Big City Greens
By Emily Ashby,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Quirky, sweet show's family themes overshadow stereotypes.
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Big City Greens
Community Reviews
Based on 24 parent reviews
Not bad
Big City Greens is charming and hilarious
What's the Story?
BIG CITY GREENS follows the Green family, recent transplants from the country to a bustling urban metropolis. Most of the action comes at the hands of Cricket (voiced by Chris Houghton), a mischievous boy with a knack for getting into scrapes and inadvertently causing trouble that drives his new city-wise neighbors crazy. His older sister, Tilly (Marieve Herington), often gets drawn into his antics, but she tends to keep a cooler head about things than he does. The kids live with their father, Bill (Bob Joles), and their elderly grandmother, Gramma Alice (Artemis Pebdani).
Is It Any Good?
Surprisingly charming and exceedingly silly, this series will delight kids with its quirky characters and utterly improbable predicaments. Cricket's zest for living life to its fullest yields adventures of the wackiest kinds, like inventing a device to send a chicken into space. Other mishaps find the Greens without any help and set the laughs in motion.
Big City Greens's fish-out-of-water premise plays on stereotypes of country folks in characterizing the family's uneasy acclimation to their new urban home. (Think The Beverly Hillbillies in animated form.) The result is laugh-out-loud funny, but it's also a great opportunity to talk with kids about the downside of this type of group casting. On the bright side, though, the Greens' experiences also espouse strong themes about positive family relationships.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the stereotypes presented in Big City Greens. How does the way the Greens look and sound influence how you feel about them as characters? Are their urban neighbors cast as more sophisticated or smarter because of where they live? Are stereotypes like this dangerous in any way? Where does one draw the line between reflecting reality and perpetuating profiling?
In what ways does the Green family structure reflect a changing definition of family? How does their single-parent, multigenerational family compare to yours? Do family members have to have a biological connection? Why or why not?
What character strengths stand out among the Greens? How does perseverance help them thrive in the city? Does Cricket's quest for adventure land him in trouble at times? How might his plans play out in the real world?
How do experiences that border on the absurd, like many of those here, let us live vicariously through the characters' lives? Kids: Do you like imaginative play? What roles do you imagine for yourself?
TV Details
- Premiere date: June 18, 2018
- Cast: Marieve Herington , Chris Houghton , Bob Joles
- Network: Disney Channel
- Genre: Kids' Animation
- Topics: Adventures , Brothers and Sisters
- Character Strengths: Perseverance
- TV rating: TV-Y7
- Award: Common Sense Selection
- Last updated: November 9, 2023
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