Recess: The Next Bell–Modern Disney In A Nutshell part 2

I wasn’t planning on this being a two-part article, but when you go past 3000 words you kind of have to stop for the good of the readers. Luckily I noticed the word count at a good break count.

In part one of this look at the leaked pitch for Recess: Next Bell, a “next generation” sequel to the Saturday morning favorite Recess, which spawned a movie and at least one video game, we looked at that next generation of kids trying to make recess fun. The only red flags really came from what Disney does these days, with forced stereotype “representation” and “mary sue girlbosses” being the norm. For the most part, though, it’s only that history that made made the red flags stand out. The new kids had potential to reach a new audience as well as the old audience who followed the adventures of their forbearers, with only minor bit of the “modern audience” nonsense.

That changes this half of the pitch.

In that first part’s intro, I mentioned that ” everything wrong with modern Disney kids shows and writing in general even among acquired properties like Star Wars and Marvel is on display in this pitch” but the only hints were the mean girls getting mean boys and mean non-binaries as part of their group and mentions of #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, and the modern LGBT+ activists being influences on the stories they planned to tell. How #MeToo works into a show for kids about a bunch of fourth graders at recess I probably don’t want to know, but the other two have been on display in other Disney works. It’s the treatment of the original cast that confuses me.

In this next section we’ll see a fallen hero, because they love doing that, two comings out, and a dead body. Remember, Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere have their names on this pitch, so this is what they planned to do to characters they created, fans loved as kids, and you have to wonder if this show would have been all that well received by those parents they wanted to introduce their kids to this show.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE NEW SERIES

To introduce our new kid audience to the Recess universe, we start out with a story that seems at first like an episode from the old show…only set today. But as the story progresses, we reveal that it is much more…

THE PILOT

It’s 2023. Third Street School is still there, although there have been a few changes – but it’s grungy as ever. We meet Ruby and the new gang, and when Principal Weems confiscates a kids’ toy, they vow to get it back.
But while sneaking into Weems’ office, the gang discover he’s in cahoots with a corporation that builds prisons, scheming to turn 3rd Street school into a privatized “Learn-itentiary!” In order to stop Weems’ plan, the kids seek out the legendary TJ Detweiler for help… only to find out that TJ’s become a lazy, rich drop out.

We’ll get to Jake Detweiler in a moment. First off, I know this is a kids show about a “magic” fourth grade, and this is a franchise who had an ex-teacher trying to end summer so kids would be in school longer (not sure that’s how that works but…kid logic). However, a principal trying to get a town government run school turned into a private school? Not even a magnet school, though my cousin has kids in a magnet school and they seem to do well. No, this is a private school run by a private prison company, which sadly does exist and it’s as bad an idea as you’d think. Companies running schools was tried and failed for a reason, though this didn’t lead to the town or city trying to fix the school problem, but that’s a rant for a different kind of site.

I’m also wondering if this show needed a seasonal arc type story? I know some shows love to do that in our binge model era, but Recess never struck me as that type of show, just random adventures of the kids trying to get through school and remind the adults to let kids by kids while the teachers and principal tried to bring order and discipline to their young charges. They were antagonists, but they weren’t evil. Weems would be the closest as he tried to get his fellow students in trouble for his own ends, but this seems a bit much.

TJ doesn’t believe the gang’s story, and refuses to get involved, so the kids come up with an elaborate scheme to get TJ back to the school. There, our hero is shocked to see his old nemesis Randall is the principal. He starts to suspect maybe Ruby and the gang are onto something.

To prove they’re right, the kids sneak TJ into Weems’ office, where TJ is horrified to discover proof of the evil principal’s intentions. Managing to escape just moments before being discovered, TJ and the gang high-tail it to Ruby’s backyard. Although he now understands what’s at stake, TJ remains convinced there’s nothing he can do – after all, he’s not the wily kid he used to be. Besides, back then he had his gang to help – and he has no idea where those guys are now. Just then Ruby’s mom and dad come outside, “Ruby, what’s going on out here?” TJ gasps. “SPINELLI? VINCE?” They’re TJ’s old best friends, now grown up. When a confused Spinelli demands an explanation, our kid hero smiles and says: “Mom, Dad, you’re not going to believe it… but we’re gonna get your old gang back together…”

I’m thinking this is what Germain and Ansolabehere (is that really his last name?) really wanted to do, have their old kid character do more bits, but as adults. This conceivably would be the best way to go about it, since what would adults do to match what they did as kids. Adults are more responsible…or should be, but of course TJ is the victim of the “subverting expectations” trend. As usual, they aren’t even good subversions. TJ, the boy with all the plans, is now a total loser, and it will get worse for him in a moment. If you wanted to see yet another fallen hero, here you go. Remember when this was the exception, just one reunion plotline among many? Well, now it’s all over the place, from Luke Skywalker to Spider-Man. If you wanted to see your favorite characters go on to better things, sucks to be you. TJ may not even be the worst victim among the gang, but he is the one that underwent the biggest character destruction. Let’s go into detail about the old gang and where they are now.

T.J. – Fans of the original show may be surprised to learn that our righteous leader TJ – who was an idealistic rebel when he was 9 – has turned into a disillusioned, selfish adult, who only cares about money and self-gratification. But TJ’s journey mirrors many of our adult fans’ real lives and experiences, and TJ will regain his idealism over the course of the series.

Fans of the show, did you want to see TJ fall from grace and have to regain his idealism? Or did you want to see him putting his talents to something other than getting a kickball for his friends to play with? Too bad, you have epic fail TJ instead.

The past 20 years have been a bumpy road for TJ. He went to college, but got in trouble right away (Good Trouble of course), and dropped out after his first year. After that, he took a motorcycle trip across the country, looking for adventure and meaning. He even fell in love with Spinelli at one point – though sadly for him, the feeling wasn’t mutual. By the end of his trip, TJ felt like life had no purpose… until he and a tech buddy came up with an idea for a new kind of hand-held video machine, TJ called the “Whomp-It!” Using his natural charm, TJ managed to talk some high-tech investors into funding his idea, which to TJ’s surprise became an instant hit. TJ was an overnight millionaire, but success only made him feel more empty. To everyone’s shock, TJ disappeared. Ever since, TJ’s been hiding out in a high-tech mansion on the edge of town, reclusively living like a 9-year-old… until one day he gets an unexpected visit from some kid named Ruby.

Okay, I don’t know the show very well, but was there ever hints of TJ and Spinelli being a potential item once they eventually hit puberty? Was this even necessary? So who did Spinelli end up with, since Ruby is her daughter? Well, that’s where we start getting funky.

SPINELLI – Known as the tough and rebellious kid, Spinelli also had a talent for drawing. Which is why, after graduating high school, she got a scholarship to an art institute. But art school wasn’t a good fit. Spinelli chaffed at less talented teachers telling her what to do, and cringed at the self-promotional art gallery scene. She did, however, meet a bunch of cool lesbians who were forming a neo-punk band called NGRI GRLZ. So Spinelli quit art school and became Ngri Grlz’ lead singer, which is how she found herself on stage at Coachella one night, screaming her lungs out to a giant crowd of sweaty youth. It was there she noticed TJ in the audience, smiling proudly up at her. TJ was on his journey of self discovery, and the two of them hung out on tour for a couple weeks, until TJ got too serious. Because she was on her own journey of self-discovery, Spinelli wasn’t into guys at that point. She tried to let TJ down easy, but he didn’t take it well, riding off in anger on his Harley.

Oh, look. The tomboy’s a lesbian. Haven’t seen that in every tomboy character that’s come out in the 2020’s no pun intended!

But their reunion rekindled something in Spinelli: the desire to fight the good fight, to make the world a better place. Spinelli dropped out of the band and applied to the police academy. While there, Spinelli ran into Vince, just back from playing pro basketball in Italy. Vince wondered if maybe Spinelli was selling herself short, and she wondered if maybe he was right. Even before finishing at the academy, Spinelli applied to law school…and got in! It was while she was in law school that she and Vince really fell in love. They got pregnant. Got married. And got Ruby – the love of their lives. Now Spinelli has an even more important reason to fight to make the world a better place – a reason that wakes up every morning and wants her breakfast.

She will later be declared bisexual, but I’m convinced that’s just because they wanted to put her daughter in charge rather than have someone follow daddy’s footsteps. Ruby, however? Totally crushing on a girl because…tomboy. Amazing that my generation kept trying to convince mom that her little girl was still a little girl who just didn’t like dresses and would rather play GI Joe than Barbie, but was still happy being a little girl, and this generation is convinced that totally makes her a boy or gay. Stereotypes are for suckers, and apparently one really is born every minute. This is like the opposite of subversion.

Maybe Vince is a good dad. Again, was there evidence of Spinelli and Vince as a pairing? Did it have to be a member of the gang as the dad? I’m just reminded of the the Tai/Kari/Matt triangle from the second season of Digimon and how dumb I found that, and there Tai and Kari WERE a pairing. I guess that makes Ruby bi-racial, but of course we can never have a white parent in that. No, I’m not saying it should have been Spinelli and TJ. I’m asking why it had to be anyone in the old gang? Good on Spinelli becoming a lawyer, though. Granted, she won’t get to punch as many people, but it’s not a bad evolution of her character.

VINCE – The most charming and athletic of the group, Vince was also one of the smartest – the only person in class who got better grades was Gretchen. Still, sports remained Vince’s first love, so when his college team won their division with Vince as lead scorer, he was sure he’d get picked for the pros. Unfortunately, he just wasn’t tall enough for the NBA, so Vince went to Italy to play there for a few seasons. Playing pro ball in Italy was fun, but ultimately Vince realized it wasn’t fulfilling. So he came home and got a job coaching local teams around town. And that’s when he ran into Spinelli, who was playing a bit of basketball herself on the police academy team. As they slowly fell in love, Vince and Spinelli began to effect changes in each other. Vince helped Spinelli calm and focus herself, and gave her the confidence to find something she never thought she had in her: a passion for the law. At the same time, Spinelli convinced Vince to marry his charm, intelligence and love of sports, to become a TV sportscaster. But the biggest role Vince was to play with Spinelli was to be a parent. Getting married and starting a family has been the joy of Vince’s life, and he and his daughter Ruby have a great father-daughter relationship. In fact, it’s his daughter Ruby who first proposes the idea that Vince should aim for something even bigger: to run for mayor! (But that’s a story for another time.)

Of all the character, Vince’s “where are they now” is probably the easiest to handle. It’s not a bad path for his character, finding a way to play the sport he loved, and later to bring that love of sports to the next generation. I’ve got no note here I didn’t already have with the romance angle.

GRETCHEN – Everyone knew that brilliant-but-clumsy Gretchen Grundler would grow up to be some sort of super genius scientist, but no one guessed she’d become a gorgeous, statuesque, super-model of a super genius scientist. (Well, no one but Spinelli that is…but we’ll get to their story later.) When he tracks Gretchen down in her secret lab outside of Livermore, TJ’s eyes almost fall out of his head (think Jessica Chastain in The Martian.) “TJ!” she smiles, stepping forward to greet him, then trips over her feet, knocking over a row of test tubes. (She’s still as clumsy as ever.) It turns out Gretchen’s had a very successful career, first topping her class at Stanford, then working on the Mars probe for NASA, redesigning the ISS, and finally heading development for an Elon Musk-type character, with whom she had a big falling out when she invented a car that runs on something even better than electricity: dirt! But when it comes to saving 3rd Street School, the dirt power can wait.

There’s a cynical and positive way to look at what’s become of Gretchen. The cynical part is the other girl being the one to get everything she wants, even looks (which is amazing that attractive is being treated as a good thing while still praising her mind…I didn’t know you were allowed to have both anymore), but the other is that she actually gets to be the most successful without any fallbacks beyond a “we have to take a swipe at Elon Musk” falling out with a stand-in. I’m happy for her…if only because what happens to the last two is going to hurt. Especially if you’re a fan of Mikey.

MIKEY – Poetic, plus-sized Mikey became the big celebrity of the gang (although surprisingly, it takes the others a long time to track him down.) After high school, Mikey pursued his musical career, attending Juilliard, where he was discovered by a famous soprano, who introduced him to the Met. By the time he was 25, Mikey had become a world-renowned baritone, and blew the world away when he sang at the Taj Mahal with the Three Tenors on an album called “3 Plus 1.” While in India though, Mikey found a deeper calling – his inner spirituality. He dropped out of the celebrity rat-race, joined an ashram, and became a highly respected guru named “Yogi Mike.” After that, Mikey fell off the radar. Even TMZ-Classical Edition couldn’t find him.

Oh, this part is fine. From what little I know of Mikey this works. He was the cliched big guy with a good natured heart of gold. It’s what happens next that will get you down.

Sadly, when the guys finally do track down their old friend, they discover that Mikey caught a mysterious illness a couple of years back, and died amidst his adoring followers. But among Mikey’s possessions, the gang are surprised to find a box with their names on it. Inside is a book of Mikey’s sayings – apparently, Mikey always knew his friends would get back together and come searching for him. Later, whenever they need inspiration, the gang will find it in his surprisingly visionary book.

Yep, they killed Mikey…wait, if he died around his followers, how did nobody know he died? Anyway, if you wanted to see the full gang back together, tough luck. It’s like how the Star Wars sequels made sure the old cast never got to act together one last time, a situation now lost thanks to characters dying in the movie and actors dying in the real world. Could it work narratively? Maybe, but it would be nice to see everyone back together one last time.

GUS – Small but brave, Gus Griswold’s life journey is the most surprising of all – although it didn’t start out that way. After college, Gus followed in his father’s footsteps, joining the army, and quickly moved up the ranks, promoted for his brains, loyalty, and courage. By the time Gus was 25, he had become the youngest Lieutenant Colonel in the modern army. But he knew something wasn’t right, that he wasn’t being true to his inner self. So Gus made a change. A big change. A change that blew the lid off the military. After transitioning, the person once known as Gus had become her true self: Lieutenant-Colonel Nikki Griswold. At first there was a movement to drum Nikki out of the army, but when Time and Newsweek both put her on their covers, Lieutenant Colonel Nikki Griswold became the face of the new army. But the challenges weren’t over yet. First Nikki had to face her own truth, then the army had to come around, but now Nikki has to face her family and friends – and that might prove to be the biggest battle this soldier has yet to fight.

Okay, fans…does this make sense at all to Gus’ character? This just screams “we wanted to trans a character and chose the one who had the least impact”, at least based on what I’ve seen of Gus. Outside of being the new kid, what little I recall seeing has no impact from this kid, so they transed him just to trans somebody. Is this what Gus fans wanted, or some activist group who probably didn’t care about the show or the characters and just wants that checkbox ticked with the biggest name they can get away with?

AND we will be running into a lot of OTHER ORIGINAL CHARACTERS TOO! We’ll find out what happened to the grown up Ashleys, King Bob…even Miss Finster. But ultimately, this show isn’t just for adults fans – it’s main audience is KIDS! So…how do we tells stories that appeals to both? Well, we have an idea…

A NEW KIND OF KID’S SHOW

A lot has changed since the original Recess was made back in the 90’s. Back then, both kids and adult shows wrapped up neatly at the end of every episode. But thanks to streaming, adult audiences like to binge serialized stories, with long plots that play out over a season – or even the entire series.

And kids are binging too, watching serialized shows like Stranger Things. But we know (both from personal experience, and from what we heard in research testing) that while they enjoy evolving, season-long plots, kids simultaneously yearn for simpler stories in which every individual episode has a clear theme and an explicit beginning, middle, and end.

So we want to do something new: a hybrid series, with the best of both worlds: simple stories that begin and end in each episode – AND simultaneously more complicated, overarching serialized plots that plays out through a season, or even the entire series.

Not so new, really. Kids shows were doing that in the 1990s thanks to Marvel Animation. Spider-Man, X-Men, the Incredible Hulk, and the second season of Iron Man and the Fantastic Four’s cartoons all this did. Avatar: The Last Airbender did this. Stop trying to be the first at something and just tell the story. Surrendering to the binge model is also one of the downsides of modern media. Watch the season in one shot, and it exists the mind faster, making less of an impact. Critics, or at least the supposedly non-professional critics are starting to catch on to this. So I hope they weren’t planning to drop a whole season at once. Disney only does that when they realize just how big a stinker they have on their hands and are hoping to recoup their overinflated budgets as fast as possible.

Every episode of Recess: Next Bell will have an “A” Story and a “B” story. The “A” Story will be about what’s going on with the kids at school: new kids, crazy daredevil stunts to get attention, contending with mean teachers, sneaking pets into school – along with newer issues like Cyber bullying and Tik Tok obsessions. And sometimes these stories will bring in the adults as well. But these “A” Stories will wrap up at the end of every episode, as they did in the original series.

For example, one story we want to tell is about how Ruby finds herself getting a crush…on a girl! So she talks to her mom about it, and Spinelli reveals that she’s been in love with women herself. So we find out that Spinelli is bi, and we learn that same-sex attraction is perfectly natural.

The “not so secret gay agenda”. When we have footage of you actually stating it, we don’t believe this is for any other reason. And again…tomboys into girls because tomboys can’t be straight girls who just prefer boy activities to girl ones. I feel for every straight tomboy not watching anime because the gay tomboy trope isn’t an exception, isn’t a rule, it’s all you get. Just waiting for them to all be trans and even they don’t know it, so grandma can be proven right about her little tomboy growing up.

In another story, the gang realize that Gigabyte (who’s in a wheelchair) has never been to the top of Old Rusty, and they think it’s no fair. So they challenge the authorities, stage a protest; and, when none of that works, get the whole playground involved to build a giant ramp to the top – Parnelli’s the ramp expert, Everett engineers it. When they finally reveal it to Gigabyte she’s so touched she almost cries…but then reveals that she’s come up with her own way to get up there – a rocket pack on her wheelchair which flies her to the top!

Well that’s pointless. Also, the tech whiz is named Gigabyte, and I used to have no problem with a character in a wheelchair until Davies made that political as well.

At the same time, there will be an ongoing serialized “B” Story that will advance the overall arc of the series. TJ, Vince and Spinelli will find the rest of the old gang, and working with the new kids, will fight to stop Principal Weems from destroying 3rd Street School. At the beginning of the season Spinelli, Vince, and TJ fight “the man” through official channels, using the school board, the mayor, etc – but Randall is too sneaky for them. At times, they want to give up, but Ruby and the new gang never let their parents off the hook – just because they’re adults now doesn’t mean they can forget their idealistic roots. By the end of the first season, TJ and the old gang will defeat Randall, and get him removed as principal. But this presents a new problem: with Randall gone, who will now run Third Street school? Reluctantly, TJ and the gang realize it’s up to them. Now they must become “the man.”

Okay, that’s an interesting twist. Which one of them becomes principal? Who has to learn that there are responsibilities and yet still wants to let kids be kids? They’ll probably be nicer than the previous antagonists, but could they end up on the bad side of the kids when they’re forced to enforce some rules? That would have potential if I cared.

By making our reboot a hybrid show, we believe it will not only speak to all three audiences, but will expand the Recess universe in an exciting new way. Episodes will still focus on kids struggling to navigate the complex world of elementary school, but in the background there’ll be another struggle going on too – one with even higher stakes, involving not only our new gang, but also the adults who care about them. In this way, our old gang and our new kids become the community that they want and need to be to meet the challenges of their world…bringing the two generations together to fight the good fight and stand up for the little guy in a NEW RECESS, Recess: Next Bell … still about getting “a little help from your friends,” but the twist is: some of those friends are actually your parents!

This is where I have to turn to the fanbase of Recess. Would this have been a take on the old character you’d like? Would the new kids work out for you? Or is this more stereotype and quota errors called “representation” by people who don’t know what an individual is and is obsessed with groups? Is this more subversion just to be subversion, which is almost always negative (it certainly is for TJ and Mikey, possibly for Gus as well depending on your interpretation), or do you think these are good changes? Would you watch this show and introduce your kids to it, or just have them watch the old show? As for me, I’m kind of surprised Disney didn’t pick up this version because making characters queer (especially the tomboy) out of nowhere, fallen heroes and other negative subversion of expectations (and desires of the audience), and other group stereotype “representation” stuff is what they love to do at modern Disney. I didn’t get into the original and nothing here convinces me I would have liked the sequel.