January 1 (2019-01-01) – July 17, 2019 (2019-07-17)
Pinky Malinky is an American animated television series created and produced by Netflix. It is based on Chris Garbutt's animated short of the same name produced by Cartoon Network Studios Europe (now Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe), which was released in 2009. It marks the first collaboration between Nickelodeon and Netflix as well as the first Nicktoon to be produced exclusively for Netflix. The series chronicles the adventures of Pinky Malinky (voiced by Lucas Grabeel), a 12-year-old middle school student who also happens to be an anthropomorphic hot dog and his efforts to climb up the social ladder with his two human friends Babs Byuteman (Diamond White) and JJ Jameson (Nathan Kress).
The series premiered on January 1, 2019. It was renewed for a second season ahead of the series premiere.[1][2] Season 2 was released on April 22, 2019, and the third and final season was released on July 17, 2019.[3]
Pinky Malinky was nominated for Best Animation Editing for the 2020 Daytime Emmy Awards on May 21, 2020.[4] In 2023, Grabeel reprised his role as Pinky in the Netflix interactive special We Lost Our Human which is also by Garbutt and Asbjoern. In this interactive, Pinky calls himself Panky Malanky and classifies himself as a meatball.
Production
In 2015, the series was greenlit by Nickelodeon for a pickup of 20 episodes.[5][6] The series was originally set to premiere on Nickelodeon in 2016, but has gone through many delays. On June 21, 2018, it was announced that Pinky Malinky would be released exclusively on Netflix, and that the show was renewed for a second season.[2] The company's See What's Next Twitter account announced an August 17 release date, but the series failed to premiere on that date.[7] On September 16, 2018, Chris Garbutt posted on Instagram that there was a slight delay in the release date, and that it was Netflix's responsibility on when to release it.[8]
Season 1 was eventually released on January 1, 2019.[1] A 99-second short focusing on the titular character's New Year's resolutions was released ahead of the series premiere.[9][8]
Characters
Main
Pinky Malinky (voiced by Lucas Grabeel) is a 12-year-old anthropomorphic talking hot dog. He is a very intelligent, happy-go-lucky person that has a mission to make people dream big.
JJ Jameson (voiced by Nathan Kress) is one of Pinky's best friends. He is described as the wise mentor of the trio, claiming to know everything. He is a social media geek as well. He carries his phone almost everywhere and uses more modern slang than Pinky and Babs.
Babs Buttman (voiced by Diamond White) is one of Pinky's best friends. She likes kitties and cats, and sometimes she acts like them. Babs is Pinky's biggest cheerleader and supports him and his ideas. She is silly, funny and has a "heart of gold".
Recurring
Pinky's family
Eric Malinky (voiced by Danny Jacobs) is Pinky's stay-at-home father and Valerie's husband. He is a simple man with a whole lot of drive. He tends to focus on one task at a time, and won't stop until said task is done right.
Valerie Malinky (voiced by Retta) is Pinky's mother and Eric's wife. Unlike Eric, Valerie is loud and outspoken. She is also the owner of Crumbbells, a bakery and gym that is located in downtown Sackenhack.
Babs's family
Bob Buttman (voiced by Vargus Mason) is Babs's older brother and legal guardian. Bob works as a policeman. He has a friendly, ongoing and naive (sometimes even blunt) personality. In the episode "Birthday", it is revealed that Bob loves to party, but when he parties too much, his alter-ego "Party Bob" breaks out.
Mr. Dog (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) is Babs's and Bob's Old English Sheepdog. In the episode "Dog", it is revealed that Mr. Dog is actually a woman and she gave birth to many puppies.
Sackenhack Junior High students
Tina (voiced by Lauren Tom) is one of Pinky’s classmates. Tina is the head cheerleader for SJH’s cheerleading squad, "The SnowBallers". She is also shown for having a secret crush on Pinky in 'Spirit'.
Channing (voiced by Robbie Daymond) is one of Pinky’s classmates and Byron’s best friend. He and Byron were voted "Most Cutest Couple of SJH", and they would often call each other names ("baby", "pumpkin", etc.).
When the citizens of Sackenhack riot after their favorite snack food is discontinued, Pinky, Babs and JJ attempt to reverse engineer the recipe to save the town.
2
2
"Pet"
Neil Graf
Sheela Shrinivas, Rikke Asbjoern, and Maha Tabikh
Maha Tabikh
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
While volunteering at the animal shelter with Babs and her dog, Pinky decides to get a pet of his own and ends up adopting a ferocious wildcat.
3
3
"Tech"
Megan Nicole Dong
Jen Bardekoff and Dodge Greenley
Dodge Greenley
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Pinky introduces his Mom to the wonders of technology but grows concerned when she starts putting her new tech before her family.
4
4
"Spirit"
Megan Nicole Dong
Fred Belford and Dodge Greenley
Dodge Greenley
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
It's School Spirit Week at Sackenhack Junior High and Pinky believes that head cheerleader Tina is low on spirit, unaware that her strange behavior is actually because of her crush on him.
5
5
"Hater"
Megan Nicole Dong
Sheela Shrinivas and Dodge Greenley
Dodge Greenley
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Pinky's daily Sackenhack posts receive their first hater, who Pinky, Babs and JJ try to convert into a liker.
6
6
"Video"
Tom Parkinson
Fred Belford and Ethan Hegge
Ethan Hegge
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
After Babs and JJ tell Pinky they think their newest video is "almost perfect", Pinky turns to his classmates for advice on how to turn it into a perfect video.
7
7
"Duck"
Megan Nicole Dong
Jen Bardekoff and Dodge Greenley
Dodge Greenley
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
King Sackenquack, the town's favorite duck passes away and to spare everyone's feelings Pinky tries to keep up the illusion that he is still alive.
8
8
"Mannequin"
Neil Graf
Sheela Shrinivas and Nick Arciaga
Nick Arciaga
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
JJ dreams of being featured on his favorite fashion blog but his dream outfit doesn't fit so Pinky comes up with a plan to make him more like a store mannequin.
Pinky becomes obsessed with a Korean drama but forces himself to binge watch it in secret when he finds out that Babs and JJ hate the show.
10
10
"Scary"
Neil Graf
Fred Belford and Maha Tabikh
Maha Tabikh
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Pinky and Babs try to help JJ overcome his fear of scary movies by scaring the "scared" out of him.
11
11
"Book"
Neil Graf
Jen Bardekoff, Neil Graf, and Mike Bertino
Neil Graf and Mike Bertino
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Pinky accidentally takes a book from the library without checking it out and plans a break in to put it back without anyone noticing.
12
12
"Team"
Tom Parkinson
Scott Kreamer, Matt Layzell, and Josh Engel
Josh Engel
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Hoping to lead them to their first ever win, Pinky joins the Sackenhack Junior High football team.
13
13
"Game"
Megan Nicole Dong
Byron Dockins and Dodge Greenley
Dodge Greenley
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Pinky and Babs try to make a role playing game more extreme when Pinky worries JJ's new jacket will make him too cool to continue playing with them.
14
14
"Undercover"
Tom Parkinson
Fred Belford and Ethan Hegge
Ethan Hegge
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Pinky creates a case for Bob to solve so that he can prove to his supervisor that he is a good security guard.
15
15
"Fun"
Neil Graf
Sheela Shrinivas, Neil Graf, and Sarah Soh
Neil Graf, Sarah Soh, and Mike Bertino
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
After learning that his fellow students dread being sent to the principal's office, Pinky tries to make strait-laced Principal Pfunne more fun.
16
16
"Brother"
Neil Graf
Sheela Shrinivas, Neil Graf, and Sarah Soh
Neil Graf, Sarah Soh, and Mike Bertino
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
When JJ accidentally calls Pinky's mom "Mom" during a sleepover, the two decide to take their friendship to the next level by becoming brothers.
17
17
"Sensei"
Megan Nicole Dong
Chris Garbutt and Josh Engel
Josh Engel
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Pinky joins the school's taekwondo club where he vows to be the perfect student, a goal that is soon taken advantage of by Coach Freebird.
18
18
"Hangout"
Neil Graf
Fred Belford and Nick Arciaga
Nick Arciaga
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Pinky, Babs and JJ search for a new place to hang out while their regular spot is fumigated for termites.
19
19
"Sock"
Megan Nicole Dong
Fred Belford and Aminder Dhaliwal
Aminder Dhaliwal
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
After losing one of his socks, Pinky decides to start wearing all of his clothes at once so that he will never lose any piece of clothing again.
20
20
"Count"
Tom Parkinson
Jen Bardekoff, Chris Garbutt, and Josh Engel
Josh Engel
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Inspired by an app that counts steps, Pinky, Babs and JJ decide to count other things in their lives as well, leading to a fierce competition between the three friends.
21
21
"Voice"
Tom Parkinson
Sheela Shrinivas and Nick Arciaga
Nick Arciaga
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Pinky tries to find the perfect voice with which to deliver an important oral report.
22
22
"Phone"
Neil Graf
Sheela Shrinivas and Nick Arciaga
Nick Arciaga
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
After autocorrect causes him to send some rude messages to Babs, Pinky decides to become his own phone.
23
23
"Friend"
Megan Nicole Dong
Sheela Shrinivas and Aminder Dhaliwal
Aminder Dhaliwal
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Pinky begins feeling jealous when Babs decides to reconnect with her old best friend, Jules.
24
24
"Gym"
Tom Parkinson
Jen Bardekoff and Josh Engel
Josh Engel
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Pinky falsely believes that his Mom is conditioning him to take over her gym/bakery business.
25
25
"List"
Megan Nicole Dong
Sheela Shrinivas and Aminder Dhaliwal
Aminder Dhaliwal
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Pinky and JJ learn that Babs is moving and try to complete a list of things they've always wanted to do with her before she goes.
26
26
"Double"
Neil Graf
Jen Bardekoff, Rikke Asbjoern, and Nick Arciaga
Nick Arciaga
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Pinky tries to have an absence removed from his report card by attempting to live two days at the same time.
27
27
"Sight"
Neil Graf
Fred Belford and Aminder Dhaliwal
Aminder Dhaliwal
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
A visit to the eye doctor leaves Babs temporarily blind, so Pinky agrees to act as her personal seeing eye hot dog.
28
28
"Grounded"
Neil Graf
Fred Belford and Dodge Greenley
Dodge Greenley
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
After accidentally breaking one of his Mom's trophies, Pinky grounds himself and tries to make it impossible to have fun.
Pinky, Babs and JJ find a hundred dollar bill on the ground and try to make it last them the entire day.
30
2
"Babs"
Tom Parkinson and Megan Nicole Dong
Jen Bardekoff and Maha Tibikh
Maha Tibikh
April 22, 2019 (2019-04-22)
Pinky's attempts to get to know Babs better go too far when he watches her secret video diary.
31
3
"Sarcasm"
Megan Nicole Dong
Sheela Shrinivas and Dodge Greenley
Dodge Greenley
April 22, 2019 (2019-04-22)
When sincere Pinky can’t act sarcastic for a video, Aminder teaches him how to be sarcastic, but things takes a turn for the worse when sarcasm takes over Pinky’s body and is unable to switch it off.
32
4
"Song"
Neil Graf
Sheela Shrinivas, Matt Layzell and Mike Bertino
Mike Bertino
April 22, 2019 (2019-04-22)
Pinky, Babs and JJ try to track down the song that was playing on the radio while they shared a special moment of friendship.
33
5
"Brain"
Tom Parkinson
Sheela Shrinivas and Nick Arciaga
Nick Arciaga
April 22, 2019 (2019-04-22)
When he forgets the anniversary of the first video he ever made with Babs and JJ, Pinky tries to find a way to erase unwanted memories from his brain to make room for new ones.
34
6
"Trophy"
Neil Graf
Sheela Shrinivas and Nick Arciaga
Nick Arciaga
April 22, 2019 (2019-04-22)
After seeing Babs upset when she fails a test, Pinky decides to hand out gold stars and medals to his fellow students to raise morale.
35
7
"Search"
Megan Dong
Sheela Shrinivas, Aminder Dhaliwal and Maha Tabikh
Aminder Dhaliwal and Maha Tabikh
April 22, 2019 (2019-04-22)
Pinky searches his name on the internet and finds a page full of lies about him, so he sets out to actually accomplish everything the website says to turn them into truths.
36
8
"Haircut"
Neil Graf
Sheela Shrinivas, Rikke Asbjørn and Kristen Woo
Kristen Woo
April 22, 2019 (2019-04-22)
JJ is feeling self conscious about his new haircut, so Pinky and Babs plan to get even worse haircuts to distract from his.
37
9
"Crutch"
Neil Graf
Fred Belford and Josh Engel
Josh Engel
April 22, 2019 (2019-04-22)
Pinky uses a crutch to fake being injured in order to inspire his classmates.
38
10
"Smile"
Megan Dong
Jen Bardekoff and Dodge Greenley
Dodge Greenley
April 22, 2019 (2019-04-22)
Pinky gets a job bagging groceries at the local supermarket where he makes it his mission to get Nurse Sally to smile.
39
11
"Cranky"
Tom Parkinson
Byron Dockins and Josh Engel
Josh Engel
April 22, 2019 (2019-04-22)
Pinky wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and tries to get through the day by forcing himself to smile.
40
12
"Weeds"
Tom Parkinson
Fred Belford and Josh Engel
Josh Engel
April 22, 2019 (2019-04-22)
Pinky's Dad asks him to help him in his garden but the two fundamentally disagree on how to handle the weeds when Pinky learns that plants are living things.
41
13
"Advanced"
Annisa Adjani and Kim Roberson
Chris Garbutt, Fred Belford, Josh Engel and Kristen Woo
Josh Engel and Kristen Woo
April 22, 2019 (2019-04-22)
JJ enlists Pinky and Babs' help in making sure he doesn't embarrass himself when he gets accepted into the school's advanced class.
42
14
"Bestie"
Tom Parkinson
Jen Bardekoff and Ethan Hegge
Ethan Hegge
April 22, 2019 (2019-04-22)
After learning that his Dad doesn't have a best friend, Pinky organizes a house party to match him up with four potential candidates.
43
15
"King"
Annisa Adjani
Sheela Shrinivas and Nick Arciaga
Nick Arciaga
April 22, 2019 (2019-04-22)
Inspired by his new favorite show, Pinky organizes a series of challenges to decide who will be crowned king of the Fall dance.
44
16
"Pinky"
Tom Parkinson and Megan Nicole Dong
Scott Kreamer, Chris Garbutt, Rikke Asbjoern, Josh Engel and Aminder Dhaliwal
Josh Engel and Aminder Dhaliwal
June 10, 2019 (2019-06-10)
45
17
Wanting to inspire his town to dream big again, Pinky promises to make it snow in order to become the school mascot. Note: This is a double-length half-hour episode.
Pinky’s unhappy when his favorite stop sign gets a high-tech replacement, so he sets out to save all of the things that he loves in Sackenhack.
47
2
"Outdoors"
Tom Parkinson
Byron Dockins and Maha Tabikh
Maha Tabikh
July 17, 2019 (2019-07-17)
Pinky's parents try to help him and Babs earn their outdoors badges.
48
3
"Spotlight"
Megan Nicole Dong
Fred Belford and Dodge Greenley
Dodge Greenley
July 17, 2019 (2019-07-17)
After Pinky gets tired of all the cameras following him, he lets Babs and JJ have their own shows.
49
4
"Dog"
Tom Parkinson
Kris Benton and Maha Tabikh
Maha Tabikh
July 17, 2019 (2019-07-17)
When Bab's dog starts acting strange, she and Pinky try to take him to the vet.
50
5
"Birthday"
Neil Graf
Chris Garbutt and Jessie Wong
Jessie Wong
July 17, 2019 (2019-07-17)
When Bob has to guard the mall all night during his birthday, Pinky, Babs, and JJ try to bring the party to him.
51
6
"Individual"
Tom Parkinson
Fred Belford and Ethan Hegge
Ethan Hegge
July 17, 2019 (2019-07-17)
The school troublemaker confesses that he's bad at being bad, so Pinky tries to help him find out who he really is.
52
7
"Dinner"
Neil Graf
Rikke Asbjoern, Sheela Shrinivas and Dodge Greenley
Dodge Greenley
July 17, 2019 (2019-07-17)
Fed up with his parents being busy, Pinky sets up a romantic dinner for his Mom and Dad.
53
8
"Clique"
Megan Nicole Dong
Jen Bardekoff and Aminder Dhaliwal
Aminder Dhaliwal
July 17, 2019 (2019-07-17)
After Byron calls Pinky, Babs and JJ a “ goofy little Clique “, Pinky tries to show Byron that they’re not a Clique, which gets to out of hand.
54
9
"Fundraiser"
Tom Parkinson
Fred Belford and Nick Arciaga
Nick Arciaga
July 17, 2019 (2019-07-17)
Yet again, it's the eve of the fun run and Babs does not have a sponsor, so Pinky tries to help her get as many as she can.
55
10
"Man"
Tom Parkinson
Fred Belford and Ethan Hegge
Ethan Hegge
July 17, 2019 (2019-07-17)
56
11
"Wrestling"
Annisa Adjani
R. Chett Hoffman and Josh Engel
Josh Engel
July 17, 2019 (2019-07-17)
When their principal tries to turn their gym class into a boot camp, Pinky suggests that they try to learn tag team wrestling.
57
12
"Eraser"
Tom Parkinson
Fred Belford and Ethan Hegge
Ethan Hegge
July 17, 2019 (2019-07-17)
58
13
"Dreams"
Megan Nicole Dong
R. Chett Hoffman and Dodge Greenley
Dodge Greenley
July 17, 2019 (2019-07-17)
When Pinky, Babs & JJ discover upon Pinky’s Parents’s Old Band, The Gang tries to get the band reunited, but things aren’t going well when Pinky decides to Change the Band up a bit.
59
14
"Spark"
Megan Nicole Dong and Neil Graf
Byron Dockins, Annisa Adjani, Dodge Greenley and Natasha Helton
