Saturdays is a Disney Channel coming-of-age comedy series from Norman Vance Jr. that premiered on March 24, 2023. The series is about a 14-year-old girl named Paris Johnson, who is a roller skater from Chicago. She, alongside her best friends Simone and Ari, are working to become Goldens in the Battle 2-B Golden Skate Competition at their local skating rink "Saturdays Rockin' Roller Palace". Together, they form the "We-B-Girlz" skate crew. She also navigates life with her DJ brother, London and his best friend Derek "D-Rok" Troy and her parents, Cal and Deb, who run a baking business.
The series ended on May 12, 2023, with it being cancelled after one season, later that year.
The series stars Danielle Jalade as Paris Johnson, Daria Johns as Simone Samson, Peyton Z. Basnight as Ari Stevens, Jermaine Harris as London Johnson, Tim Johnson Jr. as Derek "D-Rok" Troy, Golden Brooks as Deb Johnson, and Omar Gooding as Cal Johnson.
Tropes:
- Alpha Bitch: Sonia is very stuck up girl, who is always finding ways to cause problems with Paris and her crew. She leads her own Girl Posse AKA her own skate crew called "2-Cute-4-U", which rivals Paris' crew "We-B-Girlz".
- Consistent Clothing Style: Simone always wears boho-chic clothing and Ari often wears clothing and accessories with butterflies on them. Those clothing choices fit their aesthetics and personalities. Simone is all about being zen, hence the bohemian-chic style and Ari is obsessed with butterfly wings, hence her being into the butterfly aesthetic.
- Crossover: The episode, "Emma Dilemma" in which Booker from Raven's Home makes a guest appearance.
- Drives Like Crazy: In "Goin' for Gold!", Cal's lead footed driving scares Ari's fears of the competition right out of her.
- Every Episode Ending: Every episode in the series ends with a "Saturdays Presents" segment before the credits where it shows a real-life roller skater showing off their moves and fun facts about them onscreen. The theme song is playing in the background of all of these segments.
- Evil Former Friend: Roxie was an original member of the We-B-Girlz skate crew, until she moved to Jamaica. She returns to Chicago in the episode "The Return of Roxie". She temporarily rejoins the We-B-Girlz, making them a foursome, but Duchess tells them they need to go back to being a trio if they want to compete in the skate competition. Paris and Simone to have to choose between Ari and Roxie and ultimately end up picking Ari. Roxie turns against the We-B-Girlz and revives their rival skate crew "2-Cute-4-U" with Sonia and Jesse, two other skaters they have beef with.
- Evil vs. Evil: Ivan vs. Jesse in the episode, "Friends for a Minute".
- Power Trio: Paris, Simone, and Ari (The "We-B-Girlz" Skate Crew)
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What Could Have Been:- When the pilot was ordered, the plot was originally about Paris dealing with sickle cell disease and proving the doubters wrong. This is never touched on in the show. Sickle cell is only highlighted in the episode "Rollin' with Paris" when Paris wears a shirt that says "SICKLE CELL AIN'T GOT NOTHING ON ME."
- There was a character in the original pilot named Roxy (portrayed by Samantha Smith), who was a series regular that got cut when the series was picked up. However, she got to become a recurring character in the final 3 episodes of the series, with her name being spelt as "Roxie."
