''The Weekenders'' (also known as ''Disney's The Weekenders'') is an American

animated television series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have eithe ...

created by

Doug Langdale Douglas Michael Langdale (born August 19, 1969) is an American screenwriter, producer and actor, who mostly works on television cartoons and animated films. He has worked with Disney numerous times, as well as the writing partner of Jorge Gu ...

that ran on February 26, 2000 with the last episode aired on February 29, 2004, spanning four seasons. It centers on the weekend life of four 12-year-old 7th graders: Tino, Lor, Carver, and Tish. The series originally aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

(

Disney's One Saturday Morning ABC Kids (originally titled Disney's One Saturday Morning until 2002) was an American Saturday morning children's programming block that aired on ABC from September 13, 1997 to August 27, 2011. It featured a mixture of animated and live-action ...

) and

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

(

Disney's One Too Disney's One Too (later known as Disney's Animation Weekdays) was an American two-hour Sunday-to-Friday children's programming block that aired on UPN (and sometimes in syndication) from September 6, 1999 to August 31, 2003. A spin-off of the ...

), but was later moved to

Toon Disney Toon Disney was an American multinational pay television channel owned by Disney Channels Worldwide, a subsidiary of Disney-ABC Television Group. The channel's target audience was children ages 2–11, and children ages 6–13 during the Jetix p ...

Premise

''The Weekenders'' details the weekends of four diverse middle school students: Tino Tonitini (voiced by

Jason Marsden Jason Christopher Marsden (born January 3, 1975) is an American actor, director, producer and YouTuber, who has done numerous voice roles in animated films, as well as various television series and video games. He has been the official voice of ...

), a humorous and somewhat neurotic

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

boy; Lorraine "Lor" MacQuarrie (voiced by

Grey DeLisle Grey DeLisle (; born Erin Grey Van Oosbree; August 24, 1973), sometimes credited as Grey Griffin, is an American voice actress, comedian and singer-songwriter. DeLisle is known for various roles in animated productions and video games. On Sept ...

), a tomboyish and hot-headed

Scottish-American Scottish Americans or Scots Americans (Scottish Gaelic: ''Ameireaganaich Albannach''; sco, Scots-American) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scotch-Irish Americans, ...

girl; Carver Rene Descartes (voiced by

Phil LaMarr Phillip LaMarr (born January 24, 1967) is an American actor, comedian and screenwriter. LaMarr was one of the original featured cast members on the sketch comedy television series ''Mad TV''. His voice acting roles in animated series include Jo ...

), a self-absorbed and fashion-conscious

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensla ...

boy who has Haitian heritage; and Petratishkovna "Tish" Katsufrakis (voiced by

Kath Soucie Kath or KATH may refer to: * Kath (city) Beruniy ( uz, Beruniy/Беруний; kaa, Biruniy/Бируний; russian: Беруни) is a city in the autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan. It is located on the northern bank of the Amu D ...

), an artistic and bibliophilic

Jewish-American American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from diaspora ...

girl with vaguely defined

Eastern European Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

heritage (the fictional country where she was born is identified throughout the series simply as "the Old Country.") Every episode is set over the course of a weekend, with little to no mentions of school life. Friday sets up the conflict of the episode, Saturday escalates and develops it, and the climatic third act happens on Sunday. The implied "ticking clock" is used to signify the characters running out of time and the problem must be solved before going back to school Monday. Tino serves as a narrator of each episode, providing his own insight into what he's experiencing as well as his friends, and will sum up the moral of the story at the end, always ending with a sign off of, "Later days." A running gag in most episodes is that when the group goes out for

pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, on ...

, the restaurant they go to has a different theme each time, such as a prison, where each table is its own cell, or the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, where the waiters look like the

Founding Fathers The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...

and give rousing speeches about the pizzas.

Production

The show was known for its distinctive animation style, similar to Nickelodeon's shows produced by

Klasky-Csupo Klasky-Csupo, Inc. (stylized as KLaSKY CSUPO INC., doing business as Klasky Csupo, ) is an American animation studio located in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1982 by producer Arlene Klasky and Hungarian animator Gábor Csupó (henc ...

such as ''

Rocket Power ''Rocket Power'' is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó, the creators of ''Rugrats''. The series aired on Nickelodeon from August 16, 1999 to July 30, 2004. Premise ''Rocket Power'' revolves around t ...

'' and '' As Told by Ginger'', and also for being one of the few animated series where characters' outfits change from episode to episode. The series takes place in the fictional city of Bahia Bay, California ("Bahia" is

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for "bay"), which is based on

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, California where the creator lived.

Theme music

The show's theme song, "Livin' for the Weekend", was performed by

Wayne Brady Wayne Alphonso Brady (born June 2, 1972) is an American television personality, comedian, actor, and singer. He is a regular on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series ''Whose Line Is It Anyway? (American TV series) ...

and written by Wayne Brady and

Roger Neill Roger Neill (born December 26, 1963) is an American composer, arranger, orchestrator, conductor, guitarist and educator. He is best known for his scores for the films ''20th Century Women'', '' Don't Think Twice'', and ''Beginners''. Notable telev ...

Episodes

Broadcast and home media

''The Weekenders'' premiered on February 26, 2000, as part of

. From 2001 to 2002, it also aired as part of

on Sunday mornings.The Weekenders
. ''Big Cartoon Database'', May 13, 2012 In September 2002, the series moved to

, and new episodes began airing on October 19, 2003 finishing on February 29, 2004. Reruns of the series continued to air on Toon Disney from 2004 to 2006, and also on

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Company ...

in 2003. In the United States, the entire series is now available on DVD on two volume sets sold exclusively through the Disney Movie Club, which makes ''The Weekenders'' the first Disney animated television show to have a full release on DVD. Due to the

first-sale doctrine The first-sale doctrine (also sometimes referred to as the "right of first sale" or the "first sale rule") is an American legal concept that limits the rights of an intellectual property owner to control resale of products embodying its intellec ...

in the United States, the discs can be legally resold and are regularly available from sellers on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

and other similar sites. As of March 15, 2022, the series is not available for streaming on

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

Reception

Critical reception

''The Weekenders'' has received very positive reviews from critics and fans for its solid writing, upbeat energy and multi-dimensional characters.

Ratings

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporate ...

'' called ''The Weekenders'' as "the show that killed ''

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of what each of those c ...

''", because ABC stole the ratings when they aired it at 10:00 am – the same time ''Pokémon'' aired on

Kids' WB Kids' WB (stylized as Kids' WB!) was an American children's programming service and brand of The WB that aired on the network from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006. The block moved to The CW (a result of the merger of Time Warner's The WB ...

. In addition, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' and the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' reported that ''The Weekenders'' took the number one rating on Saturday morning television, which knocked off ''Pokémon'' from its 54 consecutive weeks as the top spot.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weekenders 2000 American television series debuts 2000s American animated television series 2004 American television series endings ABC Kids (TV programming block) American children's animated comedy television series Animated television series about children Disney's One Too Toon Disney original programming UPN original programming English-language television shows Middle school television series Television series by Disney Television Animation Television series created by Doug Langdale Television shows set in San Diego County, California Vegetarianism in fiction