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

animated television series An animated series is a set of Animation, 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 ...

created by

Doug Langdale Douglas Michael Langdale (born August 19, 1969) is an People of the United States, American screenwriter, television producer, producer and actor, who mostly works on animated television series, television cartoons and animated films. He has wor ...

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) and UPN (

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 ''Di ...

), 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 ...

Premise

''The Weekenders'' details the weekends of four diverse middle school students: Tino Tonitini (voiced by Jason Marsden), a humorous and somewhat neurotic Italian-American boy; Lorraine "Lor" MacQuarrie (voiced by Grey DeLisle), a tomboyish and hot-headed Scottish-American girl; Carver Rene Descartes (voiced by Phil LaMarr), a self-absorbed and fashion-conscious African-American boy who has Haitian heritage; and Petratishkovna "Tish" Katsufrakis (voiced by Kath Soucie), an artistic and

bibliophilic Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. A bibliophile or bookworm is an individual who loves and frequently reads and/or collects books. Profile The classic bibliophile is one who loves to read, admire and collect books, often ama ...

Jewish-American girl with vaguely defined Eastern European 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, onions ...

, 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, 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 (hence ...

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 for "bay"), which is based on San Diego, California where the creator lived.

Theme music

The show's theme song, "Livin' for the Weekend", was performed by Wayne Brady and written by Wayne Brady and Roger Neill.

Episodes

Broadcast and home media

''The Weekenders'' premiered on February 26, 2000, as part of Disney's One Saturday Morning on

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

on UPN 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 Compan ...

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 in the United States, the discs can be legally resold and are regularly available from sellers on eBay and other similar sites. As of March 15, 2022, the series is not available for streaming on Disney+.

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'' 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 (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

''", because ABC stole the ratings when they aired it at 10:00 am – the same time ''Pokémon'' aired on Kids' WB. In addition, '' Variety'' and the '' New York Post'' 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