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Recess (TV series)

American animated television series

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 13, 2026
Entity authorityQ344081 ↗
Source-derived summary

Recess is an American animated television series created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere (credited on marketing materials and late-series title cards as "Paul & Joe") and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, with animation done by Grimsaem, Anivision, Plus One Animation, Sunwoo Animation, and Toon City. The series focuses on six elementary school students and their interaction with other classmates and teachers. The title refers to the recess period during the daily schedule, in the North American tradition of educational schooling, when students are not in lessons and are outside in the schoolyard. During recess, the children form their own society, complete with government and a class structure, set against the backdrop of a regular school.

Recess premiered on September 13, 1997, on ABC, as part of Disney's One Saturday Morning block (later known as ABC Kids). The series ended on November 5, 2001, with 65 half-hour episodes and four seasons in total. The success and lasting appeal of the series saw it being syndicated to numerous channels, including

ABC's sister channels Disney Channel and Toon Disney (which later became Disney XD).

In 2001, Walt Disney Pictures released a theatrical film based on the series, Recess: School's Out. It was followed by a direct-to-video second film entitled Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street that same year. In 2003, two more direct-to-video films were released: Recess: All Growed Down and Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Recess (TV series)” as american animated television series. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1997, 2001, 2003—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Recess, series and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as american animated television series. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q344081. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1997, 2001 and 2003.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Recess (TV series)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Recess (TV series) primary sources, Recess (TV series) archive and Recess research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Recess (TV series)”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Recess (TV series)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.