Western Animation / The Replacements

Grown-ups got you down? Switch 'em around!

The Replacements (2006-2009) is a Disney Channel animated television series created by children's book illustrator Dan Santat.

As the Expository Theme Tune goes, one day while cleaning the sleeping area in their rundown orphanage, orphaned siblings named Todd and Riley stumble across a comic book with an ad for a company called Fleemco, which promises a low-cost "replacement service." Mailing the ad back for $1.98, the kids get new parents: a British secret agent named K (along with her sarcastic talking car) and a none-too-bright professional daredevil named Dick Daring. In addition to this, they also receive a pair of Fleemco phones that allows them to dial the company's CEO, Conrad Fleem, and request for any person/animal they want to be replaced with something more to their liking.

The series continues on to follow Todd and Riley's chaotic misadventures as they continuously use Fleemco in an attempt to better their lives in nearly every problematic situation they encounter. As the series progressed, the hired replacement would cease being a direct source of a given conflict, with plots being driven more by quirky behaviors of the main and recurring cast. The show's second season also forwent the Two Shorts format of the first, consisting mainly of 22-minute stories. The Grand Finale, "Irreplaceable", aired on March 20, 2009.

No relations to the football movie starring Keanu Reeves nor the Minnesotan punk band.

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Todd and Riley were both so sad. Then they came 'cross a website called TV Tropes:

• Aborted Arc: Sierra spends the rest of season 1 and most of 2 trying to break Riley and Johnny up so Sierra can be with him. Yet after Johnny broke up with Riley, Sierra seems to have lost interest in him. Though she created a misunderstanding with Riley and Johnny's cousin.
• Acme Products: It seems everything in the world is made or run by Fleemco.
• Acquaintance Denial: In "London Calling", Todd and Riley enroll themselves in the Royal Spy Academy to be able to see C.A.R. again when he gets a teaching job there. When Riley sees C.A.R., she calls out to him, only to be chided for making a scene. She asks Todd why he would do that, only for Todd to block her from his view and act like he doesn't know her.
• Action Dad: Dick Daring, a brave "dare-devil dude" who nonetheless is a loving father.
• Action Mom: Agent K, a superspy and a loving mother.
• Adults Are Useless: One of the driving points of the show as the adults Todd and Riley run into usually are quite ineffective in helping them, though more often then not the ones that do get replaced turn out being much worse.
• The Alleged Steed: Prince Cinnamon Boots, the pet mule of the Daring family. He’s barely capable of doing anything resembling show-jumping.
• All There in the Manual: The timeline on the official Fleemco website revealed that the company's previous owner was Conrad's brother Chauncey, a stubborn man who refused to listen to other people or try to understand them, nearly running the company into the ground as a result (he supported Betamax, for crying out loud). Conrad inherited the company after Chauncey disappeared during an ill-advised rafting expedition. This serves as the only foreshadowing to the reveal that Conrad is Todd and Riley's uncle, explaining how they wound up in the orphanage and why Conrad wanted to teach them about understanding other people before revealing their heritage and birthright.
• Alpha Bitch: Sierra McCool. She's bratty, rude, and at the top of the school food chain.
• Art Evolution: Season 2 uses a warmer color palette and thinner linework. Some of the other art changes include different body proportions, noses being drawn differently, characters going from Four-Fingered Hands to five-fingered ones, and overall more angular designs.
• Automated Automobiles: C.A.R., Agent K’s sentient vehicle.
• Beautiful All Along: Shelton is actually a very handsome boy without his glasses. Especifically because they are so thick they obscure his face and so heavy they make him slouch.
• The Benchwarmer: In "Todd Strikes Out", it's made clear that Shelton is his team's benchwarmer. The team considered him the worst player and actively tried to argue against their coach letting him play due to him being the only player not put in the game. The first time he was put in he lost, and when Todd faked injury so Shelton could play in the championship, he only helped the team win by sheer luck.
• Be Yourself: When Riley becomes the coolest person in school, she quickly becomes sick of everybody copying her. She delivers a big speech to the school about how everybody should stop mindlessly following trends and trying to be whatever some magazine says is cool right now, they have the freedom to choose for themselves. Quickly turned into a Spoof Aesop when Sierra replies that mindlessly following trends is what they chose to do and Riley has no right to try and stop them. Riley can't think of a rebuttal for that and gives up.
• Big Man on Campus: Johnny Hitswell serves as the alpha male at George Stapler Middle School
• Blind People Wear Sunglasses: Terrance is blind, and, of course, wears sunglasses.
• Blush Stickers: Not just on Todd and Riley, but many of the show's youths have prominent blushes on their faces.
• Book Dumb: Todd Daring. He's not unintelligent, but does bad in school.
• Brainless Beauty: Tasumi and Riley both realize that the boys in school will do anything for them as long as they act stupid and helpless.
• Bumbling Dad: Dick Daring. He's a loving father, but hardly the most intelligent.
• Butt-Monkey: Shelton Klutzberry, the nerdy klutz who always gets picked on.
• Casting Gag: The subplot of "Buzzwork Orange" had Dick and K switch bodies. However, while they kept their voices, their accents were swapped. This results in K speaking in an southern American accent, much like Kath Soucie's own Betty DeVille on Rugrats .
• Celebrity Star: Celebrity Starr, played by Miley Cyrus.
• Chekhov's Gag: In "Tasumi Unmasked", we learn that Riley sometimes watches a show called General Giraffe and the Goofy Gamehouse Gang whenever she feels sad. This is treated as a throwaway gag at first, but Riley later finds out that Tasumi hosted the Japanese version of the show during her career as an idol singer.
• Chick Magnet: Shelton unwillingly turns into one of these when his glasses are removed. "His obvious reluctance merely makes him more desirable!!"
• Continuity Nod: Used frequently in season 2, for some reason. Though this might've been their way of pointing out that the series was coming to an end.
• Cool Car: C.A.R., the talking, self-stearing, weapon-filled spycar.
• Corrupt Politician: The mayor at one point outright states 'in public' that his position means he can do anything he wants.
• Couch Gag: The Fleemco public service announcements.
• Credit Card Plot: One episode has Riley overspending on K’s credit card and trying to cover it up.
• Deadpan Snarker: C.A.R., when it concerns Dick.
• Deep-Fried Whatever: Including roadkill and a football in Carnie Dearest.
• Delusions of Local Grandeur: Ace Palmero, the city's news reporter, is a Smarmy Host who thinks too big of himself, treating everyone else in a condescending way.
• Disobey This Message: Subverted, as Riley learns everyone else is allowed to be whoever they want even if that means they act like everyone else.
• Duct Tape for Everything: One of Dick's running gags. Even when the thing he's trying to fix is a sandcastle, he tries to use it.
• Embarrassing Hobby: Alpha Bitch Sierra is secretly a fan of a geeky sci-fi show but cannot admit it to anyone...at least, until the episode where she loses her spot on the cheerleading squad, and is no longer obsessed with being 'cool'.
• Engrish: Tasumi speaks like that, since she's Japanese.
• Enslaved Tongue: Todd gives himself "lie spice" to make his lies 50% more believable, but too much consumption of the salt causes Todd to have uncontrollable lying.
• Even Beggars Won't Choose It: Riley and her friends were once selling jerky. It was so bad hungry wolves refused to eat it.
• Everyone Has Standards: In one episode, a snobby upper-class well-dressed gentleman wouldn't go to a public pool. But even he's outraged when Riley broke the lifeguard's heart and ruined everyone's pool day.
• Evil Laugh: Dick lampshades about it after he heard Clyde's laugh in "London Calling".
• Expository Theme Tune: The theme song explains how Todd and Riley lived in an orphanage until they found an ad from Fleemco.
• Extreme Omnivore: Dick eats 50 pinecones in an episode. He was only dared to eat three, but found them so tasty he couldn't help himself.
  • There's also Dick easily defeating The Human Garbage Can in a contest of who could stomach the most rancid food while on a spinning carnival ride in "Carnie Dearest"
• The Faceless: Conrad Fleem. The first time he was shown facing the camera was in a Halloween special - and his face was hidden three times by various different masks. It wasn't until the final episode that his face was finally revealed.
• Four-Fingered Hands: This was true for season 1, but later they all acquired five fingers.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: Happens to Dick and K in ""A Buzzwork Orange" (where Freaky Friday is even lampshaded.)
  • Voices Are Mental, however, is averted (which is a rare event in cartoons). Instead, the viewers rely on the different accents to tell them apart.
• Feud Episode: Best Friends For Never involves Riley and Tasumi having a break-up due to losing a green shirt. The feud got so bad, that Todd called Fleemco to replace the school counselor with a pro wrestler. Thus, the replacement counselor decided that Riley and Tasumi should wrestle to end their feud.
• Getting Suspended Is Awesome: In "A Clockwork Buzz," Todd frames Buzz, leading to him getting suspended for a month. After spending the episode faking being traumatized and brainwashed to get Todd to confess, Buzz admits that he spent his suspension watching TV and eating beans. Todd shrugs, looking forward to doing the same, but the principal makes him do community service for the month instead.
• Genre Savvy: Garth the janitor is downright obnoxious about this in one episode. He refuses to help Riley because "every time I slightly inconvenience you or your funny-looking brother, some guys in jumpsuits show up and send me somewhere nice for a few weeks." When said jumpsuits turn up, he's waiting impatiently for them with his suitcase already packed.
• Girl Posse: Sierra leads one of these. They mainly serve as foils to Riley’s own group of friends.
• Gone Horribly Right: Many episodes revolve around the replacement going way too far with what the kids wanted.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol: Agent K wields one frequently, being that she is a super-spy.
• Halloween Episode: "Halloween Spirits" from the first season. To win a decoration contest against Buzz and his dad, Todd and Riley need every house on their side of the street to be scary, but the Kelpmans are sugary sweet and never decorate. After the kids call in for some scary replacements, a couple that resemble a vampire and a witch move into the Kelpmans' house, and they bring in assorted nasty accessories. Todd and Riley begin to fear these aren't actually costumes, especially when Conrad later tells them the Kelpmans turned down being replaced "in this lifetime." It's all just an elaborate prank on Todd and Riley that the Kelpmans, Conrad, and others were participating in.
• Happily Adopted: Riley and Todd were sad in their orphanage, and live happy lives with Dick and Agent K as their adoptive parents.
• Happily Married: Despite the fact they are the chosen replacement parents of Todd and Riley, Dick and K truly love each other.
• I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!: Riley's sugar addiction is incredibly unsubtle in the metaphor department.
• Imagine the Audience Naked: Dick gets this advice in the Christmas Special.
• I Need to Go Iron My Dog: "I left a pie in the washing machine."
• Invisible Streaker: Todd becomes one in the episode Todd Busters.
• It Came from the Fridge: During an Imagine Spot, Riley imagines Buzz's science project to be "What Happens to Pizza Left Under a Bed for Six Months?". The answer? It comes alive and crawls away.
• It Tastes Like Feet: In "Todd Strikes Out", Riley and Todd are handed protein bars, leading to this exchange:
  Riley: "This tastes like tree bark!"
  Todd (reading the label): "Now with 48% more tree bark."
• Jerk Jock: Buzz would be this, but he’s too stupid to be anything resembling menacing.
• Jet Pack: Agent K has one of these, as part of being a super-spy.
• Kissing In A Tree: The episode where Riley tries to find a girlfriend for Shelton has Sierra not only tease her with this song, but Todd actually visualizes it. Also, Jacobo and Tasumi state that they were actually doing this in the last episode.
• Last Minute Hook Up: Jacobo and Tasumi are revealed to be a couple in the last episode.
  • Though, it was revealed in "The Truth Hurts" that Tasumi has a crush on Jacobo.
• Lethal Chef: Agent K. The kids would rather go elsewhere for their food.
• Library Episode: In "Quiet Riot", Todd is annoyed with the school library's strict librarian Mrs. Shusher, so he replaces her with the loud and obnoxious pop star Ms. Osbourne to make the library more fun. Unfortunately, it causes all the students to slack off and almost end up in summer school.
• Like a Surgeon: In "Cinde-Riley," Riley getting a makeover before the school dance is treated as an operation, with the stylist wearing a mask and calling out for his tools one by one. When he's finished, he says, "We've done all we can." Mr. Daring, who was pacing outside, asks "How is she?" to which he says solemnly, "I'm not going to lie to you, Mr. Daring...(happier voice) she is beautiful!"
• Limited Wardrobe: All the characters. With Dick at least, it is specifically shown that he owns countless red-white-and-blue jumpsuits.
• Line-of-Sight Name: Todd takes an evil robot to school to threaten the teachers into accepting anything he says as correct, says the first president of The United States is "George Stapler"
  • But then even more impressively, since it's named for said president, all of the school's signs were immediately changed to say "George Stapler Middle School", and the name remained for the rest of the series
• Lookalike Lovers: The Kelpmans have few differences in appearance beyond their genders and hair.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Conrad is Todd and Riley's uncle.
• Manipulative Bastard: Todd, in a mild form, when getting his replacements from Conrad. Riley has shades of this as well.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Shelton, twice in one episode:
  Agent K: Todd, it's your friends. And Shelton.
  Riley: This time it was Shelton, next time it might be someone we actually care about!
  • In another episode, Todd even uses the exact words "my friends - and Shelton -".
• Nerd Glasses: Shelton. Who else?
• Nervous Wreck: In "The Truth Hurts", the head of the school newspaper who is replaced is a Nervous Wreck who is constantly jittery and gets extremely nervous about the idea of anything being published in the school newspaper that would make things like fruit on the bottom yogurt as opposed to being like plain yogurt, as he likes it.
• Never My Fault: Riley doesn't even apologize to Johnny for her yandere-ish behavior.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Shelton again; he has Jerry Lewis' voice and mannerisms. Also, a sleezy salesman does a fairly good Phil Hartman.
• Nominated as a Prank: One episode had Todd and Reilly going to extreme lengths to try to win the position of class Treasurer. In the end, the two make amends. The episode ends with it being revealed that Buzz had rigged the vote so that Ichabod Cornelius Underpants (I. C. Underpants) won. It cuts to Ichabod, who complains that he wins all the time despite never running.
• Not So Above It All: In "iTodd", Riley tries to be the voice of reason when she tries to convince Todd it's not healthy to build self-confidence around a virtual avatar. But later, it's revealed that Riley also has an account on Fleemstar where her avatar is a better prettier version of herself.
• One of the Boys: In "Glee By the Sea", Todd meets a girl named Bailey, whose tomboyish behaviour causes Todd to fall madly in love with her. Among other things, she burps loud enough to shake the ground right before crushing her soda can against her head.
  • In "Cinder-Riley", Riley got a makeover out of fear Johnny would otherwise see her as such.
• Opening Shout-Out: In the final episode, we have a repeat of the usual opening animation.
• Operation: Jealousy: Riley replaces the resident homely lifeguard with a handsome one to make Johnny jealous, but he's Oblivious to Love much to her frustration. Then Riley unintentionally broke the lifeguard's heart because he developed feelings for her. As a result, the pool was closed, which causes everyone to hate her, including Johnny, who ironically was about to ask her out.
• Orphanage of Fear: Todd and Riley began in one of these. We never see it outside of the intro, though.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Agent K has quite a few of these, though sometimes they're effective. As a baseball player, for example, she simply wore her hair short and had a fake mustache.
• Parental Bonus: Quite a lot of the gags would fall over most kids’ heads.
• Parrot Exposition: Happens almost once an episode with the Flemco Messengers talking with the replacee and them repeating what they apparently told them. Lampshaded in one episode.
  Ice Cream Vendor: You want me to leave my store to travel the world tasting ice cream for Ice Cream Illustrated Magazine?!
  Flemco Messenger: Yes, we just told you exactly that! Why did you repeat back to us in the form of a question?
  Ice Cream Vendor: Why did I repeat it back to you in the form of a question?
• Power of Love: Made fun of in 'German Squirmin': Shelton: "Princess Cuddlepuff wields the power of love... which apparently wasn't powerful enough to defeat his doom ray..."
• Retool: During Season 2, the show went through several changes:
  • The artstyle was given a drastic overhaul.
  • The episode length was changed from two 11 minute segments, to a full 30 minutes (with commercials).
  • The show's concept of Todd and Riley calling Fleemco to replace someone with someone more interesting, was significantly downplayed.
• Retroactive Wish: In one episode, Todd had the school librarian replaced with someone who'd turn the library into a place where he'd like to be. Riley got ran over by a hippopotamus right after she asked if they were what'd come next. She asked about a unicorn stampede but nothing happened. She complained because it worked with the hippopotamus, causing another one to run her over.
• Robot Buddy: Robo-Fleem in the episode "Insecurity Guard" being one towards Todd until Riley points out that using it to get payback eventually does more harm than good. Todd eventually realizes she was indeed right after ignoring the obvious fact that she pointed out.
• Running Gag: Several, notably that whenever Tasumi gets mad with someone, she puts them on her "list" of enemies (a series of Kaiju-type monsters). If you really anger her, you go above Gamozaur.
• Scary Librarian: "Quiet Riot" focuses on one being replaced.
• Sentient Vehicle: C.A.R. - the British, talking car.
• Shadow Archetype: In "iTodd", Todd learns Puterdude13 is a computer-obsessed recluse who is significantly less cool than his avatar. According to him, he used to be like Todd, but that was before he invented the website Fleemstar to avoid interacting with real people. When Todd tries to encourage Puterdude13 to interact with the real world, the latter instead recedes back into the virtual world. In contrast, Todd decides he's had enough of being glued to a computer screen and reunites with his friends in the real world.
• Shout-Out: Dick tries to put Prince Cinnamon Boots out for the night, but Prince Cinnamon Boots locks him out instead.
  • Inverted in "The Revenge of Prince Cinnamon Boots"...an episode which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
  • And in the episode A Tale of Two Rileys the robot Riley looks a lot like the one from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
  • "...I spotted a sparkly guy and clumsily fell in love?"
  • Riley and Todd doing the Charlie Brown Christmas dance in the intro.
  • Apparently the Fleemstar 2 comes complete with a Cylon Head.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Riley is the mature and intelligent older sister, while younger brother Todd is mischievous and Book Dumb.
• Sluggish Sloths: The episode "Kumquat Day" has Riley asking FleemCo to replace an extremely high-strung post office worker with someone that is more laid back, with Conrad making the replacement a sloth.

Riley: A sloth? That's about as laid-back as you can get!

• Slumber Party: "Late Night with Todd and Riley" focuses on one.
• Something We Forgot: A running gag with Prince Cinnamon Boots in season 2.
  • Inverted in "The Revenge of Prince Cinnamon Boots"...an episode which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
• Spell My Name With An S: Jacobo's name is constantly being spelled as "Hakobo", even by the close-captions.
• Spy Catsuit: Agent K is constantly seen in one of these, if she's not in disguise, as part of being a super-spy.
• Stacy's Mom: Agent K has attracted Shelton to her looks.
• Strapped to an Operating Table: Carlotta the lovely magician's assistant ended up taking K's place in "Abra K Dabra".
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • In "Zoo or False", Riley believes her favorite zoo panther Sasha shares a bond with her. Later, when the replacement-of-the-week frees all the zoo animals from their confines, Riley so readily approaches Sasha. But she's genuinely shocked when Sasha is hostile and tries to hunt her. If Agent K hadn't been there to net Sasha, no doubt the panther would've made prey out of Riley. Agent K has to spell it out for Riley that there's a difference between a pet and a zoo animal.
  • On the flip-side some animals are intelligent enough to remember a face, chimps in particular are almost as aggressive as they're intelligent. More than smart enough to hold a grudge and comprehend the concept of justice. During their visit to the Zoo, Todd kept taunting the chimps. Already then did the chimps attempt to fight back and nearly succeeded. Once freed the chips waste no time hunting Todd down as payback.
• Token Trio: Riley, Abbey and Tasumi; Who are Caucasian, African-American, and Japanese respectively.
• Tomato Surprise: Conrad's face resembles Todd's and Riley's. Some time after we learn this, he doubles down and reveals his hair and mustache are actually red. He's their uncle.
• The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Inverted with Shelton's mom and her two offspring. Played straight with Shelton's dad and Shelton, who is revealed to actually be attractive without his glasses on.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Shelton's mom doesn't look anything like her husband or either of her two children. One episode reveals that Shelton is actually quite handsome without his glasses on, giving them a stronger resemblance.
• Weaponized Car: C.A.R.. It even wields sawblades- and isn't afraid to use them as a threat.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Where is Pleasant Hills? - We're not sure, but it's probably not a suburb of Pittsburgh. In the series finale, they had to get to Fleemco HQ in Canton, Ohio (a real town), and they had to travel across a desert, so California seems likely.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Agent K suffers from crippling stage fright.
• Will They or Won't They?: Riley and Johnny, as of season 2. Riley still has feelings for Johnny and tries to get him back, but her Yandere-ish nature ruins it. At the end of one episode, Johnny may want to get back with her, but Riley wasn't interested.
• With Friends Like These...: Abbey seems to be a lost member of some Girl Posse, sometimes laughing or agreeing with Sierra's insults to Riley.
• Yandere: Riley to Johnny Hitswell, seriously, she has puppets, a balloon Johnny... Just watch season 2, 18: Heartbreak in the City.
• Xanatos Gambit: Todd justifies helping his sister with the following statement: "Either we save the day or I get to see her blow up when everything goes horribly wrong! It's win-win."
• "YEAH!" Shot: At the end of "The Majestic Horse", after Riley finally gets an award.

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