I Am Sammi

I Am Sammi is an American animated television series aimed at preteens, created by Molly McCain. The series focuses on the wealthy Beverly Hills socialite Samantha Maxwell living in her world until her dad cuts her off and makes her live with 7 teens in a college dorm house. She lives with punk goth Terri, girl-next-door Shelley, tomboyish yet feminine Lexie, surfing party dude Stinkbug, flirtatious jock Robbie, comedic wizard Tyrone, and rude but cool Arnold.

I Am Sammi premiered on Gingo on June 7, 1998 and has became commercially and critically successful, making Samantha Maxwell a fashion icon during the late 90s and early 2000s. It spawned a successful franchise with adaptations into other media, like comics and video games. It gained 22 awards during its 12 year run, Including 6 Daytime Emmy Awards, and 5 Kids' Choice Awards. This show along with Gabriel Garza, earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The show garnered high ratings beating other shows such as Family Matters on CBS and The Simpsons on FOX at the time. The series ended on May 13, 2010, with 12 seasons and 300 episodes. Two movies were released titled I Am Sammi: The Movie and I Am Sammi: Back to Beverly Hills were released on November 16, 2007 and April 30, 2010.

The show's cancellation lead to a spin-off series called Sammi and Co., a variety-esque show featuring returning characters from I Am Sammi with newer characters.

Setting
Coming soon...

Characters
Main article: List of I Am Sammi characters

Development
During the late 1980s and early to mid 1990s, while Molly McCain was in college at CalArts, she pitched out I Am Sammi as a comic named It's Sammi! for Archie Comics. McCain would meet Frederick Donahue who was working with Michael Wildshill at his animation studio. Donahue would work on shows such as Jay and the Pooch, Hollywood High, and the English dub of Magical Idol Akiko. She would eventually marry Frederick Donahue and left Wildshill, and both Donahue and McCain would form McCain-Donahue Productions in 1995. Despite leaving Wildshill's company, she would remain friends with him and pitch the idea of It's Sammi to Gingo, renaming it to I Am Sammi.

Writing
To be added....

Voice actors
The show wanted to bring a wide variety of voice actors, containing a mix of veteran voice actors (Maurice LaMarche, Janice Kawaye, Rob Paulsen, Phil LaMarr, Dante Basco, Quinton Flynn, Tamera Mowry, and Debi Derryberry) and a new-comer to the mix (Christine Taylor).

Half of the show's actors have worked wwith McCain and Donahue prior to this show: Rob Paulsen as Billy the Bully on Jay and the Pooch, Maurice LaMarche as the titular character Pooch, on the mentioned series, and as Mr. Tanaka on Magical Idol Akiko. Debi Derryberry as Sasha on Jay and the Pooch.

Animation
The series' first and second season was produced by Hanna-Barbera, and was produced in association with TMS Entertainment (who was named Tokyo Movie Shinsha at the time) in Japan, Startoons International in America, and Toei Animation in Japan. However by the time the studio was still owned by Time Warner, H-B became too expensive for new animation and by the end of Season 2, Klasky-Csupo took over starting the last two episodes of Season 2 and would continue until season 4. When Film Roman would take over from Season 5 until Season 12. In Season 4, the show switched to computer animation.

Music
Main article: I Am Sammi: Songs from the Hit TV Show

To be added....

Broadcast
Main article: I Am Sammi/Broadcast

The pilot episode Sammi & The Roommates or simply titled I Am Sammi was apart of the What A Cartoon Show which premiered on August 15, 1995 on TNT and the following day on August 16, 1995 on TBS and Cartoon Network. The pilot was successful but however, Cartoon Network never picked it up and it was shown to Gingo, who saw interest in the pilot. So the episode was re-worked. The first episode "An Unordinary Day", aired on June 7, 1998.

Cancellation
Frederick stated in a 2005 interview with People Magazine, that if the upcoming movie was a success, more episodes of the adventures of Sammi and the College Crew, with a few specials. However, I Am Sammi: The Movie was a critical success but sadly the movie was a box office bomb causing what fans refer to as "The Dark Era" which caused I Am Sammi to go downhill with a few characters being flanderized (ex. Shelley being a psychopathic snob, Marsha being obsessed with sharp objects and animals, Jacques being a self-centered snob and more cowardly then he was) despite that, Season 10 broke the shell of the Dark Era. Despite Seasons 10-12 being well received, Gingo announced in September 2009, that Season 12 is the show's final season. Debi Derryberry stated in a June 2010 interview with MTV about the series saying "I would love to return on working on the show, really I do. But Gingo and McCain haven't told me anything new."