The Buzz on Maggie

The Buzz on Maggie was a Canadian/American animated television series which originally aired for 21 episodes between June 2005 and May 2006. The series focuses on Maggie Pesky, a happy-go-lucky tween fly, that aspires of becoming a rock star, but many episodes focus on her daily life.

The series was created by Dave Polsky, one of the writers for Scary Movie 2 and Frank TV. Dave Wasson directed and designed the looks for the characters. The series was the first Disney series to be fully animated in Flash, and it was nominated for an Annie Award for its character design. In August 2005, an artist for the series confirmed that the series had been cancelled. The last episode aired on May 27, 2006, and the series continued to air in reruns until August 2008.

Premise
Maggie Pesky is a creative, cute and expressive fly, who has a dream of becoming a famous rock star. She lives in the fly metropolis of Stickyfeet with her parents Chauncey and Frieda, her older brother Aldrin, younger brother Pupert, and her younger sister Bella, who is still in the stage of a maggot.

Throughout the show Maggie is seen to choose the easy way in the tasks she accomplishes, such as cheating on a test or simply being selfish. She is often seen to only care about herself, and puts herself and her needs in front of others. Her best friend Rayna Cartflight helps Maggie to fulfill her dreams. Even though the main story is that Maggie wants to be a rock star, most episodes are about her daily life and the occasions she faces.

Production
The series was created by screenwriter Dave Polsky, who is perhaps best known for co-writing the spoof Scary Movie 2. He executive produced all episodes alongside the director, Dave Wasson. The series was animated in Macromedia Flash at Bardel Entertainment in Vancouver, Canada and at Future Thought Productions in Mumbai, India. It was the first Disney show to be fully animated in Flash.

Production of The Buzz on Maggie started in 2004. Many of the crew members from ¡Mucha Lucha! worked on the show. During an interview with Animation Magazine, Wasson stated that he was influenced by Tex Avery and early Disney shorts when he created the look for the show. He said that The Buzz on Maggiehas "a lot of 1930s touches," stating, "The characters wear white gloves, for example. That's a direct homage to those classic shorts." He chose to animate it in Flash because he "was convinced it was a good way to go. I had done a few commercials in Flash and a few short films for a museum in Singapore. [...] I've always maintained that in the right hands, you shouldn't be able to see any difference between Flash and regular hand-drawn 2D." Wasson and Jorge Gutierrez were both character designers for the series. Gutierrez was nominated for an Annie Award for his character design in the episode "Bella Con Carny".

The series' theme song, "Just the Way I Am" was performed by Canadian singer Skye Sweetnam. It was produced and written by Dillon O'Brian and Bob Thiele. The song was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in 2006 for Outstanding Original Song.

The series premiered on Friday June 17, 2005 at 8pm and then began airing at 5:30pm on weekends. The series also joined the ABC Kids schedule on September 17, 2005. It premiered at 9:30am with a Nielsen rating of 1.6/7 in the Kids 2−11 demographic, and a 1.4/7 rating in Tweens 9−14, which was the highest rating for that timeslot in three months. In August 2005, artist Sean Szeles reported on his blog that the series had been cancelled, stating: "Apparently good animation, art direction, and characters don't mean anything to Disney. The Buzz on Maggie is no more." The final episode aired on May 27, 2006 and the series aired in reruns until it was pulled off the schedule in August 2008. The Buzz on Maggie was the second Disney original series to be cancelled after one season, after Dave the Barbarian.

Characters

 * Margaret "Maggie" Pesky is a tween fly and the second oldest in the Pesky family. She has a taste in "funky fashion and extreme music".
 * Rayna Cartflight is Maggie's sassy best friend. She often thinks Maggie crosses the line with her crazy schemes.
 * Aldrin Pesky is Maggie's older brother. He is popular at school and is the captain of the football team. He is a big fly.
 * Pupert Pesky is the younger brother in the Pesky family. He has the "desire to succeed" like Aldrin, but lacks his talents.
 * Bella Pesky is the youngest in the Pesky family. She is still a non-talking maggot.
 * Chauncey and Frieda Pesky are the parents to the Pesky children.
 * Dawn Swatworthy is a snobby girl and Maggie's rival.

Voice cast

 * Jessica DiCicco - Maggie Pesky
 * Cree Summer - Rayna Cartflight, Gym Shorts Kid
 * David Kaufman - Aldrin Pesky
 * Thom Adcox - Pupert Pesky
 * Tara Strong - Dawn Swatworthy, Bella Pesky
 * Brian Doyle-Murray - Chauncey Pesky Susan Tolsky - Frieda Pesky
 * Jeff Bennett - Principal Peststrip, George
 * Curtis Armstrong - Mr. Bugspit
 * Candi Milo - Mrs. Winston, Mrs. Lunch Lady, Mrs. Hatchison
 * Jess Harnell - Eugene and Wendell, Brad
 * S. Scott Bullock - Larry, Snap Carpenter
 * Pat Musick - Dawn's lackeys
 * Kevin Michael Richardson - Mrs. Cartflight

Guest stars

 * Laraine Newman - Lacey Ladybug ("Ladybugged")
 * Jon Polito - New Aldrin, New Pupert ("Those Pesky Roaches")
 * Dee Dee Rescher - New Maggie ("Those Pesky Roaches")
 * Paul Rodriguez - Mr. Hairlegger ("Lunch Lady" and "Racoooon!")