Recess is an animated series created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere, and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It aired on ABC's One Saturday Morning block from 1997 to 2001.
The series focuses on six fourth grade students and their interactions with other students and teachers. One of the many features of the show is how the children formed their own society, completed with government and classed structure, set against a backdrop of a regular school, giving the show a unique feel.
Premise[]
The show portrays the life of six elementary school students: popular and confident T.J. Detweiler, athletic Vince LaSalle, tough girl Ashley Spinelli, gentle giant Mikey Blumberg, smart Gretchen Grundler, and shy new kid Gus Griswald. The students of Third Street School sat up a microcosm of traditional human society complete with its own government, class system, and a set of unwritten laws. They were ruled by a monarch, King Bob, who has various enforcers to make sure his decrees are carried out. The little society has a long list of rigid values and social that imposed a high expectation of conformity among the students.
Most episodes involves one or more of the main six characters seeking a rational balance between individuality and social order. They are often defending their freedom against perceived threats by adults or social norms. The group's leader, T.J. Detweiler, tends to have the most complete vision of this struggle, though even he has times when he inadvertently lead the group too far toward an extreme of conformity or nonconformity.
Cast and Characters[]
- Ross Malinger as T.J. Detweiler (Season 1 – "Outcast Ashley")
- Andrew Lawrence as T.J. Detweiler ("The Game" – Season 6)
- Rickey D'Shon Collins as Vince LaSalle
- Jason Davis as Mikey Blumberg
- Courtland Mead as Gus Griswald
- Ashley Johnson as Gretchen Grundler
- Pamela Adlon as Ashley Spinelli
- April Winchell as Miss Finster
- Ryan O'Donohue as Randall
- Dabney Coleman as Principal Prickly
- Allyce Beasley as Miss Grotke
- Erik von Detten as Erwin Lawson
Additional voices[]
- Buzz Aldrin as Himself
- Ed Asner as Thaddeus T. Third V
- John Astin as Superintendent Skinner
- Matthew Bartilson
- Jeff Bennett
- Gregg Berger
- Mayim Bialik
- Kenny Blank
- Klee Bragger
- Clancy Brown
- Toran Caudell
- Christine Cavanaugh
- Danny Cooksey
- Rachel Crane
- Jane Curtin
- Aria Noelle Curzon
- E.G. Daily
- Eddie Deezen
- Nada Despotovich
- Paul Dooley
- Blake Ewing
- L.B. Fisher
- John Forsythe
- Michael Galasso
- Brad Garrett
- Sam Gifaldi
- Robert Goulet
- Jess Harnell
- Pamela Hayden
- Wendy Hoffman
- Eric Idle
- Tony Jay
- Richard Karron
- David Lander
- David Leisure
- Tress MacNeille
- Chris Marquette
- Miles Marsico
- Andrea Martin
- Anndi McAfee
- Scott McAfee
- Alex McKenna
- Sam McMurray
- Erica Mer
- Alex Morrow
- Martin Mull
- Brian Doyle-Murray
- Ryan O'Donohue
- Rob Paulsen
- Alexander Polinsky
- Phil Proctor
- Sheryl Lee Ralph
- David Rasche
- Brad Renfro
- Ethan Randall Embry
- Patrick Renna
- Kevin Michael Richardson
- Justin Jon Ross
- Katey Sagal - Spinelli’s Mom, Flo Spinelli
- Sam Saletta
- Ronnie Schell
- Justin Shenkarow
- Michael Shulman
- Francesca Marie Smith
- Kath Soucie
- Warren Sroka
- Tara Strong
- Travis Tedford
- Susan Tolsky
- Kirk Trutner
- Brahman Turner
- Robert Vaughn
- Erik von Detten
- Frank Welker
- Billy West
- Paul Willson
Production[]
The show began production in early 1996 after Disney bought ABC and the creators had left Nickelodeon. A pilot of the series was created in 1996, which got the show greenlit. The pilot became the first episode of the series, albeit with different character designs. The pilot was never released to the general public, but clips of it were shown on the 1997 VHS of 101 Dalmatians, as well as certain station IDs for One Saturday Morning depending on the ABC station.
The series drew inspiration from Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere's friendship and childhoods. When Rugrats first aired on Nickelodeon, their kids were a couple of months old. Once they started on Recess, their kids were entering second grade, but they decided to make the main characters fourth graders as that was how old their kids would be by the time the series premiered. The show was heavily influenced by Gabriel García Márquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, as its magical realism helped with establishing the show's themes and plot elements.
The show premiered on September 13, 1997 as part of Disney's One Saturday Morning, along with Disney's Doug (which was already running on the channel before that as well as Nickelodeon) and Pepper Ann.
Seasons three and four were broadcast in the same year, with season three airing on ABC, and season four airing on UPN as part of Disney's One Too block.
The show was originally going to end with five seasons, with the movie being the finale. However, due to the well performance of the film, the show was renewed for one more season. The sixth season marked the show's first Halloween special (the second would be in Taking the Fifth Grade), focus on minor characters in the show, and the disappearance of popular characters such as Butch and Miss Grotke after the season premiere. The season was the shortest of the show, with only three episodes. The last episode aired on November 21, 2001, with 65 episodes (128 episodes when stories A and B are broken up).
In 2003, Walt Disney Home Entertainment released two direct-to-video movies based on the series: Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade and Recess: All Growed Down. The first is considered the true series finale, while the second is a prequel to the series. In 2006, The Recess Gang guest starred in an episode of Lilo & Stitch: The Series, "Lax". This has been the final project for the series to date.
Reruns[]
Recess reran on ABC from 2001 to late 2004 when ABC Kids (the block that took over One Saturday Morning after it ended in 2002) converted into an all-Disney Channel lineup. It was reran on Disney Channel from 2003 to 2005, and was reran again from 2008 to 2010. It was also reran on Toon Disney from 2003 to 2009 when the channel ceased operations, and Disney XD from 2009 to early 2010, and briefly returned to the channel in October 2011, but was removed along with Stitch! after four airings. In October 2019, Disney announced that Recess (among many other shows) will be available on Disney+ in the United States upon its November launch.[1] There are no plans for the series to be released on DVD season sets, though individual episodes are available on the direct-to-DVD and video releases (with more episodes on the DVDs).
Recess is also still shown in certain countries on their Disney markets, such as Sky Movies Disney in the United Kingdom, and Family (while not being owned by Disney, it still airs many Disney programs) in Canada. In Germany, the complete series is available on iTunes.
Feature Film[]
While the second season of the show was airing in 1998, the creators began to develop a feature film based on the series. It was finished in February 2000 during the show's fourth season. At the end of the fifth season, Recess: School's Out was released by Walt Disney Pictures on February 16, 2001, and was a success with both critics and box office numbers. The success of the film (and show itself) led to two direct-to-video (and DVD) films: Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade and Recess: All Growed Down.
Popularity[]
During its airtime, Recess was one of the most popular shows on One Saturday Morning, being popular with children, teenagers, and adults. It was the only show from One Saturday Morning to air for the entirety of the block's run on the air, with Doug removed in 2000 and Pepper Ann in early 2002, as well as the only show on the block to go into the first two years of ABC Kids.
While the show didn't have as many tie-in products as Disney's Doug, which ran in the same block, the show did get a fair amount of merchandise, ranging to stuffed dolls of the main six characters (and various other characters outside the U.S.), various tie-in books, DVDs, and Happy Meal toys of the show were released at McDonald's in 1998.
References to other Disney media[]
- The gang frequently refer to T.J. as "Teej", similar to how Max refers to P.J. as "Peej" in Goof Troop and A Goofy Movie.
- During T.J.'s nightmare about the never-ending rain causing a flood in "Rainy Days", Pluto appears.
- In "One Stayed Clean", Gretchen's outfit for her school picture is similar to one of the more famous outfits worn by Minnie Mouse: a large pink hair bow and a light blue dress with a pink sash.
- In "Bachelor Gus", Owl makes a cameo appearance when Gus is all alone in the playground at night.
- In "Kurst the Not So Bad", Mikey and Kurst are shown eating from the same spaghetti strand similar to the famous Bella Notte scene in Lady and the Tramp.
- In "Big Brother Chad", Vince's transformation during the full moon is similar to Max's transformation from A Goofy Movie.
Trivia[]
- This is one of several Disney Channel/One Saturday Morning shows that rival company Nickelodeon passed on including The Proud Family, Pepper Ann, The Owl House, Phineas and Ferb, and The Ghost and Molly McGee.
External links[]
References[]
- ↑ Alexander, Julia (October 14, 2019). "Disney+ launch lineup: Every movie and TV show available to stream in the US on day one". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved on October 24, 2019.
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