September 11, 1999 (1999-09-11) – March 25, 2000 (2000-03-25)
Detention is an American animated television series created by Bob Doucette that premiered on Kids' WB on September 11, 1999, to March 25, 2000. The series ran for one season of 13 half-hour episodes.[1]
Synopsis
The series is about a group of eight lawless 6th grade students from Benedict Arnold Middle School in Oak Forest who continually find themselves in detention. The kids are constantly trying to stay out of detention and out of trouble.[2]
Characters
Shareena Wickett (voiced by Tara Strong) (credited as Tara Charendoff) – A gothic 12-year-old girl that prefers to be a free spirit and finds pleasure in the sublime. Shareena's beliefs are never taken seriously by her parents. Her hobbies include reading horror stories and a talent of séances.
Emmitt Roswell (voiced by Billy West) – A conspiracy theorist who explains that intelligent life exists in outer space and is determined to make contact with aliens. As stated in "Boyz 'N the Parenthood", Emmitt has an estranged father.
Jim Kim (voiced by the series' writer Roger Eschbacher) – A shy kid with a love for comic book superheroes, particularly from DC Comics. He takes on the characters' attributes at inopportune times.
Ramone "Gug" Gugliamo (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui) – A short Latino kid with a short temper. Constantly left out of competitive sports, Gug constantly picks fights with kids twice his own size and has even wanted to take down Miss Kisskillya. He and Emmitt have their occasional rivalries, however, they both agree on their lack of patience with Jim.
Duncan Bubble – A quiet boy who is always playing with a yo-yo and not speaking. He instead uses his yo-yo to spell out messages (for example, "Thanks guys", "Boring", and "Yeah"), accompanied by an electronic voice (done by the show's creator Bob Doucette) reading the message. He is based on a deaf friend Doucette (the show's creator) had during production.[citation needed]
Lemonjella and Orangejella LaBelle (voiced by Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry) – A pair of identical African-American twins. They have been known to get themselves in trouble by hacking into the school computers and removing library fines. Their scientific descriptions tend to confuse Miss Kisskillya and the other kids, so they would simplify them to make sense.[citation needed] They have shown to be competitive with each other.[citation needed]
Shelley Kelly (voiced by Pamelyn Ferdin) – An optimistic and peppy girl who wears the same Ladybug Scout uniform and the only kid in detention not due to rule breaking but because she is Ms. Kisskillya's assistant. She constantly kisses up to Miss Kisskillya and has a crush on Emmitt. As a result, she is often detested by the other kids, whom she wishes to be friends with (she seems to have succeeded with Shareena to an extent). However, on some occasions, Shelley is an ally to the other kids.
Eugenia P. Kisskillya (voiced by Kathleen Freeman) – The gym teacher and detention monitor of Benedict Arnold Middle School. Having been a military sergeant in the Marine Corps, Miss Kisskillya bosses the children around like such, calls other people by rankings in the army, and usually pronounces "detention" as "dee-tennnn-shun!!" The only student she likes is Shelley Kelly, who serves as her "Teacher's Pet" and whom she refers to as "Private Kelly". Despite usually being often times tyrannical towards the children, she has been shown to be a nice person. She is based on creator's grade schoolteacher who was a nun, as well as Freeman's character, the strict Sister Mary Stigmata, from The Blues Brothers and Blues Brothers 2000.[citation needed]
Broadcast and home media
In fall 1999, the show aired on Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. and later moved to 11:00 a.m. EST beginning on November 6. In spring 2000, the show moved to 11:30 a.m. EST on Saturdays. Reruns of the show aired on the Kids' WB Friday afternoon lineup from September 8, 2000, to August 31, 2001. Since 2018, the show has been available on iTunes and on DVD in Region 1 as a manufacture-on-demand (MOD) release that is only available through the Warner Archive website and other online stores.
Bob Doucette, Scott Jeralds, Javier Secaduras, Trevor Wall & Marcus Williams
September 11, 1999 (1999-09-11)
101
Shareena misses her chance to get tickets to a rock concert because Miss Kisskillya gives her detention. She decides to team up with Shelley in the Home Economics Bake-Off to get even with her by baking a volcano cake, which she deliberately pours too much baking soda into. Meanwhile, Emmitt, Gug, Jim, and Duncan try to get Duncan's yo-yo back from Miss Kisskillya. After Shelley tells Shareena she will take her to the concert if their cake wins the contest, Miss Kisskillya puts the vinegar in the volcano cake causing it to blow up in her face, before the boys, after getting Duncan's yo-yo, fall through the ceiling from the air duct and land on Miss Kisskillya. Although Miss Kisskillya finds all this to be fun, she gives her class detention for damaging school property.
Note: This episode was sneak-previewed on September 10, 1999 at 4:00 p.m. Friday afternoon on Kids WB before its actual premiere on September 11th during the last day of The Top 20 Pokéthon Countdown.
The gang represents the school in a spelling bee, to which Lemonjella and Orangejella get competitive with each other. Meanwhile, Emmitt suspects that the Principal McQueen is a brain-stealing alien cyborg and tries to gather evidence to prove it. After Lemonjella and Orangejella get themselves disqualified from the spelling bee, Gug wins, and Emmitt thinks Mr. McQueen is going to steal Gug's brain, but he's really giving him a gold brain as his prize, thus proving Emmitt's conspiracy theory wrong.
Hyunsook Cho, Bob Doucette, Scott Jeralds, Stephen Lewis, Tim Maltby & Rose Rosely
September 25, 1999 (1999-09-25)
103
As Benedict Arnold Middle School is throwing a disco-themed "Friday the 13th" prom, the kids are getting ready for the dance while Shareena stumbles upon an old photo of her great-aunt Hanna and plans to perform a séance to contact her from the dead. Meanwhile, Emmitt is planning to contact with UFOs that are set to arrive on the school roof, and Shelley joins him. An hour after the predicted arrival, no aliens appear. Shareena's seance is interrupted when Pig runs to the roof with the photo (before eating it) and throws a bowl of fruit punch on Miss Kisskillya, who attempts to catch the students by climbing up the wall to the roof, but is caught in Emmitt's alien trap and gives her class detention.
4
"The Contest"
Mike Milo
Steven Shaw
Javier Secaduras, Trevor Wall & Marcus Williams
October 9, 1999 (1999-10-09)
104
When Miss Kisskillya tells the kids that they are destined for detention, they hold a contest to see who can stay out of it, except for Shelly, who tries to get in detention instead. Gug gets detention for disobeying his Home Ec teacher, Emmitt and Jim get detention when Jim throws ink in science teacher Mr. Fletcher's face due to Emmitt's conspiracy theory, Duncan gets detention for trying to take back his confiscated yo-yos from Mr. McQueen, and Lemonjella and Orangejella get detention for hacking the school computers. Shareena stays out of trouble, and when Miss Kisskillya makes her run an obstacle course in gym class under threat of detention if she fails, she completes it, to Miss Kisskillya's dismay. However, she chooses to join her classmates in detention by spraying Miss Kisskillya with a water gun, while all of Shelley's attempts to get detention are unsuccessful.
5
"Too Good to Be Truant"
Stephen Lewis
Michael Maler
Hyunsook Cho, Tim Maltby & Rose Rosely
October 23, 1999 (1999-10-23)
105
Shareena and Shelley decide to skip school and Miss Kisskillya tries to find them. Meanwhile, Emmitt and Gug try to compete for class president, throwing Jim, Lemonjella & Orangella in between. Shareena loses her wallet and, unable to pay at the restaurant, she and Shelley are forced to wash dishes, before they go to the mall, where they notice Miss Kisskillya looking for them. After getting stuck in an elevator, they escape her. Emmitt and Gug try to smear each other during their campaign and eventually get disqualified. When Shareena and Shelley return to school, Miss Kisskillya overhears Shareena talking about her adventure (thus confessing to skipping school in front of her) and gives her detention, along with the rest of the class for withholding information from her, except Shelley, whom she thinks was Shareena's hostage.
6
"Breaking Out"
Scott Jeralds
Julie McNally Cahill & Timothy Cahill
Scott Jeralds, Scott Hill, Tim Maltby, Norma Klingler, Stephen Sandoval, Joe Sichta & Trevor Wall
November 6, 1999 (1999-11-06)
106
Desperate to meet Sean Gregory, the TV star of their favorite show, at a bookstore, the kids plot to sneak away from Saturday detention. As Miss Kisskillya is in her office with Shelley, Shareena and the others sneak out through a secret tunnel dug by a previous detention class. In large part due to Duncan being extremely helpful with his yo-yo, and despite Jim slowing them down, they reach the bookstore in time to get autographed posters from Sean Gregory. Miss Kisskillya also sneaks out to meet Sean Gregory, but is too late, and Shareena forces her to back down from giving them detention by threatening to tell Mr. McQueen that she left her students at school alone.
7
"Comedy of Terrors"
Mike Milo & Tim Maltby
Michael Maler
Norma Klingler, Javier Secaduras, Trevor Wall & Marcus Williams
November 13, 1999 (1999-11-13)
107
Shareena auditions to play Hamlet in a school play, but when she accidentally throws mud at Miss Kisskillya during the audition, Miss Kisskillya disqualifies her and gives the role to Gug, prompting Shareena to seek revenge. Meanwhile, when Pig damages Emmitt's science project by sitting on it, Emmitt suspects that Gug sabotaged it and seeks revenge on him during the play, but when Shareena locks Gug in the costume shop and takes his place as Hamlet, she falls victim to Emmitt's traps instead. Gug breaks out of the costume shop and duels Shareena out of revenge, but loses, before revealing that Pig was the real saboteur of Emmitt's science project and he didn't tell Emmitt to keep Shareena out of trouble. After the three reconcile, Miss Kisskillya falls victim to Emmitt's final trap, with the stage collapsing on her, and she gives her class detention.
8
"Little Miss Popular"
Stephen Lewis
Wendell Morris & Tom Sheppard
Hyunsook Cho, Tim Maltby, David Mink & Rose Rosely
November 20, 1999 (1999-11-20)
108
The gang get chosen to compete in a TV quiz show, with Miss Kisskillya threatening them with eternal detention if they lose. Shareena ditches her classmates to join a trio of popular girls called The Vanities to get close to their leader's brother, Darth, whom she has a crush on. Without Shareena to answer questions on TV trivia, the others decide to cheat by using an envelope containing the answers; however, Shareena abandons The Vanities for being too shallow and mean-spirited and rejoins her classmates, convincing them not to cheat. The opposing team attempts to cheat themselves, but due to the theft of the envelope, different questions are used, and after the teams are tied, Shareena wins the game for her team by answering a question on TV trivia, sparing them from detention.
9
"Capitol Punishment"
Scott Jeralds
Michael Maler
Scott Hill, Tim Maltby, Norma Klingler, Tristin Roesch, Joe Sichta & Trevor Wall
December 4, 1999 (1999-12-04)
109
Shelley wins an essay contest for a trip to Washington, D.C., and takes the rest of the gang along with Miss Kisskillya with her, however, she is accidentally left behind while going back for baggage claim tickets and has to ride a bus full of ex-convicts to Washington. Meanwhile, Emmitt spots a man following them at the hotel and suspects that he is a spy involved in a secret plan to overthrow the government, and tries to sneak out to inform the FBI with the rest of the kids except Shareena, who is given a tour of Washington by Miss Kisskillya, discovering a hidden fun side to her. After everyone reunites and they go to the White House, Emmitt pulls the fire alarm and sets off the sprinklers when he sees the "spy", only to learn that he is really the White House tour correspondent who was trying to give them their passes for the tour. Miss Kisskillya gives her class (minus Shareena and Shelley) detention, but also gives them a fun tour of the White House.
10
"The Blame Game"
Tim Maltby
Charles M. Howell IV
Norma Klingler, Trevor Wall & Marcus Williams
January 8, 2000 (2000-01-08)
110
Miss Kisskillya assigns Emmitt to clean the boiler room, which Shareena says is haunted by the ghost of a detention student, Christopher Crandall, to which Gug is skeptical. When Miss Kisskillya's book, among other objects at school, is mysteriously stolen, she blames Lemonjella and Orangejella, threatening her class with detention if she doesn't get her book back, so Lemonjella, Orangejella, Shareena, and Shelley investigate the theft to clear their name. As Miss Kisskillya, suffering from a toothache, tries to pull her tooth, Jim enters the seemingly-locked boiler room through the chute to rescue Emmitt, and they encounter the ghost, prompting Duncan to get the girls; however, the ghost is really a trick by Gug. After Duncan and the girls enter the boiler room, the gang ram the door just as Miss Kisskilya is opening it, knocking out her tooth. It is revealed the door was not locked, but jammed, and Christopher Crandall had left the boiler room through the fire escape and moved away with his family. The thief is discovered to be Pig, who stole the items to care for her piglets, thus revealing Pig to be female. Out of gratitude for getting rid of her aching tooth, and regret for wrongly accusing Lemonjella and Orangejella, Miss Kisskillya lets her class wait until next week to clean the boiler room.
11
"Boyz 'N the Parenthood"
Stephen Lewis & Bob Doucette
Julie McNally Cahill & Timothy Cahill
Hyunsook Cho, Scott Jeralds, David Mink, Joe Sichta & Rose Rosely
February 5, 2000 (2000-02-05)
111
The gang gets paired with each other to take care of water balloons as an assignment for parenting. The boys leave the girls with the balloons over the weekend, and Shareena gets revenge by putting more water in the balloons and giving them to the boys on a museum field trip on Monday. Emmitt takes better care of his and Shareena's balloon after being stood up by his father on the weekend. Unable to turn their balloons' crying alarms off due to their increased size, Gug, Jim, and Duncan are confronted by a security guard and accidentally throw their balloons on Miss Kisskillya, causing them to pop, forcing them and their respective partners, Lemonjella, Orangejella, and Shelley, to repeat the project and (presumably excluding Shelley) get detention but not Shareena and Emmitt who succeeded their project.
12
"A Friend in Greed"
Scott Jeralds
Michael Maler
Alex Almaguer, Scott Jeralds, David Mink, Tim Maltby, Joe Sichta & Trevor Wall
March 4, 2000 (2000-03-04)
112
Lemonjella and Orangejella find a map marking the location of buried treasure. However, they fight over the map, accidentally tearing it in two, while Shareena conspires with Emmitt, Gug, Jim, and Duncan to pretend to help them and then double cross them and split the treasure five ways; Shareena and Emmitt get greedy and separately plan to share the treasure only with Gug and Jim, respectively; Gug also greedily demands Shareena's share of the treasure in exchange for saving her when she sinks into mud they think is quicksand (only for him to sink as well, and Duncan pulls them both out with his yo-yo). After reuniting and arguing, the gang work together to locate the treasure. Spying on them, Miss Kisskillya seeks the treasure herself, but gets chased by bees, trips over a snake, is chased by a bear, stung by the bees, and kicked off a cliff by a moose, landing on a bush of poison oak. Despite this, she finds the treasure due to the students' greed slowing them down, but a misinterpretation of words at the unveiling of the treasure leads the mayor to believe that she is donating the money to build the Fantasy Fun Center (when her true intent was to give her class detention), essentially forcing her to do so.
13
"Rule the School"
Tim Maltby
Michael Maler
Tim Maltby, Norma Klingler, Trevor Wall & Marcus Williams
March 25, 2000 (2000-03-25)
113
When Miss Kisskillya promotes Gug as Benedict Arnold's new hall monitor, he goes mad with power by issuing detentions to his friends and classmates, and even Principal McQueen and Pig. Meanwhile, Shareena plans a house party while her parents are out of town, but when one of her invitations accidentally ends up in the teacher's lounge, she enters through the window to get it and is caught by Gug. After giving his full report to Miss Kisskillya, Gug is informed by Lemonjella and Orangejella that Shareena was getting his invitation for her party. Remorseful, Gug gets the report back from Miss Kisskillya with help from Duncan. Gug tears up the report and Pig eats it. All of Shareena's classmates and teachers attend the party celebrating her parents' anniversary.
References
^Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 242. ISBN978-1476665993.
