Cindi and Friends

***Cindi and Friends***, also known as simply ***Cindi*** and spelt ***Cindy and Friends*** for release in the Americas, is a Kuboian animated television series created by Fyp Housin and produced by Scopescreen Media.

The show ran on KT for three seasons airing from 2001 to 2003. After the show came to an end, reruns continued to air on the channel until its closure in November 2008. Reruns were also shown on Nick Jr. Kuboia until 2005 and during Vision One's unbranded children's programming block from 2009 to 2011.

During its initial run, *Cindi and Friends* received positive reception from critics and audiences alike, which praise going towards its writing, animation and music, though the show did receive some criticism over some of its characters and their personality traits.

## Premise

Cindi Sophia Roberts is a nine year-old girl who does not attend school. Instead, she spends her life attending a daycare group which is located in an indoor entertainment centre called Rainbow Dome. Although Cindi prefers to spend time alone and typically dislikes the company of others, she learns to spend time with and appreciate the other children who attend the same group as her. Since she is good at helping others with their problems, Cindi is popular amongst her friends and acquaintances, though she does has a rivalry with Todd, the snobby father of her friend Tanya.

## Show format

Each episode of *Cindi and Friends* has a runtime of approximately fourteen and a half minutes. Narration by Cindi herself is provided at the beginning and end of each episode, in which she reflects on what she has learnt or achieved onscreen. A majority of the episodes teach some sort of social lesson, typically involving friendship and teamwork.

## Cast and characters

### Main characters

There are a total of eight main characters in *Cindi and Friends*, which include Cindi herself, the two staff members who run the social group she attends (Victoria and Fly), and the other five children who attend it. All eight appear in every episode, though only Cindi has a speaking role in every episode.

* **Cindi Sophia Roberts** is the titular character and main protagonist of the show; a nine year-old girl who has brown hair and usually wears two pigtails. She is often seen as a heroine amongst her friends and family due to frequently being the one who helps others with their problems. Despite having never attended school in her life, Cindi is shown to be very intelligent, however, she can also be very grumpy, pessimistic and cynical, and is prone to making selfish decisions. Regardless, she is very loyal to her parents and caretakers and cares about her friends, especially Hyh, a lot.
* **Fly** is the owner of the group Cindi and her friends attend. Although he is not seen interacting with the children a lot, he is very committed to keeping the place a safe and fun environment for the children.
* **Victoria** is Fyp's only employee, who is often incompetent and clumsy. She usually has difficulty trying to entertain the children or keep them safe from danger. Cindi in particular tends to find her annoying.
* **Hyh** is Cindi's best friend, who is typically the one who stays by her side when the other four children are playing together. He typically acts as the voice of reason if Cindi is being selfish or if one of the other children are misbehaving.
* **Tanya** is the third child who attends the social group in Rainbow Dome. She has the tendency to get up to mischief and cause trouble for the others, although this appears to be because her father has high and strict expectations of her when she is at home. Cindi appears to somewhat dislike Tanya at first, but eventually learns to be good friends with her.
* **Aourine** is Hyh's sister, who is often very loud and energetic. She enjoys to act as the "leader" when playing with her friends and can be very bossy with them, though she has good intentions and does try to make everybody happy. Though she and Hyh look around the same age, it is never made clear if they are twins or not.
* **Florence** is the fifth attendee of the group. She seems to be spoilt, and can be very full of herself, especially if she is given compliments. Despite this, Florence enjoys the company of others, and usually likes to give her friends special names. She appears to be Tanya's best friend, and enjoys teasing her in a playful manner.
* **Quu**, a Black boy, is the youngest and quietist of the children. He is shown to be very talented and creative but is very shy and inconfident. Although he is often negative and sarcastic, he is also capable of being very determined and passionate.

### Other characters

Cindi's parents, Kimberly and Styl, are seen from time to time. They are depicted as being socially awkward but very supportive of their daughter. Cindi also has a two year-old brother, Zephyr, who makes a few minor appearances.

The families of the other children are seen occasionally. Quu's friendly and assertive teenage sister, Titrit, makes several major appearances in later series. Tanya's snobby and arrogant father, Todd, also has regular speaking appearances - he appears to have a petty rivalry with Cindi, and is regularly seen competing with her over something. Because of this, he is generally considered the main antagonist of the show.

Other staff who work at Rainbow Dome sometimes cross path with Cindi and company. These include Rob, the reluctant janitor who frequently complains about his low wages, and Skit, an employee who works at a junk food stall and sneakily gives the children food and drinks for free.

### Voice cast

* Charlie Karma as Cindi
* Ilim Delftware as Hyh
* Anita Freshers as Aourine
* Enny Emery as Quu, Zephyr and additional voices
* Melissa Emery as Tanya and additional voices
* Lucy Hudson as Florence
* Bentley Verrichten as Fly
* Macie Raven as Victoria, Kimberly and additional voices
* Roy Bradbroune as Rob, Skit, Styl and additional voices
* Tone Riddles as Todd
* Darren Marion as additional voices

## Development

### Production

Production on *Cindi and Friends* began in 1996 - the titular character is loosely based off Cynthia Frewsburg, a girl who show creator Fyp Housin was dating at the time. Frewsburg spoke about the show in 2005 saying she "absolutely loved it". Originally, the show was going to be aimed towards older children, and Cindi (who was also originally called Cindy Waghauser) was originally drawn wearing a bumbag on her right hip, which had a gun in it. However, Housin was encouraged by family and friends to make the show for younger children, so this idea was scrapped.

Housin said in a 2004 interview that he had many ideas for episodes that got shelved due to the target audience being changed, including an episode where Cindi would save Rainbow Dome by deactivating a bomb and attacking the man responsible by throwing a knife at him. According to Housin, Evan Ridley nearly fell off his chair with shock when he heard about the episode idea.

### Music

The show soundtrack features songs consisting of a variety of different genres, including late 1990s-inspired R&B and hip hop, teen pop, neo soul, acid jazz and trip hop. Housin helped to co-write most of the tracks. Two songs from the soundtrack were released as singles; "Cindi's Dance" by Charlie Karma and "Midnight Streets" by Lucy Hudson.

### Cancellation

*Cindi and Friends* ran for three seasons, with the final series running during the spring of 2003. Fyp Housin had plans for a fourth season and "had no real plans on stopping". However, he decided to cancel the show to focus on other material and stay out of the public spotlight.

Fyp has stated that he recycled some episodes planned for Season 4 as plots for Season 1 and 2 episodes of 2007 sitcom *Les Fashionistas*, which he co-created with Marilyn Sed and Gigi Kakart.

## Home video releases

Nine volumnes, each with four episodes, were released on VHS in the United Kingdom from 2000 to 2004. In Kuboia, a large group of VHS tapes featuring three or four episodes each were released from 1999 to 2005.

The complete *Cindi* collection was released in Sulba in November 2006. On 6 May 2009, said boxset was reissued featuring widescreen Season 2 and 3 episodes.

## Reception

*Cindi and Friends* received high ratings during its initial run, with some episodes receiving as many as 1.5 million viewing figures on KT. According to Ericka Streets, the show regularly topped children's public polls for most favourite KT programme.

The show received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences alike, with praise going towards its premise, writing, music and development, as well as educational and entertainment value for both older and younger children. Common Sense Media awarded the show a 4/5 rating praising the show's positive messages and citing that "though the titular characters is flawed, she is good at learning her lesson."

Around late 2017/early 2018, the show found renewed interest through internet memes and being uploaded onto a YouTube channel called JangleNet!, in which either a new episode or a clip related to the show (such as a music video or DVD feature) was uploaded on a Tuesday. Some of the videos have accumulated over 20 million views.

### Controversy and criticism

#### **Removal from television channels**

After Fyp Housin, the show's creator's father, Xiam Housin, was arrested for the 2004 Fahrbahnin Kidnappings in September 2004, *Cindi and Friends* was removed from the lineup of several children's channels worldwide - CBeebies pulled it from its programming selection entirely, though it returned to the channel in 2006. Noggin temporarily pulled the show from its schedule, although it slowly began to return back to being a regular programming over the next few months.

The series was also removed from Nickelodeon, Playhouse Disney and PBV Pálicunet in Sallisland on 2 January 2012 due to complaints in December 2011 by Svetlana Ćuriklo who claimed that Cindi (who is also renamed to Svetlana in Sallish) was based in her likeness without credit. It eventually returned to Nickelodeon on 22 April 2012.

In early 2020, the series was withdrawn from Kuboian television due to concerns of it "glorifying educational neglect" in regards to rapper Flavia having an education withheld from her by kidnappers.

#### **Later controversies**

The character of Cindi Sophia Roberts has attracted criticism, with some audiences comparing her to a karoul stereotype. Kuboian activist Terrance Denn said that Cindi "is so stereotypical that she's like a parody" and that her behaviour is "dangerously easy to copy". The character has also received criticism for seemingly receiving little to no punishment for her selfishness.

The series came under fire several times for "glorifying truancy", as Cindi does not go to school. This was resolved for Sallislandic and British release by simply editing out explicit mentions of characters not attending school, as well as claiming on websites that the series merely takes place on days the children have off school. However, it would eventually lead to withdrawal from Kuboian television in early 2020 due to the Flavia case.

In 2020, Lucy-Leah and Natalie Forbin, who contributed towards the show's soundtrack, revealed that they received almost no money for their work despite being promised a reasonably high pay. Some of the cast, including Melissa Emery and Ilim Delftware, later followed with similar stories. When questioned about the incident, Fyp Housin stated that he was not responsible for paying the cast, so could not comment on it.

The cast decisions have also been criticised, particularly Enny Emery, who voiced Quu, a black character, despite Emery not being black herself. She received noticeable backlash on social media in March 2021 after admitting she "tried putting on a black accent" when voicing the character. Emery's family apologised for the incident, but also tried to remind those offended that she was only a child when recording her lines.

1. ↑ The Sallish dub, dubs based on the Sallish dub, and the UK broadcast version change the series to be set during after-school and days off.