Draft:The DVD (The Amazing World Of Gumball)

"The DVD" is the pilot episode and series premiere of the animated comedy series The Amazing World of Gumball. The episode first aired on Cartoon Network in the United States on May 3rd, 2011 as a series preview, and officially aired on May 9th, 2011. The episode follows Gumball and Darwin Watterson, as they forget to return a DVD to an electronics store and get a huge fine. They try to hide the fine from their Mom, but things don't go in their favor.

The episode received positive reviews from critics and fans of the series. The episode was the first aired of the series and season 1, but was the final episode of the season to be produced.

In its series preview broadcast, "The DVD" was viewed by 2.120 million viewers, while in it's official episode broadcast, the episode was viewed by approximately 1.937 million viewers. The episode was released on home media through a standard DVD titled "The DVD".

Plot
The episode begins with Nicole asking Gumball to return a DVD of Alligators on a Train back to Laser Video to avoid paying a fine, and after a bit of deliberation and a violent outburst from Nicole, Gumball fearfully obliges.

He goes to the kitchen to ask Darwin of the DVD's whereabouts, only to find Darwin using the disc to cut a pizza. Gumball grabs it from him and tries to clean it with a sponge, but he accidentally uses the abrasive side, scratching the disc up and causing him to freak out. In the ensuing panic, he accidentally drops the disc into the kitchen sink's garbage disposal, shredding it to pieces. Gumball then decides they need to find a way to replace the DVD without their mother finding out what they have done.

First, he tries to replace the DVD with a cardboard cut-out, but the trick fails to deceive Larry, who sends them increasingly urgent notices. Instead of facing the consequences, however, Gumball decides the next best solution is to beg for money on the street to pay off their debt, though unsurprisingly, it too fails to work (with the hobo getting rich in the process by taking their earnings and winning the lottery).

Back at home, Gumball and Darwin search for jobs in the newspaper, eventually settling on a job in cosmetics for make-up testing. The two go in a booth that manually applies the make-up, but Gumball suffers an allergic reaction, horrifying the employee.

They return home once more, where Gumball discovers a bunch of more letters from Laser Video. He realizes that he and Darwin are in trouble and he tells Darwin that they have to hide the letters before Nicole gets home. Then, they get a call from her who suspects something is amiss; when the two try to assure her that the situation is under control, she suspects that they are lying and tells them she is coming home. Panicked, they double down on one last resort, however degrading and unlikely to work it may be. Right as Nicole arrives and discovers the letters from Laser Video and becomes enraged, Gumball and Darwin run away from the house. A chase ensues, with Nicole trying to chase them down to reprimand them, but it ends when she accidentally slams into a wall.

Gumball and Darwin arrive at Laser Video and hand over the DVD, which turns out to be a homemade version of Alligators on a Train, featuring cardboard cut-outs and the pair's names exclusively in the credits. Unconvinced, Larry orders Gumball and Darwin to return the original DVD immediately. Upon hearing this, Gumball and Darwin cry and confess what happened to the DVD and beg Larry not to tell Nicole, who turns out to be right behind them. She pays off the fine of twenty-five dollars for the lost DVD, telling Gumball and Darwin that she still loves them no matter what they do. Unfortunately, she fails to account for the late fee on the DVD, totaling seven hundred dollars, and the episode ends with a freeze-frame of them running away from Larry to avoid paying it off.

Show Origins
Series creator Ben Bocquelet was hired at Cartoon Network Studios Europe in 2007 as someone who helps people pitch their shows to the network. After letting employees pitch shows themselves, Bocqeuelet pitched a show made using some rejected characters he made for commercials a few years back. His original premise was to have a school of rejected cartoon characters. The idea was then changed to remove the rejected cartoon character's plot, per the request of Cartoon Network. The idea was changed to a family of 5 misfits named Gumball, Darwin, Anais, Nicole & Richard and their everyday lives.

Production and Release
36 episodes were ordered for the first season in collaboration with Boulder Media Limited. The first episode produced for the show was "The Car", but it was aired later in the season, the last episode of season 1 produced ("The DVD") aired as the pilot on May 3rd as a series preview and May 9th as an official episode broadcast.