The Loud House (2002 TV series)

The Loud House is an American adult animated sitcom created by animator and comic illustrator Chris Savino for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block Adult Swim. The series revolves around the chaotic everyday life of the 11 Loud siblings, led by teenage older brothers bossy Loki and idiotic Lenny. It is set in a fictional town in Michigan called Royal Woods which is based on Chris Savino's hometown of Royal Oak.

The series was pitched to Cartoon Network in 1999 as part of their then-recently created block Adult Swim. Cartoon Network greenlit the series for production in 2000 after the pilot was completed for Adult Swim. The series was originally supposed to air in 2001 as one of the block's debut shows but the show was held back until 2002 due to behind-the-scenes issues with Cartoon Network. Episodes are produced at Cartoon Network Studios and Williams Street and animated by the Canadian studio Jam Filled Entertainment. The series is based on Savino's own childhood growing up in a large family, and its animation is largely influenced by newspaper comic strips.

Adult Swim officially premiered The Loud House on June 1, 2002 as part of their New Summer Lineup Block. The Loud House garnered good ratings and reviews from audiences and critics alike. In May 2006, the show's main characters were featured on the front cover of Variety as an example of cultural and ethnic diversity impacting television programs. Ever since, The Loud House is currently the long-running Adult Swim original series.

The series is rated TV-14-DLSV for mild violence, some blood, few character deaths, use of profanity and sexual elements while the uncensored version is rated TV-MA, with TV-PG episodes being rated TV-14.

Plot
In the fictional town of Royal Woods, Michigan, the series follows the misadventures of the Loud Siblings, eleven sibings with distinctive personalities: bossy eldest child Loki; ditzy fashionista Lenny; musician Luke; comedian Lamar; athletic Lynn; girl Linka; gloomy, sadistic and demonic goth Lars; polar-opposite twins Logan and Lola; child genius Louis, and baby Leon. One of the siblings (mostly either Loki or Linka) occasionally breaks the fourth wall to explain to viewers the chaotic conditions and sibling relationships of the household, and continually devises plans to make life in the house better.

Main

 * Loki Loud (voiced by Seth Green) - The 17-year-old eldest child of the Loud family and the only Loud child with a driver's license. Loki is depicted as a bossy, short-tempered, sarcastic, and cynical teenager who is condescending towards his younger siblings. Despite this, he cares deeply about his family. Loki is usually seen talking to his girlfriend Bebe on his smartphone and uses the word "literally" frequently. In some episodes, Loki is shown to have a flatulence problem that he refuses to admit by stating that it was either his shoes or the creaking floorboards making the noise.
 * Lenny Loud (voiced by Sean Astin) - The 16-year-old second child of the Loud family who is almost always seen wearing sunglasses on top of his head. Lenny is depicted as a beautiful, ditzy blonde who shows talents in fashion designing, lock-picking, and wood-carving on occasion. He has a fear of spiders that is referenced in multiple episodes. As Loki's roommate, Lenny would tend to borrow some of Loki's clothes without asking, which leads to them occasionally fighting over them. Along with Luke, he has the best relationship with Linka of the other siblings.
 * Luke Loud (voiced by Greg Cipes) - The 15-year-old third child of the Loud family. Luke has a habit of speaking in a mock British accent. He is a wild and upbeat musician who owns various instruments, with his signature one being a purple electric guitar. He very closely follows the words of his idol Mick Swagger and always encourages his family to "stay cool".
 * Lamar Loud (voiced by Rob Paulsen) - The 14-year-old fourth child and comedian of the Loud family and Luke's roommate. Most of his dialogue consists of bad puns, much to the annoyance of his siblings. He wears his hair is bowl and has buck teeth with braces, giving him a squirrel-like appearance. Every April Fools Day, Lamar becomes a prank-obsessed maniac which leaves his family and Claire in complete fear of the holiday as they try to avoid his pranks.
 * Lynn Loud Jr. (voiced by Adam Devine) - The 13-year-old fifth child and athlete of the Loud family who is named after his father. He tends to start competitions among his siblings and plays a large amount of sports like baseball, basketball, football, and soccer.
 * Lindsay "Linka" Loud (voiced by Amanda Leighton) - The 11-year-old sixth child and the first daugther of the Loud family, who has white hair and a chipped front tooth. Linka has a passion for comic books (especially for her favorite superhero Ace Savvy). She breaks the fourth wall on a regular basis by speaking to the audience about the chaotic conditions and sibling relationships of her household when she always spend times with her siblings and always survives with them.
 * Lucas "Lars" Loud (voiced by Eric Bauza) - The eight-year-old seventh child of the Loud family and Lynn and Linka's roommate. Lars is a psycopath gothic boy with interests in poetry, séances and gothic fiction as well as owning some pet bats. He also enjoys mutilating, killing and engaging in sexual debauchery with those who pose a threat to his siblings. Lars is highly intelligent and possesses incredible strength, surgical skills that he uses to mutilate his victims, the ability to steal from an evil scientist, a high-tech android and demonic powers which allow him to control local animals to do his bidding. Despite his seemingly-evil ways, he loves and is extremely protective of his family: protecting them from danger, and often killing those who might do them harm, such as murdering a group of pedophiles who tried to rape Lola and Logan, putting an evil scientist who kidnaped Louis to jail or turning an unlicensed breast surgeon who gave Linka breast implants into a multiple-breasted freak. Lars' coffin-like bed leads to a hidden, underground lair that's filled with blood, pentagrams, victims – both living slaves and dead, mutilated bodies – and a throne where he usually watches television. Many of the series' one-time characters usually end up in his lair where they are either killed or kept as prisoners. He also has a long-standing feud with Henry Gobbleblobber, the Louds' next door neighbor who is the only character, besides the remaining Loud siblings, aware of Lars' evil nature. While Lars does not actually harm Mr. Gobbleblobber, he does put the old man in humiliating situations while making him seem crazy. Despite their adversarial nature, Lars has saved Mr. Gobbleblobber from being lobotomized while he was committed to an asylum when he attacked the police chief (as a result of one of their enconters in his underground lair) and a cannibalistic serial killer that Mr. Gobbleblobber had befriended, unaware he was an escaped convict and serial killer.
 * Lola Loud (voiced by Grey Griffin) - The six-year-old ninth child and second daughter of the Loud family and the twin sister of Logan. Lola is a bratty "Princess" who is skilled at plotting and scheming to get her way. She becomes maniacal if her siblings anger her in any way, but ends up always put in humillating situations by Lars. Lola is mostly seen wearing a pink dress that conceals her legs and a tiara on her head. She is constantly entered in child beauty pageants and is the tattletale of the group. Notably, she is the only Loud child to call Lynn, Sr. "Daddy".
 * Logan Loud (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) - The six-year-old eighth child of the Loud family and the twin brother of Lola. Logan a fun-loving trouble-maker who loves to play in mud, follow Lars in his bloody adventures and get his hands dirty, which often annoys Lola. He is a skilled handyworker who loves animals (mostly frogs and reptiles).
 * Louis Loud (voiced by Tom Kenny) - The four-year-old tenth child of the Loud family. He is a child prodigy who has a PhD and yet is still in kindergarten. He enjoys solving complex equations and math problems and performing elaborate experiments where he would often using his siblings and Claire as test subjects. He wears round glasses, speaks with a lateral lisp, and laughs maniacally when performing experiments.
 * Leon Loud (vocal effects by Dee Bradley Baker) - The one-year-old baby of the Loud family. He is mostly seen wearing only a diaper. Linka shares a special connection with Leon and babysits him on several occasions. He has a habit of losing his diaper causing him to go naked and also causing his fellow siblings to put his diaper back on. The only phrase Leon utters aside from gibberish is "poo-poo", generally coupled with his diaper flying across the screen.

Recurring

 * Claire McBride (voiced by Cree Summer) - A nerdy 11-year-old girl who is the best friend of Linka and the adoptive daughter of Howard and Harold. Claire owns a walkie-talkie that she uses on missions with Linka. Claire shares many interests with Linka such as video games and science fiction movies. She has an unrequited crush on Loki and tends to faint when he talks to her. When Linka cosplays as Ace Savvy, Claire dresses as her sidekick One-Eyed Jack.
 * Lynn Loud Sr. (voiced by Brian Stepanek) - The father of the Loud children. His whole face is unseen until the second season. Lynn, Sr. often breaks up fights between his children before it goes too far and does all the cooking in the family as he dreams of being a chef.
 * Rita Loud (voiced by Jill Talley) - The mother of the Loud children, the daughter of Albert "Pop Pop", and the niece of Ruth. Her face is also unseen until the second season. She is the only Loud whose name does not begin with "L". Rita is caring towards her children, but is not afraid to punish them if their fighting goes too far. Rita is shown to be more level-headed than Lynn Sr.
 * Bebe Santiago (voiced by Grey Griffin) - A Mexican-American 17-year-old who is Loki's girlfriend and older brother of Ronnie. Bebe is often nicknamed "Miss Boo Boo Bear" by Loki. She does various odd jobs like grocery store stockgirl, lifeguard, mall security guard, pizza delivery girl, department store worker and tour guide.
 * Ronaldo "Ronnie" Santiago (voiced by Pamela Segall Adlon) - The younger brother of Bebe who is Linka's classmate and love interest. He is very tough and enjoys skating, playing video games and pranks.
 * Henry Gobbleblobber (voiced by Frank Collison) - The Loud family's next-door neighbor, referred to by most adult characters as "Grandpa" due to his old age. He is the only character besides the other Loud siblings, who is aware of Lars' evil ways and has borne witness to his several murders and other depraved acts. However, the police dismisses his attempts to expose Lars as just another of one of his "evil boy stories" and sometimes arrest him instead. Mr. Gobbleblobber views Lars as a monster though he understands that he and Lars both care for the other Loud kids' safety. Mr. Gobbleblobber also suffers harassment from Lars, through he briefly got peace from him during his brief fear of vacuum cleaners. He was written out of the show after the ending of the episode "Brain Download" which he decides that he had enough of Lars' torment (after he sending his wife Agnes sends her to destroy an satellite which contained a backup file of her memories) and decides to move away up into the mountains. He reappeared only in "Winter Season", where the Louds come to the mountains to search Lenny, who was kidnapped by an gang of mobsters, while Lars realizes Mr. Gobbleblobber lives there and chases him around the mountains to framing him for murder and have him locked up, though Mr. Gobbleblobber escapes custody when the police car who carried him away goes off a cliff, becoming a fugitive on the lamb and revelating he would reappear agin in an future episode.
 * Howard and Harold McBride (voiced by Michael McDonald and Wayne Brady) - Claire's overprotective fathers who care deeply about their daughter's well-being. They shower Claire with attention and rarely let her do anything unsupervised. Howard tends to get over emotional while watching his daughter grow up and is rather neurotic.
 * Steve - Lars' pet gimp who lives inside his master's underground lair and is part of his secret diabolical cult. It often watches the prisoners and participates in Lars' activities. In the episode "Brain Download" it is revealed that it is the alleged deceased wife of Henry Gobbleblobber.

Episodes
See List Of The Loud House (2002 TV Series) Episodes

Production
The Loud House was created by Chris Savino for Cartoon Network. Savino based the series on his own experiences growing up in a large family. Early in development, the Loud family was going to be composed of rabbits, but this was terminated when an executive asked Savino to make them human. Linka and Lola were supposed to be male like the other brothers, until an executive asked Savino to make both females. He pitched the idea to Cartoon Network in 1999 as a 2½-minute short. In June 2000, Cartoon Network announced that The Loud House had been picked up for a season of 13 episodes in its new late-night block Adult Swim. On June 25, 2002, Adult Swim announced that the series had been picked up for a second season of 13 episodes. On July 19, 2003, the show had been picked up for a third season of 26 episodes. Savino has cited Peanuts and Polly and Her Pals as influences on the show's characterizations and animation. Newspaper comic strips are also influences on the show's background art.

Savino's firing
On October 17, 2017, Cartoon Brew reported that Chris Savino was suspended from the studio due to allegations of sexual harassment, the report noting that rumors of Savino's behavior have existed for "at least a decade". On October 19, a Adult Swim spokesperson confirmed that Savino had been fired from the studio and that the series will continue production without him. Six days later on October 23, Savino spoke for the first time since his firing saying he said he was "deeply sorry" for his actions. Alongside the announcement of the series being greenlit for a 13rd season, it was revealed that story editor Mike Rubiner had now been named executive producer and showrunner. On January 1, 2018, Adult Swim confirmed Savino would still working in the series, but in a smaller advisory role in which he will reviewing each episode and offering suggestions to Rubiner and the rest of the show's production crew.

Critical reception
The Loud House has received positive reviews, specifically for its animation, voice acting, characterization, and its off-color humor. Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media praised the show's voice cast and thematic messages, writing that "Adults and teenages will come to The Loud House for the laughs, but they'll return for the ensemble cast and the surprisingly heartwarming themes that dominate every story." Kevin Johnson of The A.V. Club gave the show a B+, noting that "the characters are defined by their traits, but never judged for them."

Other Media

 * The Loud House: The Complete First Season (DVD)
 * The Loud House: The Complete Second Season (DVD)
 * The Loud House: The Complete Season 3 (DVD)
 * The Loud House: The Complete Season 4 (DVD)
 * The Loud House Movie (2005 film)
 * The Loud House: The Complete Fifth and Sixth Season (DVD)
 * The Loud House: Season 7 (DVD)
 * The Loud House: Season 8-10 (DVD)