Taina (TV series)

Taina
Created by	Maria Perez-Brown
Starring	Christina Vidal Khaliah Adams Chris Knowings David Oliver Cohen LaTangela
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26 (list of episodes)
Production
Location(s)	Nickelodeon Studios, Orlando, Florida (2001) Nickelodeon on Sunset, Hollywood (2002)
Running time	23 minutes
Production company(s)	Dorado Productions Nickelodeon Productions
Distributor	MTV Networks Nelvana Limited
Release
Original network	Nickelodeon
Original release	January 14, 2001 – May 11, 2002

Taina is an American sitcom that aired on Nickelodeon and distributed by Nelvana Limited. It was one of the last live-action comedy shows taped at Nickelodeon Studios but later moved to the Nickelodeon on Sunset in Hollywood, for its second season. The show aired from January 14, 2001 to May 11, 2002.

Premise

Taina Morales is a young Latina woman who aspires to be a singer and actress. She, along with her best friend, Renee Jones, attend the Manhattan High School of the Performing Arts. Once there, they reunite with Lamar, whom neither has seen since elementary school. Taina and Renee's nemesis, Maritza Hogg (who knew Taina and Renee before high school) attends the same school they do, and is also an aspiring singer/actress. Every episode features Taina daydreaming her super stardom, with occasional performances of a new song.

Development and production

Production on the show began sometime around the summer of 2000 the pilot was half shot at the Laguardia Performers School and finished at Nickelodeon on Sunset. Season 2 was shot from December 2001 – January 6, 2002 The show premiered on January 14, 2001 on Nickelodeon's TEENick, where ratings grew^[1][2] and lasted for two seasons. Taina was scheduled to air every Sunday at 6pm.^[3] The show was even put on Nickelodeon's SNICK lineup on Saturday nights from January to May 2002, where ratings more than doubled in its second season.^[4] Despite its popularity, (the show garnered Nickelodeon its highest ratings in 3 years) the show was cancelled that June because Nick thought the show only appealed to girls.^[5] CBC reran the show for a few months in 2003.

Episodes

Season		Episodes	First aired	Last aired
	1	13	January 14, 2001	April 22, 2001
	2	13	January 19, 2002	May 11, 2002

Season 1 (2001)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original air date
1	1	"Be Careful What You Wish For"	January 14, 2001
On her first day at the Manhattan School for The arts, Taina is sure she is on the road to stardom. But after a run-in with her drama teacher, she begins to doubt herself. Lamar is convinced Daniel is a jinx.
2	2	"Blue Mascara"	January 21, 2001
Taina is overjoyed after joining the senior singing group at school, Blue Mascara. Later the girls tell Taina that she can't be friends with Renee anymore. Meanwhile, Daniel loses a bet and has to join the school's losing basketball team. In the end Tania decides that her friendship with Renee is more important than being in Blue Mascara and quits the band. Gia, Leah, and Ria go on to perform No More (Baby I'ma Do Right) without Taina and Maritza tries to take Tania's place in the band. Guest star: 3LW as Blue Mascara
3	3	"Quinceañera"	January 28, 2001
Taina and her mother have different opinions about what she will wear to her Quinceañera, her 15th birthday party. Lamar plans to get rid of a rival for Taina's attention. Guest star: C-Note, Nick Cannon
4	4	"Mega Funds"	February 4, 2001
Taina has to find a way to pay for her class trip to an amusement park after her parents won't give her the money, because she was irresponsible with a cash prize she won in a contest. Lamar and Daniel work as radio DJ's. Guest star: Joe
5	5	"En Español"	February 11, 2001
Taina fails her Spanish test which makes Abuelo think that his family have forgotten their Spanish heritage. Therefore he begins influencing every part of their lives with the Spanish culture, much to Taina and her family's annoyance.
6	6	"Charmed Bracelet"	February 18, 2001
While Lamar and Daniel become obsessed over a video game, Taina does battle with her self-confidence. She relies on a new bracelet she thinks is magical to get her through a tough audition, but when she loses it just before she tries out for the part, there's only one person she can lean on—herself.
7	7	"I Want It That Way"	February 25, 2001
While directing a theater piece at school, things spiral out of control once Taina lets her friends pitch in. Eventually, Taina must confront her friends to save the play and her reputation!
8	8	"A Twitch in the Tail"	March 4, 2001
Taina auditions for a soap opera and finds herself consumed with jealousy when Santito is cast instead.
9	9	"Big Break"	March 11, 2001
Taina is determined to do whatever it takes to land a role playing Robert De Niro's daughter in an upcoming film.
10	10	"Friend or Phone"	April 1, 2001
Taina gets a new mobile phone and sells her old one to Renee, but when her old phone breaks, the girls friendship is tested.
11	11	"Singing with the Enemy"	April 8, 2001
Taina and Renee have to join forces with Maritza to perform at a special event. The girls have to learn to stop fighting over what to do and work together. After learning that Renee has a hidden talent for rapping, but can't sing Taina and Maritza sing and Renee raps when they perform.
12	12	"Undercover"	April 15, 2001
The band MDO is scheduled to be Principal for a day and Taina is suspicious that Alex, the lead singer, is an impostor. Guest star: MDO
13	13	"My Left Eye"	April 22, 2001
Taina has a tough decision to make when she joins a popular band as a dancer, and finds out she will have to go on tour, leaving her friends and family behind.

Season 2 (2002)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original air date
14	1	"Crouching Actor, Hidden Chicken"	January 19, 2002
In order to be a tough girl, Taina creates a facade and is asked to fight Big Teefa, a huge boxer, and loses both her credibility and her looks.
15	2	"Sabotage"	January 26, 2002
Taina teams up with Maritza to pull the curtain on an attention-grabbing classmate. Renee needs a reality check after a dream about Daniel. Guest star: Brooke Allison
16	3	"Scary Legend"	February 2, 2002
While staying at school all night for costume fixing, Mr. Colon makes up a story about a ghost at the school. Lamar and Dan try to scare the girls out of the building and when they find out, they try the same thing. Maritza has a bag mix-up with Taina and gets in on the act and uses herself to scare Lamar and Dan, which works. The girls win the battle and the boys wear panto dame outfits for a day.
17	4	"Test Friends"	February 9, 2002
Taina and Renee take a quiz about their friendship but get all the answers wrong. So, in order to prove they are friends, Renee and Taina spend the weekend finding things out about each other they didn't know. It escalates into a fight and almost breaking their friendship, but a kind word from Taina stops them and they become friends again.
18	5	"Papi Don't Preach"	February 23, 2002
Taina's dad accuses Taina of lying to him when he told her he is not allowed to see Teck Money at the movies. He thinks she was out all night, but she really just slept in her bed fully clothed and without moving her covers. Guest star: Nick Cannon, Teck Holmes
19	6	"The Big Show"	March 2, 2002
Taina wants to be in the play Amazon 3000 very badly, and tries for the lead. The director sees her as a cockatoo, so Taina, unhappy at this, tries to get noticed but wrecks everything and gets kicked out. To bribe the director, Taina buys her favorite cheese and is let in. The show ends up a success. Daniel and Lamar try to sell people tickets to the show, by any means possible, but Mr. Colon gets mad with them. Renee and Maritza fight over Darius, a hot guy. Guest star: Liz Torres, Jaci Velasquez
20	7	"Crushin’"	March 9, 2002
Taina has a boyfriend. The boy's father has invited Taina (and Maritza, but she bagged her way in) to his birthday party. When Taina does get to the party, there are all little kids running around. Puzzled, Taina doesn't know why all these little kids are there,until she reads the birthday cake saying,"Happy 13th Birthday!" Can Taina handle going out with a boy three years younger than she?
21	8	"Abuelo Knows Best"	March 16, 2002
After Taina doesn't show up for a cooking contest with Abeulo, he shows up wherever she is. At school during a hip hop class, and at Papito's. It's driving Taina crazy. Abeulo really crosses the line when he scares a way Taina's co-star in a new school play and it makes Taina more upset because she liked him. Guest star: Shakira, Luis Fonsi
22	9	"Bad Review"	March 23, 2002
LeMar gives a bad review of The Legend of Dustbowl Annie, a play that Taina is starring in, because a rake hit her and she turns the play into one big joke. Taina is really upset, and she may even drop out of the show. Will Taina believe in herself and stay in, or will she drop out of the play? Guest stars: Solange Knowles, Dorothy Lyman
23	10	"Desperately Seeking Agent"	April 6, 2002
When Maritza gets an agent, she is getting more auditions for roles. Taina is jealous by this, so she tries everything she can to get her own agent. Her attempts include trying to set a world record for the longest time singing and dancing. She also lies about helping an elderly lady. Guest star: Carlos Alazraqui, Melanie Chartoff
24	11	"Starstruck"	April 13, 2002
When an actress named Nicole Burke comes to MSA, Renee and Daniel discriminate against her when they think she's like the character she plays on TV who is really mean. But it turns out everyone but Taina was wrong as Nicole turns out to be nice. Guest star: Jill Michelle Melean, Kelly Rowland
25	12	"The Fear Factors"	May 4, 2002
Lisa, an old friend of Taina's, attends classes at MSA even though she is not enrolled. It turns out Lisa got the lead for the play, she tells Taina that she's afraid she will be caught. But when Taina tells Renee, Mr. Colon over hears he has no choice but to tell the principal, leading her to be kicked out of the play. And when Taina gets the lead for the play, everyone thinks Taina got Lisa kicked out on purpose. Lamar tries to help a former Wrestler cry if she helps him learn how to fall properly for a class grade. Maritza hires Dan to play piano while she sings.
26	13	"Beyond The Music"	May 11, 2002
For film class, Lamar makes a spoof documentary on the guys forming a group. They have a huge big fight and fall out. But, after Lamar joins the group and everyone is okay, they perform at Papitos under no name and everyone loves them.

Cast

Main cast

• Christina Vidal as Taina Maria Morales
• Khaliah Adams as Renee Aretha Jones
• Chris Knowings as Lamar Carlos Johnson
• David Oliver Cohen as Daniel Nathaniel McDaniel
• LaTangela Newsome as Maritza Hogg

Recurring cast

• Lisa Velez as Gloria Morales
• Cristina Saralegui as The Principal
• Josh Cruze as Eduardo Morales
• Manolo Villaverde as Gregorio "Abuelo" Sanchez
• Brandon Iglesias as Santito Morales (Season 1)
• Jacob Urrutia as Santito Morales (Season 2)
• Selenis Leyva as Titi Rosa
• Joseph Bertot as Hector Colon
• Ruben Rabasa as Papito

Main characters

• Taina Morales: The show's titular main character was a young, beautiful and talented Latina with hopes of being a professional singer and actress. She attended a performing arts school with her best friend Renee, rival Maritza, and friends Daniel and Lamar. She and her friends often got themselves into wacky situations in an attempt to become stars. Though Taina's impatience and impulsiveness would occasionally get her into scraps, she always let her honesty and compassion get her out of it.
• Renee Jones: Taina's best friend. She's an aspiring comedian and rapper. A wacky girl, she attended the performing arts school to become a comedian and a rapper. She often helped to ground Taina when her imagination ran away with her. Renee also tended to chase after boys frequently; unfortunately, her love interests were never the right ones for her.
• Lamar Johnson: Taina's passionate guy friend was an aspiring director and writer. Not only did he serve as an editor of the performing art school's newspaper, he also had a crush on Taina and waited for the day she would finally come around. His best friend was Daniel, and the two often collaborated to make a quick buck. He served as a support for Taina and the others, offering level-headed advice.
• Daniel McDaniel: A multi-instrumentalist, who also shared the same school locker with Taina. Sweet and opinionated, his loves included writing songs, playing multi instruments and chasing after girls. Daniel prided himself on being quite the ladies' man, but often ended up snubbed. It was hinted that he had true feelings for Renee. He loves The Beatles, and usually accompanied Taina's songs on his guitar.
• Maritza Hogg: Taina and Renee's rival. She also aspired to be an actress and singer, but tended to be more ruthless than Taina. She loved to upstage others in her quest to become a star. However, she was not pure evil, and sometimes collaborated with Taina and her friends to make money or defeat other rivals. She prided herself on being an "evil diva".

Soundtrack

On February 19, 2002 during its second season, Nickelodeon released the Taina soundtrack, featuring songs by Christina Vidal and LaTangela. Other songs on the soundtrack were sung by 3LW and Dream, who both guest starred on the show. The album, released by both Jive records and Nick records, includes songs such as "I Thought That We Were Friends" and the show's theme song, "Gonna Be a Star".

Cancellation

In June 2002, Nickelodeon announced that Taina was cancelled after two seasons, despite big ratings. According to Josh Cruze, the show was also getting more expensive to produce. According to Vidal in a later interview, scripts for a third season of the series were already written before the show was cancelled.

DVD releases

There was a DVD release of the show titled after the pilot, "Be Careful What You Wish For"', in the UK, which features the first four aired episodes. The DVD is region 2 and has yet to be released in the U.S. but is available at Amazon.com, however not playable on American and Canadian DVD players.

Awards and nominations

• ALMA Awards

2002 – Outstanding Children's Television Programming (Won)

2002 – Outstanding Actress in a Television Series – Christina Vidal (Nominated)

2002 – Outstanding Script for a Television Drama or Comedy – Fracaswell Hyman & Maria Perez-Brown for episode "Quinceanero"(Nominated)

References

1. Premiere of Nickelodeon's 'Taina' Posts Triple-Digit Ratings Gains
2. Nickelodeon's 'Taina' Continues Ratings Rise, Posts Triple-Digit Gains in Tween and Kid Demos for Two Weeks
3. Vázquez, Richard. "lasculturas.com." Tania. N.p., n.d. Web. Jun 23, 2010. <http://www.lasculturas.com/aa/aa011401a.htm>.
4. Yahoo! Groups
5. http://www.usenet-replayer.com/faq/alt.tv.nickelodeon.html

External links

• Taina at the Internet Movie Database
• Taina at TV.com