Ekene's Middle School Madness

Ekene’s Middle School Madness (or simply called Ekene) is a children’s animated television series created by John May. It premiered on Nickelodeon on Friday, September 22, 2006 and concluded on March 20, 2009. It centers on a young teenager named Ekene who was attending his first year of Middle School. He faces his life at being helped by his inclusion teacher, Ms. Pat, and sometimes his paraprofessionals Ms. Karen (Season 1) and Ms. Laura (Season 2-3). His five best friends are Joseph Garcia, Eva Lugo (best friend and later girlfriend) of Ekene, Allyson Wagner, Brianna Scotto, Patrick McManis (Season 2-3).

 

Production
Before production of the series started to begin, the series was planned as a special for Nickelodeon (both U.S. and internationally). Development of the film began in late 1999, when John May, known for creating the franchise in 1994, decided to come up with a special for major TV networks. One of the first attempts of making this was Ekene's Family. Ekene's Family the film began production by late 2001 and concluded in August 2002. Nelvana was hired (along with AKOM) to animate the special for Nickelodeon Animation Studio. The special was supposed to be broadcasted on November 2003 and it did. After the premiere, May was anixious about how it would turn out. When the film was shown for about 2 or 3 times, it started to get controversies from furious parents. Beginning in early 2005, while production green-lighted, there were complaints from parents that describe the series as way too stereotypical towards people of color. As a result, May apologizes to the parents and Nickelodeon banned the special on Television (though it exists on May's website), and gave him a second chance to start over again. However, before the special was banned the developers wanted to put Ekene in a Middle School setting, as a family would be just boring for a animated series.

Broadcast
The pilot special aired on November of 2003.

It began as a short on Nickelodeon's Nick Extra in 2005.

Before the series aired, it was suppose to air along with Mr. Meaty on September 22, 2006, but it was shifted to October 20, 2006 at 8:00 - 9:30 p.m with 4 episodes. The series broadcast on Family Channel in December 15, 2006 to June 6, 2009. Until 2010, Canal+ also aired the series.