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Fred Figglehorn (stylized on webpage and on T-shirts as FЯED) was a fictional character created and portrayed by American actor Lucas Cruikshank. Cruikshank, a teenager from Columbus, Nebraska, created the character for his channel on the video-sharing website YouTube. The videos are centered on Fred Figglehorn, a fictional 6-year-old who has a dysfunctional home life and "anger management issues". Unfortunatly, on October 16, 2011, Lucas closed the FRED account on YouTube.

History

Cruikshank introduced the Fred Figglehorn character in videos on the JKL Productions channel he started on YouTube with his cousins, Jon and Katie Smet. He and his cousins set up the JKL Productions channel on June 11, 2006, and Cruikshank filmed his first Fred video on October 30, 2006. On April 30, 2008, the videos that had been filmed already, got added to the Fred channel, and on May 1 the first official video, titled "Fred on May Day" was released, explaining that Cruikshank asked YouTube for the Fred channel. Someone else previously owned the channel, which was later turned into one of Fred's enemies in the Fred series. By April 2009, the channel had over one million subscribers, making it the first YouTube channel to do so, and the most subscribed channel at the time. However, on August 20, 2009, YouTube celebrities Ryan Higa's and Sean Fujiyoshi's channel, Nigahiga, overtook Fred as the most subscribed channel. It was the third to reach two million, on September 27, 2010, shortly after falling to third.

As of October 2011, the channel has received over 117 million channel views, over 839 million video views since its launch, and over 2.3 million channel subscribers, it is listed as the number seven all-time most subscribed YouTube channel. Cruikshank has made a few television appearances, both as himself, and as Fred. Although Cruikshank voices Fred, the audio is digitally edited to sound higher-pitched than Cruikshank's true voice.

In December 2009, Cruikshank filmed Fred: The Movie, which aired on Nickelodeon on September 18, 2010. Nickelodeon has created a franchise surrounding the character and began producing the sequel in March 2011. Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred is scheduled to be released on October 22, 2011, also on Nickelodeon.

Fred Figglehorn
Title card
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Lucas Cruikshank
Written by	Lucas Cruikshank
Starring	Fred Figglehorn
Voices of	Lucas Cruikshank
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	47 (list of episodes)
Production
Production location	Columbus, Nebraska
Editor	Lucas Cruikshank
Original release
Network	JKL Productions (pre-series) Fred (seasons 1-present)
Release	October 30, 2006 (2006-10-30) – present
Related
Fred: The Movie Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred

Content

Lucas Cruikshank has described the channel as "programming for kids by kids". Cruikshank obtained the Fred channel in April 2008, and was launched officially May 1, 2008.

The series is intended as a parody of people who, in Cruikshank's words, "think that everyone is so interested in them." Cruikshank believes that viewers either "automatically love Fred or automatically hate Fred, there is no in between". The videos primarily consist of the character speaking to the audience about what is happening in his life. Fred has a high-pitched "chipmunk" voice, making him sound more like a 6-year-old. According to Cruikshank, this effect and the hyperactive appearance of the character are achieved by speeding up the video. The song "Watch How I Do This" by Kev Blaze was featured in most of the season 2 videos.

The character lives with his recovering drug-addicted and alcoholic mother, whose voice is often heard, his grandmother, and briefly a man named Claudio who he refers to as 'it'. In seasons one to three Fred communicated with all characters off-screen, unless they were an animal. In the first Fred episode, "Fred on Halloween", Fred's mother was portrayed by Lucas Cruikshank himself. It is implied that Fred has been the victim of child abuse (like being locked in a dog cage for three days), but he frequently speaks of his love for his mother, particularly after she was at rehab. Fred's father has been mentioned several times as being on death row in the state penitentiary. Fred hasn't met his father as he left Mrs. Figglehorn while she was still pregnant with Fred.

The series uses a floating timeline, that is, it is always taking place in the current year, meaning that Fred is perpetually 6 years old and in kindergarten. He also has a crush on a girl in his class, Judy. Fred has described Judy as, "so mean... yet so attractive." Fred's grandmother is mentioned as briefly caring for Fred while his mother was in rehab, on account of alcoholism and drugs. In almost every episode, Fred sings a song he makes up. It was established early in the series that Fred has anger management issues, which require him to take medication.

On screen characters are seen for the first time in a dream sequence, in "Fred: A Star In His Own Mind", Fred dreams of being a famous actor, meeting fan girls and other famous actors. Season four, as it was filmed after Fred: The Movie, marked a change in production style, it is filmed in a higher video quality, and shows other on-screen characters. The original production style was revived for a few episodes, after the movie was released in the UK, until Cruikshank returned to movie filming. Leading up to the second movie's release a new series, called "Figgle Chat", was produced, and features internet and television stars.

Episodes

This is a list of videos currently uploaded to the Fred channel. As of October 2011, 47 episodes have been listed as official Fred canon.

* denotes a video not listed on the channel's Fred episode listings.

It's Hackin' Christmas With Fred

It's Hackin' Christmas with Fred is a four track EP released on November 10, 2009. The music videos for the singles "Christmas Cash" and "Christmas is Creepy" were also released on the Fred YouTube channel. The album was available online via iTunes.

Who's Ready To Party?

Who's Ready To Party? is an album released on September 21, 2010. The music videos for the singles Don't Forget to Brush, Who's Ready to Party?, The Babysitter's a Vampire, and Tater Haters, were also released on the Fred YouTube channel.

Fred: The Movie

Fred: The Movie is a 2010 film based on the YouTube series about Fred Figglehorn. It features Lucas Cruikshank as Fred, Pixie Lott as Judy, Jennette McCurdy as Bertha, Jake Weary as Kevin, John Cena as Fred's dad, and Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Fred's mom. It follows the character as he tries to track down his crush, Judy (after she moves away). It is written by David A. Goodman, directed by Clay Weiner, and produced by Brian Robbins. Filming began November 9, 2009, and wrapped up December 20, 2009. The movie was released on Nickelodeon on September 18, 2010, and the DVD was released October 5, 2010 as well as streaming media such as Netflix.

Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred

Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred is a 2011 Halloween themed film, to serve as a sequel to Fred: The Movie. It is scheduled to be released October 22, 2011.

Sponsorship and appearances

Zipit Wireless Messenger (Z2) sponsored the first season of "Fred", which had several cameos in various videos posted to the Fred Channel. Although the collaboration had originally been kept low-key, Fred now has a separate website promoting the Zipit and has starred in television ads for the device on Nickelodeon.

He made a cameo appearance as both "Fred" and himself on Nickelodeon's iCarly in "iMeet Fred", which originally aired on February 16, 2009.

Walden Media also hired Cruikshank to promote the film City of Ember, along with the sci-fi novel it was based on, and cameos from the film's star Tim Robbins in Fred episodes and a mock movie trailer.

Cruikshank has launched a website to promote the Fred series and sell Fred T-shirts and other merchandise. The merchandise is also available at Hot Topic, Justice and Five Below stores. Cruikshank has appeared on The Tyra Banks Show, as well as in the Hannah Montana episode "Come Fail Away", which aired December 6, 2009.

He appeared at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards as well as the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards presenting awards to winners off-stage.

Other channels

Cruikshank was originally a part of JKL Productions, a group comprising twins Jon and Katie Smet and Lucas Cruikshank, their cousin. Although Cruikshank formally left the group, JKL prefers to keep Lucas' "L" in its name. Cruikshank deleted all of his individual videos when he left JKL Productions, but he can still be seen in a few of their videos. In January 2009 he set up his own channel, called Lucas, in which he appears as himself. In the June 25, 2010, Annoying Orange episode, Cruikshank made a cameo as Fred, the first time Fred has officially appeared on a different YouTube channel.

Account Closing

When many YouTubers logged in on October 16, 2011 to look at FRED's videos, they found that FRED has closed his account. This was confirmed by clicking on FRED's channel when you search him on YouTube.

References

1. Fred on May Day (Video). United States: YouTube. May 1, 2008. Event occurs at 0:34. If I would've joined two years ago, I would've only been four years old.
2. Fred: The Movie (Motion picture). United States: Varsity Pictures. September 18, 2010. Event occurs at 1:17:16. But I'm 15.
3. ^ Andrew Keen (2008-07-28). "Andrew Keen on New Media: Kids with cameras lead the way in giving web users their daily Fred". London: The Independent. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
4. Editorial Team (2008-11-13). "BB Suggests: The Best of Web TV". Retrieved 2011-08-07.
5. "Fred's Channel". You Tube. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
6. ^ Barnes, Brooks (March 24, 2010). "'Fred: The Movie' Lands on Nickelodeon - Media Decoder Blog - NYTimes.com". The New York Times.
7. Cruikshank, Lucas (February 22, 2011). "Twwet 40139239941210112". Twitter. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
8. Cruikshank, Lucas (March 3, 2011). "Tweet 43282065155829760". Twitter. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
9. Brook, Anderson. "The Teen Behind Fred". CNN. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
10. Sioux City Journal: Nebraska teen making 'Fred' an Internet star
11. FRED - season listings
12. "YouTube Sensation Fred Releases Christmas Album and Premieres Music Video - Pynk Celebrity". Retrieved 2009-11-26.
13. Barnes, Brooks (2009-12-07). "A High-Pitched Whine Brings ‘Fred’ to the Movies: Bigger Screen for a High-Pitched Whine". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-21.
14. Sanchez, Adrian (28 December 2009). "Cruikshank's YouTube character to hit silver screen". Columbus Telegram. Retrieved 28 December 2009.
15. http://instantwatcher.com/titles/158448
16. Albrecht, Chris (November 18, 2008). "'Fred' Cranks Up the YouTube Views and Ad Dollars". Business Week. Retrieved July 7, 2009.
17. Sanders, Pete (September 18, 2008). "Studios Hope YouTube Tie Sells Movie". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
18. "Come Fail Away" at IMDb
19. YouTube - jklproduction's Channel

External links

• Template:Imdb character
• Fred at IMDb
• Fred's Official website
• Fred's YouTube Page
• JKL Production's YouTube Page
• Fred on Zipit
• It's Hackin' Christmas With Fred official site

• YouTube videos
• Fictional children
• Viral videos
• Internet memes
• Fictional characters introduced in 2006