McGee and Me!


McGee and Me! is an American Christian television series created by Ken C. Johnson and Bill Myers. The series premiered on June 4, 1989, spanning twelve episodes and one special until its conclusion on June 11, 1995. Each half-hour-long episode centers on Nicholas, his cartoon friend, McGee, and the moral lessons they learn as Nick grows up after moving to a new town. McGee and Me! deals with issues such as honesty, bullying, and faith in God.

Premise

McGee and Me! stars Nicholas Martin, an 11-year-old aspiring artist and cartoonist who lives with his family in the town of Eastfield, Indiana. His father, David, is a newspaper journalist while his mother, Elizabeth, works at a counseling center. Nick, his parents, his older sister Sarah, and their younger sister Jamie, all first move to Eastfield in the first episode, moving into their grandmother's house to live with her. Nick often spends his time drawing and conversing with his imaginary friend, an animated cartoon character named McGee, who has wacky adventures of his own and serves as Nick's constant companion and confidant. Nick's life is constantly challenged by worldly trials and tribulations that put his morals and convictions to the test, with Nick learning valuable lessons along the way and, at times, facing the consequences of his actions.
His friends include Louis Armstrong, a streetwise kid and Nick's best friend, Renee Johnson, a pretty girl and a good student who hangs out with Nick and Louis, Phillip Monroe, a young "nerdy" boy in Nick's class who's very smart and sometimes picked on by older kids, and, in the last two episodes, Jordan Michaels, an athletic football-playing student who's also into computer graphics. In the first nine episodes, Nick's main adversary is Derrick Cryder, a bully who constantly picks on Nick, Phillip, and other kids, but by the end of the Christmas episode, he reforms when he saves Nick from a gang member after Nick shows him kindness. Derrick later serves as a voice of reason for Nick in Episode 12 after Nick strains his friendship with his other friends.
The first nine episodes feature Nick in waning years of elementary school, while the final three episodes, titled The New Adventures of McGee and Me!, see Nick enter junior high school. Though, the actors at the time were much older than their characters' ages, giving Nick the appearance of a high schooler instead, due to the final three episodes having been produced a couple of years after the first nine.

Cast

Martin family

On January 25, 1992, ABC aired "The Big Lie" as a pilot for a possible series run. The episode aired as part of the ABC Weekend Specials series. ABC spokeswoman Janice Gretemeyer stated that the episode had been edited to allow for commercials, and to remove specific Christian references. Another episode, "Take Me Out of the Ball Game" aired as part of the ABC Weekend Specials series on September 12, 1992.
The entire series has aired on the Trinity Broadcasting Network and on TBN's children network Smile of a Child, but stopped airing sometime before April 2012.

Episodes

''McGee and Me!'' (1989–1990)

  1. "The Big Lie" - Eleven-year-old Nick, along with his parents and 14-year-old sister Sarah and little sister Jamie, moves into his grandmother's house in Eastfield, Indiana. In an effort to make friends and avoid a bully, Louis tells lies about George Ravenhill's house, Nick sneaks into the old man's cellar, scares himself, and Louis, Renee and the kids at school create stories about the encounter that spiral into lies. Derrick and his friends wreck the house and Nick is forced to clean it up as punishment. His dad helps him learn an important lesson about lying, elders, fear, speaking up, and bullying.
  2. "A Star in the Breaking" - Nick, his mom, and his cartoon pal McGee learn a lesson in humility when the fame and popularity of being on a game show goes to Nick's head.
  3. "The Not-So-Great Escape" - Nick wants to go with Louis to see "Night Of The Blood Freaks Part 4" in theaters. His parents forbid him to go, saying that the movie's nothing but garbage, and they ground him for arguing and talking back. Nick sneaks out, betrays and disobeys his parents, regrets seeing the movie, and gets punished more by doing extra chores this week. In this episode, Nick learns the lesson of honoring your father and mother, and making right choices.
  4. "Skate Expectations" - After trying to protect a geeky boy, Phillip, from Derrick and his friends, Nick finds himself in a skateboarding contest, even though he isn't that good at it. He practices, but on the day of the race, Derrick's friends try to sabotage it. However, Nick's friends notice and even though he loses the race, they disqualify Derrick and so he does end up winning. He learns about cheating, practice, friendship, and standing up for others.
  5. "Twister and Shout" - One Friday night, Nick and Sarah are staying home alone while their sister Jamie and their grandmother are visiting aunt Marie in Columbus, Ohio and their parents are out of town as well as Renee's divorced mother. With Louis and Renee staying over as well, Sarah is left in charge, which leads to ensuing conflict between her and Nick. However this quickly fades when the kids face the news of an impending tornado, and in the process they deal with fear and faith in God.
  6. "Back to the Drawing Board" - Nick and Todd, both talented artists, compete for a coveted spot and reward in a contest. Neither win, but both learn the meaning of good sportsmanship and fair competition.
  7. "Do the Bright Thing" - Nick and the others learn another life lesson on making wise decisions, especially when Nick was planning on buying a new drawing table before settling on a sketch pad.
  8. "Take Me Out of the Ball Game" - Sarah tells Nick to learn to trust God rather than men as underdog Eastfield Braves battle the Dodgers.
  9. "Twas the Fight Before Christmas" - Nick, Louis, and Derrick are cast to play the Three Wise Men in the school's Christmas pageant, but Derrick wants nothing to do with the play. When Nick sees Derrick hanging out with a gang of thieves, he decides to check in on Derrick and discovers why Derrick is such a bully: Derrick has an abusive father and is involved with a gang member named Ray. When Nick shows Derrick a bit of kindness, Derrick begins to have a change of heart and, after performing in the school play, ends up saving Nick's life when Ray attacks Nick in an alley. Derrick fights Ray off and Nick thanks him, with the two ending on good terms with each other.

    ''The New Adventures of McGee and Me!'' (1993)

  10. "In the Nick of Time" - Nick, Phillip and Renee join their fathers on a mountain climbing trip to California. While Phillip's prankster father puts Phillip and the rest of the group on edge, and Renee's father hopes to catch up on lost time since moving to California some years earlier following his divorce from Renee's mother, in a way much to Renee's dismay. Nick deals with a staggering fear of heights. This fear is pushed to the ultimate limit when Nick must rescue his father after falling off a cliff. In the process, Nick learns about courage and believing in yourself.
  11. "The Blunder Years" - Nick is taken under the wing of Rex Rogers, the most popular guy in junior high, who shows Nick how to act "cool", straining Nick's relationship both with his parents and with his real friends, Renee, Phillip, and Jordan. The new and improved Derrick must help Nick learn a lesson in peer pressure by reminding him who his true friends are.
  12. "Beauty in the Least" - Nick and his family learn to "love your neighbor as yourself". Much to everyone's dismay, Nick's Romanian pen pal and his father pay a surprise visit to the Martins, just in time for Thanksgiving. Even though the two visitors seem like an inconvenience, they eventually teach the family a lesson in love, hospitality, and the true meaning of Thanksgiving.

    Special (1995)

  13. McGee TV: Out of Control - In this compilation of many of the previous episodes' animated McGee segments and a few of the live action sequences, McGee hosts his own brand new TV network, McGee TV, featuring all new computer-animated sequences accompanied by an announcer voice. As McGee tries to operate his network, things get out of hand as the task soon becomes more than he can handle.

    Reception

Mary Stevens of the Chicago Tribune described the children's series as "exceptional", and that "the production quality is top-notch". Stevens goes on to say that the series "offers an entertaining mixture of live action, animation and well-written stories with positive moral messages", and despite being based on Bible principles "the series isn't excessively preachy or pushy". Entertainment Weekly gave the episode "A Star in the Breaking" an A rating, stating "No matter what your religious orientation, you and your child will likely find the message compelling".

Awards and nominations

In 1990, producer George Taweel received the Michael Landon Award for the series. In 1993, Joe Dammann, Sarah Dammann, Chelsea Hertford, Whit Hertford, and Shaylisa Hurte received nominations for "Outstanding Youth Mini-Video Series".