However, when you're involved with an animated series associated with tight deadlines, low budgets, long production times, and a studio breathing down your neck to produce episodes with near-perfect animation, dialog, humor, and character writing, lest your project be taken away from you and/or outright canceled, even if you're the greatest writer in the universe, you're going to end up producing some clunkers. I just wish he's done something since then. He's a master of animation, and he helped make one of the greatest animated shows of all time!.
If you go back and watch his earlier works like Lupo the Butcher and The Grunts, even if you don't like them(especially The Grunts), you can see even back then how tight the pacing was and how bizarrely surreal yet down-to-earth his tone is, and that's what makes Ed, Edd, n Eddy such a treat to watch! It's a cartoon with cartoony logic and exaggerations, but with characters and situations people can relate to.
His close involvement gave the entire series a consistent tone and sense of continuity(as far as wacky 11-minute cartoons go) similar shows lack, especially helped by his veteran skills in writing and animation. One of the most surprising facts about the show is that every episode was directed, produced, and co-written by series creator Danny Antonucci. It's one of the last great "cartoon" cartoons(as well as Cartoon Cartoons), and an incredible show for young and old, kids and adults, sentient and non-sapient beings! Most episodes are tightly paced, are very character-driven, contain GREAT comedy, and are animated with a level of detail and energy you don't see in many other shows. Even the comedic twist endings, usually with Eddy and the gang losing all they've accomplished and ending up stuck in some other predicament, feel justified, since Eddy is such a jerk and you want to see him get his comeuppance. The slapstick and spoken humor is HILARIOUS, every consequence and reaction having PERFECT timing in relation to the actions on screen, and most of the dialog(especially from Ed) being snappy and highly quotable, especially out-of-context. The animation is unique, having a VERY scribbly and spastic quality, yet still looking solid and matching the fast-paced, surreal nature of the show. The setting is also small, but highly detailed, convincing me that these characters actually do reside in a small neighborhood with elements(construction site, junkyard, creek, etc.) you'd probably find in a real life setting.
If you asked me to name the one thing that makes this show work, I unfortunately couldn't come up with an answer.Because EVERYTHING about the show works! The cast is small, but unique and varied, each one having a distinct look and personality that allow them to tackle each situation differently in a way kids their age might actually react(if they lived down the street from Ren & Stimpy.) The voice actors for each character are EXTREMELY convincing, each one performing a unique voice that I've never heard from any of their other characters that perfectly matches their roles and makes each kid in the show stand out. It's Looney Tunes meets Peanuts, and I love every minute of it! Most of the episodes revolve around Eddy either coming up with a scam to earn some cash to buy jawbreakers or trying to one-up/get revenge on another kid(s), Ed and Double-D assisting him in their own ways(usually to the detriment of Eddy's plan), and a lot of slapstick and other shenanigans following, usually ending with one or all three worse off than how they started, in a fitting punishment to how they treated others during the episode. That is only the TIP of how wacky and fun this show is! It's the adventures of Ed(the tall guy with a build and brain like a brick who's unhealthily obsessed with cheesy sci-fi/horror and who speaks mostly in word salads), Edd(aka "Double-D", the smartest and most verbose one of the bunch who's very OCD and a neat freak, yet is the only one who shows any common sense or decency and is usually the (reluctantly)greatest contributor to Eddy's scam-of-the-day), and Eddy(the self-proclaimed leader of the trio and a mischievous little goblin who's constantly attempting get-rich-quick schemes to bilk the neighborhood kids out of their money that usually fail due to his greed and lack of foresight), as they live out their day-to-day lives as kids in a cul-de-sac located in the fictional Peach Creek. I LOVE Ed, Edd, n Eddy! It's not only one of my favorite cartoons(if not my FAVORITE cartoon), but it's one of my favorite shows PERIOD! Imagine The Three Stooges if they were kids, placed in a slightly more modern setting(or possibly the same setting, since it's never let on when exactly the show takes place), and animated like someone was drawing during the middle of a 7.5 earthquake.