In a World of Funny Animals based on The Wild West, Sheriff Callie (a calico cat voiced by Mandy Moore) makes sure the town of Nice and Friendly Corners lives up to its name. Along with her deputies Peck (a woodpecker) and Toby (a walking, talking cactus), Callie helps the townsfolk get along through pro-social lessons about The Power of Friendship, with plenty of Western tropes and musical numbers along the way.
The series was renewed for a second season,
which premiered in September 2015. The new season comes with a new Title Sequence, as well a brighter and crisper look that likely originates with the change in production company from DHX Media (of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and Littlest Pet Shop (2012) fame) to Wild Canary Animation. DQ Entertainment is also listed in the credits as providing additional animation.
However, the second season is the program's last, as show star Mandy Moore was cast to return as Rapunzel for an animated series based on Disney's Tangled.
Sheriff Callie's Wild Tropes:
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Toby, whose only clothing is his cowboy hat.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Sparky is literally blue and has a sparkling mane and tail.
- Animation Bump: The second season change in animation studio to Wild Canary Animation brought brighter, crisper animation.
- Ascended Extra: After spending season 1 as a Recurring Extra with little dialogue, banker Baxter Badger started getting a little more attention (and a proper name) in season 2. Which is nice since he was one of the more unique background characters.
- Badass Adorable/Badbutt: Callie, as noted by series co-creator George Evelyn in this interview: "She'll moralize and teach good social ethics, but when it's time to jump on a horse and lasso a tornado, she does it."
- Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Some characters, most notably the singing prairie dogs.
- Bravado Song: In "Crystal Cave Caper", Dirty Dan and Dusty sing a song called "I'm Not A-Scared of Nothin'", which is about how they don't fear things like bees or stinky feet, when they have to go back into a cave to find treasure even though they think there's a beast in there (it's just a snoring bat).
- Cactus Person: Toby is an anthropomorphic cactus, the only talking plant among the Funny Animals of the cast.
- Catchphrase:
- Peck's "...on account of me being the deputy!" Used by him for anything from settling an argument to chasing bandits.
- Peck also has "Stop, in the name of the law!", as befits his rank of Deputy. Where it gets amusing is that he uses that line on everyone and everything, including inanimate objects.
- And Callie's "Sweet Sassafrass." and "What in whiskers?!" whenever she gets surprised.
- Toby has "I'm a pokey cowpoke!"
- Cats Are Mean: Averted with Callie. Not only is she kind and polite, her whole purpose is to teach the townspeople (and the audience) how to get along.
- Played straight with The Milk Bandit from "The Pie Thief" however.
- Cats Hate Water: Callie can't stand getting wet and in "A Fistful of Flowers" expends extra effort repairing a hole in the jailhouse roof when she hears there's a major storm coming. Then she shows why she's a Badass Adorable by traveling with Priscilla in Gullywasher Gulch with the storm about to hit any minute in order to help her pick a curative flower.
- Cat Stereotype: Callie is a kind and polite calico cat.
- Character Title
- City of Adventure: Nice and Friendly Corners.
- Creepy Monotone: Farmer Stinky. Note that Farmer Stinky is a nice guy. His Down East accent is just incredibly understated compared to the rest of the townfolk.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune and Title Theme Tune: The theme mostly performed by Sheriff Callie, though at times with the villagers of Nice and Friendly Corners. "Hey, I'm Callie, and I'm the sheriff, got my badge here on my vest! ... We're singing yippy-ki-yo-ki-yay, yee ha, in Sheriff Callie's Wild West..."
- Drunk with Power: When Callie appoints Peck as the substitute sheriff, the power goes to his head very quickly.
- Duck!: In "Train Bandits," Sheriff Callie calls it when she and Peck are on top of a train that's about to head into a tunnel. Peck points out that he's a woodpecker, not a duck, but manages to spot the danger just in time spare himself a nasty knock on the noggin.
- The Easy Way or the Hard Way: Sheriff Callie offers the bandits in "Train Bandits" the choice of the easy way or the hard way; they can either just give back what they stole or she can take it back. Peck Lamp Shades the fact that they of course choose the hard way.
- Episode Title Card: It often features the prairie dog trio singing the title of each story, though sometimes they just say it straight, and sometimes it may be one of the other characters and not them.
- Fearsome Critters of American Folklore: Bo maintains a pen filled with jackalopes. They're somewhat feisty and prone to trying to escape, but Sheriff Callie is able to rope them up with her trusty noodle lasso.
- Felony Misdemeanor: Peck invokes this in "Jail Crazy", throwing the townspeople into jail for every little thing.
- Frothy Mugs of Water: The characters enjoy "frosty glasses of milk."
- Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Callie and many of the townspeople. Callie borders on Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal as she doesn't wear a shirt and her vest doesn't cover her chest completely.
- Furry Confusion: Anthropomorphic birds and cattle are part of the cast, but there are also regular birds and cattle running around.
- Funny Foreigner: Just about everyone.
- Furry Reminder
- Callie keeps a basket full of yarn balls in her jailhouse, and even plays with them from time to time. She also occasionally uses her claws to get herself and others out of sticky situations.
- Peck sometimes pecks wood and other things in the manner that a woodpecker would.
- In one installment, Toby gets a bump on his nose that blooms into a cactus flower. For him, this is essentially the plant version of a Furry Reminder, since he's a fully anthropomorphic cactus.
- Glad I Thought of It: Peck often does this with Toby's ideas.
- Greek Chorus: The trio of singing prairie dogs who add musical commentary to each episode.
- Green-Eyed Monster: In "Calamity Priscilla", Priscilla becomes jealous of the attention Frieda Fox gets.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Deputy Peck and some other characters.
- Harmless Villain: Although presented as threatening In-Universe, the Buzzard Clan family, due to their constant arguments and Big, Screwed-Up Family behavior, aren't that threatening and often easily defeated by Sheriff Callie and Peck. Some of the other Villain of the Week (well, bandit and outlaws) characters such as the shirt salesman scammer bear, are just Con Man-types who are sleazy, but not threatening. In general, there's no Vile Villain, Saccharine Show, even though the setting isn't a 100% Sugar Bowl.
- The Hat Makes the Man: Invoked in "My Fair Stinky" when Priscilla gives Farmer Stinky a new, high-class wardrobe. Wearing the monocle transforms his voice and mannerisms to that of the gentleman Priscilla wanted him to become.
- High-Class Glass: The governor, a very distinguished gentleman, wears a monocle.
- Hot-Blooded: Peck is one of the more emotional members of the cast, losing his temper and getting annoyed more often than the others. He also relishes the idea of any trouble arising, becoming tense when he thinks things are too peaceful.
- Insult Backfire: In "Peck Takes It Back", Peck calls Toby a "pinecone." Toby takes this as meaning Peck has never seen a pinecone before, and goes off to find one for him.
- It's Quietโฆ Too Quiet: Peck declares this at the beginning of "Peck Takes it Back."
- Keep Away: In "Toby Braves the Bully," the bully, Bradley Bulldog, pulls this on Toby, taking his newspapers and taunting him with them, before throwing them all to the ground.
- A Lizard Named "Liz": We have Sheriff Callie the calico cat, Deputy Peck the woodpecker, Farmer Stinky the skunk, Dirty Dan the pig, Ella Cowbelle the cow, Uncle Bun the rabbit...
- Lethal Chef: Priscilla Skunk. Her "bellysinker biscuits" are so hard, Peck gets his beak bent trying to eat one. They can even crack stone when dropped.
- And then she offers one to Doc Wolf. Cue Peck's Big "NO!". These seem to be her only lethal dish, though, since her pink petunia pie has no ill effects in "The Pie Thief".
- Lost Aesop: In "A Dirty Dusty Apology", Callie tells the feuding Dirty Dan and Dusty that they should apologise and put their disagreement behind them. However, it isn't until the two brothers find their lives in danger that they actually make up.
- Magic Feather: Sparky's lucky scarf in the story "Sparky's Lucky Day" is this. If you believe the story's song, "Amazing Lucky Scarf," then with it, Sparky can "...hop that fence! Fly just like the birds / And beat 'em to the barn!" It's certainly stylish enough, but it doesn't actually have any special properties.
- Mind-Control Eyes: In "The Ballad of Sweet Strings," the characters get these when Johnny Strum's songs put them under his spell. Later, he briefly gets them after being overcome by Sheriff Callie.
- Origins Episode: The book The Cat Who Tamed the West is this, explaining how Callie came to the town of Mean and Messy Corners and took on all the bandits that were terrorizing the town, then lassoed a star for her badge and became sheriff of the renamed Nice and Friendly Corners.
- The Pigpen: Dirty Dan and Dusty, the pig miner brothers. We first see them playing in mud — and having the time of their lives.
- Plant Person: Toby is a fully sentient and anthropomorphic cactus otherwise surrounded by Funny Animals.
- Playing Sick: In the episode "Toby's Untrue Achoo", Toby the cactus fakes having a cold having seen how protagonist Callie, a calico cat, got attention and care due to having a sneeze, and he did get it, but the consequences weren't that great for him - he was constantly told to rest, and (almost) missed out on a dance contest, which, by the end of the episode, exposed his deception. It was Played for Drama in that most of the townsfolk Funny Animal characters were angry with him for being a de-facto freeloader. However, unlike some examples of this trope, there was no Aesop Amnesia that sometimes happens in this show (or with this trope in general), and Toby seems to have learnt his lesson. But this is a show where Status Quo Is God (usually), so this is one example where that trope did stick.
- Poor Communication Kills: When Dr. Wolf, dishevelled to an already-intimidating degree from a bumpy stagecoach ride, tells the townspeople he's there to "straighten" Peck out, and "fix him but good" (referring to Peck's bent beak), they fear for Peck's safety.
- Pops up again in "Gold Mine Mix-Up", when Dirty Dan gives an overworked, distracted Uncle Bun a message for his brother Dusty: "There's no gold in Tricky Mine." When Uncle Bun forgets the "no", Dusty winds up in a great deal of trouble in Tricky Mine.
- Record Needle Scratch: This is used in "King Stinky" to interrupt a reprise of the song about how great Farmer Stinky's peppers are when he reveals that he only has a few of them left and he's planning to use them to make soup for himself.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Toby exhibits this trait in "Callie's Cowgirl Twirl" as he prepares to call for a square dance, much to Peck's chagrin. Even more so for Peck once he briefly starts doing it himself.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: The entire cast.
- Rule of Funny: Seems to be fully in effect as to whether or not anyone notices the presence of the Prairie Dog Trio. Most of the time, they sing their songs as the Greek Chorus without anyone noticing their presence, even when they're right behind them. However, in "Jail Crazy," when they sing about how surprised Sheriff Callie is going to be to find "everyone in jail, right before her eyes," Peck turns around, clears his throat at them, and indicates the jail cell. In "Bandit Toby," when they sing about how Kit the cactus bandit is impersonating Toby, Kit snatches one of their instruments. In "The Ballad of Sweet Strings," after they sing about how Johnny Strum is stealing everything, he hypnotizes them and steals their instruments.
- Shell Game: In "Peck Gets Fooled," Sheriff Callie locks up a guy named Phineas Foolery for cheating most of the town of Nice and Friendly Corners at cards and has Peck watch over him. Phineas fools Peck into releasing him by pulling a version of this on him in which he has Peck bring three barrels into his cell and hides under one, then has Peck mix them up and guess which one he's under. Of course, he's under none of them — he's escaped from the cell. It comes back to bite him later when he's trying to escape from Callie, Peck and Toby and tries the barrel trick again, as Peck won't be fooled by the same trick twice.
- Smelly Skunk: Defied with Priscilla, but invoked with Stinky.
- Snap Back: In "Twist And Shout", the second spaghetti twister reverses the damage caused to the town by the first.
- Southern Belle: Priscilla Skunk.
- Spit Take: In "Train Bandits," Peck does one with his milk upon learning that the train bandits are conducting a "sticky-up" in the next car.
- Status Quo Is God: The main characters seem to learn the morals of the episode and only occasionally suffer Aesop Amnesia, but don't expect the villains to learn the moral, and for them to return to normal by the next episode.
- Stubborn Mule: Peck's steed, Clementine.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: In "Toby Braves the Bully," Toby tells Callie and Peck that he can't tell them that the bully, Bradley Bulldog, took his scooter and threw his newspapers to the ground because then he would be a tattle-tale.
- Take Me Instead: In "How the Water Was Won," a couple of beaver bandits dam the water supply of Nice and Friendly Corners and imprison Toby, Peck and Mr. Dillo in a makeshift jail of logs. When Callie shows up, she offers herself in exchange for them. The male beaver isn't sure it's a good idea because it's one for three, but the female beaver thinks it's a good trade because she's the sheriff and they'll easily to give in to giving up the town's gold to get her back. Instead, the group devises a plan to burst the dam and thus flood out the makeshift jail and restore the water supply. It's strongly implied that Callie gave herself up because she wanted to give her friends a chance to shine like this.
- That Man Is Dead: In the days of his youth, Tio was a masked, face-paint wearing traveling yo-yo champion known as "El Yo-Yo." He gave it all up, however, after he accidentally injured a child and branded him with a star mark when the string on his favorite yo-yo, Star, snapped. In "The Good, the Bad and the Yo-Yo," a boy calling himself "The Twirler Kid" comes into Nice and Friendly Corners, demanding to see El Yo-Yo. Though the picture the boy shows looks a lot like him, Tio at first refuses to admit to anyone in town that was, in fact, El Yo-Yo. Eventually, after being caught with the mask and face-paint by Toby, he admits that he was El Yo-Yo, but "not anymore." Things come to a head when The Twirler Kid's poor yo-yoing disrupts Tio's checkers game, causing him to declare It's Personal. He dresses up once more as El Yo-Yo and confronts the kid at which point the kid shows him his star mark, revealing himself to be the kid that he had injured. However, he's not looking for Revenge. He long ago forgave El Yo-Yo for the injury; he just wants a teacher because he's so awful and he never had anyone to help him. He took up yo-yoing because he was so impressed with the tricks that El Yo-Yo had demonstrated.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: The plot of "Horseshoe Peck". When Peck discovers he's great at playing horseshoes, his ego gets the better of him and he starts taunting the people around him until Callie brings him out of it.
- He does it again in "Jail Crazy", putting the townspeople in jail for breaking minor rules (and doing things he just didn't like).
- Too Good to Be True: In "Tricky Trouble", Peck and Toby buy a "Make You Strong" shirt by Tricky Travis and wanted to trade their prized possession for the shirts and Sheriff Callie tells them if something's too good to be true, it probably is. They eventually realize that were tricked by Tricky Travis after finding out that bear was able to lift the boulder because he was a strong bear, not because of the shirt.Sheriff Callie: You know what they say Toby, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
- Train Job: While on the way to Junctionville with Governor Groundhog for the annual Sheriff's contest, Sheriff Callie takes care of business when three train bandits steal the Golden Star trophy that was destined for a awards ceremony to be awarded for 'The Best Sheriff in the State' in "The Train Bandits".
- Two Shorts
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show
- In "The Train Bandits", the titular villains have no problem with sending the train's passenger cars towards a broken bridge, spelling certain doom for the passengers.
- All of the villains in the book The Cat Who Tamed the West are this - one of them even steals Callie's horse, Sparky.
- In "Boots or Consequences," Mean McGee, who states that he steals whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and doesn't "give a baked bean" if it makes someone cry.
- Weather Dissonance: "Twist And Shout" features a pair of "spaghetti twisters".
- Weird Sun/Weird Moon: In "Here Comes the Sun," when Toby and Peck can't sleep during their and Callie's desert campout because of the night noises, they decide to borrow Callie's noodle lasso to rope the sun in order to make it so that it's not nighttime anymore. It works. Daytime comes, but the sun is too close, so Nice and Friendly Corners undergoes a massive heat-wave. Toby and Peck then decide to try to fix the problem by roping the moon to bring back the night, what the Prairie Dog Trio refers to as "trying to fix a mistake with another mistake." They rope the moon alright, but it doesn't bring back the night. Oh, and the moon is blue cheese, which starts raining down on Nice and Friendly Corners.
- We Will Meet Again: When the titular "Train Bandits" force Callie to rescue her friends rather than go after them, she warns them that "You haven't seen the last of me!" She makes good on her promise towards the end of the story, capturing them.
- Wicked Weasel: Tricky Travis is a classic example (although he reforms himself in the Christmas Episode).
- The Wild West: A kid-friendly, gun-free version.
- World of Funny Animals: But they still ride horses. Oh, and one of them is really a Funny Plant.
