Saving Me (TV series)

Saving Me is a flash-animated science fiction sitcom created by Aaron Johnston for BYUtv. The show follows the adventures of a grouchy senior billionaire named Bennett Bramble, as he tries to teach himself how to be good and make good choices with his childhood self, Young Bennett, like a Jiminy Cricket-like conscience. Despite his attempts at doing so, his plans constantly backfire, usually resulting in bad things happening or chaos ensuing.

The show is the first animated series to be created for BYUtv. It is produced by Sphere Animation (formerly known as Oasis Animation), a Montreal-based animation studio who is known for their work on the last six seasons of Arthur, the Netflix animated series Kulipari, and Riley Rocket, among others.

The show premiered on BYUtv on October 1, 2022, and on Family Channel on March 15, 2023. The series' episodes last from 20–22 minutes, with 20 episodes produced in total. The show's second season premiered on BYUtv on March 6, 2023. The show has been renewed for a third and fourth season.

Overview
In the far future, 61-year-old Bennett Bramble is lonely and has garnered a negative reputation. He has tried ways to become less hated in the present, to no avail. With no other ways to fix his reputation, Bennett builds a time machine that allows him to travel into the past as a conscience and enter the mind of his younger 11-year-old self.

After doing so, he meets Young Bennett, his younger self from five decades ago. Bennett wants to teach himself the correct choices to make, and he also hopes to repair his grim future. The only problem is that Bennett has forgotten how to be good, so teaching his younger self how to do so causes many bizarre (and often nonsensical) things to happen.

Characters

 * Old Bennett Bramble (voiced by Ivan Sherry) - The main protagonist. He is a grumpy tech billionaire who discovers that he's been despised by everyone in the future. He decides to go back to the past, crossing paths with his younger self in the process. Old Bennett plans to help his younger self become better, unaware that he hasn't learned how to be good in decades.
 * Young Bennett Bramble (voiced by Adam Sanders) - Old Bennett's younger, pre-teen self. Unlike his future self, he's more friendly and intelligent. After confronting Old Bennett, he agrees to team up with him so that he can learn how to become a better person, and build up relationships with his family.
 * Mark Bramble (voiced by Dan Chameroy) - Young Bennett's father. He and his son are the only people in the family with glasses.
 * Carla Bramble (voiced by Ana Sani) - Young Bennett's mother.
 * Liam Bramble (voiced by Jonathan Tan) - Young Bennett's older brother. He has a device on his chest.
 * Sophie Bramble (voiced by Amariah Faulkner) - Young Bennett's younger sister. She has pink-colored hair, and as such she is the only family member to have her hair dyed.
 * Edee 34 (voiced by Cory Doran) - Old Bennett's robot assistant and his only friend in the future. In the past, he has acted as the Bramble family's personal robot. He is not to be confused with the first and second generation models built by Young Bennett that don't speak and do very little house work.
 * Commander Crumb (voiced by Jamie Watson) - Mark and Carla's boss at the secret agent plant.
 * Penelope Snodgrass (voiced by Stacey DePass) - Young Bennett's friend and also class rival. She has the brains to invent a lot of items but intends to use them to promote her own self rather than help the community. She later becomes Bennett's love interest.
 * Flip Nealy (voiced by Jeffrey Knight) - The head local news reporter.

Development
Saving Me was created by Aaron Johnston. Daniel Scott composed the soundtrack for the show. Production of the series began in January 2021. In August 2022, BYUtv announced that they had greenlit the show for two 10-episode seasons, the first of which was slated to premiere at the beginning of October 2022.

The first season was officially released online at byutv.org and on the BYUtv App on October 1, 2022. A 2-part sneak peek was also shown on BYUtv in-between sessions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints October General Conference. The series then moved to Monday nights and aired its entire season after the 10th Anniversary episodes of Studio C. On October 27, 2022, it was confirmed that WildBrain had signed on as a global distributor for the series.

The second season was officially released in its entirety on byutv.org on March 5, 2023, before premiering the following day on the network.

Reception
On IMDb, Saving Me holds a rating of 8.9/10. It is also receiving favorable reviews among fanboards, including one that calls it a clean version of Rick and Morty that the entire family can enjoy.