45 Fun Facts About Recess

Who created Recess?

Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere designed Recess as a show about small things, which made the big-stakes movie an awkward fit; Ansolabehere compared it to making a Seinfeld movie.

On which network and block did Recess premiere in September 1997?

ABC's One Saturday Morning was the lineup Disney launched on the network it had bought, and Recess debuted on its very first morning alongside Doug and Pepper Ann.

What delayed the 1997 Recess premiere?

Diana's funeral took over every US network on September 6, 1997, so the Recess premiere slipped a week, to September 13.

How did Prickly fight Benedict's recess ban?

Told the superintendent is right: the superintendent replaced Benedict with Prickly as principal, and the ousted Benedict swore revenge on his old friend.

What grade are T.J. and his five friends in?

Fourth graders all series long, the gang finally move up in a 2003 film, only to find that strict Miss Finster will be their fifth-grade teacher.

What is T.J.'s child-friendly substitute swear word?

Whomps got T.J. put on trial in one episode after school staff branded it a swear word, but he was cleared because a word made up to replace bad words isn't bad.

How does T.J. always wear his red cap?

Backwards is how T.J. wears his red cap; in the first episode he loses recess for raiding the kitchen's good food, and the whole playground teams up to get him back outside.

Which two actors voiced T.J. during the original run of Recess?

Ross Malinger and Andrew Lawrence split the role: Malinger left early in season two as his voice deepened, and Lawrence voiced T.J. from then to the series' end.

What is Spinelli's real first name, which she keeps hidden?

Ashley is the name she hides in the episode 'First Name Ashley', because it ties her to the snobby clique of Ashleys she despises.

Who voices Spinelli on Recess?

Pamela Adlon's low, husky voice made her a natural at cartoon boys, and studios often called her in to take over boy roles when the real boys' voices broke.

What do the initials in T.J. Detweiler's name stand for?

Theodore Jasper Detweiler once came back from a sick week to find the playground trading Monster Stickers, then got so rich and greedy that his friends walked out on him.

Which member of the gang is the athlete with a rivalry against fifth-grade bully Lawson?

Vince LaSalle, the gang's jock, idolizes his big brother Chad, and when his friends point out that Chad is a nerd, Vince learns that geeky can be cool too.

Which Broadway singer provided Mikey's singing voice?

Robert Goulet sang for Mikey in an episode where Principal Prickly enlists him for the school concert, and Mikey falls for his music teacher, only to watch her boyfriend propose.

Which member of the gang is the new kid from a military family?

Gus, an army brat who had been through 12 schools, was officially branded New Kid, the lowest of the low, until he stood up for himself and got his name back.

What fearsome dodgeball nickname did Gus once carry?

El Diablo was Gus's name as a dodgeball legend until he hit a little kid in the face and quit the game, but he returned when his kindergartner friend Hector got hit.

Which actress voices the brainy Gretchen Grundler?

Ashley Johnson joined the home Dungeons & Dragons game that became Critical Role after Liam O'Brien, who worked with her on The Last of Us, told her about it.

Who rules the playground as its monarch in the first season of Recess?

King Bob, a sixth grader, rules the playground until he graduates in Recess: School's Out and hands the crown to his successor, Freddy.

What is Randall Weems' role on the playground?

The snitch is Randall's job, reporting misdeeds to Miss Finster, and once, tired of being ignored, he teamed up with Menlo to blackmail kids into doing them favors.

Who voices Miss Finster?

April Winchell, the voice of Miss Finster, was also the anonymous creator of Regretsy, a blog mocking odd crafts on Etsy, until a book deal led her to reveal her name.

What is Miss Finster's first name?

Muriel is Miss Finster's first name, and in 'Weekend at Muriel's' Spinelli has to spend a whole weekend at Finster's home while her parents are away.

Which veteran actor voices Principal Prickly?

Dabney Coleman voiced Principal Prickly, who in one episode finally won his dream job of running a middle school, only for his replacement, Dr. Slicer, to prove even worse.

What hidden skill does gentle teacher Miss Grotke turn out to have in Recess: School's Out?

Martial arts are the surprise in gentle Miss Grotke's skill set in Recess: School's Out, and the display wins the hippie teacher new respect from tough Miss Finster.

What is Swinger Girl's ultimate goal?

To swing over the top of the swing set is Swinger Girl's dream, and when Spinelli believed she'd done it and vanished, she started a cult, an idea the studio first rejected for criticizing religion.

What do the Diggers do all recess?

Dig holes dressed as miners is all Sam and Dave do, and when the Diggers split up, Sam dug everywhere with no one to direct him while Dave bossed the whole playground around.

What does Theresa LaMaise scatter to announce royalty on the Recess playground?

Corn chips are Theresa LaMaise's calling card, and in one episode she and Gus kept their friendship secret because their fathers were old high-school enemies.

What is the Hustler Kid's playground role?

Supplier of contraband goods is the Hustler Kid's trade, and one episode revealed both his real first name, Francis, and a secret association of hustlers from every school.

What is Menlo obsessed with?

Organization is Menlo's obsession, and when he coached daydreaming Mikey for a big poetry reading, his advice turned the poet into an efficiency drone until the gang stepped in.

Which leather-jacketed fifth grader with a white streak in his hair tells the kids scary cautionary tales?

Butch once scared the playground with the tale of seeing his big brother kiss a girl and a warning that they'd all like kissing someday, so the gang tested it on T.J. and Spinelli.

What kind of film did the intro music and art design of Recess often evoke?

Prison escape movies such as The Great Escape shaped the look and sound of Recess, which pictured the school as a prison and its playground as the yard.

Which classic film does the Recess episode about the school supercomputer SAL 3000 spoof?

2001: A Space Odyssey is the target: at first the kids love Prickly's new SAL 3000, which fetches recess gear on command, until it takes over the whole school and the gang must switch it off.

What is the villain's plan in Recess: School's Out?

To move the moon and end summer vacation is Phillium Benedict's scheme: shifting the moon's orbit would trigger a new ice age, and with no summer he expects test scores to rise.

Which actor voices villain Phillium Benedict in Recess: School's Out?

James Woods, also the voice of Hades in Disney's Hercules, voiced Benedict, whose grand scheme ended with the police arresting him at Third Street School.

Who voices T.J.'s teenage sister Becky in Recess: School's Out?

Melissa Joan Hart voiced Becky, whom T.J. blackmails with her own diary into driving him around to every camp so he can bring his friends home.

Who was Miss Finster to villain Phillium Benedict?

His old girlfriend: Finster left Benedict in 1968 when his plan to abolish recess lost him the principal's post, so he swore revenge on Prickly for costing him his job and his girlfriend.

What machine do the villains test at Third Street School in Recess: School's Out?

A tractor beam is what T.J. spots scientists testing inside the empty school, but neither his parents nor the police believe him, and Principal Prickly vanishes when he tries to go in.

Which Disney cartoon did the Recess gang cross over into in 2006?

Lilo & Stitch: The Series brought the gang to Hawaii in the episode 'Lax', where the new planet Gretchen hoped to study turned out to be a villain's satellite.

In which film is Miss Finster revealed to have been the gang's kindergarten teacher?

Recess: All Growed Down flashes back to the gang's kindergarten year, when a gentler Miss Finster taught them; their mess-making antics turned her into the strict monitor they know.

What did the Recess kids discover at the funeral for Speedy, the class hamster?

He had been replaced many times: each class mourning at the funeral realized the hamster who died was not the Speedy they had known as their class pet.

What do Recess students call the classmates who choose to spend recess inside?

The Pale Kids spend recess in Room 51, and when an injury stuck T.J. in there with them, he bonded with them over comic books and then stood up for them outside.

Which Monty Python member voices Galileo, Gretchen's handheld computer?

Eric Idle voiced Galileo, the gadget whose height test once predicted Mikey would grow into a giant, so Mikey locked himself away to keep the world safe.

At the end of Recess: School's Out, Prickly thanks T.J. for reminding him of what?

Why he became a teacher: Prickly thanks T.J. for reminding him he started teaching to help kids, then jokes that T.J. will still be punished for his prank come September.

In School's Out, which post had Benedict reached before the President fired him?

Secretary of Education was Benedict's post until the President sacked him for trying to abolish recess nationwide, repeating the scheme that had cost him Third Street's principalship decades earlier.

In Recess: School's Out, what gets thrown to wreck Benedict's machine?

A baseball, thrown at T.J.'s urging, did it: once Benedict had set the machine past any hope of reversal, one throw destroyed it and saved the day.

Which Big Bang Theory actress voices the gluttonous bully Kurst the Worst?

Mayim Bialik, Amy on The Big Bang Theory, voiced Kurst, the food-stealing fifth-grade bully whose surprise friendship with Mikey upset both his gang and her own crowd.

Which broadcast network aired Recess reruns in a Disney-run weekday block until 2003?

UPN, a Viacom network, hired Disney, owner of a rival network, to program its weekday kids' block, so Recess reruns ran there in Disney's One Too from 1999 until 2003.