Pepper Ann

***Pepper Ann*** is an American animated series created by Sue Rose and aired on ABC. It debuted on September 13, 1997. *Pepper Ann* focuses animated youths and charted their ups and downs at Hazelnut Middle School. It aired as part of the Disney's One Saturday Morning block. The character originated in a comic strip published in YM magazine.

## Plot

The show centers on the titular character, Pepper Ann Pearson, a 12-year-old girl whose emotions come out in fantasies. The show was designed to be a "different sort" of girl's cartoon, and features many strong-willed female characters who aggressively reject the idea of passive femininity.

Pepper Ann's best friends are Milo Kamalani, a very eccentric, highly dramatic artist; and Nicky Little, a soft-spoken, overachieving aspiring violinist. Other fellow students at Hazelnut Middle School include rich and spoiled Trinket St. Blair, German boy Dieter Liederhosen, popular airhead Cissy Rooney, gossipy twins Tessa and Vanessa James, Nicky's boyfriend, the RC car-racing "nerd" Stewart Walldinger, and the cool 8th-grader, Craig Bean. Pepper Ann has no real enemies except Principal Hickey, a tough disciplinarian with zero tolerance for Pepper Ann's shenanigans, and Alice Kane, an uppity snob who refers to her as "P. Ann". As well, Pepper Ann usually receives advice from her conscience in the form of her reflection. She gets into mild vocal argues with her reflection and her feminist mother, Lydia, although Lydia usually gives the moral at the end.

Pepper Ann's father is seen only in a few episodes in his entirety. We know, however, that he was English, and divorced Lydia (although the two remain on good terms) when the girls were young. Lydia, in turn, embraces her divorcée single-mom identity with great gusto, and encourages Pepper Ann to be as proudly independent as she is, although she does keep a curfew on Pepper Ann. Further support is given by Lydia's sister, Janie Diggety an ex-Green Beret, and Pepper Ann's tomboyish deep-voiced younger sister, Moose.

At the end of the opening sequence, she always finds something different under her desk (similar to *The Simpsons'* couch gag), such as a mood ring or maracas (also the letter Q in the episode "Vanessa Less Tessa", a glowing green stick in the episode "Hazelnut's Finest", a singing Dieter doll in the episode "Presenting Stewart Walldinger", Mardi Gras beads, and her [Pepper Ann's] remote control in the episode "Radio Freak Hazelnut"); in season one, she always finds "five bucks". One of the original segments of "One Saturday Morning", Pepper Ann was a hit with audiences.

Pepper Ann and Lydia make a cameo appearance at the *House of Mouse* episode The Stolen Cartoons. They are the only Walt Disney Television Animation characters to ever appear on *House of Mouse*, who only used characters from Disney's features and classic shorts (and sometimes comics). Lydia says "Don't touch the villain, dear," to Pepper Ann after Pete falls out of the sky after being kicked out of the club.

## Cast

* Kathleen Wilhoite as Jennifer "Pepper Ann" Pearson, Pepper Ann's reflection
* Clea Lewis as Nicky Little
* Danny Cooksey as Milo Kamalani
* April Winchell as Lydia Pearson, Grandma Lilly, Abriola Stark, Milicent the Militant, Sherrie Slpeen
* Pamela Segall as Margaret Rose "Moose" Pearson, Sean LeSandre
* Don Adams as Principal Hickey
* Paddi Edwards as Vera Groober-Schwartz
* Susan Tolsky as Aunt Janie Lilly Diggety
* Tino Insana as Uncle JoJo Diggety
* Jeff Bennett as Dieter Liederhosen, Pink-Eye Pete, Shelf McClain, Craig Bean, Ned Diggety, Grandpa Leo
* Kath Soucie as Cissy Rooney, Mrs. Little, Supermodel Mindy
* Jenna von Oÿ as Trinket St. Blair
* Cree Summer as Tessa and Vanessa James
* Tara Charendoff-Strong as Brenda
* Luke Perry as Stewart Walldinger (season 2-3, 5)
* Cam Clarke as Stewart Walldinger (season 4-5)
* Kimmy Robertson as Gwen Mezzrow
* Candi Milo as Constance Goldman
* Kenny Blank as Lamar Abudabe
* Lauren Tom as Alice Kane
* Adam Wylie as Crash
* Karen Duffy as Sketch
* Jim Cummings as Roland Carter, Mr. Little
* Bebe Neuwirth as Bronte Bladdar
* Don Lake as Sherman Finky
* Julia Sweeney as Carlotta Sneed
* Kathy Najimy as Coach Doogan, Margot LeSandre
* James Avery as Owen Clapper
* Maurice LaMarche as Chuck Pearson
* Brittany Murphy as Tank the Eighth grader

## Episodes

List of Pepper Ann episodes

* Pepper Ann (Season 1) (1997-1998)
* Pepper Ann (Season 2) (1998-1999)
* Pepper Ann (Season 3) (1999-2000)
* Pepper Ann (Season 4) (2000)
* Pepper Ann (Season 5) (2000)

## Reruns

After appearing on Disney's One Saturday Morning, Pepper Ann was syndicated on UPN's Disney's One Too programming block in 2000. It then moved to the Disney Channel, and eventually moved to Toon Disney. July 20, 2008 was the last time Pepper Ann was shown on any cable channel in the US. It returned to Disney Channel in Portugal on April 11, 2011. Unlike *Doug* and *Recess*, it has never been released on home video to this day.

The show was released on Disney+ on September 8, 2021. The first season and select episodes from season 3 are in PAL format while the rest of the series has its usual NTSC format.