wait remember the weekenders coming from the same creator of Dave the Barbarian the weekenders was
a cartoon that everyone remembers fondly as the show that beat Pokemon Disney's biggest dream
had finally come true kind of Welcome Back To The 25 Days of Fringe Miss where there's
going to be brand new videos every single day from December 1st to December 25th hop aboard
it ran for four years and Four Seasons from February 26 2000 to February 29 2004. the first
two seasons had air time slots on ABC through their Disney's one Saturday morning block the
third season moved to UPN for Disney's one two block and just straight up moved to tune Disney
for its final season which only consisted of five episodes despite its Four Seasons
the series didn't sport a lot of episodes only 39 were made a total of 73 individual segments
it received a lot of positive reception from critics and kids alike their claim to fame was
the sudden overthrow of the reigning airtime King Pokemon when it kicked it off its throne and took
the number one slot for programming for Kids 2 to 11 on April 29 2000. so here's the question I'll
pose to you my audience who would win in a battle gigantomax Charizard or live in for the weekend
icon Tino I know my answer but I'll give you some time to think about it and while you're thinking
about it if you enjoy this video you better subscribe let's jump into the this this is bogus
[Music]
the weekenders was created by Doug Langdale and pulls a lot of inspiration from his memories as
a child living in San Diego California main characters Tino Tish Carver and lore make
up the friend group that the series focuses on each episode consists of two segments around 12
minutes each so it's a fast-paced exploration of a weekend starting with Friday establishing the plot
of every episode Saturday is the action of the episode and Sunday is where the group must deal
with their actions and reflect on what they've learned each seeks to make the most of their
weekend and each episode leads the four characters on adventures such as playing fun games fitting
in socially participating in the newest trends or crazes and so much more each episode is very
different and doesn't feel too repetitive Langdale states that he writes about the things that are
important to kids that are at that age and that while it's written for kids it technically does
apply to everyone while the concerns of kids and adults can morph and take on more mature themes
there are still important issues that can be reflected more simply in problems that kids face
the four characters themselves are also really unique and Langdale was often praised for such
a casually diverse Series in the early 2000s I'm with the cool kids right now the weekenders will
be coming right up then shovel my lunch [Music] we're back dude what stinks in here [Music]
Tino voiced by Jason Marsden kind of takes the Forefront of the series as the main character
mainly because he's given the task of being the narrator throughout the episodes for the most part
Tino has a very sarcastic and witty personality that pairs well with his slightly paranoid and
flighty habits he makes for a great main character to Anchor onto as he is pretty well-rounded but
has many other qualities that make him still quite unique and interesting some of his paranoia and
anxiousness results in him being susceptible to conspiracy theories which always makes the
episodes much more fascinating Tisch voiced by katsuchi is known as the most intelligent
being that she has an affinity for the Arts and Sciences nerd but like she's a relatable nerd
she still gets frustrated when her friends aren't listening to her as the voice of reason but she
still never has a joker moment her perfectionist personality often leads to her fixating on small
miscalculations but outside of that she's really confident in herself Carver voiced by Phil Lamar
is the most superficial member of their friend group with his priorities for focusing on fashion
and the desire to become a celebrity or just popular and cool he's actually one of my favorite
characters because his insecurities offer a lot of character development potential and he's tested
all the time he never lets these things hurt those around him as he cares very deeply for his friends
much like lore he also has siblings specifically a younger brother who annoys him to no end and an
older sister who actually does love him despite being rude toward him as siblings are naturally
lore voiced by Greg Griffin balances out Tish the most in personality as the two of them are
very close she has like 14 Brothers I think but to be quite honest I don't even think that she knows
how many there are the show just kind of has you guessing most likely because of the household she
grows up in she acts tough this is reflected in her defense mechanisms which are typically
her resorting to Violent threats but come on who hasn't threatened a few people in their lives over
minor inconveniences plus the threats are mostly empty and endearing she is a very chill girl
who when she's not playing sports likes to kick ticket with video games and junk food her negative
personality traits could include her spoiled nature perhaps attributed to her being the only
girl in her family the kids also frequent a pizza shop in which they are waited on by the pizza guy
who is voiced by Jeff Bennett one of the running gags of the series was at the pizza shop change
themes every episode this was because Langdale didn't know what to name the restaurant so he
just decided to change it every time initially it was supposed to be a tea shop like the one
that laying Dale and his friends used to frequent but Disney said nah tease out pizza's in so they
can that idea on the guidelines that kids weren't interested in tea a controversial statement here
I prefer tea over Pizza why are you all booing me I'm right the series takes place in Bahia Bay
Bahia is Spanish for Bay so technically the place is called Bay Bay which is heavily inspired by San
Diego where Langdale grew up the characters feel well written as we get deeper looks into their
individual lives we get to meet their siblings and their parents and learn about their backgrounds
and which they were raised in one of my favorite episodes the new girl where Tish allows her mother
to hang out with the friend group because she's looking to be more like her daughter because she's
so much more American than her but tish's Mom proves to be much more fun in the most basic sense
of the word than her daughter Tish leaving her feeling left out and replaced her mother notices
however and apologizes for unfairly putting her daughter in that position both tish's dad and
her mom explained that it was mainly because she didn't have a true Carefree childhood in
their home country where she had to do hard labor in harsh conditions to support her family like
that's just genuinely great stuff that's deeper writing for characters that make them feel more
real to The Human Experience this is the stuff that leads to more thoughtfully written stories
that can pull from and completely respect the experiences of children of immigrant parents as
well as the parents themselves [Music] foreign for me the series was quite special aside from having
really good animation that is just really Pleasant to look at Slice of Life storytelling is one of my
favorite genres and this series embodies that it's just kids being kids on the weekend as we get to
look into their friendships as well as their home life all having unique and different upbringings
and backgrounds my favorite show of all time Hey Arnold is to me the blueprint for this kind of
Storytelling and character development but the weekenders definitely would be sitting pretty
high up there next to it as a great example it executes on everything that makes these kinds
of shows work so well and resonate with so many sure the lessons and teachings may be a little
too on the nose sometimes for me but that doesn't mean it didn't work for someone else the show can
apply to so many today just as it did back at the start of the Millennium which greatly boosts its
longevity not tying itself to just that moment in time watching it today I am brought back to
my youth waking up Saturday mornings to catch some cartoons go outside and hang out with my
friends and with this show giving us a look into some diverse backgrounds it truly brings me back
to my group of friends and how I was introduced to other cultures through them and their families
it deals with single parent family issues and how growing up without one of your parents can play an
effect on both the child and the single parent it never sacrificed being authentic and true to what
it wanted to say for the sake of being something it wasn't it's great at giving you perspectives
that will stick with you while never trying to blatantly flaunt it in your face it's all done
in the realest of ways being completely natural and true to real life the weekenders reminds us
all about the great times we had that bookend the school week the days of being with your friends
and learning about yourself in your formative years watching it now it just becomes a way
for myself as an adult to reflect on my past who I was to where I am now and everything that happened
along the way with friends and family For Better or For Worse but I think this show still being
able to get something out of me all these years later is the result of how beautiful at the core
this show really is and the animation specifically the movement of the characters is so beautifully
crafted to have this constant realistic flow of of motion it adds this extra layer that
many other shows were not doing and technically doesn't add or take away from the other great
stuff the show offers but I really love this little detail of work uh one moment sidebar
we'll be back after these messages from the secret master of the earth obey his will [Music]
hey hang around there's more weekenders [Music]
the weekenders was created in an act of langdale's selling out his words not mine he had done a bunch
of more Niche and smaller shows and decided that he may as well inquire as to what Disney wanted at
the time Disney was looking for an animated sitcom about middle school kids so Langdale
went home and brainstorm a bunch of ideas about different aspects of Middle School lives he wrote
down on a piece of paper kids on the weekend this unassuming piece of paper proved to be immensely
important when Langdale went into pitch with the network Executives because his fully fleshed out
developed ideas did not spark any interest when asked if he had anything else he read what was
written on that small piece of paper and of course that was what they were interested in on the Fly
Langdale started recounting some of his memories from when he was a child including stories about
him and his friends on the weekend including going to the airport and stealing leftovers from
people's room service trays and Airport hotels it's a very odd thing weird surely describes
that but after that they bought the show which was really just a concept inspired by true story
stories from langdale's childhood he had the task of putting the concept into a concrete show
with characters and everything his main idea was the unappealing nature of the repetitive School
setting Disney's idea for a middle school sitcom had obviously been done before so he had wanted to
break that precedent the show is about the weekend so why talk about school which is technically the
death of the weekend no no Abel's fine thinking about how specific the weekend was when you were
a child each day had a different meaning Friday Saturday and Sunday all had different meanings
both in schedule but also mentally Friday starts out with plans what are you gonna do for the next
three days you have so much time Saturday is typically when you do what you are planning and
there's a certain dread and understanding about Sunday and how things must come to a close and
you must face your actions and get everything together before Monday the choice to have title
cards for each day is just honoring the concept of each day being different in a child's mind they
then realize that when you're acknowledging time passing in different days moving by it only makes
sense that the characters would change clothing they were actually one of the first series that
had their characters change their clothing something I have found impressive in animation
from shows like totally Spies as just knowing how long the animation process must take to constantly
be designing new outfits or a rotation of outfits each of the four kids had a wardrobe consisting of
five different shirts and four different pants and as days went on they would change clothing
which kind of beautifully represents each day passing Disney also came into production and
recommended that they make it more of a pro-social educational show so they added the concept of
breaking the fourth wall and narrating so that the kids could express what they had learned
throughout and by the end of the episode in order to separate Tino when he's directly addressing the
viewer from the actual happenings in the episode they decided to make it visually different by
graying out the background as he addresses the camera the weekenders was really well received
nominated for two Awards it was very successful while it never reached the 65 episode milestone
for Disney it still had a significant run of four years despite the weird 5 episode season
4. the theme song is one of the most memorable and iconic parts of the series Disney executive
Barry blumberg really liked the singer Wayne Brady so Langdale decided to use his past connection to
get Brady on board as a performer in an effort to impress blumberg they had already been in the
same improv class in the 90s and years later they reconnected and remembered each other so he asked
him to sing the theme song and he agreed Langdale having seen Brady in the car furiously scribbling
on a piece of paper assumed that he had written the lyrics in the car 10 minutes before going
into the studio to record but whether or not it's true he killed it in the recording and they only
had like one note for him after his first take but who came up with the title for the show apparently
no one knows Doug himself tells the story of that name being there and a bunch of people and
Executives not liking the name of the show but it was never changed and forever the show is now just
called the weekenders but in hindsight I kind of just like the name there's still a community of
people out there that are actively calling for a reboot of the series or some sort of Revival
and I know that a lot of viewers that remember this series from their childhoods would be on
board with that as well I do think it could be an interesting idea with the method of Storytelling
being a little dated there's a lot of fun ways that the series can be modernized and updated
while still maintaining that same charm but first it would be great if Disney could just start by
making the series available on streaming like they promised no literally Langdale had heard
from other people at the production that Disney had said that they would add it and then they
eventually tweeted out in November of 2019 saying that they would add season 1 and 2 but have not
added anything since or address that matter lies all lies but until they fulfill their promise the
series is available for purchase in fact it was the first Disney series to have a full release
on DVD in addition there were some online games that were released such as lore's Maze of treats
and tish's book ball but other than that there wasn't a ton of gaming content for the show
because the charm was in the character writing and animation format but what are your thoughts
on the weekenders would you like to see the series come back at all also what's your favorite day of
the weekend let me know in the comments thanks so much for watching like And subscribe later