That's So Raven

That's So Raven
File:TSR-Logo.png That's So Raven logo with Raven-Symoné as Raven Baxter.
Created by	Michael Poryes Susan Sherman
Starring	Raven-Symoné Orlando Brown Kyle Massey Anneliese van der Pol Rondell Sheridan T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh (seasons 1-3)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	100 + 3 specials (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Michael Poryes Susan Sherman (season 1) Sean McNamara David Brookwell (seasons 1-3) Marc Warren Dennis Rinsler (season 2+)
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	23 minutes (excluding commercials)
Original release
Network	Disney Channel
Release	January 17, 2002 – March 2, 2007

That's So Raven is an Emmy Award nominated American sitcom television show broadcast on the Disney Channel. The plot revolves around teenager Raven Baxter and her schemes to get herself, her friends, Eddie and Chelsea, and family members such as her brother Cory, out of various situations, usually by using her psychic powers and her skills as a master of disguise.

Produced by Brookwell McNamara Entertainment for the first three seasons, the show became a production of Warren & Rinsler Productions in association with That's So Productions for its fourth and final season.

Episodes

Main article: List of That's So Raven episodes

When Disney Channel produces a show, they usually only produce 65 episodes before it is pulled. However, That's So Raven has had a very high popularity, and so Disney Channel extended its contract to 100 episodes. As of March 2, 2007, 99 episodes have aired.

"Where There's Smoke" is the 100th and final episode of That's So Raven.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of characters from That's So Raven

• Raven-Symoné as Raven Baxter
• Orlando Brown as Eddie Thomas
• Anneliese van der Pol as Chelsea Daniels
• Kyle Massey as Cory Baxter
• Rondell Sheridan as Victor Baxter
• T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh as Tanya Baxter (Seasons 1-3)

The Chill Grill

The Chill Grill is a restaurant owned by Victor Baxter. It was introduced during the second season of That's So Raven. In the episode "If I Only Had a Job", Raven has a vision of her dad opening his own restaurant called "Baxter's Place." In the beginning of the second season it finally opened as "The Chill Grill." The introduction of "The Chill Grill" was during the episode "Out Of Control". The restaurant is also a popular hangout for the kids that go to daughter Raven Baxter's school. It was revealed in the episode The Four Aces that the Chill Grill was formerly a swinging thirties restaurant by day, and nightclub in the evening called The Four Aces. The Chill Grill almost went out of business when in the episode The Grill Next Door, the restaurant faced stiff competition from a knock-off restaurant called "The Hill Grill," which was owned by Victor's college cooking rival Leonard Stevenson.

Running Gags

• Raven would often refer to little children as "little nasties" when they misbehaved.
• Raven used "oh snap" periodically.
• Throughout the seasons, Raven would say "I'm ok" whenever she fell hard to the ground. On the rare occasion, she would say "I am not ok".
• The recurring character, Stanley, would often request cheese sandwiches if he ever won a game or competition or if someone wanted him to do something.
• Cory's obsession with money was a running gag throughout the series.

Spoofs and Pop culture references

• That's So Raven has become a target for shows such as MADtv:
  • The parody of Snoop Dogg & Pharell's music video "Drop It Like It's Hot," entitled "Smokin' Too Much Pot," shows the That's So Raven logo on the screen and the lyrics include "and you're laughing at So Raven, from smokin' lots of pot, smokin' lots of pot, smokin' lots of pot..."
  • In another spoof, a white family has dinner at a restaurant, during which the pedophelic uncle says to the daughter, "Hey, want to go back to my place and watch a little That's So Raven on TV?"
  • In another spoof, a limo driver refuses to give his limo to two men visiting Hollywood, because he says "It's for a guest appearing on That's So Raven."
• The show was spoofed in a promotional TV commercial for the 76th Academy Awards during Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Alias in 2004. The commercial features Raven dressing up in luxurious and elegant clothing similar to the way actresses do when attending the ceremony and ends with Raven entering her living room watching the ceremony while eating popcorn.
• On the show Dog Bites Man on Comedy Central, a character is watching That's So Raven on the television. Another character walks in and asks, "Are you watching That's So Raven"? And he replies, "Yeah, it's the one with the picnic." They laugh and say, "That is so Raven!"
• Neil Gaiman's run on the The Eternals comic book features a TV show (on "the Tweenie Channel") called It's Just So Sprite!
• Penny Arcade invented a show called That's So Locust. [1]
• On Comedy Central's animated show Drawn Together in the episode "Wooldoor Sockbat's Giggle-Wiggle Funny Tickle Non-Traditional Progressive Multicultural Roundtable!", during a parody of The Terminator, when all the heterosexual people are underground, some kids change the channel on the TV to That's So Raven.
• On The Emperor's New School, Kuzco said he needs a new title like, "That's So Ruzco" like "That's So Raven".
• In one episode of American Dad, it cuts to Stan as he's watching TV and he bursts into laughter saying sarcastically "That IS so Raven".
• At the end of the electric eel commercial for Hubba Bubba, it say's "That's So Hubba Bubba!
• The comedian Nick Kroll has developed a character named Fabrice Fabrice, the craft services coordinator for That's So Raven. However, it appears Fabrice Fabrice might now be working exclusively for the MTV series, Human Giant. [2]
• In British satire show, Deadringers, a TV anouncer declares the next progamme to be "Thats So Raven, a show in which a Raven behaves typically".

Merchandise

The That's So Raven franchise has been modeled after fellow Disney Channel hit Lizzie McGuire. Raven has a clothing line, DVD releases, novels, bedroom sets, a perfume, a GirlTalk board game [3], three video games [4] [5] and two soundtracks, That's So Raven: Songs from and inspired by the hit TV show and That's So Raven Too!.

In February 2005, That's So Raven toys were featured in the McDonald's Happy meal. In April 2005, a doll based on Raven Baxter was released [6] and another was released the following year.

In September 2005, the show also spawned a fragrance and an MP3 player. That same month, the clothing line was shipped to Macy's stores. As of 2006, the That's So Raven merchandise has made $400 million [7]. The show released its fourth DVD in July 2006, entitled Raven's Makeover Madness. Sales are expected to approach nearly half a billion dollars by January 2007.

CDs

• That's So Raven (soundtrack)
• That's So Raven Too!

DVDs

• Supernaturally Stylish

Episodes:

• • "If I Only Had a Job"
  • "He's Got the Power"
  • "That's So Not Raven"
  • "Boyz ‘N Commotion"

Special Features:

• • "Supernatural" Music Video - Performed by Raven
  • "That's So Raven" Music Video - Performed by Raven, Orlando Brown, and Anneliese van der pol.

• Disguise the Limit

Episodes:

• • "Art Breaker"
  • "Country Cousins" Part 1 & 2
  • "The Grill Next Door"

Special Features:

• • "Master of Disguises" - Raven and the Show's Makeup Artists reveal how many faces of Raven are created.
• Selected Scenes Visual Commentary - Take a walk with Raven as she shares some of her favorite "Raven" moments.

• Raven's House Party

Episodes:

• • "Opportunity Shocks"
  • "Too Much Pressure"
  • "Double Vision"
  • "Four Aces"

Special Features:

• • "Vision Impossible"
  • That's So Raven Radio Trivia Game
  • Bloopers and outtakes (with an introduction by Raven)

• Raven's Makeover Madness

Episodes:

• • "Pin Pals"
  • "Dues and Don'ts"
  • "Adventures in Boss-Sitting"
  • "Hook Up My Space"

Special Features:

• • "When 6021 Met 4267"
  • So You Think You Know Raven?
  • The Cheetah Girls 2 Sneak Peak

• Disney Channel Holiday

Episodes:

• • "Escape Claus"

• That's So Suite Life of Hannah Montana

Episodes:

• • "Checkin' Out"

Video games

The That's So Raven video game series includes three games:

• That's So Raven
• That's So Raven 2
• That's So Raven 3 (published by Buena Vista Games)

Books

1. "What You See Is What You Get"
2. "Rescue Me"
3. "In Raven We Trust"
4. "Step Up"
5. "Family Affair"
6. "2 Good 2 B True"
7. "Tell It Like It Is"
8. "Dueling Divas"
9. "Showtime"
10. "Psyched"
11. "Boyfriend Blues"
12. "Be Mine"
13. "The Real Deal"
14. "Over The Top"
15. "Rebel Raven"
16. "Superstar"
17. "House Party"
18. "Queen Of Hearts"
19. "Raven Rocks"

Theme song and opening sequence

The show's title theme song was written by John Coda, who also composes the music cues to signify scene changes and commercial breaks for this series and Even Stevens, was co-produced by Def Jef and Christopher B. Pearman (Raven-Symoné's real-life father) and was performed by Raven-Symoné, Anneliese van der Pol and Orlando Brown.

Raven performs most of the theme while Brown performs a rap near the end of the theme and some scattered vocals in the beginning of the theme and Van der Pol only sings the show's title in the chorus.

A full-length version of this theme was heard in a music video which aired a few months before the show's U.S. premiere and also can be heard on the show's first soundtrack, released in 2004.

Like all Disney Channel shows, the show's opening credit sequence was modified but not replaced with a new sequence as the series went on. The show's opening credit sequence begins with the show's title with each segment of the title on a different card, before switching to full screen episode clips from the show, which before certain clips included the CGI effect regularly seen when Raven Baxter has a vision. The sequence was modified three times: first, during the first and second seasons featuring newer episode clips, effectively, Raven's starring credit was moved back a few seconds. The second time was in season four which gave new clips again. The third time featured newer clips and replaced the cast-on-the-living room couch portion of the credits with a shot of the cast standing on the living room stairs and did not show T'Keyah Crystal Keymah. The names of the creators and executive producers alternated each episode. In addition, the fourth season's theme offered a brief audio clip of Raven exclaiming, "Oh, snap!" before concluding with "Yep, that's me". The change for the second season does not air on Disney Channel anymore it only airs on ABC on Saturday mornings. The sequence was modified each season.

In Disney Channel Asia, an Asian version of the show's theme song was made just like High School Musical's "Breaking Free" in which Disney Channel Asia also made its Asian version. The music video debuted on January 1, 2007 back-to-back with The 100th episode of That's So Raven.

Spin-offs

Cory in the House

Main article: Cory in the House

Cory in the House is the first spinoff of That's So Raven. The show premiered on January 12, 2007.

The storyline involves Cory and his father Victor adjusting to life in Washington D.C.; Victor has received a job as the personal chef to the President. The show is also rumored to take place while Tanya is still at law school in England, with Raven attending college with Eddie and Chelsea.

The series is similar to its sister show, That's So Raven. Cory has two best friends, one a boy, Newt Livingston IV(Jason Dolley), and one a girl, Meena Paroom (Maiara Walsh). Cory is, of course, attending a middle school in Washington DC. Also, in the series, the president's daughter, Sophie, constantly pesters Cory, as did Stanley to Raven in That's So Raven. Cory also participates in crazy situations in which he learns a moral lesson and will most likely get punished.

Better Days (scrapped)

The Season 3 episode "Goin' Hollywood" also served as a backdoor pilot episode for the intended spinoff series Better Days. The show would've revolved around Ally Parker (played by Alyson Stoner), a child actress attending public school for the first time. The series was later scrapped, but the idea was used in a minor plot of Hannah Montana's first season dealing with teenage star Jake Ryan (Cody Linley).

However some of the storyboards originally written for this series have been or are being used in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Alyson Stoner and Allie Grant, who were also supposed to be in the proposed series, have recurring roles on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

Raven Too! (scrapped)

Raven Too! was a planned spin-off of That's So Raven that originally slated to be shown on ABC similar to the Lizzie McGuire spin-off idea. Raven-Symoné stated that she was "done with Disney Channel and sitcoms and was going to not be reprising her role as Raven Baxter for a while". The proposed plot was about Raven, Eddie and Chelsea enrolling in college and living college life. However, because of Raven-Symoné's comments, the idea was scrapped. The songs recorded for the That's So Raven Too! soundtrack were originally songs that would have been on the Raven Too! soundtrack, but after the idea was scrapped were released as a second soundtrack to That's So Raven.

Donna (scrapped)

Also, another idea that producers had for a TSR spin-off was a show titled Donna and would be about the designer Donna Cabanna. The plot revolved around Donna Cabanna needing a new intern, after Raven left for college. She was to be desperate for a new intern and was so desperate that she hired the first girl who walked into her office. The girl's name was "Symone" (a pun at That's So Raven actress Raven-Symone) and did not know anything about fashion. She was supposed to have accidentally walked into Donna's office and was hired by mistake, but was too afraid of Donna to tell her that she wanted to quit. The show was supposed to deal with Donna Cabanna and her assistant Tiffany attempting to teach everything they knew about fashion to Symone. It was going to be pitched at ABC but the idea was scrapped due to its similarities with the hit TV show Ugly Betty.

"Movie?"

A That's so Raven movie was supposedly planned. A novelization of the film was avaible for Pre-Order on some sites. Currently, It is unknown if the film even existed.

Trivia

• In the episodes "The Lying Game", '"Unhappy Medium", and "Soup to Nuts" , Raven used the phrase "I'm Melting!" from The Wizard of Oz.
• At the start of the series, Cory had a crush on Chelsea, but after the first two seasons he has seemed to moved on, like Zack in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.
• Towards the end of the show, the plot revolves more around Donna Cabona and Raven's Internship with her. Even Eddie and Chelsea start hanging with Cory more.
• The exterior shots of the Baxter house are of an actual home located on the northwest corner of Ashbury St. and Page St. in San Francisco.

filmed in california usa

External links

• That's So Raven Disney Channel US Site
• That's So Raven Disney Channel UK site
• Brookwell McNamara Entertainment official site
• That's So Raven DVD reviews with pictures
• Numerous online games at Disney Channel US site