Primos

Primos
Information
Genre	Family Comedy
Creator	Natasha Kline
Voices of	Myrna Velasco
Seasons	1
Episodes	9
Segments	18
Premiere	Summer of Tater
Opening theme	Primos Main Title Theme performed by Myrna Velasco
Theme music composer	Jim Lang
Production
Executive producers	Natasha Kline
Producers	Philip Cohen
Production Companies	Disney Branded Television Disney Television Animation
Running time	22 minutes (2 x 11 min.)
Distributor	Disney Platform Distribution
Release
Network	Disney Channel Disney+ (streaming)
Release date	July 25, 2024 - present

is an upcoming animated comedy series created by Natasha Kline for Disney Channel. It began airing on July 25, 2024 on Disney Channel.

Premise

Produced by Disney Television Animation, the original series follows Tater Ramirez Humphrey, an eccentric girl who has big dreams for her future and just one summer to figure them all out. When her mom throws a wrench in her plans by inviting all 12 of her cousins to visit, Tater braces for the worst – only to find herself having the best summer of her life. Tater and her dreams flourish, surrounded by a family who may not always understand her, but who love and support her for exactly who she is.

Content

Seasons

Season 1

Episodes

Main article: List of Primos episodes

Cast

• Tater Ramirez Humphrey (voiced by Myrna Velasco)
• Lita Perez (voiced by Elizabeth Grullón)
• Scooter Perez (voiced by Jonathan Melo)
• Big Nacho Ramirez and Cousin Bud Humphrey (voiced by Rick Simon)
• Tere Ramirez and Toñita Ramirez (voiced by Cristina Valenzuela)
• Gordita Humphrey and ChaCha Ramirez (voiced by Natasha Kline)
• Tabi Ramirez (voiced by Nomi Ruiz)
• LotLot Ramirez (voiced by Becca Q. Co)
• Nachito Ramirez (voiced by Ryan Anderson Lopez)
• Lucita Perez (voiced by Sarah Tubert)

Press Information

Primos was first pitched to Disney in 2017 but passed on. Then the series was officially greenlit by Disney Channel in 2020 and production on the series started in February of 2021.

News of the series was first announced on November 3, 2021, by senior vice president and general manager, Meredith Roberts. Longtime storyboard artist, director, and writer Natasha Kline will serve as executive producer. Philip Cohen will serve as a producer and Shaun Cashman as the Supervising Director, with Karla Sakas Shropshire working as the story editor. Kline said, “Primos is set in childhood summers spent with my cousins under one roof, and the comedy that’s borne from that wonderfully hectic setting. As a kid, I didn’t see myself or my culture represented onscreen, so I’m excited to share my family dynamic through these new Disney characters and stories.” Roberts added, “It’s been especially gratifying to see Natasha directing more than 30 episodes of our #1 series Big City Greens while also creating her own new show that bears her authentic comedic voice and her family’s culture and values. We’re looking forward to delivering it to kids and families worldwide.”

On June 15, 2022, Disney Branded Television revealed that the series would be receiving 10 additional episodes, bringing the total from 20 episodes to a 30 episode count for Season 1.

Broadcast

The first season of Primos began airing on July 25, 2024 on Disney Channel. It also began streaming the next day on Disney+. The first episode was released on the Disney Channel YouTube on July 25, along with the first two episodes being released onto DisneyNOW on July 26. On July 25, DisneyNOW launched a Primos collection that includes a personality-themed quick quiz on web and mobile platforms for fans to discover which character they resemble the most. In addition, the digital coloring experience Color Splash will have six new coloring pages, patterns and stickers that fans can use to decorate their coloring page creations.

The season was originally scheduled to air on September 22, 2023, alongside Season 4 of Big City Greens. Due to controversy, the premiere date got delayed to January 19, 2024, as the replacement of The Ghost and Molly McGee. It was then set to premiere on June 6, 2024, alongside Big City Greens: The Movie, but it got delayed once more to fix the controversial problems. The series would have also aired on Disney Channel Canada on June 6. On May 30, 2024, the first four segments were leaked and uploaded onto the website KimCartoon.

Controversy

Upon the release of the intro, the series was met with incredibly divisive reactions, particularly from the Mexican community who felt that the show was playing into negative and repetitive stereotypes. Series creator Natasha Kline has defended the show's premise as they relate to being of mixed Mexican-American descent that she felt were true to her own personal experiences. The controversy resulted in the intro getting taken down from Facebook and X (then known as Twitter). It was still available to view on YouTube, but was later privatized. It was further announced that the character of Cookita, would get her name changed to Lucita, due to the original name sounding too crass for Spanish speakers.

After the pilot episode had gotten leaked online and it was immediately slammed for a multitude of items. For instance, the main character, Tater, incorrectly spells "bienvenidos" where she forgets a few letters before being corrected by her older sister Nellie. Latinos on social media demanded answers but were instead greeted by Myrna Velasco, the voice actor behind Tater, but they claimed she was insulting them, just because she uses different vocabulary and didn't feel the need to prove how Latin she was to anyone. Tater's home city, “Terremoto Heights,” which translates to ” Earthquake Heights” was also called tone-deaf by the Mexican community as they have a vast history of earthquake disasters. Further criticism was directed at the opening theme song’s misuse of the Spanish word ­”oye” in the ¡Oye! ¡Primos! verse instead of the plural form, “oigan.” The “Oye, Primos!” demonstrates that Tater's first language is English, so, her conjugations wouldn't makes no sense because she hasn't been properly taught, which is feasible.

Myrna Velasco took to her social media to defend the song but escalated the situation with a response that came across as dismissive and self-righteous. Her exact quote is as follows:

“The Spanish language is not a Latin-American language. It’s a language the Spanish conquistadors forced upon Latin American people. The only reason we’re Latin people and not Native American people is because of that distinction. So be mad at me all you want for misspelling words in Spanish. Be mad at me all you want for mispronouncing words in Spanish. That doesn’t take away from the fact that I am a Mexican-American Native-American woman.”

Detractors question if this is a convenient excuse to explain the mistake, as the drama was allowed to fester for a while before being addressed by the creator. They also further point to the ridiculousness of Myrna Velasco’s hostile response online instead of her explaining the show’s context.

Despite this, the series garnered support from those within the animation community, such as Jorge R. Gutierrez, Phil Lord, Kiana Khansmith, Molly Knox Ostertag, Matt Braly, Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, and Bill Motz among others.

Trivia

• The series was announced on November 3, 2021.
• The series marks the 39th Disney Channel original animated series following Z-O-M-B-I-E-S: The Re-Animated Series.
  • This also marks the 96th produced series by Disney Television Animation, following Z-O-M-B-I-E-S: The Re-Animated Series.
• The series is based on creator Natasha Kline’s childhood experiences with her extended multicultural Mexican American family.
• Inspired by her childhood growing up in Los Angeles in the 90’s, Disney Channel’s upcoming "Primos” is a new coming-of-age animated comedy from Emmy Award-nominated creator and executive producer Natasha Kline (“Big City Greens”). “Primos” recounts the magical summers she spent with her many cousins in the desert suburbs just outside of the glitz and glamor of Hollywood. It celebrates Kline's multicultural, blended Mexican American family, and her experiences growing up as a second-generation Latina.
• The refrain of the theme song, "¡Oye primos!", is grammatically incorrect in most Spanish dialects, as "oye" is singular and "primos" is plural, therefore the correct grammar would be "¡Oigan primos!"
  • In Hispanic/Mexican-American dialect, "¡Oye Primos!" is often used as an informal (described pejoratively by non-Americans as a "Pocho") term. Creator Natasha Kline grew up as a mixed Southern/Mexican-American member of an LA Latinx (another uniquely Hispanic-American term) community, explaining why the term is used, despite grammatical inaccuracy in the rest of the Spanish-speaking world.
• This is the first time Myrna Velasco voices the protagonist in an animated series; her previous roles have her voice a secondary character, anti-hero, or antagonist.
• The series premiere would have succeeded the premiere of Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation but was delayed for an unknown reason.
• This is the fifth Disney series set primarily during summer vacation after Phineas and Ferb, Gravity Falls, Bunk'd, and Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer.
• This will be the tenth Disney Television Animation series to be created by an woman, after Sue Rose with Pepper Ann, Daron Nefcy with Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil, Chris Nee with Doc McStuffins and Vampirina, Krista Tucker with Fancy Nancy, Dana Terrace with The Owl House, Latoya Raveneu with Rise Up Sing Out, Helen Sugland with Marvel's Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur, Chelsea Beyl with Alice’s Wonderland Bakery and Lucy Heavens with Kiff.
• The series has a very similar premise to the Nickelodeon animated series, The Loud House and its spinoff, The Casagrandes. It is also similar to the Disney Channel live-action series Stuck in the Middle which ran from 2016 to 2018.

Gallery

The image gallery for Primos may be viewed here.

External links

• Official website
• Primos on Wikipedia
• Primos on DisneyNow
• Primos on Disney Wiki
• Primos on the Internet Movie Database

References

v - e - d
Media Season 1 Characters Tater • Nellie • Bibi • Bud Events N/A Locations Hacienda Hills • Tater's House