''Cita's World'' is a video music show that originally aired on

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

from September 20, 1999 until January 3, 2003.

Overview

It was the first show to feature a

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

Black character as the host named Cita. Cita's World was the brainchild of Curtis A. Gadson, B.E.T. Senior VP of Programming at that time, & Corey Turner, concept designer and director. The show moved production locations 3 times. The first year, the show was produced and shot in BET's headquarters in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

The second year the show was moved to

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

in BET's newly rented space. The Cita's World set and technical infrastructure sat next to the

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...

set. The final year the show was moved to

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

, where the show was also given a major overhaul. New optical tracking motion capture to acquire Kittie's performances, its own dedicated stage for the blue screen set, and a remodeled and designed Cita. The show would benefit from the relocation to Los Angeles with staff that was already proficient in visual effects workflows and techniques.

''Jam Zone''

It was co-developed, produced and sometimes written by both Tracye Z. Kinzer and kittie KaBoom. The show ran from 1999 to 2003 in television. The show was originally named ''Jam Zone'' when it was created in 1997, which was just a wallpaper video show until 1999, when Cita emerged into the homes of millions.

Format

In between videos, Cita would talk to the viewers, answer viewer mail and offer her unadulterated opinions on current events, celebrities and more. The voice and motion of the Cita character was performed by kittie KaBoom. From

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, the shows content came from producer Tracye Kinzer, as well as kittie KaBoom and Writer, Cliff McBean. Tracye assigned her writers Cliff McBean, Monica "Monie Mon" Dyson, and Angela Yarborough and sometimes kittie topics as well as allowing them to generate their own ideas to create great entertainment.

Spin-off media

Due to the popularity of the show, BET published "Cita's World", which addresses the deluge of emails and letters sent to the show. In 2021, after years of absence, Cita was redesigned and featured on BET Presents: The Encore.

References

External links

* {{BET 1990s American black cartoons 2000s American black cartoons 1999 American animated television series debuts 2003 American television series endings 1990s American adult animated television series 2000s American adult animated television series 1990s American music television series 2000s American music television series American adult animated musical television series American adult computer-animated television series BET original programming