Fred Figglehorn

History

Cruikshank introduced the Fred character in a video on JKL Productions, a channel he started on YouTube with his cousins, Jon and Katie Smet. He and his cousins set up the JKL Productions channel on June 11, 2006, and Cruikshank uploaded several videos testing out different characters. His first Fred video was uploaded on October 30, 2006, and when this character started to become popular, Cruikshank made more videos featuring Fred. On April 30, 2008, these videos were removed from JKL Productions, and added to the Fred channel. On May 1 the first official video of the series, titled "Fred on May Day" was released, explaining that Cruikshank asked YouTube for the Fred channel. Someone else previously owned the channel, which was later turned into one of Fred's enemies in the Fred series. By April 2009, the channel had over one million subscribers, making it the first YouTube channel to do so, and the most subscribed channel at the time. However, in August 2009, YouTube celebrities Ryan Higa's and Sean Fujiyoshi's channel, Nigahiga, overtook Fred as the most subscribed channel. It was the third to reach 2 million, in September 2010, shortly after falling to third. As of October 2016, the videos have received over 1.1 billion views, and over 2.5 million are subscribed to the channel.

In December 2009, Cruikshank filmed Fred: The Movie, which aired on Nickelodeon on September 18, 2010. Nickelodeon created a franchise surrounding the character, the sequel, Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred, aired on October 22, 2011. In 2012 Fred: The Show aired, consisting of 24 11-minute episodes, as well as a third movie, Fred 3: Camp Fred.

Content

Fred (stylized on webpages as FЯED) is an internet video series centered on the dysfunctional 6-year-old Fred Figglehorn, created by Lucas Cruikshank.

Fred lives with his recovering drug-addicted and alcoholic prostitute mother, whose deep voice is often heard, and his grandmother. It is implied that Fred has been the victim of child abuse (for example being locked in a dog cage for three days), however he frequently speaks of his love for his mother, particularly after her stay at rehab. Fred's father is mentioned several times as being on death row in the state penitentiary. Fred has not met his father, as he left Mrs. Figglehorn while she was still pregnant with Fred. In seasons one through three, Fred communicates with all characters off-screen.

On screen characters are seen for the first time in a dream sequence, in "Fred: A Star In His Own Mind", Fred dreams of being a famous actor, meeting fan girls and other famous actors. Season four, as it was filmed after Fred: The Movie, marked a change in production style, it is filmed in a higher video quality, and shows other on-screen characters. The original production style was revived for a few episodes in 2010, introducing the Claudio character, after the movie was released in the UK, and ended when Cruikshank returned to movie filming. Leading up to the second movie's release, a new series, called Figgle Chat was produced and features internet and television stars. Following that, an animated series, It's Fred!, named after Fred's catchphrase, began being uploaded to the channel.

Cruikshank has described the channel as "programming for kids by kids". The series is intended as a parody of people who, in Cruikshank's words, "think that everyone is so interested in them." Cruikshank believes that viewers either "automatically love Fred or automatically hate Fred, there is no in between". The videos primarily consist of the character speaking to the audience about what is happening in his life. Fred has a high-pitched "chipmunk" voice, making him sound more like a 6-year-old. According to Cruikshank, this effect, and the hyperactive appearance of the character, are achieved by speeding up the audio.

The first season follows Fred attempting to perform a number of activities during the summer, until his mother attends rehab. "Fred Goes Swimming" is the second most watched video on the Fred channel, with over 68 million views. The second season explores Fred's infatuation with Judy, a girl in his class, and attending school. There Fred decides to run against class bully Kevin, for class president. The song "Watch How I Do This", by Kev Blaze, is featured in a number of the season 2 videos. Season three again follows the daily adventures of Fred, in school, and with classmates, and shows Fred's interest in singing. The fourth season, now with on-screen characters, shows Fred traveling around town trying out different occupations. Following this, Fred holds contests surrounding his first two movies, gets a visit from a creeping character named Claudio, gets invited to host a talk show, dispels rumours of being owned by Nickelodeon, becomes animated, and is kidnapped by a Korean corporation. In the few Fred videos on Lucas' personal channel, Fred lives in the house of a middle aged man named Jeffrey, who lets Fred live there for free as long has he cleans the house once a week in nothing but his underwear. His mom currently is watching over various children, none of which are related to her, that she has tried to leave to be kidnapped multiple times. However, nobody will kidnap them.

The series uses a floating timeline, meaning it is always taking place in the current year, and Fred is perpetually 6 years old and in kindergarten.

Filmography

This is a list of videos uploaded to the Fred channel. 60 videos are considered part of the original Fred series, however no official list exists. The YouTube show feature lists 49 episodes, split into four seasons, while a playlist, linked to from the Fred channel, named The Best of Fred, contains 18 videos ranging from 2007 to 2010. Since the end of the Fred series in early 2011, three series have been produced and uploaded, a six episode arc titled Figgle Chat, where Fred interviews internet and television stars, a nine episode animated series titled It's FRED!, which shows Fred attend school, and the previously off-screen characters, and the nine episode "New Fred Saga", which sees the Fred channel taken over by a Korean corporation. Nine music videos are also listed here.

Fred: The Movie

Fred: The Movie is a 2010 film based on the YouTube series about Fred Figglehorn. It features Lucas Cruikshank as Fred, Pixie Lott as Judy, Jennette McCurdy as Bertha, Jake Weary as Kevin, John Cena as Fred's dad, and Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Fred's mom. It follows the character as he tries to track down his crush, Judy (after she moves away). It is written by David A. Goodman, directed by Clay Weiner, and produced by Brian Robbins. Filming began November 9, 2009, and wrapped up December 20, 2009. The movie premiered on Nickelodeon on September 18, 2010, and the DVD was released October 5, 2010 as well as streaming media such as Netflix.

Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred

Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred is a 2011 Halloween-themed sequel to Fred: The Movie. It first aired on October 22, 2011. After Fred has broken up with Judy, he meets Kevin's sister Talia, and becomes convinced that his new neighbor is a vampire. The Judy character does not appear, and Jennette McCurdy was replaced as Bertha by Daniella Monet.

Fred 3: Camp Fred

In late 2011, a third Fred movie was announced. Fred 3: Camp Fred premiered July 28, 2012, on Nickelodeon, which also aired Fred: The Show, a series of 24 11-minute-long episodes, in 2012. For summer, Fred attends Camp Iwannapeepee, where he meets several different characters, and must compete against Kevin's camp.

Sponsorship and appearances

Zipit Wireless Messenger (Z2) sponsored the first season of "Fred", which had several cameos in various videos posted to the Fred channel. Although the collaboration had originally been kept low-key, Fred has a separate website promoting the Zipit. Walden Media hired Cruikshank to promote the film City of Ember, along with the sci-fi novel it was based on, and cameos from the film's star Tim Robbins in Fred episodes and a mock movie trailer.

Cruikshank made a cameo appearance as both "Fred" and himself on Nickelodeon's iCarly in "iMeet Fred", which originally aired on February 16, 2009. Also in 2009, in the episode "Fred Gets Dissed at Bible School", the comedy film Year One is quoted several times.

Cruikshank has launched a website to promote the Fred series, and sell Fred T-shirts and other merchandise. The merchandise is also available at Hot Topic, Justice, and Five Below stores. Fred has appeared at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards as well as the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards presenting awards to winners off-stage.

In October and November 2011, videos were uploaded to the Fred channel, as well as Cruikshank's personal channel, with Ari Gold as his character Power, from the film Adventures of Power.

Other channels

Cruikshank was originally a part of JKL Productions, a group comprising twins Jon and Katie Smet and Lucas Cruikshank, their cousin. Although Cruikshank formally left the group, JKL prefers to keep Lucas' "L" in its name. Cruikshank deleted all of his individual videos when he left JKL Productions, but he can still be seen in a few of their videos. In January 2009 he set up his own channel, called "lucas", in which he appears as himself. In the June 25, 2010, Annoying Orange episode, Cruikshank made a cameo as Fred, the first time Fred has officially appeared on a different YouTube channel. In a video released August 29, 2013, on "lucas", Cruikshank reprised the Fred role, while his friend Jennifer Veal played Judy, and on August 19, 2014, a video was uploaded as part of the New Fred Saga. Since then Cruikshank has reprised the role of Fred a number of times on his personal channel.