The Buzz on Maggie
Encyclopedia
The Buzz on Maggie was an American animated television series
Cartoon series
A cartoon series is a set of regularly presented animated television programs with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same characters and a basic theme...

 which originally aired for 21 episodes between June 2005 and May 2006. The series focuses on Maggie Pesky, a tween
Tween (demographic)
A tween is a North American neologism that describes a person who is between the ages of 9 and 12 years old . The term is often described in popular media as referring to a pre-adolescent who is at the "in-between" stage in their development when they are considered "too old for toys, too young...

 fly
Fly
True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...

, that aspires of becoming a rock star, but many episodes focus on her daily life.

The series was created by Dave Polsky
Dave Polsky
David "Dave" Polsky is an American film and television screenwriter best known for creating The Buzz on Maggie and co-writing Scary Movie 2. His production company is called Juban Productions.-Biography:...

, one of the writers for Scary Movie 2
Scary Movie 2
Scary Movie 2 is a 2001 parody film. It is the second film of the Scary Movie franchise. Though part of the first Scary Movies tagline read "...No sequel," this film's tagline compensated by adding "We lied"....

and Frank TV
Frank TV
Frank TV was a sketch comedy show starring Frank Caliendo, Mike MacRae, and Freddy Lockhart. Frank was the host of the show and performed in sketches in full makeup as characters he impersonated. Frank joked he "wanted the show to be called The Chappelle Show, but the lawyers wouldn't allow it"...

. Dave Wasson directed and designed the looks for the characters. The series was the first Disney series to be fully animated in Flash, and it was nominated for an Annie Award
Annie Award
The Annie Awards have been presented by the Los Angeles, California branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972...

 for its character design. In August 2005, an artist for the series confirmed that the series had been cancelled. The last episode aired on May 27, 2006, and the series continued to air in reruns until August 2008.

Premise

Maggie Pesky is a creative and expressive fly
Fly
True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...

, who has a dream of becoming a famous rock star. She lives in the fly metropolis
Metropolis
A metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications...

 of Stickyfeet with her parents Chauncey and Frieda, her older brother Aldrin, younger brother Pupert, and her younger sister Bella, whom is still in the stage of a maggot
Maggot
In everyday speech the word maggot means the larva of a fly ; it is applied in particular to the larvae of Brachyceran flies, such as houseflies, cheese flies, and blowflies, rather than larvae of the Nematocera, such as mosquitoes and Crane flies...

.

Throughout the show Maggie is seen to choose the easy way in the tasks she accomplishes, such as cheating on a test or simply being selfish. She is often seen to only care about herself, and puts herself and her needs in front of others. Her best friend Rayna Cartflight helps Maggie to fulfill her dreams. Even though the main story is that Maggie wants to be a rock star, most episodes are about her daily life and the occasions she faces.

Production

The series was created by screenwriter Dave Polsky
Dave Polsky
David "Dave" Polsky is an American film and television screenwriter best known for creating The Buzz on Maggie and co-writing Scary Movie 2. His production company is called Juban Productions.-Biography:...

, who is perhaps best known for co-writing the spoof Scary Movie 2
Scary Movie 2
Scary Movie 2 is a 2001 parody film. It is the second film of the Scary Movie franchise. Though part of the first Scary Movies tagline read "...No sequel," this film's tagline compensated by adding "We lied"....

. He executive produced all episodes alongside the director, Dave Wasson. The series was animated in Macromedia Flash at Bardel Entertainment
Bardel Entertainment
Bardel Entertainment is a Canadian animation studio founded in 1988.- Releases :*Silverwing *Dragons: Fire and Ice *Dragons: Metal Ages *Chaotic...

 in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, Canada and at Future Thought Productions
Future Thought Productions
Future Thought Productions is a creative animation studio that creates, produces or contributes to film, television, web and mobile animation. Future Thought is amongst the first studios in the world to have employed Macromedia's Flash software for the UNICEF television series Meena along with...

 in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

, India. It was the first Disney show to be fully animated in Flash.

Production of The Buzz on Maggie started in 2004. Many of the crew members from ¡Mucha Lucha!
¡Mucha Lucha!
¡Mucha Lucha! was an animated television series. It premiered on Kids' WB on August 17, 2002. It was created by Eddie Mort and Lili Chin and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It is the first animated television series created with Adobe Flash, a program often used for Internet cartoons...

worked on the show. During an interview with Animation Magazine
Animation Magazine
Animation Magazine is a monthly publication covering the animation industry, including different reviews about film and television animation, visual effects and video games....

, Wasson stated that he was influenced by Tex Avery
Tex Avery
Frederick Bean "Fred/Tex" Avery was an American animator, cartoonist, voice actor and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He did his most significant work for the Warner Bros...

 and early Disney shorts when he created the look for the show. He said that The Buzz on Maggie has "a lot of 1930s touches," stating, "The characters wear white gloves, for example. That's a direct homage to those classic shorts." He chose to animate it in Flash because he "was convinced it was a good way to go. I had done a few commercials in Flash and a few short films for a museum in Singapore. [...] I've always maintained that in the right hands, you shouldn't be able to see any difference between Flash and regular hand-drawn 2D."
Wasson and Jorge Gutierrez
Jorge Gutiérrez
Jorge Gutiérrez Espinosa is a former boxer from Cuba. He won the Middleweight Gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics.Gutiérrez's Olympic results were:*Defeated Somchai Chimlum 20-11...

 were both character designers for the series. Gutierrez was nominated for an Annie Award
33rd Annie Awards
The 33rd Annual Annie Awards were held on February 4, 2006 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California. They were hosted by Tom Kenny.-Best Animated Feature:*Chicken Little*Corpse Bride*Howl's Moving Castle*Madagascar ...

 for his character design in the episode "Bella Con Carny".

The series' theme song, "Just the Way I Am" was performed by Canadian singer Skye Sweetnam
Skye Sweetnam
Skye Alexandra Sweetnam is a Canadian singer-songwriter, actress, and music video director. Skye first entered the mainstream in 2003 with the release of her debut single "Billy S." Over a year later, her debut album, Noise from the Basement, was released including the singles "Tangled Up in Me"...

. It was produced and written by Dillon O'Brian and Bob Thiele
Bob Thiele Jr.
-References:...

. The song was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in 2006 for Outstanding Original Song.

The series premiered on Friday June 17, 2005 at 8pm and then began airing at 5:30pm on weekends. The series also joined the ABC Kids schedule on September 17, 2005. It premiered at 9:30am with a Nielsen rating of 1.6/7 in the Kids 2−11 demographic, and a 1.4/7 rating in Tweens 9−14, which was the highest rating for that timeslot in three months. In August 2005, artist Sean Szeles reported on his blog that the series had been cancelled, stating: "Apparently good animation, art direction, and characters don't mean anything to Disney. The Buzz on Maggie is no more." The final episode aired on May 27, 2006 and the series aired in reruns until it was pulled off the schedule in August 2008. The Buzz on Maggie was the second Disney original series to be cancelled after one season, after Dave the Barbarian
Dave the Barbarian
Dave the Barbarian is an American animated television series created by Doug Langdale, creator of The Weekenders, that premiered on January 23, 2004 on Disney Channel and ended on January 22, 2005. Continuing to air in other countries after the show ended, the show follows a barbarian named Dave,...

.

Characters

  • Margaret "Maggie" Pesky is a tween
    Tween (demographic)
    A tween is a North American neologism that describes a person who is between the ages of 9 and 12 years old . The term is often described in popular media as referring to a pre-adolescent who is at the "in-between" stage in their development when they are considered "too old for toys, too young...

     fly and the second oldest in the Pesky family. She has a taste in "funky fashion and extreme music".
  • Rayna Cartflight is Maggie's sassy best friend. She often thinks Maggie crosses the line with her crazy schemes.
  • Aldrin Pesky is Maggie's older brother. He is popular at school and is the captain of the football
    American football
    American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

     team.
  • Pupert Pesky is the younger brother in the Pesky family. He has the "desire to succeed" like Aldrin, but lacks his talents.
  • Bella Pesky is the youngest in the Pesky family. She is still a non-talking maggot
    Maggot
    In everyday speech the word maggot means the larva of a fly ; it is applied in particular to the larvae of Brachyceran flies, such as houseflies, cheese flies, and blowflies, rather than larvae of the Nematocera, such as mosquitoes and Crane flies...

    .
  • Chauncey and Frieda Pesky are the parents to the Pesky children.
  • Dawn Swatworthy is a snobby girl and Maggie's rival.

Voice cast

  • Jessica DiCicco - Maggie Pesky
  • Cree Summer
    Cree Summer
    Cree Summer Francks , best known as Cree Summer, is a Canadian actress, musician and voice actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as college student Winifred "Freddie" Brooks on the NBC sitcom A Different World...

     - Rayna Cartflight, Gym Shorts Kid
  • David Kaufman
    David Kaufman (actor)
    David Kaufman is an American voice-over artist and character actor, best known for his roles as the voice of Danny Fenton on Danny Phantom, the voice of Maggie's brother Aldrin on The Buzz on Maggie, and the voice of Marty McFly, Michael J...

     - Aldrin Pesky
  • Thom Adcox - Pupert Pesky
  • Tara Strong
    Tara Strong
    Tara Lyn Strong is a Canadian actress, voice-over artist, singer, who is best known for her voice work in cartoons.-Early life and career:...

     - Dawn Swatworthy, Bella Pesky
  • Brian Doyle-Murray
    Brian Doyle-Murray
    Brian Doyle-Murray is an American comedian, screenwriter, actor and voice artist. He is the older brother of actor/comedian Bill Murray and has acted together with him in several films, including Caddyshack, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, The Razor's Edge and Groundhog Day...

      Chauncey Pesky Susan Tolsky - Frieda Pesky
  • Jeff Bennett
    Jeff Bennett
    Jeffrey Glenn "Jeff" Bennett is an American voice actor and musician, listed "among the top names in the voice-over field", best known as the voice of Johnny Bravo in the series of the same name...

     - Principal Peststrip, George
  • Curtis Armstrong
    Curtis Armstrong
    Curtis Armstrong is an American actor best known for his portrayal as Booger in the Revenge of the Nerds movies, as Herbert Viola on Moonlighting, and as famed record producer Ahmet Ertegün in the film Ray.-Early life:...

     - Mr. Bugspit
  • Candi Milo
    Candi Milo
    Candi Milo is an American voice actress and singer. She voiced many different animated characters such as the voice of Jacobo on Disney's The Replacements, Coco, Madame Foster and Cheese on Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Irma Lair on Disney's W.I.T.C.H., lead character Maya Santos on Maya &...

     - Mrs. Winston, Mrs. Lunch Lady, Mrs. Hatchison
  • Jess Harnell
    Jess Harnell
    Jess Q. Harnell is an American voice actor and singer, best known for voicing Wakko Warner on Animaniacs. Harnell has been the announcer for America's Funniest Home Videos since 1998.-Life and acting career:...

     - Eugene and Wendell, Brad
  • S. Scott Bullock
    S. Scott Bullock
    Stuart Scott Bullock , best known as S. Scott Bullock, is an American actor Bullock is best known for his role as Eddy "Edgar" the Jersey Cow in Barnyard: The Original Party Animals and Back at the Barnyard, Mr...

     - Larry, Snap Carpenter
  • Pat Musick
    Pat Musick
    Pat Musick is an American voice actress. She is the mother of Mae Whitman.-Television roles:* 2 Stupid Dogs - Additional Voices* The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda - Additional Voices...

     - Dawn's lackeys
  • Kevin Michael Richardson
    Kevin Michael Richardson
    Kevin Michael Richardson is an American actor and voice actor who currently stars as Cleveland Brown, Jr. in The Cleveland Show...

     - Mrs. Cartflight

Guest stars

  • Laraine Newman
    Laraine Newman
    Laraine Newman is an American comedienne, actress, and writer, and was part of the original Saturday Night Live cast.-Personal life:...

     - Lacey Ladybug ("Ladybugged")
  • Jon Polito
    Jon Polito
    Jon Polito is an American actor and voice artist, who is known for working with the Coen Brothers, most notably in the major supporting role of Italian gangster Johnny Caspar in Miller's Crossing. He also appeared in the first two seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street and on the first season of...

     - New Aldrin, New Pupert ("Those Pesky Roaches")
  • Dee Dee Rescher
    Dee Dee Rescher
    Dee Dee Rescher is an American actress known for her voice-over work, and small roles in both TV and film. She is the daughter of cinematographer Gayne Rescher and actress Jean Tolley.-Filmography:*Good Luck Charlie … Shirley...

     - New Maggie ("Those Pesky Roaches")
  • Paul Rodriguez
    Paul Rodríguez
    Paul Rodriguez is a Mexican-American stand-up comedian and actor.-Personal life:Rodriguez was born in Culiacán, Sinaloa, México to Mexican agriculture ranchers.. His family migrated to East Los Angeles, where he enlisted in the military; he was stationed in Iceland and Duluth, Minnesota...

     - Mr. Hairlegger ("Lunch Lady" and "Racoooon!")

Awards and nominations

Award Category Nominee Result
2006 Daytime Emmy Awards
33rd Daytime Emmy Awards
The 33rd Daytime Emmy Awards, commemorating excellence in American daytime programming from 2005, was held on Friday, April 28, 2006 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. This was the first time that the Daytime Emmys were held outside of New York. ABC televised the ceremonies in the United States...

Outstanding Original Song Bob Thiele
Bob Thiele Jr.
-References:...

 and Dillon O'Brian
For "Just the Way I Am"
2005 Annie Awards
33rd Annie Awards
The 33rd Annual Annie Awards were held on February 4, 2006 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California. They were hosted by Tom Kenny.-Best Animated Feature:*Chicken Little*Corpse Bride*Howl's Moving Castle*Madagascar ...

Best Character Design in an Animated Television Production Jorge Gutierrez
Jorge Gutiérrez
Jorge Gutiérrez Espinosa is a former boxer from Cuba. He won the Middleweight Gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics.Gutiérrez's Olympic results were:*Defeated Somchai Chimlum 20-11...


For "Bella Con Carny"
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