The Proud Family

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The Proud Family
The Proud Family title card
Genre	Animated Sitcom
Creator(s)	Bruce W. Smith
Starring	Kyla Pratt Tommy Davidson Paula Jai Parker Jo Marie Payton Tara Strong
Opening theme	by Destiny's Child and Solange Knowles
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	53 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	22 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Disney Channel
Original run	September 15, 2001 – August 19, 2005
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Proud Family is an American animated television series geared towards pre-teens and teenagers. Originally piloted for Nickelodeon ^[1], it was eventually picked up by the Disney Channel in 2001. The show was created by Bruce W. Smith, and is produced by his studio, Jambalaya Studios.

While basically a sitcom, The Proud Family presents young audiences with different daily situations that many teenagers might have to face during their teenage and adult years. Although The Proud Family has ended with the final episode, a made-for-TV Proud Family movie was released on August 19, 2005.

Contents 1 Guests 2 Voice Cast 3 Music 4 Trivia 5 See also

[edit] Guests

• Debra Williams — Plays the character Thingy. Voiced by Vanessa L. Williams.
• Lisa Raye — Lisa Raye is a dance instructor for 15 Cent's video in the Proud Family movie. Voiced by LisaRaye McCoy.
• Mega — A boy who runs a website where kids download songs for free. Is a parody of Morpheus from The Matrix. Ray J is the voice of Mega in an episode "E-Z Jackster".
• Fifteen "15" Cent — a rapper who is a possible parody of Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, with a crush on Penny. Voiced by Omarion.
• Sista Spice — Sister of Suga Mama, appearing in one episode ("Penny Potter") in which she scammed Oscar out of money. She has psychic powers. Voiced by Jenifer Lewis.
• Thingy — a television show younger children love to watch. The main character is a parody of Barney.
• Michael Collins — a feminine boy who kids constantly pick on most likely because of his sexual orientation although he escorts Penny to the school dance. He is not one of Penny's main friends but is still a friend, nonetheless. His idol is Luther Vandross. His father is the coach of the school, and refuses to acknowledge their father/son relationship in public, probably out of shame he feels for his son.
• Peabo — the kid who has a huge crush on Penny, then on Zoey, and is dating Dijonay's sister, Paprica. Peabo points out Oscar's stupidity, and is the only person who likes Oscar's Proud Snacks. Voiced by Cree Summer and Miss Kittie in later episodes
• Al Roker — a genie-like man who grants wishes at a horrible price. Once made all the adults on Earth disappear (except Bobby because he is so child-like) & work for him, making them make a new line of One Size Fits All Roker Wear products for him. Also made Bebe and Cece teenagers, causing them to make Penny's friends and family alienate her. Voiced by Al Roker himself
• Boonnetta Proud — Oscar's crazy cousin-in-law. Voiced by Mo'Nique
• Ray Ray Proud Sr. — Oscar's crazy cousin. Voiced by Anthony Anderson
• Dr. Vincent Parker — Trudy's father, who hates Oscar and dislikes his side of the family; appeared in ("Between Family Lines"). Voiced by Robert Guillaume
• Mrs. Maureen Parker — Trudy's mother, who hates Suga Mama; appeared in ("Between Family Lines"). Voiced by Cicely Tyson
• Reuben Parker — Trudy's brother, a very rich man. appeared in ("Between Family Lines"). Voiced by David Alan Grier
• Leslie Parker — Trudy's very snobby sister-in-law; appeared in ("Between Family Lines"). Voiced by Wendy Raquel Robinson
• Diana Parker — Trudy's sister, who is a famous Broadway actress; appeared in ("Between Family Lines" and "Romeo must wed"). Voiced by Sheryl Lee Ralph
• Chanel Parker- Trudy's niece; appeared in ("Between Family Lines"). Voiced by Solange Knowles
• Ray Ray Proud Jr- Oscar's kid nephew; appeared in ("Between Family Lines"). Voiced by Jamal Mixon
• Smart Baby/Red-Nosed Baby — An infant with a droll expression, who can mysteriously speak, and has the voice of an adult man. He dubs Oscar as a thumb sucking crybaby, and whenever Oscar tries to tell people that the baby can talk, he always outsmarts him. Voiced by Ron Glass
• Felix — Sunset's husband, who often helps Oscar.
• Papi — Felix's father, who is in love with Suga Mama, but insults her.
• Chester the Duck — A duck Penny found who appeared in ("Psycho Duck"). He is a very aggressive duck. He is also hated by Oscar because he ate his peach cobbler and his steak sandwich. Oscar's plan to get rid of him failed. Voiced by Frank Welker.

[edit] Voice Cast

• Kyla Pratt as Penny Proud
• Tommy Davidson as Oscar Proud
• Paula Jai Parker as Trudy Proud
• Jo Marie Payton as Suga Mama Proud
• Tara Strong as BeBe and CeCe Proud, and Puff the Dog
• Karen Malina White as Dijonay Jones
• Orlando Brown as Sticky Webb
• Soleil Moon Frye as Zoey Howzer
• Phil LaMarr as Michael Collins
• Carlos Mencia as Felix Boulevardez
• Maria Canals as Sunset Boulevardez
• Alvaro Guttierez as Papi
• Alisa Reyes as LaCienega Boulevardez
• Cedric the Entertainer as Bobby Proud
• Raquel Lee as Nubia Gross
• Aries Spears as Wizard Kelly and Lil' Wiz ,
• Mo'Nique as Boonnetta Proud
• Anthony Anderson as Ray Ray Proud Sr.
• Robert Guillaume as Dr. Vincent Parker
• Cicely Tyson as Mrs. Maureen Parker
• David Alan Grier as Reuben Parker
• Wendy Raquel Robinson as Leslie Parker
• Sheryl Lee Ralph as Diana Parker
• Solange Knowles as Chanel Parker
• Jamal Mixon as Ray Ray Proud Jr
• Mariah Carey as Herself
• Alicia Keys as Herself
• Pablo Santos as Johnny Lovely
• Erica Rivera as Agatha Ordinario
• Kevin Michael Richardson as Omar and Dr. Payne
• Al Roker as himself.
• Frank Welker as Chester the Duck

[edit] Music

• The Proud Family (album)
• The Proud Family (video game)

[edit] Trivia

• Creator Bruce W. Smith, a former Disney animator and one of the few African-American animators in the industry, was also the director of the 1992 film Bébé's Kids.
• The Proud Family most likely takes place in Los Angeles, California, though this conflicts with a trip to Hollywood Penny wins after saving the show "Iesha". Palm Trees appear in the background, including places like the Mall, the Neighborhood, and LaCienega's front yard. One episode also mostly took place at a beach. In the episode when Suga Mama was about to get married, her soon to be husband was the owner of Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, which is located in Los Angeles, and the roof style of LaCienega's house is mostly found in California. LaCienega and Sunset Boulavardez are puns for La Cienega Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard, actual streets in Los Angeles.
• Wizard Kelly character is based on Magic Johnson; Magic Johnson's wife's name is "Cookie" and Wizard Kelly's wife's name is "Ginger Snaps," which is a type of cookie. The Wizard's catch phrase, "It all started with an orange basketball," is a take-off on Walt Disney's famous quote, "It all started with a mouse."
• Executive producer Ralph Farquhar also served the in the same capacity on the UPN sitcoms Moesha and The Parkers (which he co-created).
  • These shows have also been parodied in The Proud Family:
    • My Momma and Me is a parody of The Parkers.
    • Iesha parodies Moesha.
    • Thingy is a parody of Barney.
    • Tween Idol parodies American Idol
• BeBe and CeCe Proud were named after gospel music performers BeBe Winans and CeCe Winans.^{[citation needed]}
• Nearly every episode of The Proud Family features a celebrity guest voice. Celebrities who have voiced characters on the show include Samuel L. Jackson, Vivica A. Fox, Mariah Carey, and Ashanti, among many others.
• Kobe Bryant, Kurt 'Big Boy' Alexander, Lil' Romeo, Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, and Al Roker, Lou Rawls, and Smokey Robinson have appeared on the show as themselves.
• Many of the later episodes of The Proud Family were produced using Macromedia Flash.
• The school that Penny and her friends go to is named for auto racing driver Willy T. Ribbs, who was the first African American to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.
• In The Proud Family Show, Penny and her friends went to Willy T. Ribbs MIDDLE SCHOOL, but in the movie when Penny was taking her driver's test, she drove by Pickett HIGH SCHOOL, which is obvious that Penny and her friends go to Pickett High School now.
• Penny's favorite color has been noted to be blue, orange, green, pink, purple, white, and yellow.
• Trudy's maiden name is "Parker." This is also the last name of her voice actor, Paula Jai Parker.
• The theme song is performed by Solange Knowles (younger sister of Beyonce) featuring Destiny's Child.
• Wizard Kelly's face has been revealed once in the movie when running away from the peanut goop.
• Dijonay is proud of her large butt.
• All of Dijonay's siblings, including herself, are named after spices, for example Dijonay (Dijon mustard), Paprika, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Tabasco and Basil.
• Dijonay and LaCienega were best friends before Dijonay and Penny were.
• The Prouds and Wizard Kelly appear in one episode of Lilo & Stitch: The Series.
• In the episode "The Good, the Bad, the Ugly", Sticky mentioned that Alicia Keys was his future wife. Before, Sticky mentioned that Mariah Carey was his future wife.
• The show "Hip-Hop Helicopter" is kind of like Soul Train.
• On one of the episodes Oscar gets a job as a wrestler who gets help from his mother. A similar storyline was used in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) for Shelton Benjamin.
• On one episode, Sticky mentions Penny not being a Dr. Dolittle. But Kyla Pratt, the voice of Penny starred in the remake of Dr. Dolittle and its 2 sequels.
• In an episode in which Penny learns Karate her friends join a club run by a former martial arts actor named Kelly Robinson who bears a striking resemblance to '70s martial artist and actor Jim Kelly.
• The Aretha Franklin song, "Respect", was used in one episode sung by a guest character named Rene. The song and Aretha's voice was still intact.
• There is a recurring character, usually associated with Wizard Kelly, acting as either a bodyguard, gate security guard, bouncer, or even in one episode as an exterminator (a reference to The Terminator). He is loosely based on Arnold Schwarzenegger since he always has an Austrian accent and frequently uses the catch phrase, "I'll be back!"
• In the episode "Between Family Lines", the song playing from Uncle Ray Ray's car is Dr. Dre's Still D.R.E..
• In the episode which Suga Mama's sister visits The Proud Family, Suga Mama and Bobby can be seen watching a Halle Berry film in which they later leave to save Oscar. They leave, in fact at the moment when she reveals her breasts.(This is obviously the film Swordfish, in which Halle Berry famously bared her breasts.)
• In the episode that Penny and her friends get a new job when they are all arguing about who stole the watch, Penny accuses Lil Wiz' of being the watch thief, but then Zoey says that how can he steal it when he's already rich. LaCienega then says "I agree with the real roxanne" which obviously a reference to the Roxanne Wars since Zoey is white and Penny is black.
• kim possible is often mentioned

[edit] See also

• List of Proud Family episodes
• The Proud Family Movie

Disney Channel Original Series (2000-present)
American Dragon: Jake Long • Brandy & Mr. Whiskers • The Buzz on Maggie • Cory in the House • Dave the Barbarian • The Emperor's New School • Even Stevens • Hannah Montana • Kim Possible • Lilo & Stitch: The Series • Lizzie McGuire • Phil of the Future • The Proud Family • The Replacements • The Suite Life of Zack & Cody • That's So Raven