Nickelodeon announced earlier this year that it had ordered 20 episodes of a new series to act as a long-awaited spinoff of the Emmy Award-winning animated series The Loud House. The new series, titled The Casagrandes, is currently one of the first animated television series to focus on a multigenerational Mexican-American family.
The Casagrandes premiered on Monday of last week to relatively positive reviews. Variety stated that the show demonstrated “commitment to cultural representation,” and mentioned how the show was able to develop a unique and colorful style while still following in the footsteps of The Loud House. A review from The Associated Press praises the show for tackling “family-oriented themes like love, friendship, and jealousy.”
The series itself follows the 11-year-old Ronnie Anne when she, her older brother, and her single mother move in with their extended family in the fictional Great Lake City. The family lives together in an apartment just above Ronnie Anne’s grandfather’s bodega, and throughout the series Ronnie Anne learns how to make friends in a big city. Ronnie Anne was first introduced as a character on The Loud House and served as the inspiration for the spinoff series.
In an interview with Variety, The Casagrandes’s creator Miguel Puga comments on how he wanted the spinoff to reflect his own lived experience as a Mexican-American. ““We’re bringing what real America looks like into this show. You’re going to see all kinds of different diversities in these episodes where whoever watches it can point out a character in the background or point out a character that walks into the mercado and say, ‘Hey, that’s just like me.’ Or ‘Hey, that sounds like my mom.’ Or ‘Hey, that sounds like my brother or my sister.’” Puga also expressed his optimism for the show’s future, stating, “We have this opportunity to portray so many wonderful cultures in one show, and we’re going to need at least 30 seasons to do it.”
The Casagrandes airs on Nickelodeon on Saturdays at 11:30am. The show’s pilot episode is also available on the Nickelodeon YouTube channel; you can watch it below.