by 
Updated on December 10, 2021
This week’s minorities in cartoons entry is “Handy Manny.” “Manny” is a CGI animated series that debuted in 2006, and airs (in the United States) on Disney Junior. It previously was seen on Disney Channel’s former preschool block, Playhouse Disney.
Background
The series revolves around Manny Garcia, a handyman who lives in the town of Sheetrock Hills. As a handyman, Manny’s seen in each episode repairing or building various items for the town’s populace. Unlike the Maytag Repairman, Manny’s services are in high demand. Also unlike the Maytag Repairman, Manny owns a set of talking anthropomorphic tools, complete with names: Felipe, a Phillips-head screwdriver (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui); Turner, a flat-head screwdriver (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker); Pat, a hammer (voiced by Tom Kenny); Dusty, a hand saw (voiced by Kath Soucie); Squeeze, a pair of pliers (voiced by Nika Futterman; Julianna Rose Mauriello in the earliest episodes); Stretch, a tape measure (also voiced by Futterman); Rusty, a monkey wrench (voiced by Fred Stoller); and Flicker, a flashlight (voiced by Greg DeLisle).
Other recurring characters include Kelly, a woman who owns a hardware store, and Mr. Lopart, a balding middle-aged man who owns a candy store. A recurring gag is Mr. Lopart insisting that he doesn’t need Manny’s help, then attempts his own handiwork…which usually goes awry, requiring Manny’s help.
Unlike most other young-children-oriented shows such as “Dora the Explorer,” “Manny” doesn’t pause the action to pretend to “ask” the viewer what’s going on. The educational facets of “Manny” are usually either life lessons learned (usually by the tools), or Manny/Felipe explaining the meanings of various Spanish words. (Flicker is a tool that mainly speaks Spanish.) The Spanish elements are one trait that distinguish “Handy Manny” from “Bob the Builder,” a show with a similar premise (a handyman with talking equipment).
The show saw one brief spinoff, “Handy Manny’s School For Tools,” a series of several-minute-long shorts.
Voice actors
The series sees plenty of guest voices by various celebrities, ranging from Lance Bass to Henry Winkler. Manny himself is voiced by Wilmer Valderrama, who appeared on the Fox sitcom “That 70s Show.” Kelly is voiced by Florence Henderson (of “The Brady Bunch”), while Mr. Lopart is voiced by Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants). The show’s theme song is by the music group Los Lobos.
