# Sheep in the Big City (2000)

> A runaway sheep navigates the chaos of the Big City while the show constantly winks at its own cartoon machinery.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/1393

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 27
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, comedy
- Created by: Mo Willems
- Network: Cartoon Network
- Cast: Kevin Seal, Ken Schatz, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Mo Willems, Joey Mazzarino, Jerry Nelson, Fran Brill, James Godwin
- TMDB rating: 6.9/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260653/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: witty, irreverent, playful, self aware

## What critics say

Critics broadly admired the show's witty, self-aware writing and its blend of kid-friendly animation with adult humor, though it remained a niche cult favorite.

## Synopsis

Sheep in the Big City (2000-2002) is an American animated comedy series created by Mo Willems for Cartoon Network. Its central figure is Sheep, a runaway sheep adjusting to life in the teeming metropolis, voiced by Kevin Seal, with Ken Schatz voicing a cast of characters around him and Mo Willems himself appearing as an angry scientist and announcer. Across two seasons and twenty-seven episodes, the bulk of each half hour follows Sheep's bumpy urban adventures, while the show interleaves unrelated sketches and shorts in the manner of classic television variety. The engine of the comedy is verbal: characters deliver rhetorical flourishes, pointed wordplay and sophisticated jokes instead of relying on slapstick, and the program keeps stepping outside its own frame to comment on filmmaking and broadcasting. The tone is witty, irreverent and playful, with a dry self-aware sensibility that rewards attentive viewers. Fans of The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show, Arthur and Invader Zim will find resonance in its blend of kid-friendly animation and grown-up humor. Set in an unnamed present-day American city, it remains a distinctive cult favorite from the early Cartoon Network era.

## Shows like Sheep in the Big City

- [Kid vs. Kat (2008)](https://ember.film/tv/16190)
- [Camp Lazlo (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/526)
- [Rocko's Modern Life (1993)](https://ember.film/tv/621)
- [Downtown (1999)](https://ember.film/tv/2283)
- [Timmy Time (2009)](https://ember.film/tv/18366)
- [MAD (2010)](https://ember.film/tv/30762)
- [Mike, Lu & Og (1999)](https://ember.film/tv/4135)
- [Creature Comforts (2003)](https://ember.film/tv/32094)
- [Shaun the Sheep: Adventures from Mossy Bottom (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/84493)
- [Animals. (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/57645)

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