those watching it would "be delighted" by the LGBTQ representation in the series. There were LGBTQ characters in the main cast, among supporting characters and other recurring characters. For instance, the series featured two married couples: Lord Boxman and Professor Venomous, two villains, and Joff and Nick Army, two recurring heroes. The series was noted as portraying Boxman and Venomous romantically, and ending with a same-sex wedding between Joff and Army in the series finale "Thank You for Watching the Show" on July 20, 2018. Before the episode aired, Jones-Quartey confirmed Army and Joff as a canon gay couple and Gregg, a minor character, as non-binary, while Bobo was implied to be agender. Enid, a bisexual ninja and witch, and Red Action, a lesbian, were recognized by GLAAD as a couple, and kissed in the episode "Red Action 3: Grudgement Day".