Western Animation / Squirrel Boy

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A short-lived Cartoon Network animated series, Squirrel Boy was created by the late Everett Peck (best known for Duckman). Airing for two seasons with 52 11-minute episodes from May 29, 2006 to September 27, 2007, along with six 2-minute shorts (2006-2008), the series follows the adventures (or misadventures) of the ordinary, fun-loving 9-year-old boy, Andy Johnson and his reckless, smart-alecky, troublesome, yet also fun-loving anthropomorphic pet squirrel/best friend, Rodney J. Squirrel, who is loaded with get-rich-quick schemes and big ideas. Along their adventures, the duo often faces harassment by the show's main antagonists, Kyle Finkster and Salty Mike, who are also their Evil Counterparts.

Other friends include Robert Johnson, the unlucky father of Andy; Lucille Johnson, the cheerful, kind-hearted mother of Andy; Leon, the dim-but-lovable blue squirrel friend of Rodney; Darlene, the Love Interest-then-girlfriend of Rodney; Oscar, an obsessive-compulsive, accident-prone boy and friend of Andy; Martha, the Johnsons' Girl Next Door who thinks she's better than everyone else, but still has some goodness in her; and last but not least, Eddie, Rodney's flying squirrel cousin.

No relation to Squirrel Girl.

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The trope sells the sandwich!:

• Accidental Pervert: In "Treehouse Broken", Rodney and Kyle both create doors that lead to a mysterious location, which is subsequently revealed to be Mr. J's room. The two accidentally walk in on Mr. J clipping his toenails, with him clearly demanding some privacy.
  Mr. J: A little privacy, please?
  Kyle: Oh, sorry.
  Rodney: Whoops, sorry Mr. J!
• The Ace: Jack Royal.
  Jack: I don't have any embarrassing problems; I'm Jack Royal! (teeth sparkle)
• Acquired Situational Narcissism: This trope is a driving story point of "A Line in the Sandwich" on Rodney's part: Rodney believes that the successful business of his and Andy's sandwich cart is due to the silly chef hat that he's wearing and he brags about it throughout, jeopardizing his and Andy's friendship.
• Adults Are Useless: Just about every adult character on this show has been portrayed as a bumbling idiot with little to no common sense.
  • Scoutmaster Witherbones, Andy's scoutmaster in "Scout's Dishonor", accuses Andy of harassing Kyle when clearly it's the other way around.
  • Oscar's parents are overprotective to polarizing extents and shelter him from everything short of breathing, while paying no attention to his little sister, Lulu, who has an unhealthy obsession with smothering squirrels mercilessly rather than simply giving them gentle hugs.
  • Mrs. J means well, but is usually too much of an Extreme Doormat to discipline Andy when he deserves it, and unlike her husband, she usually tolerates Rodney's mischievous behavior.
  • Kyle's parents view him and Salty Mike as angels despite their blatant sociopathic behavior.
  • Mercifully, there are a few aversions of this trope; Mr. J immediately comes to mind, as he seems to be the only rational person in this universe full of idiots and weirdos. Well, for the most part anyway... Also Sludgy Dave from the episode "Ice Cream Anti Social", a laid-back sort of Reasonable Authority Figure and pacifist.
• Advertised Extra: In season 2, the show’s Episode Title Cards have a picture of all the main characters’ heads. Rodney’s cousin, Eddie J. Squirrel, is included, despite the fact that Eddie only appears in 3 of the show’s 52 episodes^note "The Greatest Schmo on Earth", "Eddie or Not…", and "Gumfight at the S’Okay Corral".
• Affably Evil: Salty Mike is not much of an asshole as his companion, Kyle; Salty even falls victim to Kyle's bullying at times (e.g. "Islands in the Streets", "Stranger Than Friction"), and he has shown several Pet the Dog moments.
• Anti-Role Model: Rodney isn't a character one should look up to, for he is an unmannerly, self-centered, trouble-making, and irresponsible smartass.
• Antiquated Linguistics: At the beginning of "Screw Up in Aisle Six", Andy and Rodney roleplay as British people talking in an old-fashioned manner.
• Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?:
  "Maybe. Are you thinking there's an untapped market for edible socks?"
• Balloon Belly:
  • Rodney gets one after eating a birthday cake he made for Andy in "Birthday Boy", and also gets one in both "Freaky Furday" (from eating several various foods) and "The Rod Squad" (after eating several Sticky Buns). He also gains a pretty big amount of weight in "Endangered Species Twist" after being spoiled rotten by Andy and Mrs. J.
  • Not only does Andy swell up after eating cashews, but his belly becomes extremely fat and circular, turning him into a ball that Rodney rolls around the store. This is a plot device of the episode "Screw Up in Aisle Six".
  • When Mr. J accidentally eats an unspecified flavor of pie at the end of the same episode, he swells up severely with the same results as his son.
• Baseball Episode: "Yer Out!" revolves around Andy and his friends playing baseball until Mr. Johnson makes him a bench warmer.
• Big Eater:
  • Rodney is usually seen stuffing his face with loads of food. He eats a whole plate of food samples in "The Big Haggle Hassle" and "Screw Up in Aisle Six", as well as a giant birthday cake and a dozen boxes of Sticky Buns in "Birthday Boy" and "The Rod Squad" respectively. He also eats various foods in "Freaky Furday".
  • Mr. J always competes in the annual cheesy cheese log eating contest held at the fair.
• Big "NO!":
  • Andy lets one out after Ranger Stu informs him that he'll be going into "the pit" in "Scout's Dishonor".
  • Rodney and Andy let out a slow, low-pitched one when the angry clown statue is about to break in "The Big Haggle Hassle".
  • Towards the end of "Outta Sight", this is Rodney's reaction to Andy regaining his glasses.
• The Big Race: This trope is the central theme of "Rolling Blunder". A melon cart derby, more precisely.
• Birthday Episode: "Birthday Boy" is an episode centered around Andy's birthday.
• Bizarre Taste in Food: In "Treehouse Broken", it's shown that Leon's favorite flavor of cake is wasp nest.
• Blind Without 'Em: Andy can't see without his glasses, though in a bizarre twist losing them actually improves his sense of smells, taste, and hearing.
• Bookends: The episodes start with a title card with the opening and closing notes of the Theme Tune playing, and usually end with the closing notes of the song.
• Born Unlucky: Mr. J. He has horrible luck, with barely anything ever going right for him; if he plans to buy a clown statue for his collection, it breaks; if he fixes up his lawn real nice, it gets destroyed; if he's working on a speech to perform, he loses his voice. Did we mention he once broke every bone in his body and then caught a cold on top of that? "Frag the Dog" lampshades this by having his trophy state that it's the only one he's ever won in his life and probably ever will.
• Bottle Episode: "Tree for Two" takes place purely in the park and only Andy, Rodney, Mr. J, and some birds in the tree play any role in the story.
• The Bully:
  • Kyle and Salty Mike; they frequently target Andy and Rodney for no reason other than For the Evulz.
  • In "Bully, for You", there's a bully squirrel named Butch who kicks Leon out of his own house and stays in it.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Bob “Mr. J” Johnson is very much this. He has to put up with an annoying, troublesome squirrel who makes his life hell and has pretty horrible luck. Granted, he doesn't have it so bad in some episodes, but in a large amount of episodes he's in... he's not having a very great time to say the very least.
  • Rodney and Andy are also subjected to this trope fairly often, especially the former in Season 2. Whether Rodney deserves it though depends on the writer and what he's doing at the time.
  • There's also Oscar, who not only suffers the misfortune of having extremely overprotective parents who barely let him do anything at all, but is also a frequent subject of unfortunate, humiliating, and painful gags.
  • To a lesser extent from the aforementioned four, Salty Mike is this, often being mistreated and smacked around by Kyle, with "Treehouse Broken" being the worst offender where he is used as a hammer.
• Call-Back: Rodney's silly pirate hat from "A Line in the Sandwich" has been referenced in subsequent episodes.
  • In "Harried Treasure", when Andy and Rodney are woken up by Mr. J, a startled Rodney utters "The hat sells the sandwich".
  • During the treehouse-building montage in "Treehouse Broken", Rodney can briefly be seen running across the screen while wearing the hat.
  • In "New It or Lose It", one of the headlines in Andy's newspaper says "Rodney wrong about himself again", underneath which a picture of Rodney wearing the silly pirate hat is shown. This is a reference to Rodney's claim that his "hat sells the sandwich".
• Child Prodigy: Martha is very savvy when it comes to hardware, having built a giant catapult in Andy's backyard and having a knack for trimming hedges.
• Cloudcuckoolander:
  • Andy has some idiosyncrasies, in addition to taking part in Rodney's bizarre games and whatnot. Downplayed, though, as they're only occasional, Played for Laughs jokes.
    • It's revealed in "Tree for Two" that he had a habit of biting his nightstand.
    • In "Trouble Date", he wants the option to spit in front of Martha while on a date with her for no reason other than that he likes having the option.
    • In "The Big Haggle Hassle", Andy makes sure his hands are squeaky-clean before making a purchase at the flea market, referring to it as an "ancient" ritual he "just" found.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: These are caused a lot due to Rodney's irresponsibility and dumbassery.
  • The conflict of "The Rod Squad" would not have happened had Rodney confessed to eating all the Sticky Buns and accepted the consequences. He even lampshades his lack of responsibility while hiding from Mrs. J.
    Mrs. J: Oh Andy you're going to be in big trouble for eating all our Sticky Buns!
    Rodney: [thinking voice] Okay, obviously taking responsibility for my actions... is out of the question. But I can't let Andy get blamed either! Oh what a quandary!
  • The short "Bedside Matters" wouldn't have happened if Mrs. J hadn't mixed up her grocery list and the treatment list for Mr. J.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Mr. J, like most Only Sane Man characters.
    Rodney: You're taking a vacation to get away from me?! That's crazy!
    Mr. J: Not that crazy.
  • Andy also has his occasional delivery of witty, sarcastic remarks, mainly in response to Rodney's idiocy.
• Department of Redundancy Department: The show seems to rely on repetition as its main source of humor.
  • In "The Big Haggle Hassle":
    Rodney: (to the "Angey" clown statue) Man, that thing is uuuugly, with a capital... (beat) letter!
  • In "Trouble Date":
    Martha: Having fun is... (beat) fun.
  • In "Andy Had a Little Squirrel", Mr. J participates in a cheesy cheese log eating contest.
• Depending on the Writer:
  • Andy is either decently rational and intelligent, and the voice of reason to Rodney, or a headstrong idiot with barely any common sense.
  • Mr. J is either fairly amiable and a good father to Andy, as well as the Only Sane Man of the show, or an idiotic jerkass of an Abusive Dad. His Only Sane Man role also varies, as there are moments where he holds the Idiot Ball (e.g. deeming Kyle a Nice Guy right after he breaks his car's cup holder in front of him, not letting Andy wear clothes for a week just because he got a stain of mustard on his shirt) and/or has some sort of eccentricity that shows he's Not So Above It All (e.g. talking to his clown statue collection as if they're real people, putting fish on his ice cream). How much of a Butt-Monkey he is also varies; a lot of episodes have him suffering in one way or another (e.g. "The Endangered Species Twist, "More Flower to You", "Speechless", "Birthday Boy", "Harried Treasure", "The Big Haggle Hassle"), while in some episodes, nothing really happens to him at all (e.g. "Island in the Streets", "Tree for Two").
• Deranged Animation: The animation has a bizarre style to it, with many misproportioned features and stiff character movements, as typical for an Everett Peck production (though it seems a tad bit tamer than Duckman).
• Dogs Hate Squirrels: Rodney along with his friends would often be attacked by a vicious Angry Guard Dog referred to as the "Crazy Dog". This got deconstructed in a later episode where they run into his formerly vicious brother who shares the house with the aforementioned hound. Although he's a Nice Guy, he ends up getting frequently beaten up by the guys, because they have him mixed up with the Crazy Dog who's attacking them at the same time.
• Do You Want to Haggle?: Parodied in "The Big Haggle Hassle": Instead of haggling for more, Rodney haggles for less; he paid a guy 5 dollars to gain admission to the flea market instead of just two as required.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The color scheme was brighter in early episodes, and the character designs were a little inconsistent (watch "Tree for Two" for instance).
• Eating Contest: A cheesy cheese log eating contest is held at the fair annually.
• Encouraged Regifting: In "Birthday Boy", Oscar (who’s obsessed with Rodney) comes to Andy’s birthday party with a present. Oscar brought a bust of his own head, saying he’s giving it to Andy so he can give it to Rodney.
• Episode Title Card: The first seasons' episodes began with a title card containing an orange background and pictures of Andy and Rodney, while the second season had title cards with a blue background and sketches of the ensemble cast.
• Exposed Animal Bellybutton: Rodney and Leon have them.
• Expy:
  • Andy's character design is seemingly based off that of the title character from Everett Peck's previous animated series, Duckman, sharing his Eye Glasses and ginger hairstyle.
  • Puffy Pirate Shirt Puffs and it's mascot, Captain Puffy, from the episode "Harried Treasure", seem to be a homage to the cereal Cap'n Crunch and its mascot of the same name.
  • Archie's design is very similar to Duckman's Fluffy and Uranus in body and face. All three are seemingly nice with a dark side, however Archie is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing while Fluffy and Uranus have Beware the Nice Ones.
• Extreme Doormat: Andy's mother, like most housewife characters, is one, often forgiving to her abuse and gleeful by default.
• Extreme Omnivore: "News It or Lose It" reveals that Rodney drinks Mrs. J's bath water, thinking it's nail polish. He also drinks radiator sludge in "What's Sung Is Sung", thinking it's chocolate milk; even after Mr. J tells him what it is, Rodney still enjoys it.
• Eye Glasses: Andy's character design makes it look like his pupils are on the back of his lenses (though that doesn't seem to be the case when they're taken off).
• Fat Slob: Leon tends to slack in his messy treehouse all day eating junk food.
• Flanderization: Rodney wasn't much of a Butt-Monkey in the first season, only receiving occasional moments of slapstick and bad luck. Even when he did, they weren't the main focus of the episode (sans "Tree for Two" and "Born to Be Wild"). By the second season, however, the show pretty much made him suffer every 5 seconds, with there even being times were his doesn't deserve it.
• Forgetful Jones: In "Birthday Boy", Rodney makes a giant cake for Andy's birthday and then eats all of it five seconds later, forgetting who it's for.
• Four-Fingered Hands: Surprisingly averted with pretty much every character, including the animals. The animals, however, mostly have three toes on each foot. Rodney's cousin Eddie has four toes.
• The Generic Guy: Andy does not have much of a describable or distinctive personality.
• Gross-Up Close-Up: Kyle has one of his toenail infection in "Islands in the Streets".
• Here We Go Again!: Some episodes end with the same thing that started the conflict of them. "A Line in the Sandwich" had its conflicted started by Rodney claiming his goofy pirate hat "sells" (ie. boosts profits of) the sandwiches he and Andy were making. Once their sandwich cart business ceases, Rodney plays catch with Andy wearing a different copy of the same hat, claiming it "sells" the game.
• The Hilarity of Hats: Rodney's goofy pirate/chef hat he wears in "A Line in the Sandwich".
  Rodney: The hat sells the sandwich!
• Historical Longevity Joke: In "Don't Cross Here", Rodney evidently believes that Bob's childhood was during the time of cavemen.
• Holding in Laughter: "Speechless" has Andy struggling to find a place where he can laugh without interrupting his dad's speech.
• It Tastes Like Feet: In "Ice Cream Anti-Social", Mr. and Mrs. J and Martha eat sandwiches that contain mayonnaise that Leon dipped his toes in. Little do they know it, but Mrs. J comments on the "footy" taste of them.
  Mr. J: She barely touched her mayonnaise sandwich.
  Mrs. J: They were a little...footy.
• I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!: Mr. Flatbottom's lemonade in "Flatbottom's Up" causes its consumers to have hallucinations of rainbows and paradise.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Andy, while usually having a decent amount of rationality and common sense, suffers greatly from Ping Pong Naïveté Depending on the Writer, typically as a means to move the plot forward.
    • In "The Big Haggle Hassle", he trusts Rodney of all people to hold onto his dollar as he goes off to the bathroom. Not to mention, he doesn't even think twice about putting the dollar in his pocket.
    • In "Harried Treasure", he doesn't recognize his own house on the treasure map, even with two magnifying glasses, while Rodney on the other hand did. Despite this moment of idiocy, Andy then acts as the voice of reason to Rodney by discouraging him from digging up Mr. J's new lawn, but then goes along with it in pursuit of the treasure. This doubles as Jerkass Ball.
    • In "Freaky Furday", he pretends that he can't hear his mom telling him to clean out Rodney's ears over the amplified boom box stereo.
    Andy: I can't hear you telling me to clean out Rodney's ears, if that's what you're telling me.
  • Even Mr. J can pick this up at times.
    • In "Rolling Blunder", Mr. J's obsession with winning the race goes to his head, and he is completely oblivious to Andy's visible presence, with Rodney and Mr. J both mistaking one another for Andy.
    Rodney: (to Mr. J) Thank you, Andy.
    Mr. J: (to Rodney) No problem, Andy.
    • In "Islands in the Street", he deems Kyle a Nice Guy right after he destroys his car's cup holder. Even worse, he totally disregarded his own son being bullied fight in front of him.
    • In "Flatbottom's Up", he accuses Andy of destroying every window in Mrs. Flatbottom's house when it was Kyle and Salty Mike who did it. Granted, he may not have witnessed the boys playing to see who really did it, but the ball that Andy was playing with was a "Stupid Ball" - which advertises itself as "the ball that goes wherever it wants even if you preferred it didn't" - so he had no control over it.
• I'll Take Two Beers Too: In "Ice Cream Anti-Social", Rodney orders two sludgies, and Andy says he'll have the same thing.
• Jerkass:
  • Kyle and Salty Mike. They harass and torment Andy and Rodney for no apparent good reason, vandalize other people's property, and steal from others.
• Jerkass Ball:
  • Andy is a pretty good kid, yet he still has his moments.
    • In "Harried Treasure", despite originally showing concern about how digging up Mr. J's new lawn will affect him, he recklessly goes along with Rodney' peer pressure in pursuit of the buried treasure. He also joined Rodney, Kyle, and Salty Mike in assaulting Puffy Pirate to get his hands on the treasure.
    • In "More Flower to You", Andy joins Rodney in mocking Mr. J's flowers at the beginning, and once the flower show approaches, he assists Rodney in provoking him to extreme and absurd levels by throwing dirt in his face and startling him with an air horn; although, they wanted Mr. J to win the flower show, and the flowers derive amusement from his Butt-Monkey status.
    • In the short "See Food Breakfast", he joins Rodney in provoking Mr. J to the point of leaving the room so as to call dibs on the last doughnut. Luckily, their attempts backfire, and Mr. J beats the boys at their own game.
  • Mr. J can slip into this territory at times.
    • He makes Andy a bench warmer in "Yer Out!", which in addition to being selected not to play a round, has him literally warm benches using a bath towel that was in the microwave.
    • In "Islands in the Street", Mr. J shows no regard whatsoever to his own son being victimized by local Jerkass Kyle, instead deeming him a nice guy. Of course, this is just an Idiot Ball moment played for comedy.
    • At the end of "Harried Treasure", he makes Andy (as well as Kyle and Salty Mike, who aren't even his children or pets) polish and reconstruct every blade of grass that was dismantled from his new lawn, all on such a hot, sunny day. Granted, while Andy did deserve punishment for what he did, he didn't deserve one that cruel and extreme.
    • In "He Got Blame", he refuses to let Andy wear any clothes sans his underwear for a week for simply having a tiny strain of mustard on his shirt.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Rodney. He's often rude, self-centered, and troublesome, but at least likes and cares about Andy, Leon, and even Mr. J. Not to mention, he has several Pet the Dog moments (e.g. taking care of Mr. J while he's sick and injured in the short "Bedside Matters", trying to prevent Andy from getting in trouble for something he didn't do in "The Rod Squad", trying to give Andy a birthday present to make up for forgetting his birthday in "Birthday Boy", trying to get Butch out of Leon's tree in "Bully, for You", etc.).
• Karma Houdini: Kyle and Salty Mike rarely gets what's coming to them for their harassment and torment of Andy and Rodney, because their parents view them as angels and aren't around to see just what sociopathic monsters they are.
• Kids Are Cruel: Kyle is pretty mean, even going as far as launching Andy and Rodney to the moon.
• Large Ham: Rodney. Like just about every other character played by Richard Steven Horvitz, he's very dramatic, over-the-top, and prone to yelling unnecessarily and emphasizing words randomly.
• Lazy Bum:
  • Whenever Rodney isn't hanging out with Andy, he's usually watching TV and eating junk food.
  • Leon does almost nothing but slack in his treehouse.
• Loser Son of Loser Dad: Andy is the somewhat-nerdy son of his Born Unlucky father.
• My Future Self and Me: In "The Grim Cheaper", Andy is given advice by his and Rodney's future counterparts as to what to do about his current money situation (although this is just an Imagine Spot that gets out of hand).
• Nap-Inducing Speak: Mr. J bores Andy and Rodney when he nostalgically explains the concept of records to them.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Andy's family: Mrs. J is the Extreme Doormat (nice), Rodney is a troublesome Jerkass (mean), and Mr. J is fairly nice, but more assertive than his wife (in-between).
• No Ending: Some episodes end without anything really being resolved. Overlaps with Here We Go Again!.
• Only Sane Man:
  • Sludgy Dave from the episode "Ice Cream Anti-Social" is, aside from Mr. J, one of the few adults on the show who isn't a bumbling idiot and is actually helpful to the younger characters. He's also one of the rare examples of this trope who isn't a Deadpan Snarker or a Butt-Monkey.
• Or Was It a Dream?: "The Rod Squad" episode may actually have been just a dream Rodney had after he passed out eating several boxes of cinnamon buns. His dream involved him trying to fix it. In the end, Rodney finds all the characters who appeared in this episode surrounding him angrily.
• Overly Long Gag:
  • "My presence is my present."
  • "And this is the one where x. And this is the one where y."
  • "And I only felt lousy because you felt lousy."
  • In "Ice Cream Anti-Social", this exchange seems to go on for the entire day.
    Andy: Whatcha' doing?
    Martha: I can't tell ya'.
    Rodney: Why can't cha' tell us?
    Martha: Because I'm busy building.
    Andy: Busy building what?
    Martha: I can't tell ya'.
• Ping Pong Naïveté: The writers really can't decide whether they want to make Andy a passably smart and rational fellow who acts as the voice of reason to Rodney or an idiotic, headstrong fool with the judgment of a pebble.
• Psycho Poodle: In the episode "The Rod Squad", Rodney eats all the sticky buns Andy's mom bought. Afraid that his friend will take the fall for it, Rodney ropes Leon and Darlene into a scheme to steal some from the sticky bun factory. But when Darlene and Leon finally understand his scheme and goals, they back out and Rodney goes in alone, only to be attacked by the factory's security and the Angry Guard Dogs used are vicious white poodles.
• Rebound Best Friend: In "Best of Best Friends", Andy and Rodney have a fight and set applications for finding a new best friend to replace each other with. After the applications, they both choose Oscar, causing them to fight over him. In the end, they overcome their anger and make up.
• Running Gag: The show has a slight running gag involving Rodney and Oscar. Since Rodney doesn’t care much for Oscar, he can almost never remember Oscar’s name. Usually, Rodney either refers to Oscar as "kid/that kid", or he snaps his fingers and tells Oscar to say his name, then immediately forgets it again.
• The Scapegoat:
  • Mr. J will sometimes get blamed for the chaos that Rodney is responsible for, such as at the end of "Birthday Boy" where he pays fines for all the destruction his high-speed chase with Esther Flatbottom caused.
  • In "Flatbottoms Up", due to Andy holding the "Stupid Ball" (advertised as the ball that goes wherever it wants even if you preferred it didn't), he and Rodney get blamed for breaking every window in Mrs. Flatbottom's house and are forced to do her chores as a punishment. It was really Kyle and Salty Mike who did it, though they give the ball back to Andy and Rodney and then escape to avoid getting in trouble (although later they switch places upon finding that Flatbottom is rewarding the boys with delicious lemonade...or at least was before switching to a "peppermint fish" drink).
• Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: None of the child characters are shown attending school, nor is it mentioned.
• Shout-Out:
  • To both Dungeons & Dragons and Sherlock Holmes. In episodes with Stan the exterminator, Rodney and Leon are always mistaken to be a "Giant Sumatran Wall Rat".
  • In "The Big Haggle Hassle", Andy finds a man selling The Clash of the Planetoids VHS tapes.
• Show Within a Show:
  • Puggo
  • The Clash of the Planetoids
• Spinning Paper: "News It or Lose It" uses this effect on the newspapers published by the family.
• Stunt Performer: Rodney’s cousin, Eddie, is a flying squirrel who works at a traveling circus as an aerial acrobat.
• Talking Animal: Pretty much every animal, except the Crazy Dog. His twin brother, Murray, does talk.
• Tongue on the Flagpole: In "The Grim Cheaper", imaginary future Andy gets his tongue stuck on an icicle during the sled chase through the deep-frozen house (which also makes sense in context).
• Treasure Hunt Episode: "Harried Treasure" involves Andy, Rodney, Kyle and Salty Mike digging up Mr. J's new lawn to find the treasure buried underneath that a box of Puffy Shirt's Pirate Puffs cereal promised them.
• Unishment: Andy and Rodney, and eventually Kyle and Salty Mike, are motivated to do chores around Mrs. Flatbottom's house due to the delicious lemonade she rewards them with in "Flatbottom's Up".

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