Cartoon Network Friday Spotlight: Cow & Chicken- "Orthodontic Police"
Of the big shows from the Cartoon Cartoon era, I think most fans would be able to pick a handful of standout episodes from each show. Dexter's Lab has the Speed Racer parody, the one where Dexter and Computress team up to get Mandark, "Last But Not Beast", etc; Powerpuff Girls has the first Rowdyruff Boys episode, "Meet the Beat-Alls", the Boogeyman episode, etc. Cow & Chicken I don't think has as many (it's also not as popular as those previously mentioned two), but it has a couple- I'm sure "The Ugliest Weenie" (the closest thing to a full-length adventure the show did) and Sailcat would come up first.
This is another one that comes to mind, and one that I think of somewhat often. In this odd ep, the family gets pulled over by what seems like a regular, if red and bare assed, policeman, but it turns out that he's really an orthodontic policeman, and he deduces that Cow and Chicken have such hideous teeth that they need correction.
Okay, so now they have braces. As it turns out, most everyone else in town has been run over by the orthodontic police, including their teacher, and even Earl, who already had braces. Even toothless old people aren't innocent! It becomes clear that he's gone too far, so now it's Supercow al rescate!
Such a silly idea, but this is what Cow & Chicken excelled at. I won't lie, for someone who was recommended, but ultimately never received braces, this kind of makes me wince. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
The thing is, braces shouldn't be scary, many had to have them at some point in their life, and I'd say normally they're not- Earl seems happy wearing them, for instance. But the idea of a cop, already pretty scary, deciding to police your teeth, is freaky.
That said, free dental insurance? I can't say that I'm not intrigued.