North Springs

North Springs is an American  created by Don Foster and Rob Farlane for. It is set in the fictional titular town in the state of, and centers on the lives of Tommy Briggs, Philly Lyndon, Cole Makowski, and Ben Sears, four 8-year-old boys. The show has become very popular to due its and its,  that  numerous serious topics.

The series is animated in-house using two-dimensional computer animation, which has been produced by various companies over the year. Since 2009, the series has been animated by North Springs Studio.

The series premiere, "Philly Writes", was originally broadcast on June 2, 1996. It became America's first weekly television program to be rated, originally TV-M. In 1997, it became the second most-watched television series on pay television in the U.S., reaching first place in 1999. 75 episodes have been aired.

North Springs has been nominated for numerous, and won in five years.

Setting and characters
North Springs takes place during present time in North Springs, a fictional city in the U.S. state of. According to a map shown in the season 10 episode "Put Your Money Where Your Ass Is", it is located close to the West Coast.

Tommy Briggs, Philly Lyndon, Cole Makowski, and Ben Sears are the protagonists of the show. They all first appeared in the pilot episode. Supporting characters include Michael Wendy, Katie Emery, and Robert Malabrovski.

Style and themes
Don Foster and Rob Farlane credited  and the works of George Moon as inspiration for the style of North Springs. Their idea was to have the show look like a "kiddie" cartoon while retaining its adult themes. As a result, they created the show's simplistic art style, often excluding noses on child characters and females and fingers.

Child characters curse frequently, which Foster said was because he and Farlane know that children use strong language when grownups are not around. The duo also included the element of young characters being interested in adult topics (namely topics related sex and alcohol).

Conception
In 1993, Don Foster and Rob Farlane pitched an idea for an adult animated televidion series to the TBS television channel in 1994, who said they would come back to it "in a little bit."

Production
In 1994, work on the show began. The production team given a 5-day production deadline. This was done so that the writers could catch up to recent events.

The first season took about two months to complete. The characters were designed solely by Foster and Farlane. The writers of the season alternated between Foster, Farlane, Josh Kimm, Stephen Kessman, Kay Utolo, Nic Kawl, and Daniel A. Salisbury; after season one, each season had one writer, rotating between Foster and Farlane. The same applied to the directors, the first season's team consisting of Foster, Farlane, Kevin Bankum, and Neil Arisma.

Animation
The series' animation begins with the characters. The art of a scene's characters is put into Toonwash. The art is changed for each frame to mimic movement. When the motion is complete, a background is placed.

The first two seasons were animated by Sequitur Studios. The seasons from 1998 to 1999 were animated by Eye Identity Studios, the seasons from 2000 to 2008 were produced and Paintcup Productions, and the seasons since 2009 have been animated in-house by North Springs Studios.

Episodes
375 episodes of North Springs have been distributed. "Philly Writes", the first episode of the entire series, premiered on June 2, 1996.

Ratings and critical reception
The show, overall, was rated 8/10 by OGN, the online magazine writing, "Spectacular adult animated sitcom manages to keep its high quality to this day." It was also rated 8.2/10 by users on, and B+ by Tonight TV.

Despite these ratings, the criticized the show for its sexual themes, uncensored profanity, bloody violence, drug references, and abuse of alcohol.