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Big City Greens

American animated sitcom From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Big City Greens
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Big City Greens is an American animated sitcom created by the Houghton Brothers that premiered on Disney Channel on June 18, 2018. The series follows the Green family—siblings Cricket and Tilly, their father Bill, and their Gramma Alice—as they navigate life in the bustling, fictional Big City after moving from their countryside home. Among the supporting characters include Cricket's best friend Remy, the children's mother and Bill's ex-wife Nancy, and their family friend Gloria.

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The series features the voices of co-creator Chris Houghton, Marieve Herington, Bob Joles, Artemis Pebdani, Zeno Robinson, and Wendi McLendon-Covey. In March 2016, Disney XD picked it up for production under the title of Country Club; it had later been renamed to Big City Greens by July 2017. The series is produced by Disney Television Animation, with executive producers including creators Chris and Shane Houghton, alongside Rob Renzetti, Stephen Sandoval, and Anna O'Brian.

The series has received positive reviews from critics for its comedy, characters, and central family dynamic. As of September 2023, four seasons have aired and a fifth season was ordered in June 2024. A film, Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation, also premiered in June 2024. A spin-off series is in development.

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Premise

After losing his farm in the country town of Smalton, Bill Green and his two children Cricket and Tilly move in with his mother Alice Green (Gramma), who lives on a small farm in the middle of a city known as "Big City".

By the second half of season three, Bill moves his family back to Smalton after regaining his farm. Cricket's friend Remy comes along for the ride. At the end of season three, Cricket, Tilly, and Bill balance between going back and forth from Big City to Smalton while Nancy, Bill's ex-wife and the mother of Cricket and Tilly, manages the farm in Smalton.

By the start of season four, the Greens move back to Big City, unaware that Chip Whistler is still alive, along with old assistant Wholesome Greg, plotting his next move on the Greens.

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Episodes

Main article: List of Big City Greens episodes
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Characters

Main

  • Cricket Ernest[3] Green (voiced by Chris Houghton) is a 10-year-old (later 11 year old) troublemaking and mischievous country boy who is always barefoot. His middle name comes from his late paternal grandfather.[3] He is fascinated by every discovery he makes in Big City. He got a job at Big Coffee in "Critterball Crisis" until it closed in "Chipwrecked". Later, he worked as a delivery boy at the Gloria + Green Café in the early episodes of Season 3, until his family moved back to Smalton in "The Move".
  • Tilly Green (voiced by Marieve Herington) is Cricket's older sister, with an eccentric and imaginative nature. She is frequently accompanied by Saxon, a homemade doll Tilly created out of an old sack. Although she is very cheerful and incredibly kind, she has moments of selfishness, like her younger brother; this was shown in the episode "Mama Bird" when she was angry and jealous because the birds didn't show any affection towards her and instead favored Cricket. She is secretly a popstar named Moshi Grace (voiced by Carly Rae Jepsen) underneath a magical sentient hair clip named Tiny as revealed in the episode "Freebie Frenzy".
  • Bill Green (voiced by Bob Joles as an adult, Andre Robinson as a child) is Cricket and Tilly's father and Gramma Alice's son. A skilled farmer, Bill is overprotective and cautious, having lost part of a finger because of a hay baler accident. It is later revealed that his full name is Billiam Robert Green.
  • Alice Delores[4] Green, often referred to as Gramma Alice (voiced by Artemis Pebdani), is Bill's mother and Cricket and Tilly's paternal grandmother, who owns the Green family farm in Big City. She frequently exhibits cantankerous and combative behavior to hide her love and affection for her family.
  • Remy Remington[5] (voiced by Zeno Robinson) is Cricket's best friend, whom he meets shortly after moving to Big City. He comes from a rich family – being optimistic and fun-loving, but he also struggles with his self-confidence. He later tags along with the Greens in their move back to Smalton.
  • Nancy Green (née Mulligan;[6] voiced by Wendi McLendon-Covey as an adult, Candace Kozak as a child) is Cricket and Tilly's mother and Bill's ex-wife. A former biker with a rebellious streak, she was briefly incarcerated for trying to free cows from a factory before being released after the family moved to Big City. While they are divorced, she and Bill remain good friends and she is a frequent presence in the children's lives; she even moves with the family when they buy their farm in Smalton back.

Recurring

  • Gloria (voiced by Anna Akana) is the former barista at Big Coffee, who becomes friends and co-workers with Cricket. She dreams of one day saving up enough money to leave Big City and move to Paris. After "Chipocalypse Now", Gloria, who lost her Big Coffee job, gets evicted from her apartment and moves in with the Greens. In the Season 2 finale, "Gloria's Cafe" she and the Greens open the Gloria + Green Café. Her last name is Sato.[7]
  • Phoenix (vocal effects provided by Dee Bradley Baker, speaking voice provided by Jameela Jamil in "Animal Farm" and "Homeward Hound") is the Green family's pet dog. Her speaking voice is shown in the episodes featuring the farm animals.
  • Moonflower (voiced by Kate Higgins) is Tilly's pet beaver and local companion. She loves to dress up, paint and help Tilly with lots of things. She first meets Tilly in the episode "Dog Proof".
  • Officer Keys (voiced by Andy Daly as an adult, Jason Maybaum as a child) is a muscular Big City police officer with an overly cheery and oblivious personality. He can get serious at times when policing people.
  • Kiki (voiced by Monica Ray in 2018-2022, Stephanie Sheh in 2024-Present), Westley "Weezie" Eastman[8] (voiced by Lamar Woods), and Benny (voiced by Luke Lowe) are a trio of children that frequently play with Cricket, Tilly, and Remy. Her last name is Kitashima.[8]
  • Brett (voiced by Colton Dunn) is the Greens' easygoing next-door neighbor who works at an animal shelter. His last name is Eze.[8]
  • Chip Whistler (voiced by Paul Scheer) is the main antagonist of the series, the Green family's rival, and manager of the Wholesome Foods supermarket, a parody of Whole Foods Market. A running gag is that his attempts to defeat the Greens get his front tooth chipped (except for "Friend Con" in which all his other teeth fell out instead, and "Evil Family" where it does not happen), though his front tooth would somehow be repaired by his next appearance. While having been launched out of Big City in his helicopter in season two with Mayor Hansock banishing him, he was thought to be dead until season four where he was revealed to have used the alias of "Norm Alguy". After that brief tenure, he began his plans to have his revenge on the Greens and Big City.
  • Wholesome Greg (voiced by Shane Houghton) is a worker at Wholesome Foods who is nicknamed "Wholesome Greg" by Chip Whistler. In season four, Greg was reunited with an incognito Chip Whistler as he realigns with him in Chip's plot to get revenge on the Greens and Big City.
  • Vasquez (voiced by Danny Trejo) is Remy's loyal bodyguard who watches over him when Remy's parents are away. He used to be known as Tiger Fang when he was originally a member of the Order of the Fang.
  • Rashida Remington (voiced by Lorraine Toussaint) is Remy's well-to-do mother who works as a lawyer.
  • Russell Remington (voiced by Colton Dunn) is Remy's father and Rashida's husband. He is a lawyer and former football player for the Big City Bengals.
  • Ms. Cho (voiced by Anna Akana) is the former owner of Big Coffee and Gloria and Cricket's boss. She only communicates via grunting (though other characters seem to understand what she's saying) until "Chipwrecked" where Chip Whistler bribes Ms. Cho into retirement which results in Big Coffee closing Upon leaving, she shouts "Peace out, my dudes!" Ms. Cho has not been seen since. Her first name is Miriam.[9]
  • Andromeda (voiced by Nicole Byer) is Tilly's best friend. She is a conspiracy theorist with a strong belief in aliens, supernatural phenomena, and government cover-ups.
  • Alucard Grigorian (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) is an old Armenian man who is the neighbor of Brett and the Greens and has personal issues with Gramma. His first name was revealed in "Chipocalypse Now".[8]
  • Gabriella Espinosa (voiced by Jenna Ortega in 2019-2023, Nikki Castillo in 2024-Present) is Cricket's friend and female counterpart. She's as troublemaking and rambunctious as Cricket is as well as sharing his interests. Prior to "Split Decision", she and Cricket were dating before Gabriella broke up with him to pursue new interests; however, she still remains on good terms with Cricket.
  • Gregly (voiced by Tim Robinson) is Cricket's grumpy friend who has a habit of screaming everything he says.
  • Maria Media (voiced by Raven-Symoné) is a local news reporter in Big City.
  • Sue, often referred to as Community Sue (voiced by Betsy Sodaro as an adult, Monica Ray as a child), is the director of the Big City Community Center. She constantly shouts during conversations and regularly encourages others to adopt more health-conscious behaviors. Her last name is Lanemoto.[8]
  • Gwendolyn Zapp (voiced by Cheri Oteri) is the CEO of the BigTech technology company. She is an eccentric and slightly mad inventor, creating high-tech products that tend to go haywire.
  • Mayor Hansock (voiced by Andy Richter) is the bumbling, dramatic, eccentric, and man-childish Mayor of Big City.
  • Viper Fang (voiced by Joe Manganiello) is a viper-themed member of the Order of the Fang and an old enemy of Vasquez.
  • Good Ol' Joe (voiced by Darin De Paul) is Bill's best friend in Smalton who shares his interests.
  • Patti (voiced by Brooke Dillman) is the owner of Patti's Diner in Smalton.
  • Wayne (voiced by Tony Cavalero) is a waiter at Patti's Diner in Smalton.
  • Hector (voiced by Harvey Guillén) is Cricket's old friend from the Smalton Scrapyard.
  • Lupita (voiced by Rylee Alazraqui) is Hector's little boisterous sister.
  • Sunday (voiced by Ali Stroker) is Hector's peace-loving girlfriend.
  • Tracy Hicks (voiced by Kimberly Brooks) is a resident of Smallton.
  • Trey Hicks (voiced by Armen Taylor) is a resident of Smallton and the husband of Tracy.
  • Nick (voiced by Billy West) is Nancy's estranged ne'er-do-well father and Cricket and Tilly's maternal grandfather. He previously appeared in flashbacks in the episodes "Greens' Acres" and "Rat Tail" before appearing in Season 4 to meet and spend time with his grandchildren and the rest of the family. His last name is revealed to be Mulligan.[6]
  • Jade (voiced by Liza Koshy) is a girl who becomes the shift manager at Gloria + Green Café.

Notable guest stars

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Production

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On March 8, 2016, Disney XD greenlit the series under the title of Country Club.[10] The series is created by the brothers Chris and Shane Houghton, who originally worked on Nickelodeon's Harvey Beaks. Chris Houghton also worked as a storyboard artist on Gravity Falls with Rob Renzetti.[11] The series was later renamed to Big City Greens on July 21, 2017.[11] The show's animation is done entirely in traditional pen and paper as opposed to digital ink.[12] The theme song was written and performed by The Mowgli's, and on July 28, 2017, a sneak peek of it was revealed at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con and was uploaded to Disney XD's YouTube channel on the same day.[13] On June 7, 2018, it was reported that Disney Channel had ordered a second season of Big City Greens ahead of the series' debut.[14] On October 7, 2019, it was announced that the second season would premiere on November 4, 2019, however, it got pushed back to November 16, 2019.[15] On January 13, 2021, the series was renewed for a third season.[16] On January 21, 2022, the series was renewed for a fourth season, which premiered on September 23, 2023.[17][18] On June 11, 2024, the series was renewed for a fifth season.[19]

During production for the first season, an episode titled "Hands-On History" was in development, with the production number 110. The episode was directed by Monica Ray, from a story by Carson Montgomery, also being written and storyboarded by Caldwell Tanner and Cheyenne Curtis. It featured Mark Hamill in the role of Dr. Ponderstein, a sinister curator who ran a museum.[20] The plot focused on Cricket and Remy at odds with one another, over Ponderstein's method of educating children. The episode was shelved when the Houghton Brothers found Remy's behavior in the episode unlikeable - they could not find a way to make the story work so early in the show's run.[21][22] On cancelling the episode, co-creator Chris Houghton stated, "[W]e killed that episode for the best of reasons: it just didn’t work. We broke and re-broke the story a ton of times. Reboarded it again and again. Sometimes the best course of action is to take your creation out behind the shed, ya know?"[23][24]

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Release

When announced, the series was scheduled to premiere in 2018 on Disney XD;[10] however, on March 26, 2018, it was reported that the series would debut on Disney Channel in mid-2018.[25] On May 17, 2018, The Hollywood Reporter reported that the series would premiere on Disney Channel as part of Disney Channel's GO! Summer on June 18, 2018.[26][27] The series premiere was made available for streaming via the DisneyNow app and the Disney Channel YouTube channel as of June 8, 2018.[28] Additional new episodes premiered every Monday and Wednesday at 10:00 AM throughout the summer. In addition, Big City Greens shorts began airing on Disney Channel and Disney Channel's YouTube channel on June 4, 2018.[26]

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Reception

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Critical response

Bekah Burbank of LaughingPlace.com praised the characters of the series, writing, "While the mischief and antics are super silly and completely ridiculous, the characters themselves are quite fun. Just like it is with every family, the quirkiness is what you come to love most about the people you spend time with. The Green family might not be perfect, but they’re positive, supportive, and optimistic no matter the situation. Everyone could benefit from spending a little time with this wacky family."[29] Dave Trumbore of Collider asserted, "The animated series does a solid job of delivering fish-out-of-water laughs alongside some good, old-fashioned heart, making for a refreshing story that has one foot in the country and one in the city."[30]

Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave Big City Greens a grade of four out of five stars and complimented the presence of positive messages and role models, writing, "Big City Greens is a quirky but heartwarming animated series about a family that moves from the country to the city and doesn't quite fit in. Despite mining familiar stereotypes of rural dwellers the show has strong family-centric themes and silly, lighthearted laughs."[31] Jaclyn Appelgate of Comic Book Resources ranked Big City Greens 5th in their "Best Currently Airing Kids' Cartoons" list, saying, "Both children and parents alike are entertained by the hilarious comedy and the lighthearted emphasis on family. Although the plot is simple in nature, being about a country family who goes to live in the big city, it's one of those shows viewers can rely on after a long day. Many fans even consider it a PG version of The Simpsons, which would explain why adults enjoy watching it as well."[32]

Ratings

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Accolades

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Film

Main article: Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation

Along with a fourth season, a musical film was announced to be in development, with the series' main cast returning along with Cheri Oteri and Renée Elise Goldsberry.[17] Series director Anna O'Brian will helm the film, with Michael Coughling producing.[46][17] The film is titled Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation. It premiered on June 6, 2024, on Disney Channel, followed by its release on Disney+ the next day.[47][48][49] The events of the film take place during the fourth season of Big City Greens.

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Spin-off

Meredith Roberts, EVP of Disney Television Animation, revealed that a spin-off series was being developed, though she did not specify what it would entail.[50]

In other media

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Video game

A multiplayer game titled Big City Battle!, where players compete against each other in order to earn a place as a member of the Green family, was released on the DisneyNOW app.[26]

NHL broadcasts

On March 14, 2023, ESPN presented a youth-oriented, Big City Greens-themed telecast of a National Hockey League game between the Washington Capitals and the New York Rangers—the NHL Big City Greens Classic —on Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney+ and ESPN+.[51][52][53] The broadcast leveraged the NHL Edge player and puck tracking system, combined with technology from Beyond Sports, to present a real-time 3D animated recreation of the game; the teams' players were represented by avatars on an outdoor rink, with Vincent Trocheck and Evgeny Kuznetsov being portrayed by avatars of Cricket and Tilly respectively (with their voice actors also using live facial motion capture), and the goalies portrayed by Gramma Alice and Bill Green. Gloria and Remy also joined the game during the last few minutes. Commentators Kevin Weekes and Drew Carter were featured via motion captured avatars, developed by the animation studio Silver Spoon (which had previously worked with CBS Sports and Nickelodeon on similar motion captured avatars for segments of youth-oriented NFL broadcasts).[54] The broadcast on Disney Channel drew approximately 140,000 viewers, while the Disney XD simulcast had roughly 30,000, for a total of 176,000 viewers.[55][56] In November 2023, it was reported that the simulcast would return in 2024, later specified as a March 9 game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Boston Bruins.[57][58] The Disney Channel broadcast drew 125,000 viewers.[59]

References

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External links

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