If you do one thing this weekend, you've got to watch the Disney Channel. Yes, you heard me right, the Disney Channel, which just so happens to be the home of my favorite guilty pleasure—Kim Possible.
Don't knock it just because it's animated! Kim Possible is straight-up one of the funniest, smartest and coolest shows anywhere on television, and this weekend it's actually returning from the dead with all-new episodes after being canceled in 2005. (Gives you hope for Everwood, right?)
If you don't already know her, Kim's a teenage superhero—in the vein of Buffy Summers, Sydney Bristow and Veronica Mars—who battles nefarious villains like Professor Dementor and Dr. Drakken, alongside best friend Ron Stoppable and his naked mole rat Rufus.
You should not miss this second chance with Kim when the new episodes premiere this Sat., Feb. 10 at 8 p.m.! I wanted a head start on season four, so I collared creators Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley to find out everything about Kim's return!
For those who don't know, how did you guys come up with the show?
Mark McCorkle: We were given the assignment of coming up with a show for Disney Channel and were heading back from lunch in the elevator. I turned to Bob and said, "Kim Possible, she can do anything." And Bob said, "Ron Stoppable, he can't do anything!" And right there we had the foundation for the show. Kim would be the one who would be capable of all the cool stuff, and Ron would be the one who gets all the jokes.
Can you talk a little bit about why the show went away in the first place?
M.M.: We went away for a while, and then we got a call that they need us back and want more. We looked at it and realized we never committed to what grade they were in. So, we decided for this fourth season we would make it senior year.
What's coming down the pike this season? Are there going to be ninja monkeys? Because the ninja monkeys are my favorite.
M.M.: Yep, they make a few appearances. We are doing a few different things this year. We are getting Wade out of his room a little bit more.
Bob Schooley: We also have some fun with Ron, and he ends up on the football team. And Wade, actually—we've played some pretty funny plots with him, where he's more in the center of things.
Are there any new villains?
M.M.: We have a couple of new villains. Camille Leon (Ashley Tisdale) is our shape-shifting celebutante. She's had experimental plastic surgery that allows her to morph into anyone. We had a lot of fun with her—she's in a few episodes. We have a couple of one-off villains that were fun. One is called the Mathter; he is our math-themed villain.
B.S.: It sounds like everyone is lisping when they say his name.
It's the Disney Channel—you've got to teach the audience something!
M.M.: Not sure it teaches them anything but the fear of math.
The big change this season is that Ron and Kim are together. You guys did a great job in the premiere acknowledging the fears that this is when the show jumps the shark, but did you have problems managing that storyline?
M.M.: We definitely said to the writers that we don't want to turn this into a soap opera—let's just do it. There are new twists in the relationship, but they've been friends for a long time and, fundamentally, it's still a positive relationship.
How long will this show go on? How long do you guys want to be involved with it? How long does Disney want it to keep running?
B.S.: No clue.
M.M.: This season also ends with a big finale, the high school graduation, so we kind of see that as the end. We learned from last time, though, so who knows...maybe they'll follow them off to college. Our hunch is that this is it, but people shouldn't be sad, because there are 22 episodes to come.
—Additional reporting by Jennifer Godwin