''A.N.T. Farm'' is an American

teen sitcom A teen situation comedy, or teen sitcom, is a subgenre of comedic television program targeted towards young people. In general, these type of programs focus primarily on characters between 11 and 19 years of age and routinely feature characters inv ...

which originally aired on Disney Channel from May 6, 2011 to March 21, 2014. It first aired on May 6, 2011, as a special one-episode preview and continued as a regular series starting on June 17, 2011. After airing as the preview of the series, the pilot episode "transplANTed" later re-aired after the series finale of ''

The Suite Life on Deck ''The Suite Life on Deck'' is an American teen sitcom that aired on Disney Channel from September 26, 2008 to May 6, 2011. It is a sequel/spin-off of the Disney Channel Original Series ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody''. The series follows twin b ...

''. The series was created by

Dan Signer Daniel Signer is a Canadian-American television producer and writer. He is creator and executive producer of ''Some Assembly Required'' for Netflix and YTV, ''A.N.T. Farm'' for Disney Channel and '' Mr. Young'' for YTV and Disney XD. He curren ...

, a former writer and co-executive producer of ''The Suite Life on Deck'' and creator of the YTV series '' Mr. Young''. In mid-November 2010, Disney Channel

greenlit To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead". Film industry In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...

the series, with production beginning in early 2011. The first promo was released during the premiere of ''

Lemonade Mouth ''Lemonade Mouth'' is a young adult novel by Mark Peter Hughes, published in 2007 by Delacorte Press. It follows five teenagers who meet in detention and ultimately form a band to overcome the struggles of high school, forming deep bonds with ea ...

''. The series stars

China Anne McClain China Anne McClain (born August 25, 1998) is an American actress and singer. McClain's career began when she was seven years old, portraying Alexis in the film ''The Gospel'' (2005), and then China James in '' Daddy's Little Girls'' (2007). Sh ...

as Chyna Parks, an 11-year-old musical prodigy who is the newest member in the Advanced Natural Talent (A.N.T.) program, a gifted program at Webster High School in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

that allows gifted middle school students to skip middle school and go immediately to high school. Sierra McCormick,

Jake Short Jacob Patrick Short (born May 30, 1997 in Indianapolis, Indiana), known professionally as Jake Short, is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Fletcher Quimby in the Disney Channel comedy series ''A.N.T. Farm'' (2011–2014), Oli ...

Stefanie Scott Stephanie Noelle Scott (born December 6, 1996) is an American actress and singer. Scott began acting with the comedy film '' Beethoven's Big Break'' (2008), and thereafter released her debut extended play ''New Girl in Town'' (2009). This was fol ...

Carlon Jeffery Carlon Jeffery (born July 10, 1993) is an American actor and rapper. He is best known for playing Cameron Parks in the Disney Channel sitcom '' A.N.T. Farm'' (2011–2013). Life and career Jeffery was born in Houston, Texas and has been perfo ...

, and

Aedin Mincks Aedin Mincks (born October 10, 2000) is an American actor, best known for his roles as List of A.N.T. Farm characters, Angus Chestnut on ''A.N.T. Farm'' and major recurring character Mitch (Ass Face) on ''Cobra Kai''. He is also known for portra ...

also star. The series was successful, as it was the most popular series on television among children in the age ranges 6 to 11 and 9 to 13. The ''A.N.T. Farm'' soundtrack was released on October 11, 2011 and was successful, spending five weeks on the ''Billboard'' kids chart, peaked at number 29 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, and peaked at number 2 on the US

Top Soundtracks The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

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 ...

premiered ''A.N.T. Farm'' for streaming on June 26, 2020.

Plot

''A.N.T. Farm'' revolves around Chyna Parks (

), an 11-year-old musical prodigy, who has just become the newest student in the Advanced Natural Talents (A.N.T.) program at Webster High School in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

for gifted middle schoolers. On her first day, she meets Gibson (Zach Steel), the goofy counselor and tutor of the A.N.T. Farm, as well as Olive Doyle ( Sierra McCormick), a girl with an

eidetic memory Eidetic memory ( ; more commonly called photographic memory or total recall) is the ability to recall an image from memory with high precision—at least for a brief period of time—after seeing it only onceThe terms ''eidetic memory'' and ''pho ...

, and Fletcher Quimby (

), an artistic genius, but otherwise quite dim, who falls in love with Chyna when they first meet (although the running joke of the show is that no matter how obvious he makes it, she continues to be oblivious to it, or at least ignores it for a very long time). After becoming friends, the three proceed to go on multiple adventures, using their talents to their advantage. The school's

it girl An "it girl" is an attractive young woman, who is perceived to have both sex appeal and a personality that is especially engaging. The expression ''it girl'' originated in British upper-class society around the turn of the 20th century. ...

, Lexi Reed (

), is one of the teenagers who thinks that the A.N.T.s don't belong at Webster High School and views them as little kids. She proceeds to bully Chyna, thinking of her as competition in being the star of the school. Chyna's older brother, Cameron (

), attempts to avoid Chyna in high school as much as he can, afraid she will be an embarrassment to him. Lexi's best friend Paisley (

Allie DeBerry Alexandria Danielle DeBerry is an American actress and model. She is best known for her roles in ''A.N.T. Farm'' as Paisley Houndstooth, ''Shake It Up'' as Destiny, '' Lazer Team'' as Mindy and '' True Jackson, VP'' as Cammy. Early life DeBerr ...

) and Angus (

), a computer prodigy who harbors a crush on Olive, are major recurring roles in the series. The third season takes place at a boarding school called Z-Tech after all of the A.N.T.s are accepted as students. The school is run by a big technology company, Z-Tech, owned by Zoltan Grundy (

Dominic Burgess Dominic Burgess (born 29 July 1982) is an English actor. He is known for his appearances in several television adverts and series such as '' Raising Hope'', ''Doctor Who'', ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', and '' Feud: Bette and Joan''. E ...

). The series ends with Fletcher winning an arts fellowship in New York City and moving there to follow his dreams.

Characters

Main

File:ANTFarmCast.jpg, 250px, The season 1 and 2 main characters of ''A.N.T. Farm'': (from left to right) Lexi Reed, Olive Doyle, Chyna Parks, Fletcher Quimby, and Cameron Parks. Can also use cursor to identify. rect 16 39 71 217

Lexi Reed ''A.N.T. Farm'' is an American teen sitcom which originally aired on Disney Channel from May 6, 2011 to March 21, 2014. It first aired on May 6, 2011, as a special one-episode preview and continued as a regular series starting on June 17, 2011 ...

rect 84 57 114 188 Olive Doyle rect 120 59 146 186 Chyna Parks rect 148 60 195 188 Fletcher Quimby rect 206 54 260 219 Cameron Parks desc bottom-left *

as Chyna Parks, the A.N.T. program's musically gifted member who can sing, dance, and play many instruments including the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, flute,

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

, harp, bagpipes,

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

bugle The bugle is one of the simplest brass instruments, normally having no valves or other pitch-altering devices. All pitch control is done by varying the player's embouchure. History The bugle developed from early musical or communication ...

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

, drums, harmonica,

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, bassoon,

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

spoons Spoons may refer to: * Spoon, a utensil commonly used with soup * Spoons (card game), the card game of Donkey, but using spoons Film and TV * ''Spoons'' (TV series), a 2005 UK comedy sketch show *Spoons, a minor character from ''The Sopranos'' ...

, and the banjo. She is the leader of the A.N.T.s. * Sierra McCormick as Olive Doyle, an A.N.T. with

and great knowledge of many facts which she calls "interesting factoids." *

as Fletcher Quimby, an A.N.T. who's an artistic genius. He has a crush on Chyna which is unrequited. *

as Alexis "Lexi" Reed, Chyna's biggest rival at Webster High School who is vain, self-centered, and considers herself the

Queen Bee A queen bee is typically an adult, mated female ( gyne) that lives in a colony or hive of honey bees. With fully developed reproductive organs, the queen is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive. Queens are developed ...

. In season 3, it is revealed that Lexi is a math prodigy. *

as Cameron Parks (main seasons 1–2, guest star season 3), Chyna's older brother with no apparent talents unlike his sister. *

as Angus Chestnut (recurring seasons 1–2, main season 3), a computer genius A.N.T., and has an unrequited crush on Olive.

Recurring

as Paisley Houndstooth, Lexi's dimwitted best friend. She is also on the cheer squad, even though she does not know how to cheer. *Zach Steel as Gibson (seasons 1–2), the counselor and tutor of the A.N.T. Farm, who is caring and sensitive, but also dimwitted and childlike. *

Mindy Sterling Mindy Lee Sterling (born July 11, 1953) is an American television, film and voice actress. She portrayed Frau Farbissina in the ''Austin Powers'' film series and starred in the web series ''Con Man'', the latter of which earned her a Primetime ...

as Susan Skidmore, the principal of Webster High School, who uses the A.N.T.s' talents for her own advantage. *

Finesse Mitchell Alfred Langston "Finesse" Mitchell (born June 12, 1972) is an American actor, author and stand-up comedian. From 2003 to 2006, he was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live''.Jinelle Shengulette"Comedian Finesse Mitchell to perform at the Comedy ...

as Darryl Parks, the hopelessly overprotective father of Chyna and Cameron. He loves his daughter dearly all the while neglecting Cameron. He is a "highly decorated" San Francisco police officer. *Christian Campos as Wacky the Wolf (seasons 1–2), the school mascot. Wacky is good friends with Chyna, Olive and Fletcher. *

Elise Neal Elise Demetria Neal (born March 14, 1966) is an American actress. Her big break came with three 1997 films, appearing in ''Rosewood'', '' Money Talks'' and ''Scream 2''. From 1998 to 2002, Neal starred as Yvonne Hughley in the ABC/ UPN sitcom ...

as Roxanne Parks (season 1), the mom of Chyna and Cameron. She is a children's birthday party entertainer. *Matt Lowe as Hippo (seasons 1–2), a man who went from the music business to the movie business to the restaurant business. * Claire Engler as Violet (seasons 1-2), a new A.N.T. gifted in sports and athletics. She is aggressive as she has an explosive temper. *

as Zoltan Grundy (season 3), a businessman who is the CEO of Z-Tech and its respective school. * Zibby Allen as Madame Goo Goo, a pop celebrity, who is a parody of

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

; and Winter Maddox (season 3), Zoltan Grundy's Vice President of Acquisitions. Winter's catchphrase is saying "What?!" in an exaggerated voice. * Piper Curda as Kennedy Van Buren / Kumiko Hashimoto (season 3), a student at Z-Tech who pretends to be Kennedy, a debate prodigy, but is actually the daughter of Mr. Hashimoto. * Tom Choi as Mr. Hashimoto (season 3), a Japanese CEO of the Hashimoto Soda Company who first appeared in ''

''. He is behind the sabotage of the Z-phones.

Special guest stars

Zendaya Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman ( ; born September 1, 1996) is an American actress and singer. She has received various accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the ...

as Sequoia Jones (season 2), a teen movie star who loves to play her role perfectly by shadowing a person and attempting to steal their identity. *

Vanessa Morgan Vanessa Morgan Mziray (born March 23, 1992), known professionally as Vanessa Morgan, is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles as Beatrix "Bird" Castro in the MTV teen drama series ''Finding Carter'', as Amanda Pierce in the Family teen ...

as Jeanne Gossamer / Vanessa (season 2), a model from Canada and Cameron's girlfriend. Cameron misremembers her name as Jeanne Gossamer at first. *

Billy Unger William Brent Unger (born October 15, 1995) is an American actor. He is known for playing Chase on the Disney XD series ''Lab Rats'' and '' Lab Rats: Elite Force''. Credited as Billy Unger before 2016, starting with ''Lab Rats: Elite Force'', h ...

as Tasmanian Neville (season 2), an Australian "explorer" who is actually a weakling. Chyna develops a crush on Neville, which makes Fletcher jealous. * Chris Rock as Himself (season 3), who visits the Z-Tech school to buy a rare animal for his daughter.

Production

Development

Disney Channel announced on November 11, 2010 that they had green-lit the show for production, which began in early 2011. The show was first conceived when Dan Signer, creator of the show, saw China Anne McClain. "The girl had so much confidence. She can nail a joke. She can sing. She can play instruments. It's like China was some sort of child prodigy ..And that's when it hit me: Why not build a show around a child prodigy? Someone who's got all of this natural talent & ability, but is still challenged when she's sent off to high school at the age of 11?" Signer said in an interview. After the first few episodes of the show were shown, Disney Channel bumped up their order of episodes for the show from 13 episodes to 26 episodes for the first season. On November 30, 2011, it was announced the series was renewed for a second season. On October 2, 2012, it was announced the series was renewed for a third and final season.

Casting

In 2009,

booked the starring role as Janet in the Disney Channel pilot ''Jack and Janet Save the Planet'' alongside future co-stars Sierra McCormick and

. The pilot was not picked up and never aired. After the pilot was not picked up,

began creating another show tailor-made for McClain and cast her as the lead. Sierra McCormick was cast after an audition where she continually talked about tigers. Dan Signer stated "And as I heard her continually talking about tigers, I thought 'That's just how Olive would sound,' because Olive is a fast talking, intelligent student whose talent is memory, which is how Sierra got that part." Jake Short was cast after Signer found him to be likable as an artist during his audition. Jake Short was the last of the three core characters to be cast.

Caroline Sunshine Caroline Mohr Sunshine (born September 5, 1995) is an American former actress who previously worked as a White House staffer. As an actress, she is best known for her co-starring role as flashy, rude European exchange student Tinka Hessenheffe ...

was originally cast as Lexi and

as the role of Tinka Hessenheffer in '' Shake It Up!'', but Dan Signer decided that Sunshine would be better as Tinka and Scott as Lexi, so the two switched roles. Sunshine, however, would later guest star in the episode "

some enchANTed evening "Some Enchanted Evening" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''South Pacific''. It has been described as "the single biggest popular hit to come out of any Rodgers and Hammerstein show." Mast, Gerald''Can't Help Singin': ...

Episodes

Special episodes

Broadcast

In Canada, the show had a preview on May 23, 2011, with the premiere on June 24, 2011. In

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, it premiered on August 15, 2011, and in Australia on the same day, as well on

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

on May 19, 2012. It previewed on September 16, 2011, and premiered on October 7, 2011, in the UK and Ireland. It was released in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

on December 10, 2011.

Songs

U.S. television ratings

The sneak preview of the series garnered 4.4 million viewers on its premiere night, ranked as TV's No. 1 Telecast in Total Day among Tweens 9-14 (441,000/1.8 rating) and was also TV's No. 1 Telecast among Kids 6-11 (544,000/2.2 rating).Friday's Series Finale of "The Suite Life on Deck" and Sneak Peek of "A.N.T. Farm" Stand as TV's Top 2 Telecasts in Kids 6-11 and Tweens 9-14
Its lead-in, the series finale of ''

'', received 4.6 million. The episode "The PhANTom Locker" was the most watched episode of the series, scoring 4.6 million viewers, until August 5, 2011, when an unnamed episode earned 4.9 million viewers right after the Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd dimension. It did better than its lead-in ''

Wizards of Waverly Place ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' is an American fantasy teen sitcom created by Todd J. Greenwald that aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between October 2007 and January 2012. The series centers on Alex Russo (Selena Gomez), a teenage wiza ...

'', which earned 4.1 million viewers. In Australia the episode "transplANTed" delivered 80,000 viewers. In the United Kingdom the same episode had 321,000 viewers, and the episode "participANTs" garnered 240,000 viewers.

Awards and nominations

Global Broadcast

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 2010s American high school television series 2010s American teen sitcoms 2011 American television series debuts 2014 American television series endings English-language television shows Disney Channel original programming Television series about television 2010s American musical comedy television series Television series about teenagers Television series about actors Television series about fictional musicians American musical television series Television series created by Dan Signer Television series by It's a Laugh Productions Television shows set in San Francisco