The Buzz on Maggie is an American animated television series created by Dave Polsky for Disney Channel. The series centers on an ambitious and expressive tween fly named Maggie Pesky and her family and friends. The show is set in Stickyfeet, a city for insects located in a junkyard. While conceptualizing the series, Polsky wanted it to contain a playful view of adolescence and director Dave Wasson formed the overall look of the characters, being heavily influenced by early Walt Disney cartoon shorts. The Buzz on Maggie was Disney's first series to be fully animated in Adobe Flash, a process done by Bardel Entertainment and Future Thought Productions. The series was produced in widescreen, but was cropped to a 4:3 aspect ratio when aired on television due to Disney Channel's lack of an HD feed at the time.
The Buzz on Maggie premiered on June 17, 2005, and received positive reviews from television critics, many of whom praised its humor, voice acting, and writing. Despite this, a single season of 21 episodes was produced. The series aired its final episode on May 27, 2006.
The theme song "Just the Way I Am", performed by Canadian singer Skye Sweetnam, was also met with critical praise and a Daytime Emmy Award nomination in 2006. During its run, The Buzz on Maggie also received an Annie Award nomination for its character design.
Plot
left|220px|The main characters, Maggie (left) and her best friend Rayna (right).|thumb
The Buzz on Maggie follows Maggie Pesky (Jessica DiCicco), an expressive 13-year-old fly and her family; parents Chauncey (Brian Doyle-Murray) and Frieda (Susan Tolsky); older brother Aldrin (David Kaufman), younger brother Pupert (Thom Adcox); and baby sister Bella (Tara Strong). The family resides in an old milk carton in a suburban fly metropolis called Stickyfeet, which is located in a dump. In an early interview for Animation World Network, he explained that the series utilizes a playful aspect at adolescence, naming it "individuality vs. conformity", Dave Wasson, the creator of the animated series Time Squad, served as the director, and executively produced the series with Polsky, while Laura Perkins Brittain was the co-executive producer. Following the cancellation of Kids' WB's ¡Mucha Lucha!, many animators from that series were hired to work on The Buzz on Maggie.
The series' theme song "Just the Way I Am" was composed by Bob Thiele Jr. and Dillon O'Brian, and performed by Canadian singer Skye Sweetnam. The rest of the main cast included David Kaufman, Thom Adcox, Cree Summer, Brian Doyle-Murray and Susan Tolsky.
Release
The Buzz on Maggie premiered on Disney Channel on Friday, June 17, 2005, with two back-to-back episodes.
In fall 2005, The Buzz on Maggie was picked up by sister network ABC. According to Nielsen Media Research, the ABC premiere acquired a 1.6 rating in the Kids 2–11 demographic, and a 1.4 rating in Tweens 9–14, as well as a 7% share in both demographics. During the ABC Kids broadcasts, the series carried an E/I designation. Roger Catlin of Hartford Courant wrote that it stands out from other shows on Disney Channel by "being a little sassy and sharp, and a whole lot funnier" compared to other shows on the channel. The Philadelphia Inquirer critic David Hiltbrand noted that although the show includes "a little" gross-out humor, "it's reasonably tasteful by adolescent standards". AllMovie's Hal Erickson deemed the fly concept unoriginal, but said that the show "set[s] itself apart from such earlier endeavors". A critic for Observer-Reporter deemed it "suitably silly", and Robert Lloyd of Los Angeles Times called it "delightful".
At the time of its premiere, Gail Pennington of St. Louis Post-Dispatch named the show one of the "Tops of the night". Diana Dawson, writing for Spartanburg Herald-Journal, considered it an "inspiring show for fun-loving tweens". Kevin McDonough of Lawrence Journal-World wrote that The Buzz on Maggie has a "decent" balance between cartoon anarchy and Disney's you-go-girl sermonizing. He praised the title character's "bugged-out status", writing that it prevents the stories from being "too cute". Similarly, the show's theme song "Just the Way I Am" received positive reactions; Hiltbrand called it "great", but lost to Ernie Gilbert from The Fairly OddParents.
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! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
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| 33rd Annie Awards
| Best Character Design in an Animated Television Production
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