Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (TV series)

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (also known as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: The Series) is a 2D animated television series developed by Mark Evestaff and Alex Galatis for Cartoon Network and YTV. It is produced by DHX Media and Sony Pictures Animation in association with Corus Entertainment via YTV Canada Inc.. Loosely Based on the children's book and the film series of the same name, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is the first television series to be produced by Sony Pictures Animation and was animated using Toon Boom Harmony.

The series officially premiered in the United States of America on March 6, 2017, on Cartoon Network, with a sneak peek airing on February 20, 2017. After an unsuccessful run, the show moved to Boomerang's SVOD service, where it debuted on January 11, 2018. In Canada, the series was originally planned to air on Teletoon, but instead premiered on YTV on April 6, 2017. On February 2, 2018, DHX Media announced the series has been picked up for a second season.

The entire first season is available on Netflix in the United Kingdom, Europe and in the United States. On January 24, 2020, the show was removed from Boomerang's streaming service app.

Plot
The series is a prequel, featuring the high school years of Flint Lockwood, the eccentric young scientist in the films. In his adventures, he is joined by Sam Sparks, a new girl in town and the school's "wannabe" reporter, along with Flint's dad Tim, Steve the Monkey, Manny as the head of the school's audiovisual club (among other professions), Earl as a school gym teacher, Brent still riding on his fame as from the sardine commercial, and Mayor Shelbourne, who serves as the school principal, and who wins every Mayoral election on the pro-sardine platform.

A certain aspect that is contradicted is Flint and Sam's meetup. The episode "And The Winner Is..." clarifies that Flint and Sam met in High School as opposed to their adulthood in the first film. The work around for this is Flint stating that if Sam ever has to move, he will invent a memory eraser, which will erase any memories of their friendship so she won't be saddened by the loss of another friend as she and her family frequently move. While this explains why Sam has no memory of Flint, it does not explain why she has no prior knowledge of Swallow Falls, as her visit in the film was her first time and she is living in the area during the events of the series.

Cast

 * Mark Edwards as:
 * Flint Lockwood; an inventor.
 * Steve; Flint's pet vervet monkey who communicates using a Speak and Spell monkey thought translator Flint invented.
 * Katie Griffin as Sam Sparks; a weather intern from New York City and a reporter.
 * David Berni as "Baby" Brent McHale; an infamous celebrity mascot of Baby Brent's Sardines.
 * Seán Cullen as:
 * Tim Lockwood; Flint's widowed father.
 * Mayor Susan Shelbourne; the gluttonous and egotistical mayor of Swallow Falls.
 * Old Rick; an elderly citizen in Swallow Falls.
 * Patrick McKenna as:
 * Gil; Mayor Shelbourne's neglected son
 * Manny; Sam's Guatemalan cameraman and a former doctor, pilot, and comedian.
 * Clé Bennett as Earl Devereaux; the town's athletic cop and Cal's dad.
 * Kim Roberts (uncredited) as Regina; the wife Earl Devereaux.

Production
Sony Pictures Animation and Canadian family entertainment company DHX Media signed to co-produce the series in 2014, starting with twenty-six 22-minute episodes (fifty-two 11-minute segments). DHX Media handles the global television and non-U.S. home entertainment distribution, along with worldwide merchandising rights, while Sony distributes home entertainment in the United States. Turner Broadcasting System handles international distribution via Cartoon Network.

Broadcast
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs premiered on Boomerang in Latin America on May 12, 2017 with a broadcast of the first 4 episodes, for next Friday continue with recurring releases (double episode), meanwhile Cartoon Network premiered the series on May 18, 2017 premiering a new episode every Thursday. In Australia and New Zealand, the series premiered on Cartoon Network on September 2, 2017. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the series was first broadcast on Cartoon Network on August 28, 2017 starting with the episode "Who You Callin’ Garbage!" (S1EP5). In France, the series started broadcast on Boing from September 2017; in the same period it started on Cartoon Network in Italy. In India, the series aired on Cartoon Network. The series began broadcasting on Disney Channel in Germany on 6 November 2017. New episodes began premiering on Boomerang's SVOD service in the United States in January 2018. Older episodes of the series are also available on Boomerang. On February 2, 2018, DHX Media announced the series has been picked up for a second season. On November 30, 2018, the show was made available for streaming on Netflix in the United States.

In August 2019, CBS All Access acquired the U.S. broadcast rights to the series, beginning with Season 2.

Home media
Region 1:
 * Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: Swallow-een Falls Spooktacular! (October 10, 2017)
 * Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: Lobster Claus is Coming to Town (October 31, 2017)

Critical response
Common Sense Media rated the show 3/5 stars stating "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs doesn't attempt to lead directly into the movies and in fact presents a major inconsistency for the later stories by introducing Sam to Flint during their teen years. Of course this is only a concern for those who have seen the chronologically later stories first; new viewers without a history with these characters won't have a problem and likely will want to follow up with the movies at some point. A big plus to the show? Even though the science often isn't realistic, the hero and heroine make nerdiness seem pretty cool."