What About Mimi

''What About Mimi?'' is a Canadian animated children’s television series. The show was produced by Junior-EM.TV (Germany), Decode Entertainment and Studio B Productions (then DHX Media, now WildBrain). The show was first premiered on Teletoon (now Cartoon Network Canada) on October 4, 2000 with the final episode's airing on August 14, 2002, leading up to three seasons and 39 episodes overall.

Plot

The show that focuses on Mimi Mortin, a clever, redheaded girl in the sixth grade who lives in the Canadian town of Starfish Bay with two friends, Elaine and Russell and her family, but rivaled with Sincerity.

Characters

* Miriam "Mimi" Mortin (voiced by Chiara Zanni) - A young, freckle-faced girl in the sixth grade. She is 11 years old. She is clever, optimistic, and has a powerful imagination. She is always willing to help and solve any problem that she may encounter all the time, adding with creative plans and ideas. Although her plans may not always work out the way she expects them, Mimi receives a lot of help from her best friends (Elaine and Russell), her family, so even her rivals (Sincerity), and finds a way to solve any problem. She has a pet cat named Wimbledon.
* Elaine Pituskin (voiced by Kori Cook) - Mimi's best friend. She is an 11-year-old girl who is an animal and nature lover, owning many pets. She can be temperamental and argue with Mimi at times, but she always looks up to Mimi as her best friend, in turn, Mimi respects her a lot.
* Russell Van Eden (voiced by Rhys Huber in Seasons 1-2 and Noel Callahan in Season 3) - Mimi's other best friend and male sidekick. He is an 11-year-old boy who is a sports lover, although he is a little clumsy. He has video camera skills and aspires to be a film director. He is shown to have a crush on Sincerity early in the show, but his interest on her later fades away.
* Sincerity Travers (voiced by Carly McKillip) - A snobbish preppy girl with dyed pink hair who, sometimes, does not get along with Mimi. She and Mimi used to be friends in kindergarten, but as they got older, their interests diverged, and they started growing apart. She is Mimi's rival in school, and although she does not get along with her, she admits that her ideas are very good and help with some of her schemes. Even if she does not get along with Mimi, she has a resentful respect for her, showing that deep inside, Sincerity still considers her a true friend. She has a father named Lance.
* Brock Wickersham (voiced by Tony Sampson) - A bully who enjoys pulling pranks on all of the characters, especially on Herbert Finkle.
* Budrick "Buddy" Wickersham (voiced by Andrew Francis) - Brock's younger brother who is also a bully. It is also revealed that he is a genius, but he does not want people to find out about it, especially his big brother, explaining that the fact would embarrass him in front of his family.
* Bradley "Brad" Mortin (voiced by Keith Miller) - Mimi's 9-year-old brother who knows that Mimi's plans always have flaws.
* Jason Mortin (voiced by Sam Vincent) - Mimi's older brother who thinks of himself as an on-the-edge rebel.
* Saffron Mortin (voiced by Ellen Kennedy) - Mimi's vegan mother who always feeds her children vegetables.
* Marvin "Marv" Mortin (voiced by Colin Murdock) - Mimi's father, who is also a hippie.
* Hayley Kinaschuk (voiced by Ellen Kennedy) - Sincerity's best friend and "lackey"- although she is kind and many times disagrees with Sincerity, and is good friends with Mimi, Elaine and Russell. She is of Russian heritage.
* Herbert Finkle (voiced by Peter Kelamis) - A nerd at Mimi's school. He is in charge of the school's newspaper. He's also often the target of Brock and Buddy's pranks.
* Lodeman (voiced by Peter Kelamis) - A student at Mimi's school who tends to make very bad noises and act distracted all the time.
* Ms. Grindstone (voiced by Saffron Henderson) - Mimi's main teacher at school.
* Mr. Petri (voiced by Sam Vincent) - A science teacher who blames Brock for everything bad (even over things Brock never did) because of his state of being a bully and for pulling all pranks at his classroom.
* Mr. Jacques (voiced by Dale Wilson) - A gym teacher at school.
* Ms. Murchison (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain) - The librarian of Starfish Bay School. She and Mr. Pianoforte hate each other.
* Principal Earl (voiced by Garry Chalk) - The principal of Starfish Bay School.
* Mr. Pianoforte (voiced by unknown) - A music teacher at school. He and Ms. Murchison hate each other.

Episodes

The show consists of 39 half-hour episodes divided into three seasons. The first two seasons consist of 13 episodes with a full 22-minute story each, while the third season consists of 13 episodes divided into 26 11-minute stories.

Series overview

Season 1 (2000–01)

Season 2 (2001)

Season 3 (2002)

Awards

The show won a Pulcinella Award for the Best Series for Children in 2001.

Telecast and home media

''What About Mimi?'' was first premiered on Teletoon in 2000 until 2002 with repeats until the late 2000s. The show does not air in the U.S., but PorchLight's now-defunct KidMango had episodes online. Internationally, the show does air on Fox Kids (now as "Disney XD") in Latin America, CITV and Pop Girl in the United Kingdom, Minimax in Central Europe, and KiKa along with Junior in Germany. As of 2023, the show had added with YouTube online.

Two volumes of the show have been released on DVD in Canada by Anchor Bay Entertainment. Volume 1 includes four half-hour episodes and one 11-minute episode. Volume 2 includes three half-hour episodes and three 11-minute episodes. The first two episodes were additionally released on DVD in Australia by EM.TV as part of Junior's compilation series.

* Volume 1: ''Lights, Camera, Action''; ''Outta Sync''; ''The Play's The Thing''; ''A Star Isn't Born'' and ''Critics Choice''
* Volume 2: ''Wildthing''; ''High Toon''; ''Skiing is Believing''; ''Iron Guy''; ''Club Mimi'' and ''Sports Day''
* The Best of J-Squad: ''Second Honeymoon'' and ''The Great Campaign''

References

{{Teletoon

2000 Canadian television series debuts
2002 Canadian television series endings
2000s Canadian animated comedy television series
2000s Canadian children's television series
Canadian children's animated comedy television series
Television shows set in British Columbia
Television shows filmed in Vancouver
Television series by WildBrain
Teletoon original programming
Animated television series about children
Canadian English-language television shows