Groove Girls

Groove Girls is a French-Italian-American teen animated comedy series series created by Vincent Chalvon-Demersay and Albert McCain mainly produced by French animation company Marathon Media and French broadcaster TF1, Italian broadcaster Mondo TV. The show incorporated stylistic elements of Japanese animation and was originally based on the concept of a girl group. It focuses on lives of a group of diverse teenage girls in Miami, Florida, United States who are a crime-fighting musical girl group.

Groove Girls first aired on September 3, 2000 on Cartoon Network in the United States before moving to Fox Family and less than three years later. It premiered on TF1 in France on 18 April 2001, and on Teletoon in Canada on September 14, 2001. Since the series debut, 185 episodes were broadcast, comprising seven seasons and several specials.

Several products tied to the series have been released, which include a series of comic books, novels and video games. A theatrical movie production named Groove Girls: The Movie, made and released between the fifth and sixth seasons and co-produced with Japan, was released in 2006 in America and 2009 in France.

Premise
The series centers on the adventures of seven teenage girls from Miami, Florida - Chastity Meyer, Nichole Davenport-Watson, Jasmine Deveraux, Veronica Turner, Alana Sanchez, Amber Strauss and Michelle Wong - who lead a double life as a crime-fighting girl band at Supastar Records. The girls are recruited by former musician and crime fighter Reginald "Reggie" Powers, his sarcastic intern Shawn, and dance champion Dionne Powell to fight worsening crime around the world while traveling the globe as pop stars. The girls wear colorful crime-fighting suits and are equipped with various gadgets to help them in their battles. Their main missions are to take care of little villains who plan to take over the world. In other missions, these same villains plot to get revenge on the girls by destroying their personal lives and threatening to reveal their identities. Each episode is framed by a subplot that focuses on the girls' daily lives as high school (and then college) students, their relationships, and their longtime nemesis, Nina.

Main characters

 * Chastity Meyer (voiced by Stephanie Broschart in French and Rachael Leigh Cook in English, with Marcella LaRue singing in both languages) is the "upbeat but edgy" girl on the Groove Girls team. She's always up for a stylish adventure. Her favorite place to go is the spa and she loves yoga, massages, shopping, punk rock music, going to the movies and partying with friends. Her favorite drink is strawberry milkshake and she can't live without her cell phone. In the band, she plays bass and does backing vocals.  When she saves the day, she wears a magenta themed jumpsuit.
 * Nichole Davenport-Watson (voiced by Maliaka McCain in English and French) is the intellectual of the Groove Girls team. She is of African-American descent and acts like an older sister to her friends, being rational, logical and the most mature of the group. More reasonable than Chastity, less reckless than Veronica, less stubborn than Lara, less giddy than Michelle, more witty than Alana, less fancy than Amber, and less superficial than Jasmine, her intelligence and coolness allow her to find effective solutions to complicated problems. Her favorite pastime is drawing and sketching. She is an urban girl who likes to travel in style, spend her time getting manicures at her favorite spa, and shopping. When she saves the day, she wears a blue jumpsuit. McCain reprised her role in the French, Italian, Latin American, and Canadian French dubs.
 * Jasmine Deveraux (voiced by Fanny Bloc in French and Rosario Dawson in English) is the most fashionable of the Groove Girls team. Of the seven girls, she is the most expressive with the attitude of the Miami teenage fashionista, and is the first to court the latest handsome boy available, taking an interest in the latest clothes, diets and trends, and often competing with Nina in popularity contests. Her favorite place is the mall, where she enjoys shopping, getting pedicures, chatting with cute boys, and she can't live without her credit card. Although she is athletic, agile, and strong, she is also impulsive and spontaneous, never thinking twice before jumping into action. She is always ready to teach the bad guys a lesson, even if she has no chance of winning against them. When she saves the world, she wears a purple jumpsuit.
 * Veronica "Ronnie" Turner (voiced by Marie Nonnenmacher in French and Pamela Adlon in English) is the psychic of the Groove Girls team. Veronica is a wild child at heart who doesn't let anyone walk all over her. Originally from New Zealand, Veronica is bold, sassy and tomboyish, but she also knows how to keep secrets, believes in luck and karma, and is a devotee of astrology and the stars. When she saves the day, she wears a mint green jumpsuit.
 * Alana Sanchez (voiced by Jessie Lambotte in French, and Vanessa Marshall in English) is the heart of the Groove Girls team. Although she is somewhat modest in their presence, she admires the girls and values her friendship with them above all else, and will do anything to keep the team together and happy. She is very affectionate and is not afraid to show her feelings. Her favorite places to go are retro clothing stores and she loves chic and funky fashion. When she saves the world, she wears a golden yellow jumpsuit.
 * Amber Strauss (voiced by Kelly Marot in French, and Elizabeth Daily in English) is the soul of the Groove Girls team who is mixed with Italian and German ancestry. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, she is a Southern belle with a flair for fashion and fragrance, and loves to create perfumes. Her favorite place to be is the beach, and she adores jewelry. When she saves the day, she wears a peach jumpsuit.
 * Michelle Wong (voiced by Celine Mauge in French, and Lucy Liu in English) is the charm of the Groove Girls team who is of Chinese-American origin. She is very dramatic, fashionable and talented. She can be a bit dizzy and forgetful at times, but she makes up for it with her musical talents. She wants to be a fashion designer and often draws designs in her notebook. When she saves the world, she wears a red jumpsuit.
 * Reginald "Reggie" Powers (voiced by Alexandre Nguyen in French, and Kenneth "Babyface" Edwards in English) is a former musician and crime fighter, the girls' superior, and the founder of Supastar Records. He is the head of the Groove Girls and their manager, and takes a certain pleasure in calling them out at inopportune moments. Despite his age, he is still athletic and very charismatic when helping the girls with certain missions. He takes the girls' crime fighting and music careers very seriously, which often results in teasing from the girls, Shawn and Dionne.
 * Shawn Mitchell (voiced by Martial Le Minoux in French, and Richard Steven Horvitz in English) is Reggie's intern at Supastar Records. Shawn is very sarcastic and cynical about almost everything, and resents Reggie for getting all the attention. He is very inventive and has created many gadgets for the girls. In the first two seasons, he has a crush on Dionne, another Supastar employee, but is often rejected by her. In the second season finale, he dates Pamela, his classmate and Room 101 intern, thus losing all trace of his feelings for Dionne.
 * Dionne Powell (voiced by Geneviève Doang in French and Garcelle Beauvais in English) is a beautiful, materialistic and vain model, a champion dancer, who works as a fashion show model and as a senior employee at Supastar Records. She is a diva, who lives in a lavish house. She is often annoyed by her colleague Shawn, an employee of Supastar, and always rejects his feelings for her, despite this, she is a loyal friend of Shawn. She is a strong young woman and a role model for the Groove Girls.

Recurring characters

 * Nina Roberts (voiced by Adeline Chetail and Geneviève Doang in French, and Lara Jill Miller in English) is a classmate and rival of the girls in their lives outside of Supastar Records. Rich, popular, and charismatic, she is in constant conflict with the girls, arguing with them about boys, pageants, or the clothes they covet. She also has a nasal, snooty laugh. She has an on-again, off-again relationship with Nichole's brother Marcus, who breaks up with her permanently.
 * Marcus Davenport-Watson (voiced by Maël Davan-Soulas in French, and Donald Faison in English) is Nichole's older brother and is a jock at school. He is very popular with the girls. Charismatic, intelligent and suave, he starts dating his sister's rival, Nina, and has an on-again, off-again relationship with her throughout the series, until mid-season 5, when he breaks up with Nina and hooks up with Courtney, his crush.
 * Ashanti and Monique (voiced by Céline Mauge and Anouck Hautbois in French, and Rhona Bennett and Katie Leigh in English) are Nina's two friends who accompany her to school and other events. They are described by Marcus as "Nina's brainless bimbo clones". They are both very shallow and share the same pretentious nasal laugh as Nina. Ashanti is the more mature and logical one, using her brain rather than her heart like Nina, while Monique seems to be the klutz of the group, but is actually smarter than she lets on. But both are equally stupid according to Nina. Both are also very obsessed with boys, fashion, shopping and appearances. They stop being friends with Nina in the middle of the fifth season to pursue a duo career at Supastar Records.
 * Courtney Alexander (played by Alexandra Garijo in French and Melissa Fahn in English) is a Supastar rookie who demonstrates great analytical and investigative skills. She is eventually assigned to a branch of Supastar alongside stars Xander and Lauryn. She begins dating Marcus in the fifth season, which Nichole disapproves of at first, but then learns to accept.
 * Darian Miller (played by Billy Crawford in French and Charlie Adler in English) is a high school student who is the object of the girls' affection. He is ideally attractive, hard-working, artistic and athletic.
 * Edward "Eddie" McDowell IV (voiced by Donald Reignoux in French, and Scott Menville in English) is a hapless nerd whom girls prefer to avoid. He is particularly attracted to Jasmine, and hopes to get her attention.
 * Malcolm Johnson (voiced by Alexandre Nguyen in French, and Kevin Michael Richardson in English) is a music-loving high school student who is attracted to Jasmine and vice versa. For this reason, Eddie is often in conflict with Malcolm.
 * Prudence Roberts (voiced by Laura Préjean in French and Cree Summer in English) is Nina's cousin, a southern belle, and the girls' rival (especially Amber's) at Aventura U from seasons five to seven.

Production and development
The series' conception came from the rise of girl groups and female singers in the music industry. Wanting to capitalize on the niche, Albert McCain traveled to France, to meet up with Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, who at the time was also working on what would be become Totally Spies! with David Michel, putting both ideas into development, which later shifted into production within a year. In an interview with teen magazine Teen Beat, McCain says that "That both series' animation style was intended to incorporate fictional Japanese influences." The production company, Marathon Media, intended on building on the series brand by using a real-life girl group to promote the series' and was the face of the series' brand, and would be signed through Playtone Records. Girl group Stardivas was chosen to become the face of the series' brand. Late in July 1999, the music video "Generation: Groove" featuring rapper Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes was released and aired as an intersitual short on Cartoon Network and was released on VHS as a bonus short on the 1999 VHS of Phineas Fogg's Globetrotting Adventures. The music video was then re-shown as apart of Cartoon Network Groovies. After the success of the music video, the series was promoted through other merchandising. It was announced in Winter 2000 that the series would air in the fall on Cartoon Network in the United States, and would be distributed to the European countries in the following year.

The characters were heavily inspired by the movie Clueless and wanted to mix that with a DC comics format, with a bit of Akira-esque influences. The series is also inspired by the music of girl groups of the late 90s and early 2000s, such as Destiny's Child, TLC, and The Spice Girls, as well as modern artists such as Fifth Harmony and Demi Lovato. The series' art style is heavily influenced by Japanese animation, with the intention of creating a new and original brand of animation for the series. The series was intended to be edgy, but also fun, with a strong female identity. The series was intended to become a popular franchise, with many spin-offs and merchandise. The series was designed to be a comic relief, but also a serious show, with the intention of being a feminist show. The series is intended to be a broad show, but also have a narrow focus, with the intention of remaining fresh for the audience. The series from the jump was aimed at older audiences (mostly tweens and teens) and was intended to become a teen staple. The series was intended to become a popular franchise, with mostly tween/teen girls as the main demographic. When the first season was broadcast, the same day that Charlie's Angels (2000) film came out, and suddenly the market was full of girl show properties.

In a GeoCities interview, Pamela Segall Adlon, who voices Veronica, mentioned that the typical session for the seven girls is that they would record as an ensemble, but through a phone patch, with her, McCain, Liu, Marshall, Cook. Dawson and Daily would record at a recording studio together.

Broadcast
Groove Girls premiered on November 18, 2000 on Cartoon Network. It later premiered in Europe on pay-TV and terrestrial channels such as Germany's ProSieben, France's TF1, United Kingdom's Channel 4, and Disney Channel and the localized Fox Kids channels throughout the region during the spring of 2001. The show was moved to Fox Family in July 2003 in the United States, where it attracted 2.8 million viewers (aged 10-16) daily and continued airing to this day. From 2004 to 2016, The series aired on Boomerang, using the PAL prints instead of the NTSC prints.

Groove Girls has attracted over seven million viewers in France since its debut. The show has been broadcast worldwide on various networks, such as TF1 in France; Teletoon in Canada, Fox Family, Cartoon Network and Boomerang in the US; Fox Kids, Jetix, Cartoon Network, Tooncast and Boomerang in Latin America and Brazil on pay-television; Rede Globo in Brazil on terrestrial TV; ABS-CBN, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang in the Philippines on terrestrial TV; ART Teenz, Fun Channel, Spacetoon, Spacetoon English, MBC 3, Al Jazeera Children's Channel (JCC)/Jeem TV and Nickelodeon Arabia in the Arab World; Dragon Club in China; TVB in Hong Kong; Fox Kids, Jetix, Disney Channel, and Nickelodeon channels in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Oceania. In Australia, it was shown on Network Ten and later on 10 Peach (formerly Eleven) as part of their Toasted TV block. It was aired on POP in the UK and on its sister channel, Pop Girl. It was aired on BBC Alba in Scotland. Season 1 aired on Disney Channel and Toon Disney in the 2000s. It aired in the Republic of Ireland on RTÉ Two from 10 October 2002 until 2009.

Reception
To be added...

Home video and DVD
MGM Home Entertainment (Through Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment) released the first twelve episodes of the show's first season on VHS and DVD in 2002 in three volumes: Groove Girls Volume 1: Go, Girls, Go!, Groove Girls Volume 2: Head Games, and Groove Girls Volume 3: Mall-Trawlin' in Miami. Coinciding with the production and release of the movie, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment acquired the DVD rights for the series as well as some digital rights for the first TBD seasons of the series. They've released the first and second seasons (in two volumes each), as well as a box set containing seasons one through TBD. The third season was finally released in two volumes on TBD 200?. As of 2020, these DVD sets are now out of print and are available on sites like E-Bay. Groove Girls DVDs are also released in the UK by Contender Home Entertainment in 2007, Groove Girls - Mall-Trawlin' in Miami, Groove Girls - Rock N' Royalty, and Groove Girls - Dancin' & Romancin'. This is released on DVD & Blu-ray in the United States by 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment.

Video games
The Groove Girls series was initially followed up with two video games titled Groove Girls and Groove Girls 2: Super Stylin' . Both were developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Fox Interactive for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance and/or Nintendo DS. IGN rated Groove Girls 2: Super Stylin' with a score of 6.0/10 citing mixed reception. Groove Girls 3: Popstar Problems was released in North America, Europe, and Asia for the Nintendo DS. Groove Girls: Happenin' Hizzouse was released in North America, Europe and Australia for the PlayStation 2, Wii and PC. Groove Girls: Down Under was released exclusively in Australia for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, XBOX 360, and PC, with the rest of the world receiving Groove Girls: Viva Las Vegaz! for the same consoles.