Lost Our Tim

Lost Our Tim is an Australian-American children's fantasy television series that premiered on The Hub cable channel (which was renamed as Discovery Family in late 2014) on October 10, 2010 and concluded on October 12, 2019 after nine seasons, the same as My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic did. The series was created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, and based on the event that Tim Harding was involved in a serious motorcycle accident, which left him unable to keep up with the high energy of Hi-5 in 2007. The series stars Heidi Gardner (in his television debut), Seth MacFarlane, Patton Oswalt, Ashley Tisdale, Kelly Hu, Mila Kunis and Alec Baldwin. Hasbro selected the American cast to play the characters for the show. Green and Senreich sought to challenge the established nature of the original Australian generation with each theme of the season filmed each year. The show follows Charli Robinson, one of the original Hi-5 members as she solves some puzzles and adventures with Jock, Capper, Captain Parrot and the Parrot Pirates, so she can get Kathleen and Tim to rejoin Hi-5 for the Playtime tour.

Origin
Tim Harding was involved in a serious motorcycle accident in June 2007, which left him unable to keep up with the high energy of the Hi-5 live performances. Just a few days before this, Stevie Nicholson had been hired as an understudy, and put straight into work as a temporary replacement for Harding. Harding announced his permanent departure in November after recovering from injuries; Nicholson took his place as a permanent member. Robinson (by then Delaney) announced her exit from the group in February 2008. She expressed an interest in proving herself as a figure for an adult audience, and stated she would help find a replacement member. After leaving, she went on to find success presenting in the Australian media industry. In April, Casey Burgess was announced as Robinson's replacement, and began touring with the group. The Hi-5 brand was purchased by the Nine Network, along with production company Southern Star, in March 2008. The change of ownership saw Helena Harris and Posie Graeme-Evans end their involvement with the franchise, which was placed under the direction of Martin Hersov and Cathy Payne, also Nine and Southern Star executives. It was announced in October 2008 that Kellie Crawford would be leaving the group at the end of the year to explore other options. A month later, last remaining original member Nathan Foley also announced his departure. He expressed interest in focusing on his adult music career. In December, News.com.au's Confidential reporter alleged that Hi-5's production company had asked Crawford and Foley to leave, and that the producers were "opting to recruit younger, cheaper performers." The pair did not respond to these reports. Later in December, Sun Park also announced that she would be leaving the group since she had expected only to be a temporary replacement. Park denied the industry rumours, saying that there had been no pressure for any of them to resign. In the beginning of 2009, Nicholson called MacFarlane, Barker and Weitzman in America to make a show that will bring Harding back after all the original members departed from the group by the end of last year.

Production
The show is filmed in Australia from 2009 to 2018, and produced in America. MacFarlane, Barker and Weitzman rounded up several writers who had worked with them on American Dad! and were approved by Hasbro. The writing process began with MacFarlane, Barker, Weitzman and story editor Stephen Measday coming up with broad plots for each show. The three then held out a brainstorming session with each episode's writer allowing the writer to script out scenes and dialogue. The three then held a brainstorming session with each episode's writer allowing the writer to script out scenes and dialogue. MacFarlane, Barker, Weitzman and Measday then worked with the writer to finalize the scripts and assign some basic storyboard instructions. Hasbro was involved throughout this process and laid down some of the concepts to be incorporated into the show. MacFarlane, Barker and Weitzman had to write to the E/I (educational and informational) standards that Hasbro required of the show, making the crafting of some of the situations they would have normally done on American Dad! more difficult. Each episode also generally includes a moral or life lesson, but these were chosen to "cross a broad spectrum of personal experiences", and not just to suit children. All of the series' music were composed by Daniel Ingram, which are only included if they make sense in the episode's script. The production team identifies specific parts of the episode where they want music cues, allowing Ingram to create appropriate music for each. The composition of the music and songs far precedes the broadcast of the episode. Ingram's music have "became bigger and more epic, more Broadway and more cinematic over time" with Hasbro blessing the effort to try "something groundbreaking for daytime television", according to Ingram. Lyrics and overall musical themes may be suggested by the writers. Before the show was approved, Hasbro, MacFarlane, Barker and Weitzman had planned for episodes to be 30 minutes long and even better than My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. The initial production stages were very tight, requiring a schedule twice as fast as the trio had previously experienced.

Cast and characters
The show revolves around the adventures and daily life of original Hi-5 member Charli Robinson (played by Heidi Gardner), her mother Kerry (played by Bette Midler), her father Peter (played by Stan Lee), her dog friend Jock (voiced by Bryan Cranston), and her friends:
 * Captain Parrot (voiced by Zoe Saldana)
 * Boyle (voiced by Scott Grimes)
 * First Mate Mullet (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker)
 * Lix Spittle (voiced by Rachael MacFarlane)
 * Capper (voiced by Taye Diggs)

Other characters include the Alley Cats (Chummer (voiced by Steve Coogan), Sour (voiced by Bob Bergen) and Scooter (voiced by Bill Farmer)) and Stevie Nicholson, the evil Hi-5 member (played by Patton Oswalt). Other Hi-5 members include Sun Park (played by Kelly Hu), Kellie Crawford (played by Ashley Tisdale), Nathan Foley (played by Seth MacFarlane), Kathleen de Leon Jones (Park's predecessor played by Mila Kunis), and Tim Harding (Nicholson's predecessor played by Alec Baldwin). Casey Burgess (played by Jenny Slate) appears as an antagonist, replacing Robinson, but subsequently becomes Robinson's pupil in the season finale, "Charli and Casey".