But according to the animated series creators Paul Germain (Rugrats) and Joe Ansolabehere (Hey Arnold!
), it was the inspiration for their hit animated series.
We were big fans of those 70s sitcoms, andTaxiwas a show we really loved, says Ansolabehere.
Credit: Walt Disney Co./Everett Collection
If you think about it, it is similar.
How do you navigate it?
explains Ansolabehere about the shows central premise.
PRNewsFoto/Walt Disney Pictures
Adds Germain, The answer is, with the help from your friends.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The show was popular around the world.
Why do you think that was?
PAUL GERMAIN:We were trying to make it universal with time [and] space.
We dressed the characters in ways that seemed classic and didnt seem contemporary at the time.
We always felt, I think it was because ofRugrats, if you do that you just date it.
Itll always be 1991 or 1972 or whenever you wrote it.
We talked about that a lot at the time like, What happens on the playground?
Its its own universe.
GERMAIN:The playground was something that wasnt going to change in time.
That was what the initial concept of the initial pitch was.
There are all these shows about school [but] theyre all in class.
ANSOLABEHERE:Its one of those few universal experiences of childhood all around the world: Going to school.
What would you say youre proudest of having accomplished with the show?
GERMAIN:The thing Im proudest about has to do with what we talked about initially.
We really felt like we captured an aspect of childhood and talked to our audience about their own experiences.
Thats what we wanted to do, and I felt like we really achieved it there.
ANSOLABEHERE:I totally agree.
That is the thing that Im probably proudest of, too.
I could have done this better.
Recently, Paul and I were at a museum and we showed an episode ofRecess.
Both of us were like, That really came out great.
GERMAIN:It feels like cinema.
The way cinema speaks to you, were proud thatRecessspoke to our audience the same way.
How did you develop her as a character?
GERMAIN:Joe and I were talking about, what did we want to do for teachers.
We thought, what are other kinds of teachers?
I said, Lets do a 60s hippie teacher.
Wouldnt it be funny to have this teacher who they dont particularly get or relate to what shes saying?
If we made fun of her a little bit, we could say what we really thought.
It would be a joke.
We were making fun of ourselves in a way, if that makes sense.
She has this wonderful voice and she just ran with the character and made it her own.
GERMAIN:Wed bring it in and she said, What if I say this?
ANSOLABEHERE:Wed go, Sure!
Then the writers got into it, too.
It was an interesting thing.
It was just a fun character to write.
NEXT: Could there be asecondRecess?
How did you approach developing female characters?
GERMAIN:Thats an interesting question.
Joe and I are from all-boy families.
Hes the oldest of five boys and Im the oldest of four.
Neither of us had sisters.
Joe had a daughter.
I had a son.
We wanted to talk about, What are the images theyre going to see?
Who are our friends?
Gretchen was based on the woman Paul ended up marrying.
[But with the Ashleys] its not just some pretty, airhead girls.
We didnt have [any] in the show.
That was about a clique, [but] theyre a little bit more interesting.
The other thing is that Paul and I never wanted to have a token girl writer in the room.
We wanted women writing on the show, really telling us, Thats wrong.
Thats not how a girl would talk.
Thats not what a girl would do.
Then it’s possible for you to keep going.
Its like a book that never ends because it just keeps getting richer and richer.
You keep learning new things and the characters develop.
Our idea was, everyone in the world is a different racial mix.
But the Ashleys are all different races if you look at their skins.
You asked about the things Im proud about?
One that Im proud of is that Vince was a real character.
The show still has a lot of fans.
What do they tend to ask you about most of the time?
GERMAIN:One of the things people ask us about a lot is whether the show will come back.
We hope that might happen some day.
Wed love to do it.
Its something were really proud of and wed love to figure out new ways to tell these stories.
What happened to them?
Theres a lot of fantasy.
They always ask me that one.
Or, what happened to Gretchen?
Did Gus go into the military?
All I think is that I love that people are that into it to think about it that much.
That means we engaged with the audience, is how I feel about it.
I dont have answers for them.
GERMAIN:Yes, and Ill tell you why.
We would probably address it, maybe even make fun of it.
We even did that at the time on the series.
ANSOLABEHERE:Gretchen has basically a cell phone.
GERMAIN:Yeah, we made fun of early cell phones.
ANSOLABEHERE:Also because, if you go look at a playground right now, its still the same.
No teacher lets you take your iPhone out on the playground.
Its still a universal place.
Its still what it was.
The rest of the world changes but recess never does.
Theyre still playing dodge ball.
Theyre still running around.
What makes the clique?
It might be slightly different but not really.
ANSOLABEHERE:Weve had a lot of ideas about it.
Youd either do it with another group of kids and its today but its recess still.
Or, you could go back as if its the next day if you wanted.
I just feel like theres no way that idea is dated.
Thats why we did it that way.
Thats why we tried to find the universal.
GERMAIN:Were hoping that someday something might happen with that, but so far its been discussed.
Weve brought it up.
Youd have to ping the Walt Disney Corporation.
ANSOLABEHERE:I hope articles like this one might one day spark a groundswell [with] Disney.
