Web Animation / Ollie & Scoops

Ollie & Scoops is an animated web series created by Nico Colaleo. It stars a 9-year-old girl named Ollie, described by the creator as "the only human on earth who can secretly talk to cats," and her pet cat Scoops. The two of them go on misadventures in Ollie's neighborhood, whether it be at home, school, or in "Catlifornia" a secret underground city for cats.

The show is notable for having a cast consisting of both up and coming voice actors and some more well known ones, including Kimmy Robertson as Ollie, Eric Bauza as Scoops, Grey Griffin as Julia Goldberger, and more.

You can watch the show on YouTube here, and support the show on Patreon here.

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Ollie & Scoops contains examples of:

• Actor Allusion:
  • James Rolfe plays The Bad Tempered Cinema Geek, a self-Take That! at his character as The Angry Video Game Nerd.
  • Jeffrey Combs plays Claudia's dad, basically a semi-more benevolent version of Herbert West. The dad's name is also Edgar, possibly alluding to Combs' stage portrayal of Edgar Allan Poe.
• Alpha Bitch: Julia Goldberger, the most popular girl in school, often talks down to Ollie.
• Animal Jingoism: "Vinnie Video" revolves around Ollie trying to show Scoops that cats and dogs can get along by showing him a movie where that happens. While at the video store, Scoops befriends the store's mascot, an old dog named Vinnie; together, they save Ollie when she's threatened by Merle and Brunk.
• Animals Fear Neutering: In the first Quickie, "At the Vet", Scoops gets so anxious about his experience with the vet that he fears that he might get neutered. He runs for it when his name is announced, but turns out he's not being neutered, just getting a new collar with a microchip.
• Animal Talk: Ollie is known to be the only human to understand cats and so the cats that she (and of course the audience) can hear talking only come out as meows to another human's perspective.
• Artistic License – Education: No one says anything about Ollie bringing Scoops to school, even though bringing pets to school usually isn't allowed.
• Badly Battered Babysitter: The mostly apathetic babysitter from the first episode becomes this at the end when she gets trampled by a stampede of stray cats.
• Beneath the Earth: In the third episode, Scoops introduces Ollie to Catlifornia, a secret city-esque society for cats that can be accessed via a garbage can with a chute that leads to the place located underground.
• The Cat Came Back: In "Tutor Suitor", Miss Bivvins tries to get away from Ollie and Scoops after the disastrous date they set up for her. But no matter where she goes — her apartment, a movie theater, a deserted island — Ollie, Scoops and Miss Whippleworth are there for another try.
• Cats Are Mean: With the exception of Scoops, many other cats exhibit this. Since the show features a lot of cats, however, some are less mean than others.
• Christmas Songs/Image Song: Every holiday season in the days leading up to Christmas since 2019, there has been a different Christmas Song in each year, sung by at least one of the show's cast members.
  • 2019: Robertson, in character as Ollie, covered "Christmas Time Is Here" from A Charlie Brown Christmas.
  • 2020: Merle and Brunk sang "Baby, It's Covid Time" to the tune of "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Long story.
  • 2021: A more original song, "The Ballad of Jolly Julie," focused on Julia bringing her take on Christmas cheer to everyone. "A snowball to your face" indeed.
  • Averted in 2022 and 2023: There wasn't any for either year.
• Clam Trap: Hoagie gets swallowed by a giant clam in "Tutor Suitor".
• The Cloud Cuckoolander Was Right: In "Warm Cream", Scoops points out how Dougie the Lab Cat, who has a few screws loose due to being experimented on, correctly guessed that Terry Bumble wants to make a cat costume out of his cats' fur, including Scoops.
• Colorblind Confusion: In "Warm Cream", Dougie the Lab Cat tells Ollie that Scoops is trapped in the house with the red door. Ollie bursts through the door, only to find a Jewish family sitting at the dinner table. That's when Dougie apologizes, explaining that due to his color blindness, he meant the green door.
• Cool Teacher: Miss Bivvins, and to a lesser extent Miss Whippleworth. They’re both teachers who love binge-watching shows and are good to their students.
• Crazy Cat Lady: Gender inverted with Terry Bumble in "Warm Cream", an eccentric man who collects cats, including Scoops after a falling out with Ollie. To Scoops, it seems like paradise, until he notices that Terry is acting weird, expecting to be groomed, going on a litter box with the other cats, and talking about something called "kitty time." Turns out he wants to be a cat, and has been shaving the fur off his cats to make a cat suit.
• Creator Cameo: Series creator Nico Colaleo voices Mayor Scrumpy.
• Creepy Jazz Music: "Old Crumplecranks" mostly uses jazz music in the background, because it was inspired by certain Fleischer Studios cartoons which used similar music. Crumplecranks himself even sings a Villain Song in this style.
• Cult: Terry Bumble's cats in "Warm Cream" act like one, the older members clad in robes to hide the fact that Terry has shaved off their fur to make himself a cat suit. They are slowly being brainwashed by the special cream in a fountain, and awaiting something called "Kitty Time", which turn out to be Terry finishing his cat suit to become a cat himself.
• Cute Kitten: There are many cute cats in the series, but Scoops stands out with how affectionate he is towards Ollie.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • "Student of the Month" focuses a lot more on Julia Goldberger and her dilemma over not being student of the month which was instead rewarded to Ollie (and Scoops).
  • "Old Crumplecranks" focuses on the cats Poopsie and Rudy, using them as stand-ins for Betty Boop and Bimbo as a Whole-Plot Reference to Minnie the Moocher and The Old Man of the Mountain.
  • "Tutor Suitor" has Miss Bivvins developing a crush on Ollie's science teacher Miss Whippleworth and when Ollie hears about this, she tries to get them together by any means necessary.
• Dramatic Thunder: In "A Night at Claudia's", thunder sounds every time Claudia's mortician parents make a Black Humor pun. Ollie attempts it as well, with little results. At least until the end of the episode, where Ollie manages the same by making corn jokes.
• Expy:
  • Merle, one of the many stray cats in the show, looks a lot like Stimpy, if he were leaner. And meaner. And not stupid.
  • Old Crumplecranks, from the episode of the same name, physically resembles the Devil from Cuphead, has a voice like Oogie Boogie, and plays the same role as the titular villain of The Old Man of the Mountain, one of the cartoons that inspired Cuphead, Oogie Boogie, and this episode.
• Gonky Femme: Julia Goldberger has a balding head and an odd, long, curled nose, but she's the most popular girl in school, and acts the part.
• Goth: The Creepy Girl (that's her name in the credits) Ollie befriends in "Vinnie Video". Her real name is revealed to be Claudia Grimson as of "A Night at Claudia's".
• Haunted Technology: In "A Night at Claudia's", Ollie and Scoops have a sleepover at "Creepy Girl" Claudia's home to watch all 800 Billy-Bob movies. When they get to the last movie, the tape has no label, and when it gets played, all it shows is a staticky screen pattern. Ollie and Claudia dismiss it as a mislabeled tape, but Scoops is oddly mesmerized by it and continues watching it. Soon, he is possessed by an evil spirit who has command over corn.
• Here We Go Again!: In "Gimme a Hand," Scoops goes to Dr. Toodles to get (large, disturbing) human hands grafted over his paws. The hands come to life and jump off of Scoops' paws, terrorizing Catlifornia. Ollie and Scoops defeat the hands, only for the audience to learn immediately after that Dr. Toodles has put another pair of hands on himself.
  Scoops: Looks like everything is back to normal!
  Dr. Toodles: "Normal?" Well, now... I wouldn't say that! (Evil Laugh)
• Impact Silhouette: Scoops makes one near the end of the first Quickie, "At the Vet" when his name is called, expecting to get neutered, only for the viewer to find out that he's only getting a new collar with a microchip.
• Inconsistent Episode Lengths: Episode lengths vary widely. The longest episode so far is "Warm Cream" (18 minutes, 4 seconds) and the shortest episode is either "Funny Face" (4 minutes, 47 seconds) or "Episode 4" (1 minute, 53 seconds). Due to the latter simply being an animated music video set to an original song, it depends if a viewer even considers it an episode despite being labeled as such.
• Irritation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery: In an attempt to win back her Student of the Month Title from Ollie, Julia mimics Ollie's style of fashion and even gets a (painted) grey cat like her.
• Luminescent Blush: Exaggerated with Miss Bivvins in "Tutor Suitor", whose blush is so bright Ollie and Scoops have to wear sunglasses.
• Mad Scientist:
  • Dr. Toodles, a scientist cat who conducts strange experiments, lives alone in a creepy laboratory building, and has a very Evil Laugh.
  • Claudia's parents give off this implication. It's especially noticeable with her dad, voiced by Jeffrey Combs, who's well-known for playing the archetype, even being an Expy of Combs' iconic role of Herbert West, though far less malevolent.
• Medium Blending: "Old Crumplecranks" has a shot of Poopsie and Rudy walking inside a live-action miniature set, as part of the episode's Fleischer Studios homage.
• Mock Meal: Scoops claims to be serving linguini with clams in "Tutor Suitor", but the actual dish appears to be just a mess of noodles, clams and cat food. The less said about the brown "breadstick", the better.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In "Warm Cream", Ollie gets upset with Scoops and wishes she couldn't understand cats. She is regretful the moment she says it, but Scoops is hurt by this and decides to run away from home. Later in the episode, Ollie confronts Terry Bumble over the way he treats his cats, making him realize what he has done and allowing him to undergo a Heel–Face Turn.
• Name and Name: Ollie & Scoops.
• Nerd Glasses: Ollie wears a round pair. We also see her father in episode 4 who wears a square pair, so it's clear where she inherited them.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Scoops' voice is modeled after Gobo from Fraggle Rock.
• Not This One, That One: In "A Night at Claudia's", Ollie and Scoops stand in front of a spooky looking house. Ollie asks if this is where Claudia lives, and then Ollie says no and points to the house next door, which looks normal.
• Nutritional Nightmare: The first episode has the "Bacon Bacon Bacon Bacon Pizza", with "4 times the bacon, bacon cheese, bacon crust, and don't forget the grease dippers!"
• Opaque Lenses: Miss Whippleworth had these for most of episode 7.
• Picture Day: The second episode, "Funny Face", revolves around this with Ollie vying for a more visible spot in the class photo because she's always been in the back.
• Prematurely Bald: Julia Goldberger is of the receding hairline variant. She used to have a full head of hair as seen in "Student of the Month" but it got fewer and fewer every month. It's implied that the stress she puts on herself (and her ponytail) might be the cause.
• Real After All: In "Vinnie Video", Merle and Brunk are attacking stores disguised as "wolpertingers", half-bat half-rabbit creatures. Later, when they threaten Ollie and Scoops, real wolpertingers are summoned by a clip from a Billy-Bob movie to save them.
  Merle: These things are real?
  Brunk: Oh, my God!
• Roger Rabbit Effect: The live-action commercial for the titular video store in "Vinnie Video" includes an animated Vinnie the dog as a puppy.
• The Runaway: Scoops runs away from home after Ollie gets angry at him in "Warm Cream". He winds up at Terry Bumble's home, which he soon regrets.
• Sanity Slippage: Julia Goldburger does not take losing Student of the Month to Ollie well, to say the least. Her first plan is to give the whole school makeovers by shaving everyone's heads, which only gets her labeled Worst Student of the month; then she disguises herself as Ollie to ruin her reputation, giving students and teachers wedgies and "doing one through two" in the principal's car.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Scoops does this in the first Quickie, "At the Vet" when his name is called, expecting to get neutered. Turns out he's just getting a new collar with a microchip.
• Shatterpoint Tap: In "Warm Cream", various heavy objects narrowly avoid hitting the warm cream fountain, but a small toy mouse landing on it causes it to break apart.
• Shout-Out:
  • Ollie's design has some specific inspirations in terms of her outfit such as her sweater being based off of Babs Bunny from Tiny Toon Adventures and her glasses being based off the lesser-known Euchariah from the special, Halloween Is Grinch Night.
  • The principal character, J. Liquids, from episode 5 is an obvious reference to John Waters. He even borrows a famous quote from, of all things, Pink Flamingos. Also counts as Parental Bonus (Seriously, do not explain to your child what that movie is).
  • Julia Goldberger's design is often compared to Jojo Siwa presumably by her hairline. Creator Nico Colaleo dismissed those rumors having never heard of her, thus making it pure coincidental.
  • In "Pizza Pilot", the cats listen to music by Lady Meow Meow.
  • Much of "Old Crumplecranks" is inspired by some of Fleischer Studios cartoons and has several direct references to them (see Whole-Plot Reference below.) Crumplecranks himself sounds like Oogie Boogie, who was inspired by those same cartoons.
  • In "Warm Cream", Ollie is watching the series finale of Dragon Times, clearly based on Game of Thrones. Scoops accidentally spoils the ending, revealing that Ollie's favorite character dies halfway through, referencing the disappointing Grand Finale of Thrones.
    • In the same episode, Scoops briefly jumps up and down going "Hoo-hoo!" like Daffy Duck. Doubles as an Actor Allusion as Eric Bauza is the current voice of Daffy.
    • The paintings in the cat owner's house depict Gumball Watterson, Felix the Cat, Fran, and Garfield.
    • The characters of OneyPlays Animated appear shortly after on a magazine.
  • "Vinnie Video" is chock full of these.
    • Morko & Ungus, a movie that Ollie uses as an example of a dog and cat getting along, is an obvious parody of The Adventures of Milo and Otis, down to its VHS cover◊.
    • The Bad Tempered Cinema Geek is practically a parody expy of his voice actor, James Rolfe (specifically his The Angry Video Game Nerd character) being a foul-mouth, ill-tempered online critic.
    • Stacy's computer at the video store has a sticker of Rainbow Dash's cutie mark.
    • The Billy-Bob movie character and his film series are an obvious homage of Ernest P. Worrell as well as the subsequent films.
    • When Ollie and Scoops are entering the video store, a sign appears next to them stating that a movie called "All Fish Go to Purgatory" was playing, which is a call-out to All Dogs Go to Heaven.
    • The Bad Tempered Cinema Geek stating that an animator on the show should've been fired for a "blunder" is a direct nod to the hardcore fan scene from The Simpsons episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show". This is fitting since creator Nico Colaleo is a huge Simpsons fan.
  • The scary house in the beginning of "A Night at Claudia's" has the address 1313 Mockingbird Lane, same address as The Munsters.
    • The way Ollie says "Hello!" sounds rather familiar…
    • Claudia's parents are pretty much Gomez and Morticia Addams. Her dad's name is Edgar, possibly alluding to Edgar Allan Poe, and may be an unintentional Actor Allusion as Jeffrey Combs has played Poe on-stage, though an intentional one is how the character is a semi-benevolent version of Herbert West.
    • Edgar looks like a shorter, older version of the Count. Appropriately, Colaleo is friends with creator Rob Renzetti.
    • The house is full of blink-and-you'll-miss-it references. The TV room features a black bat with the appearance of The Brain, the Clutching Hand, the Scream mask, and Seymour, amongst many others.
    • After everything goes back to normal and Claudia emerges, you can see a photo of Edgar Allan Poe.
  • "At The Vet" has a poster of the mad scientist from the Mickey Mouse cartoon "The Mad Doctor" asking to "Get your lobotomy today!" Next to it is a diagram of a mouse's skull with a familiar silhouette.
• Stereotypical Nerd: Ollie, although downplayed. She has the glasses, the reedy voice, and somewhat frumpy clothing but she's pretty normal despite her whole deal with being able to talk to cats, and isn't really ostracized by anyone (apart from Sitcom Arch-Nemesis, Julia Goldberger) though one classmate does refer to her as weird. A boy classmate also has a crush on her.
• Swallowed Whole: Julia is swallowed by the stray cat she's been dragging around at the end of "Student of the Month", and freed by Ollie.
• Take That!: As well as satiring the actor's own show, the 'blunder counter' at the end of Episode 9 makes fun of CinemaSins by listing off everything wrong with the episode that just finished.
• There Was a Door: Near the end of the first Quickie, "At the Vet", Scoops crashes through the wall of the Stray's Anatomy veterinarian office when his name is called, fearing that he could get neutered, but turns out his appointment was just so that he could get a new collar with a microchip.
• Villain Song: In "Old Crumplecranks," the titular character sings a jazz number introducing himself to Poopsie and Rudy, with lyrics about how dangerous he is, and how he plans to kill the two cats.
• Wedgie: In "Student of the Month", Julia Goldburger gives Carl and Miss Bivvins atomic wedgies while disguised as Ollie.
• Whole-Plot Reference: "Old Crumplecranks" is based on certain Fleischer Studios cartoons, especially Minnie the Moocher and The Old Man of the Mountain. Poopsie and Rudy decide they don't like living in the city and opt to run away to Mount Cattywumpus. The other cats warn the two about an evil, murderous cat named Old Crumplecranks who lives there, but the two cats ignore the warnings and go to Mount Cattywumpus anyway. Old Crumplecranks shows up and sings a Villain Song introducing himself. To hammer it in, the Inkblot Cartoon Style and jazz music are used frequently in the episode, and some direct quotes, such as the Old Man of the Mountain's "[I'm] gonna do the best I can," are used in the episode.
• Wild Teen Party: In the first episode, the alley cats take over Ollie's home and start a rave.
• Wolf Whistle: A quartet of unnamed male cats does this to Poopsie in "Old Crumplecranks". She is repulsed by this and tells them to leave her be.

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