That's So Raven is an American sitcom television series broadcast on the Disney Channel. The plot revolves around a not so typical teenager Raven Baxter and her schemes to get herself, her friends, Eddie and Chelsea, and family members such as her brother Cory, out of various situations, usually by using her psychic powers and her skills as a master of disguise.
Trivia[]
Here, she’s credited as Raven. In Raven’s Home, she’s credited as Raven-Symoné.
Disney Channel's first multi camera sitcom.
Disney Channel's first live action sitcom where the main characters are mostly, if not, entirely African American.
Disney Channel's first sitcom with at least one hundred episodes.
Disney Channel's first sitcom with at least four seasons.
Raven-Symoné is Disney Channel's first African American female star and the first African American woman to have her name in the title of a Disney Channel sitcom.
Episodes[]
Cast and characters[]
- Raven-Symoné as Raven Baxter
- Orlando Brown as Eddie Thomas
- Anneliese van der Pol as Chelsea Daniels
- Kyle Massey as Cory Baxter
- Rondell Sheridan as Victor Baxter
- T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh as Tanya Baxter (Seasons 1-3)
Chill Grill[]
Chill Grill is a fictional restaurant owned by Victor Baxter. It was introduced during the second season of That's So Raven. In the episode "If I Only Had a Job", Raven has a vision of her dad opening his own restaurant called "Baxter's Place." In the beginning of the second season it finally opened as "The Chill Grill." The introduction of "The Chill Grill" was during the episode "Out Of Control". The restaurant is also a popular hangout for the kids that go to daughter Raven Baxter's school. It was revealed in the episode The Four Aces that the Chill Grill was formerly a swinging thirties restaurant by day, and nightclub in the evening called The Four Aces. The Chill Grill almost went out of business when in the episode The Grill Next Door, the restaurant faced stiff competition from a knock-off restaurant called "The Hill Grill," which was owned by Victor's college cooking rival Leonard Stevenson.
Running gags[]
- Raven would often refer to little children as "little nasties" when they misbehaved.
- Raven used "Oh snap!" periodically.
- Throughout the seasons, Raven would say "I'm OK" whenever she fell hard to the ground. On the rare occasion, she would say "I am not OK".
- The recurring character, Stanley, would often request cheese sandwiches if he ever won a game or competition or if someone wanted him to do something.
- Cory's obsession with money was a running gag throughout the series.
- Whenever Raven would be caught in an awkward situation, she would mutter "How y'all doin'?"
- Stanley would often refer to people as "my brotha" (mostly Eddie and Cory).
- Eddie occasionally would say "You blowin' my mind!" in season 4.
- Chelsea's lack of intelligence would often serve as a form of humor in the series.
- Very rarely in the series, Victor Baxter would do the splits and say "Here comes the pain."
- If someone said that Chelsea was "Playing Dumb" she would reply "I'm Not Playing!" This happens on two separate occasions.
Spoofs and pop culture references[]
- That's So Raven has become a target for shows such as MADtv:
- The parody of Snoop Dogg & Pharell's music video "Drop It Like It's Hot," entitled "Smokin' Too Much Pot," shows the That's So Raven logo on the screen and the lyrics include "and you're laughing at So Raven, from smokin' lots of pot, smokin' lots of pot, smokin' lots of pot..."
- In another spoof, a family has dinner at a restaurant, during which the pedophelic uncle says to the daughter, "Hey, want to go back to my place and watch a little That's So Raven on TV?"
- In another spoof, a limo driver refuses to give his limo to two men visiting Hollywood, because he says "It's for a guest appearing on That's So Raven."
- The show was spoofed in a promotional TV commercial for the 76th Academy Awards during Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Alias in 2004. The commercial features Raven dressing up in luxurious and elegant clothing similar to the way actresses do when attending the ceremony and ends with Raven entering her living room watching the ceremony while eating popcorn.
- On the show Dog Bites Man on Comedy Central, a character is watching That's So Raven on the television. Another character walks in and asks, "Are you watching That's So Raven"? And he replies, "Yeah, it's the one with the picnic." They laugh and say, "That is so Raven!"
- Neil Gaiman's run on the The Eternals comic book features a TV show (on "the Tweenie Channel") called It's Just So Sprite!
- Penny Arcade invented a show called That's So Locust.
- On Comedy Central's animated show Drawn Togethe] in the episode "Wooldoor Sockbat's Giggle-Wiggle Funny Tickle Non-Traditional Progressive Multicultural Roundtable!", during a parody of The Terminator, when all the heterosexual people are underground, some kids change the channel on the TV to That's So Raven.
- On The Emperor's New School, Kuzco said he needs a new title like, "That's So Kuzco" like "That's So Raven".
- In one episode of American Dad, it cuts to Stan as he's watching TV and he bursts into laughter saying "That IS so Raven".
- The comedian Nick Kroll has developed a character named Fabrice Fabrice, the craft services coordinator for That's So Raven. However, it appears Fabrice Fabrice might now be working exclusively for the MTV series, Human Giant.
- In British satire show, Dead Ringers, a TV announcer declares the next progamme to be "Thats So Raven, a show in which a Raven behaves typically".
- In the show Sonny With a Chance they do a sketch about old people awards they were going to award their favorite show one was "That's So Graven".
- In the Disney California Adventure show ,Aladdin when Aladdin agreed to set the Genie free he remarks, " Oh, Thats So Raven".
Merchandise[]
The That's So Raven franchise has been modeled after fellow Disney Channel hit Lizzie McGuire. Raven has a clothing line, DVD releases, novels, bedroom sets, a perfume, a GirlTalk board game, three video games, and two soundtracks, That's So Raven: Songs from and inspired by the hit TV show and That's So Raven Too!.
In February 2005, That's So Raven toys were featured in the McDonald's Happy meal. In April 2005, a doll based on Raven Baxter was released and another was released the following year.
In September 2005, the show also spawned a fragrance and an MP3 player. That same month, the clothing line was shipped to Macy's stores. As of 2006, the That's So Raven merchandise has made $400 million. The show released its fourth DVD in July 2006, entitled Raven's Makeover Madness. Sales were expected to approach nearly half a billion dollars by January 2007.
CDs[]
- That's So Raven (soundtrack)
- That's So Raven Too!
DVDs[]
- Supernaturally Stylish
- Episodes:
- "If I Only Had a Job"
- "He's Got the Power"
- "That's So Not Raven"
- "Boyz 'N Commotion"
- Special Features:
- "Supernatural" music video - Performed by Raven
- "That's So Raven" music video - Performed by Raven, Orlando Brown, and Anneliese van der Pol.
- Disguise the Limit
- Episodes:
- "Art Breaker"
- "Country Cousins" Part 1 & 2
- "The Grill Next Door"
- Special Features:
- "Master of Disguises" - Raven and the Show's Makeup Artists reveal how many faces of Raven are created.
- Selected Scenes Visual Commentary - Take a walk with Raven as she shares some of her favorite "Raven" moments.
- Raven's House Party
- Episodes:
- "Opportunity Shocks"
- "Too Much Pressure"
- "Double Vision"
- "Four Aces"
- Special Features:
- "Vision Impossible"
- That's So Raven Radio Trivia Game
- Bloopers and outtakes (with an introduction by Raven)
- Raven's Makeover Madness
- Episodes:
- "Pin Pals"
- "Dues and Don'ts"
- "Adventures in Boss-Sitting"
- "Hook Up My Space"
- Special Features:
- "When 6021 Met 4267"
- So You Think You Know Raven?
- The Cheetah Girls 2 sneak peek
- Disney Channel Holiday
- Episodes:
- "Escape Claus"
- That's So Suite Life of Hannah Montana
- Episodes:
- "Checkin' Out"
Video games[]
That's So Raven has spawned three video games:
- That's So Raven
- That's So Raven 2
- That's So Raven 3 (published by Buena Vista Games)
All of these are available on the Game Boy Advance system by Nintendo.
Books[]
- "What You See Is What You Get"
- "Rescue Me"
- "In Raven We Trust"
- "Step Up"
- "Family Affair"
- "2 Good 2 B True"
- "Tell It Like It Is"
- "Dueling Divas"
- Sasha the party love
- "Psyched"
- "Boyfriend Blues"
- "Be Mine"
- "The Real Deal"
- "Over The Top"
- "Rebel Raven"
- "Superstar"
- "House Party"
- "Queen Of Hearts"
- "Raven Rocks"
Theme song and opening sequence[]
The show's title theme song was written by John Coda, who also composes the music cues to signify scene changes and commercial breaks for this series and Even Stevens, was co-produced by Def Jef and Christopher B. Pearman (Raven-Symoné's real-life father) and was performed by Raven-Symoné, Anneliese van der Pol and Orlando Brown.
Raven performs most of the theme while Brown performs a rap near the end of the theme and some scattered vocals in the beginning of the theme and Van der Pol only sings the show's title in the chorus.
A full-length version of this theme was heard in a music video which aired a few months before the show's U.S. premiere and also can be heard on the show's first soundtrack, released in 2004.
Like all Disney Channel shows, the show's opening credit sequence was modified but not replaced with a new sequence as the series went on. The show's opening credit sequence begins with the show's title with each segment of the title on a different card, before switching to full screen episode clips from the show, which before certain clips included the CGI effect regularly seen when Raven Baxter has a vision. The sequence was modified three times: first, during the first and second seasons featuring newer episode clips, effectively, Raven's starring credit was moved back a few seconds. The second time was in season four which gave new clips again. The third time featured newer clips and replaced the cast-on-the-living room couch portion of the credits with a shot of the cast standing on the living room stairs and did not show T'Keyah Crystal Keymah. The names of the creators and executive producers alternated each episode. In addition, the fourth season's theme offered a brief audio clip of Raven exclaiming, "Oh, snap!" before concluding with "Yep, that's me". The change for the second season does not air on Disney Channel anymore; it only airs on ABC on Saturday mornings. The sequence was modified each season.
In Disney Channel Asia, an Asian version of the show's theme song was made just like High School Musical's "Breaking Free" in which Disney Channel Asia also made its Asian version. The music video debuted on January 1, 2007 back-to-back with the 100th episode of That's So Raven.