Recess

Recess was a 1997 animated comedy created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It aired on ABC's One Saturday Morning block from 1997 to 2001, with reruns lasting on the network until 2005.

The series focuses on six elementary school students and their interactions with other students and teachers. One of the many features of the show is how the children form their own society, complete with government and class structure, set against a backdrop of a regular school.

Premise
The show portrays the life of six elementary school students: popular, confident TJ Detweiler, athletic Vince LaSalle, tough girl Ashley Spinelli, gentle giant Mikey Blumberg, and shy new kid Gus Griswald. The students of Third Street School set up a microcosm of traditional human society complete with its own government, class system, and a set of unwritten laws. They are ruled by a monarch, King Bob, who has various enforcers to make sure his decrees are caried out. The little society has a long list of rigid values and social that impose a high expectation of conformity among the students.

Most episodes involve one or more of the main six characters seeking a rational balence between individuality and social order. They are often defending their freedom against percieved threats by adults or social norms. The group's leader, T.J. Detweiler, tends to have the most complete vision of this struggle, though even he has times when he inadvertenly leads the group too far toward an extreme of conformity or noncomformity.

Production
The show began production in early 1996 after Disney bought ABC and the creators had left Nickelodeon. A pilot of the series was created in 1996, which got the show greenlit. The pilot became the first episode of the series, albeit with different character designs. The pilot was never released to the general public, but clips of it were shown on the 1997 VHS of 101 Dalmatians, as well as certain sation IDs for One Saturday Morning depending on the ABC station.

The show premiered on September 13, 1997 as part of Disney's One Saturday Morning, along with Doug (which was already running on the channel before that as well as Nickelodeon) and Pepper Ann, though it was set to premier for September 6, 1997, but was delayed to to ABC airing Princess Diana's funeral. The show lasted for six seasons, and ended production on November 21, 2001 after 65 episodes (due to Disney's episode limitations) (though with the parts A and B broken up, 128 episodes).

Reruns
Recess reran on ABC from 2001 to late 2005 when ABC Kids (the block that took over One Saturday Morning after it ended in 2003) converted into an all-Disney Channel lineup. It was reran on Disney Channel from 2001 to 2006, and was reran again from 2009 to 2010. It was also reran on Toon Disney from 2004 to 2009 when the channel ceased operations, and Disney XD from 2009 to early 2010. Disney has confirmed in a press release that the show will be reran again, though they are deciding what "Disney" network to air it on. There are no plans for the series to be released on DVD season sets. Recess is still shown in certain countries on their Disney markets, such as Disney Cinemagic in the United Kingdom, and Family (while not being owned by Disney, still airs many Disney programs) in Canada.

Feature Film
At the end of the fifth season, Recess: School's Out was released by Walt Disney Pictures on February 17, 2001, and was a sucess with both critics and box office numbers. The sucess of the film (and show itself) led to two direct-to-video (and DVD) films: Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade and Recess: All Growed Down.

Popularity
During it's airtime, Recess was one of the most popular shows on One Saturday Morning, being popular with children, teenagers, and adults. It was the only show from One Saturday Morning to air for the entirety of the block's run on the air, with Doug removed in 2000 and Pepper Ann in early 2002, as well as the only show on the block to go into the first two years of ABC Kids.