We remember weekends at the roller rink. We could tell you what songs we used to skate to, but then we’d really date ourselves (OK, it was stuff like “Eye Of The Tiger”). The skating rink never really went away; it was and still is a big part of Black culture, and only now are wider audiences starting to appreciate the rink experience once again. A new Disney family sitcom centers a lot of its stories around a local Chicago rink, and it’s pretty fun to watch.
SATURDAYS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: Split screens of people skating. Then we see a teenage girl skating in a park, a voice over saying, “This is the story about three best friends from the south side of Chicago that love to get their skate on.”
The Gist: Paris Johnson (Danielle Jalade) and her besties Simone (Daria Johns) and Ari (Peyton Basnight) call themselves the We-B-Girlz skate crew. They skate every weekend at Saturdays, the local rink they consider their home away from home.
Not too long ago, Paris’ older brother London (Jermaine Harris) got a regular gig DJing at Saturdays with his buddy Derek (Tim Johnson Jr.). Saturdays at Saturdays runs in the Johnson family; Paris and London’s parents, Deb (Golden Brooks) and Cal (Omar Gooding), used to be top skaters there back in the day.
“We’re the Three Musketeers but cuter,” says Paris as the crew line-skates their way around the rink. Then some hysterical skater yells about a music video being shot there; the rumor says it’s Beyonce, but the owner, Duchess (Yolanda “Yo Yo” Whitaker) tells them that the video is for Box Heezy, the rapper who wears a box on his head. They’re looking for extras, but those auditioning need to be 18.
The girls try to appeal to Ivan (Noah Cotrell), who’s the nephew of the video’s director, but he turns them down flat (Simone still tells him to call her). So they decide to do the next best thing, which is coming to the audition looking as much like 18-year-olds as they can. Teased out hair, lots of makeup, tight plastic pants that cut off Simone’s circulation, eyelashes that keep slipping into Ari’s eyes, that sort of thing.
London and Derek want to slip Box Heezy their mixed tape; they see a nerdy kid eating nachos in their DJ booth, and they’re both about to throw him out, but they realize that he might be Box Heezy.
Meanwhile, Deb and Cal have been hired to bake a cake for the wedding of an old school friend of theirs, one that Cal remembers had a crush on Deb. When he arrives, all trim and handsome, Cal gets jealous and starts to wonder if the wedding cake order was all a ruse.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Mix a fun Disney sitcom (pick one: Liv and Maddie, Cory In The House, That’s So Raven, etc.) with the skating vibe of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, and you have Saturdays.
Our Take: Saturdays could fall prey to the usual slapstick that pervades Disney sitcoms, and to be sure, there’s plenty of it. In the second episode, for instance, Paris gets tired of London publicly making jokes about her at the rink, so she steals his favorite comb, which he calls “Lucille.” This sends him into a spiral that chips his tooth, ruins his flattop and gets him to the point where he stops showering. The reactions to his funk are pure Disney sitcom schtick.
So there’s definitely a lot of broad physical humor. But at the heart of the show are Paris and her two families: The Johnsons, of course, but also her family at Saturdays. The moments there are where the show shines, giving viewers a look at the characters who work and skate at the rink but it really communicates the feeling of home Paris and her buddies have there.
Norman Vance, Jr., who wrote the pilot and is the showrunner (Marsai Martin and her parents, Josh and Carol Martin, are also executive producers), puts us right in the middle of things at Saturdays, which, like the rest of the series, was filmed in and around Chicago. Because the rink scenes are filmed at an actual rink and not a soundstage, you get that feeling of the low ceilings, the lockers, the benches, the skate rental station, and everything we remembered about the skating rink experience from our childhoods.
Jalade is confident and fun as Paris, and she has good chemistry with Johns and Basnight. Johns is especially solid as Simone, showing her extensive screen experience in a performance that’s more comedically nuanced than you usually see from young performers on sitcoms.
We were also pleasantly surprised with the stories that take place at the Johnsons’ house, whether it’s a standard jealously plot in episode 1 or Cal and Deb’s attempts to slim down in episode 2. There are some legitimate laughs to be had there, mainly because both Brooks and Gooding know when to overreact and when to dial it back, making for sitcom parents that are a bit goofy but not completely brain dead. In shows like this, those little things make for a show that parents will enjoy instead of tolerate, even if most of what’s going on is geared towards tweens and teens.
What Age Group Is This For?: Our 8-year-old daughter enjoyed Saturdays, and we think that the show really can appeal to all ages.
Parting Shot: The Johnson family watches the video, and Paris is embarrassed when she and her buddies come on screen… playing rolls of toilet paper. Then, over the credits, a real-life top skater shows his or her stuff.
Sleeper Star: Like we mentioned, Johns shows her comedic chops as Simone. Her IMDb is a bit longer than most of her teen co-stars (though there are no on-camera rookies in this cast) and it shows in her performance.
Most Pilot-y Line: Paris offers to give Box Heezy London and Derek’s mix tape if she gets in the video. “You scratch my back, I scratch yours,” she tells him. “Take that back scratch,” says Derek. “I’m tired of doing it.” Not sure if Derek knows what that phrase really means.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Saturdays has some of the broad physical humor that your kids will love, but it gives off a fun vibe and is just clever enough to keep parents engaged, too.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
