All Grown Up!

The idea for All Grown Up! originated in All Growed Up, a television special which aired in 2001 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Rugrats and portrayed the original characters 10 years into the future.[1][2] The special was nominated for "Outstanding Children's Program" in the 2002 Creative Arts Emmy Awards.[3] The special was the highest rated Rugrats episode, the highest-rated Nickelodeon program, and the cable's #1 show for the week ending July 22, 2001, with a 7.2 rating equivalent to 12 million viewers.[1] Approximately 70% of all kids aged 2–11 tuned in to watch the special.[4] Nickelodeon president, Herb Scannell, noted that a "Surprising numbers of kids held Rugrats parties on Saturday night and watched the show in groups".[1] The following day, Nickelodeon said "'We've got to make this a show,' because of the size of the audience that came to it."[5] Noting the immediate popularity of the show's concept, All Growed Up was deemed the network's equivalent of the Super Bowl.[6] Nickelodeon made a two-season order of 35 episodes.[7]

Nick's press releases for the Rugrats' 10th anniversary noted that the All Growed Up special was a "one time only" special. Nickelodeon was so impressed by the high ratings, they wanted to use the show as a pilot for either a regular spinoff series or a series of occasional one-hour specials.[1] Finally, Nickelodeon decided to commission an entire series around the teenage main characters.[4] Arlene Klasky explained "It got enormous ratings, so Nickelodeon blessed us with another series".[8] Margie Cohn felt that Rugrats had endured prolonged success due to the "series' writing, and the appeal of the show's well developed characters to its deeply devoted audience", and argued the sequel resulted from fan support and speculation on how the characters would age.[7]

While Nickelodeon executives were concerned that the new series would maintain the Rugrats appeal, they acknowledged a revision to the successful franchise was necessary as the original series was beaten in the ratings by shows such as The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and SpongeBob SquarePants.[8] On October 16, 2001, a PC game based on the All Growed Up special was released.[3] After release in the US & Canada, All Growed Up debuted on Canadian television by YTV, Rugrats' English broadcaster in Canada, on September 3, 2001. The French Canadian version, "Les Razmoket, Dix Ans Après", was broadcast in two parts on VRAK.TV, on December 1, 2001, and December 8, 2001.[3] In Britain and Australia, the video was released as Older And Bolder, because a Rugrats video existed in those countries named All Growed Up.[3] An All Growed Up book was also released.[3]

Nickelodeon ordered 13 episodes, to be created by Rugrats animation studio Klasky Csupo[9] for production in September 2002.[3] All Grown Up was intended as the first Rugrats spinoff as others were under consideration.[9] The series premiered with its first episode, Coup DeVille, on April 12, 2003, following the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. By November 2003, Rugrats was no longer in production.[5] In 2004, Rugrats and All Grown Up were aired concurrently to highlight the characters in two stages of their lives.[9] All Grown Up aired twice per week.[6]

The new episodes shifted from the 11-minute Rugrats format of two stories per episode, to a single 22-minute story. This was to allow "more time to develop and tell a story and see where the characters go with it".[5] Each of the episodes focused on the life of a main character and usually showed the characters facing a lot of firsts for tweens and teenagers.[5] The show included gradual stylistic changes, with the first 13 episodes similar to the All Growed Up special and the original Rugrats world.[5] The second set of 13 episodes and onward had a more contemporary look, with characters being given "hipper" clothing. Over the 3 seasons of 35 episodes, the developers hoped for a gradual evolution in style to where the audience will be comfortable with the changes.[5] The main cast recorded their parts for each episode in about one hour.[10] By November 24, 2003, 15 episodes began airing while 10 more episodes were in the scripting stage.[7]

The existing cast modified their voices for their characters' new ages. Tommy's voice actress noted "It was a little harder when we were doing the first batch of episodes, when they were just coming in and trying to define everybody and how they've grown".[5] Susie's character changes included having "a little more sass, a little less innocence and a little more bottom end".[5] All Grown Up! attracted 30 million viewers a month, including a large number of 12 to 14-year-olds.[6] The producers didn't delve into the "characters' loss of innocence" with topics such as sex and drugs in favor of issues relevant to 9 to 11-year-olds, the show's target demographic.[12] While the producers didn't take the teen approach with All Grown Up!, they did with another show As Told by Ginger.[12]

Executive producer Arlene Klasky acknowledged "It was always in the back of our minds that we would love to see what these characters were like as they grew".[5] Susie Carmichael's voice actor, Cree Summer, noted that while part of the appeal to this kind of TV show is not growing up, she noted a natural evolution of the show after 12 years on the air.[8] Tommy Pickles voice actor, E.G. Daily, said that while her character was still the star of the show, he was older, wiser, and using more contemporary language.[8] Cyma Zarghami, Nickelodeon's executive vice president and general manager, said "The tween special proved kids are ready to embrace these beloved characters in a whole new realm. The Rugrats property is 11 years old, so it feels just right to have the babies turn into tweens in their 12th year on the air".[13][9] On the evolution of Angelica, Marjorie Cohn, executive vice president for development and original programming at Nickelodeon explained: ''She's the center of the universe, and she keeps bumping up against forces that tell her she's not. The writers mellowed Angelica and her voice actress addressed "I welcome the new development in her character, the way she can be vulnerable. She's getting some real acting challenges from the material the writers are coming up with".[14] She compared her role to Bart Simpson's voice actress who will likely play the 10 year old until retirement, noting that now she could play the same character with a "bit more sophistication".[15] She's become more vulnerable and has to learn to navigate the social strata of junior high".[6] The potential for more sophisticated storytelling was one of the factors in the creation of the series.[6] The show's creators thought that "pushing the show to the next age bracket" would be an effective way of "holding on to viewers who have grown up with Rugrats".[5] Tommy's voice actress, E.G. Daily, said: "I'm definitely going to miss doing [baby Tommy], but it's awesome watching people grow."[5]

Comparison in design style between Rugrats (left) and All Grown Up! (right)

At the Television Critics Association tour in July 2001, Nickelodeon executives mentioned that All Growed Up was one of three spinoff concepts proposed by Nickelodeon to continue the successful Rugrats franchise.[3] In 2002, Nickelodeon aired the episode "Pre-School Daze",[16] the pilot for a series in which Angelica and Susie attend preschool. According to Variety in September 2002, the show was to be repurposed as a series of four standalone specials.[9] The program aired in the UK in 2005. The North American debut took place in late 2008 after the cancellation of the series.[17] Another proposed spinoff was a series featuring Susie and the Carmichael family, who would move from California to Atlanta, Georgia; it was first proposed for the 1999–2000 television season, but Nickelodeon and Klasky-Csupo decided instead to concentrate on all the original-aged Rugrats.[17] The Kwanzaa special, which aired in 2001, served as a pilot for this new series, but the series would have contradicted the established continuity.[17]

In the thirteenth episode of All Grown Up!, "Lucky 13", Angelica leaves the pre-teen world to become a teenager. When asked if the popularity of that episode would produce a spinoff as the characters enter teendom, Nickelodeon executives explained: "It has been talked about but said the network had no immediate plans to push the entire cast into puberty", though noted that those connected with the franchise were "eager to continue developing the characters".[6] The show was preceded by a six-hour marathon of Angelica-centered episodes of Rugrats and All Grown Up.[18][6] Angelica's voice actor expressed a desire to take part in any spin-off the Rugrats, from Angelica Goes to College to Rugrats in the Nursing Home.[10] In 2003, Cohn proposed that Rugrats characters' play the leads in classic fairy tales for Nickelodeon.[7]

A preview show premiered on April 12, 2003[19] before its regular run began on May 23, 2003.[20] More than 5.2 million viewers watched the regular run, in 2nd place behind an NFL game on ESPN, and making it the highest-rated premiere at Nickelodeon's to date. The show aired in reruns on "Nick on CBS" for six months from March 13, 2004, to September 4, 2004. In addition, in its first season, All Grown Up! had its first of two celebrity guest stars: Lil Romeo as "Lil Q" (Cupid) in episode 11, "It's Cupid, Stupid".[21] The German broadcast premiered on August 21, 2006 on Nick.[20] In November 2006, All Grown Up! was removed from the schedule, until the remaining episodes aired from November 12, 2007 to August 17, 2008. Since the series' cancellation, Nickelodeon US aired reruns until January 27, 2013 while Nicktoons aired reruns until October 28, 2013.[22][23]

A total of twelve All Grown Up! DVDs have been released. The following is a chart providing information about each DVD:

All Grown Up! led to a wide range of books being published. The following is a list of all the books published thus far:

All Grown Up: Express Yourself is a video game for the Game Boy Advance, developed by Altron and published by THQ. Released in 2004, it follows Angelica that got an assignment for the school newspaper. The game is a compilation of mini-games that are linked by a series of eight missions. There is a PDA mode with a To Do list that collects events and places for each day.[40][41]