The Proud Family


The Proud Family is an American animated sitcom created by Bruce W. Smith that aired on Disney Channel for two seasons from September 15, 2001, to August 19, 2005. The series centers on the life of the titular family, including the show's main protagonist, Penny Proud, a 14-year-old African American teenage girl who navigates her adolescence while dealing with her friends and family. Episodes deal with Penny discovering her boundaries and struggling with family relationships and peer pressure. Penny Proud has strong relationships with her entrepreneurial father Oscar Proud and her veterinarian mother Trudy Proud, as well as her friends Dijonay Jones, LaCienega Boulevardez, Zoey Howzer, and Sticky Webb.
Bruce W. Smith previously directed the 1992 film, Bebe's Kids, which was a box office failure. Because of the lack of African-American animated shows, Smith co-founded Jambalaya Studios to create diverse projects. The Proud Family was the first project to be created by the company, starting development in 1998. Smith was inspired to create the series due to the lack of African-American empowerment in animation. Based on his experiences with a middle-class African-American family in Los Angeles, the series featured several elements in animated sitcoms that explored socially relevant themes.
The Proud Family is the first original animated series to air exclusively on Disney Channel. The series premiered on September 15, 2001, as part of the network's programming block Zoog Disney. The series received generally positive reviews for its humor and themes, but received some criticism for its stereotypes. A feature film, The Proud Family Movie, premiered as the series finale on August 19, 2005. A revival, known as The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, premiered on February 23, 2022, on Disney+.

Characters

Main

  • Penny Proud is the main protagonist of the series, a good-natured, smart, outspoken, and sensible 14-year-old girl who enjoys hanging out with her friends, even though they have gotten her into trouble, and left her to face danger by herself many times. She loves her parents dearly, but has a rather tense relationship with Oscar as he frequently embarrasses her and clashes with him over matters of the heart, especially when dating boys.
  • Oscar Proud is the overprotective father of Penny, BeBe and CeCe, husband of Trudy, younger brother of Bobby Proud and son of Suga Mama. Oscar is characterized as obnoxious and immature, but still a well-meaning, friendly man whose ambitions and failed attempts at fame and fortune often cloud his judgement. Oscar is an amateur entrepreneur despite his job as a telemarketer for the fictional Kelly Inc. entrepreneurship.
  • Trudy Proud is the veterinarian mother of Penny, BeBe and CeCe, wife of Oscar, daughter-in-law of Suga Mama and sister-in-law of Bobby Proud. She comes from a relatively wealthy family which includes her sister Diana, who is a famous actress. She often gives Penny advice when Penny is in trouble while at the same time, she frequently forces Oscar to see the logical side of an argument and to allow Penny to have a voice. Trudy is the second most sensible member of the family along with Penny, though she can be bossy sometimes.
  • Suga Mama Proud is Penny, BeBe, and CeCe's hip, wrestling-loving paternal grandmother, Oscar and Bobby's mother and Trudy's mother-in-law who does Tae Bo. She is nice but sassy, and always gets straight to the point when she talks. She can even tease and beat up Oscar, but loves him deep down. She is really into pink dresses and afro puffs, hence the name of her dog, Puff.
  • BeBe Proud & CeCe Proud are Penny's troublemaking baby fraternal twin siblings. BeBe is a boy with an afro and always has a bottle in his mouth, while CeCe is a girl with brown hair and a pink dress. BeBe and CeCe are named after the gospel music brother and sister duo, BeBe & CeCe Winans.
  • Puff the Dog is Suga Mama's beloved pet poodle. Puff is often tormented by the baby twins, BeBe & CeCe, who play roughly with him. He does, however, show a soft side for Penny.
  • LaCienega Boulevardez is Penny's Hispanic-American frenemy and the daughter of Felix and Sunset Boulevardez. She is the most popular and beautiful girl in Penny's school, caring a great deal about her popularity and image and displaying a rather nasty bullying attitude; Penny in particular rarely gets along with her. LaCienega and her mother Sunset are named after La Cienega Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard, two Los Angeles area arterial roads that meet in West Hollywood, California.
  • Dijonay Jones is Penny's selfish and untrustworthy yet enthusiastic and caring best friend. She has an obsessive crush on Sticky. She also loves to gossip and has gotten Penny in trouble many times. Dijonay's name is a pun on the name of Best Foods'/Hellmann's Dijonnaise, and she has nine younger siblings, all named after spices, seasonings and condiments.
  • Zoey Howzer is timid, shy, and very insecure about her looks and wants to be accepted. Zoey is known for being a follower and Penny often has to talk sense into her. Her family is Jewish.
  • Sticky Webb is Penny's other best friend. He is shown as a cool tech nerd who is able to build or hack any type of device, and after Zoey, he is Penny's most loyal friend.

    Supporting

  • The Gross Sisters are the neighborhood bullies who are almost always seen together and who go around stealing money from students, faculty, and parents. Their names are references to skincare brands Neutrogena, Nivea, and Olay, although their skin is noted to be dry, ashy, and blue.
  • Bobby Proud is Oscar's older brother, Suga Mama's elder son, Trudy's brother-in-law and Penny, BeBe and CeCe's uncle. He is a fan of groups like Kool & The Gang among others. Suga Mama favors him over Oscar. He often has Oscar do things that annoy him very often, but ironically lead to Oscar meeting beautiful women.
  • Wizard Kelly is an incredibly wealthy and famous businessman who made his fortune playing professional basketball, whom Oscar greatly admires. He owns various businesses that are named after him, one of which is the Kelly Inc. entrepreneurship where Oscar works. A running gag is that he is very tall, so every image and video of him shows only up to his neck. He is based on former basketball player Magic Johnson, following a similar life and nomenclature. His wife's name, Ginger Snap, is a play on Johnson's wife Cookie.
  • Smart Baby/Red-Nosed Baby is an infant with a droll expression, who enjoys harassing Oscar.
  • Felix Boulevardez is Oscar's neighbor and best friend. He is the father of LaCienega and the husband of Sunset. He owns his own construction company called Boulevardez Construction. Both Oscar and Felix tend to get in trouble with their wives, yet their friendship is strong. Felix usually gives LaCienega everything she asks for but he has occasionally been pushed to a breaking point.
  • Sunset Boulevardez is Felix's wife and Trudy's best friend. She is the mother of LaCienega, a stay-at-home mother who has a lot in common with Trudy, such as complaining about how their husbands get in trouble quite frequently. Unlike Felix, Sunset is more strict with LaCienega as she has little patience for her nasty attitude. She is also very fond of Penny, much to LaCienega's chagrin.
  • Papi Boulevardez is Felix's father, Sunset's father-in-law and Suga Mama's love interest. He is the grandfather of LaCienega. He speaks only Spanish and as a result he can get away with insulting Suga Mama. He is known for his trademark cackling when after he insults Suga Mama or on some occasions.
  • Michael Collins is Penny's flamboyant friend and the son of the school coach.
  • Dr. Payne is the Prouds' doctor, whose build and mannerisms are based on those of Mr. T. Oscar usually suffers painful treatment at his hands.
  • Peabo is the Prouds' 9-year-old neighbor.
  • Li’l Wiz is Wizard Kelly's son.

    Episodes

Crossover with ''Lilo & Stitch''

The Proud Family visit Hawaii in an episode of Lilo & Stitch: The Series, titled "Spats", in which they stay at Jumba & Pleakley's Bed & Not Breakfast and Suga Mama inadvertently activates an experiment that causes spats.

Production

Origin and development

American animator and character designer Bruce W. Smith had previously directed the animated film Bebe's Kids. Based on comedian Robin Harris' stand-up comedy act of the same name, it was the first animated film to be targeted at a Black audience. Released on July 31, 1992, by Paramount Pictures, it was a box-office flop, and it received negative reviews from critics. Since the 1970s, only a few animated series had an African-American focus, including Little Bill in 1999.
In 1999, Smith co-founded Jambalaya Studio with Hyperion Pictures to bring more "racially and ethnically" diverse animated projects to television, movies, and the internet. The Proud Family was the first project created for Jambalaya Studio, starting development in 1998. Smith was inspired to create the series because he did not see the characters of color represented in animation. Upon creating the series, Smith drew his experiences with a middle-class African-American family in Los Angeles. The conception of the series was also inspired by his fatherhood of three children. In 2000, Smith told Charles Solomon of The Los Angeles Times that he wanted to create a middle-class African-American family that was "not so much Cosby-esque as Cosby-esque with a really interesting slant." The name of the series was inspired by his meeting with co-founder Tom Wilhite when Smith showed him the main characters drawn in a family portrait.
The series' lead character, Penny Proud, was partially based on Smith's daughter Rachel. According to Smith in 2001, he saw the series as an instructional video to his daughter. Oscar's mother, Suga Mama, was named after Smith's mother, Mary, who disliked being called "grandma". His mother's personality traits were also included for the character, including her "bold spirit". Oscar and Trudy Proud were based on Smith and his wife Denise. Papi Boulevardez's physical appearance was inspired by Cesar Romero as the Joker in Batman.