Last week while in L.A. I had the opportunity to visit Disney Channel and sit down with Chrisand Shane Houghton, the creators of the new series Big City Greens airing June 18th, 9:30 a.m. EDT/PDT), on Disney Channel, DisneyNOW and Disney Channel VOD. The new series is so promising that a second season has already been ordered ahead of the series premiere.
TILLY GREEN, CRICKET GREEN, BILL GREEN, GRAMMA GREEN
Big City Greens follows Cricket Green, a mischievous and optimistic country boy who just moved to the big city. His curiosity and enthusiasm will lead him and his wildly out of place family on epic journeys, perilous escapes, and into the hearts of his new neighbors.
Brothers Chris and Shane Houghton are influenced by their childhood growing up in the small rural town of St. Johns, Michigan, with many of the locations and characters inspired by their real-life family members and townsfolk. We spoke with them about just how Big City Greens came about.
The brothers enjoyed a very nice childhood with lots of animals and a close family but as all children do, they grew up and both went off to college in big cities. They are both best known for creating, writing and illustrating their very own comic book series “Reed Gunther,” and after moving to Los Angeles, they went on to write and illustrate comics for “The Simpsons,” “Adventure Time,” “Peanuts,” among others.
Chris and Shane are brothers above and foremost, but sometimes working with family can be challenging. We asked them what was the most challenging thing about working together? Shane was quick to bring the comedy of saying that “sometimes we accidentally wear the same shirt.” Chris, laughing at that comment, said, “We’ve been working professionally together for about ten years, this show is definitely the biggest thing we’ve done together. Shane added that the biggest benefit they have is that they are family, “we know exactly what each other likes, what they want, what they are going for, what they mean, etc.”
(Disney Channel) TILLY GREEN, CRICKET GREEN
You can definitely tell this is true with the result of Big City Greens. They worked together and took their life experiences and created a super smart and funny show based on people they knew and sending out a message with each episode. .
We want this show to be 2 parts funny and 1 part heart.
Here’s a breakdown of the real-life based characters:
Cricket is a skimpy, rebellious little boy who is very curious and gets into lots of misadventures. He is always looking to discover new things in the city and usually gets himself into trouble.
Tilly is Cricket’s older sister who is a bit odd but very sweet and marches to the beat of her own drum. She is also very opinionated and confidentially quiet.
Remy is Cricket’s best friend. Remy is wealthy and the complete opposite of Cricket.
Seeing Big City Greens completed was everything the brothers thought it would be and more. They were a bit overwhelmed when they saw it completed. “It really feels like a huge accomplishment,” said Chris. That it is.
TILLY GREEN, CRICKET GREEN, BILL GREEN, GRAMMA GREEN (Disney Channel)
Big City Greens is heading your way this Monday, June 18th and is this first season is packed with guest stars. Because the show is story-boarded and the story fleshed out before the guest stars are cast, they look at the established characters and then choose who they think would best fit. This season will see Jon Hamm as a crazy manager, Busta Rhymes as a fish and Raven-Symoné as a reporter. Danny Trejo, Lorraine Toussaint, Jim Rash and Paul F. Tompkins will also be guest-starring this season so tune in!
Here’s a special treat for you, two full episodes are now showing on youtube and you can see it here!
Photo credit: Amy Fulcher / asthebunnyhops.com
While visiting the Disney Channel I snapped a few photos of the grounds and the infamous cartoon wall inside the office.
Disclosure: I am being provided with an all-expense trip to LA by Walt Disney Studios to attend these events. All opinions are 100% my own.
Dianna Ranere