Big City Greens

Big City Greens is an American animated sitcom created by the Houghton Brothers that premiered on Disney Channel on June 18, 2018. The series follows the Green family—siblings Cricket and Tilly, their father Bill, and their Gramma Alice—as they navigate life in the bustling, fictional Big City after moving from their countryside home. Among the supporting characters include Cricket's best friend Remy, the children's mother and Bill's ex-wife Nancy, and their family friend Gloria.
The series features the voices of co-creator Chris Houghton, Marieve Herington, Bob Joles, Artemis Pebdani, Zeno Robinson, and Wendi McLendon-Covey. In March 2016, Disney XD picked it up for production under the title of Country Club; it had later been renamed to Big City Greens by July 2017. The series is produced by Disney Television Animation, with executive producers including creators Chris and Shane Houghton, alongside Rob Renzetti, Stephen Sandoval, and Anna O'Brian.
The series has received positive reviews from critics for its comedy, characters, and central family dynamic. As of September 2023, four seasons have aired and a fifth season was ordered in June 2024. A film, Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation, also premiered in June 2024. A spin-off series is in development.
After losing his farm in the country town of Smalton, Bill Green and his two children Cricket and Tilly move in with his mother Alice Green (Gramma), who lives on a small farm in the middle of a city known as "Big City".
By the second half of season three, Bill moves his family back to Smalton after regaining his farm. Cricket's friend Remy comes along for the ride. At the end of season three, Cricket, Tilly, and Bill balance between going back and forth from Big City to Smalton while Nancy, Bill's ex-wife and the mother of Cricket and Tilly, manages the farm in Smalton.
By the start of season four, the Greens move back to Big City, unaware that Chip Whistler is still alive, along with old assistant Wholesome Greg, plotting his next move on the Greens.
On March 8, 2016, Disney XD greenlit the series under the title of Country Club. The series is created by the brothers Chris and Shane Houghton, who originally worked on Nickelodeon's Harvey Beaks. Chris Houghton also worked as a storyboard artist on Gravity Falls with Rob Renzetti. The series was later renamed to Big City Greens on July 21, 2017. The show's animation is done entirely in traditional pen and paper as opposed to digital ink. The theme song was written and performed by The Mowgli's, and on July 28, 2017, a sneak peek of it was revealed at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con and was uploaded to Disney XD's YouTube channel on the same day. On June 7, 2018, it was reported that Disney Channel had ordered a second season of Big City Greens ahead of the series' debut. On October 7, 2019, it was announced that the second season would premiere on November 4, 2019, however, it got pushed back to November 16, 2019. On January 13, 2021, the series was renewed for a third season. On January 21, 2022, the series was renewed for a fourth season, which premiered on September 23, 2023. On June 11, 2024, the series was renewed for a fifth season.
During production for the first season, an episode titled "Hands-On History" was in development, with the production number 110. The episode was directed by Monica Ray, from a story by Carson Montgomery, also being written and storyboarded by Caldwell Tanner and Cheyenne Curtis. It featured Mark Hamill in the role of Dr. Ponderstein, a sinister curator who ran a museum. The plot focused on Cricket and Remy at odds with one another, over Ponderstein's method of educating children. The episode was shelved when the Houghton Brothers found Remy's behavior in the episode unlikeable - they could not find a way to make the story work so early in the show's run. On cancelling the episode, co-creator Chris Houghton stated, "[W]e killed that episode for the best of reasons: it just didn’t work. We broke and re-broke the story a ton of times. Reboarded it again and again. Sometimes the best course of action is to take your creation out behind the shed, ya know?"
When announced, the series was scheduled to premiere in 2018 on Disney XD; however, on March 26, 2018, it was reported that the series would debut on Disney Channel in mid-2018. On May 17, 2018, The Hollywood Reporter reported that the series would premiere on Disney Channel as part of Disney Channel's GO! Summer on June 18, 2018. The series premiere was made available for streaming via the DisneyNow app and the Disney Channel YouTube channel as of June 8, 2018. Additional new episodes premiered every Monday and Wednesday at 10:00 AM throughout the summer. In addition, Big City Greens shorts began airing on Disney Channel and Disney Channel's YouTube channel on June 4, 2018.
Bekah Burbank of LaughingPlace.com praised the characters of the series, writing, "While the mischief and antics are super silly and completely ridiculous, the characters themselves are quite fun. Just like it is with every family, the quirkiness is what you come to love most about the people you spend time with. The Green family might not be perfect, but they’re positive, supportive, and optimistic no matter the situation. Everyone could benefit from spending a little time with this wacky family." Dave Trumbore of Collider asserted, "The animated series does a solid job of delivering fish-out-of-water laughs alongside some good, old-fashioned heart, making for a refreshing story that has one foot in the country and one in the city."
Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave Big City Greens a grade of four out of five stars and complimented the presence of positive messages and role models, writing, "Big City Greens is a quirky but heartwarming animated series about a family that moves from the country to the city and doesn't quite fit in. Despite mining familiar stereotypes of rural dwellers the show has strong family-centric themes and silly, lighthearted laughs." Jaclyn Appelgate of Comic Book Resources ranked Big City Greens 5th in their "Best Currently Airing Kids' Cartoons" list, saying, "Both children and parents alike are entertained by the hilarious comedy and the lighthearted emphasis on family. Although the plot is simple in nature, being about a country family who goes to live in the big city, it's one of those shows viewers can rely on after a long day. Many fans even consider it a PG version of The Simpsons, which would explain why adults enjoy watching it as well."
Along with a fourth season, a musical film was announced to be in development, with the series' main cast returning along with Cheri Oteri and Renée Elise Goldsberry. Series director Anna O'Brian will helm the film, with Michael Coughling producing. The film is titled Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation. It premiered on June 6, 2024, on Disney Channel, followed by its release on Disney+ the next day. The events of the film take place during the fourth season of Big City Greens.
Meredith Roberts, EVP of Disney Television Animation, revealed that a spin-off series was being developed, though she did not specify what it would entail.
A multiplayer game titled Big City Battle!, where players compete against each other in order to earn a place as a member of the Green family, was released on the DisneyNOW app.
On March 14, 2023, ESPN presented a youth-oriented, Big City Greens-themed telecast of a National Hockey League game between the Washington Capitals and the New York Rangers—the NHL Big City Greens Classic —on Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney+ and ESPN+. The broadcast leveraged the NHL Edge player and puck tracking system, combined with technology from Beyond Sports, to present a real-time 3D animated recreation of the game; the teams' players were represented by avatars on an outdoor rink, with Vincent Trocheck and Evgeny Kuznetsov being portrayed by avatars of Cricket and Tilly respectively (with their voice actors also using live facial motion capture), and the goalies portrayed by Gramma Alice and Bill Green. Gloria and Remy also joined the game during the last few minutes. Commentators Kevin Weekes and Drew Carter were featured via motion captured avatars, developed by the animation studio Silver Spoon (which had previously worked with CBS Sports and Nickelodeon on similar motion captured avatars for segments of youth-oriented NFL broadcasts). The broadcast on Disney Channel drew approximately 140,000 viewers, while the Disney XD simulcast had roughly 30,000, for a total of 176,000 viewers. In November 2023, it was reported that the simulcast would return in 2024, later specified as a March 9 game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Boston Bruins. The Disney Channel broadcast drew 125,000 viewers.