KIM POSSIBLE

KIM POSSIBLE

(Disney Channel, June 7, 2002-September 7, 2007)

Walt Disney Television Animation

            Collaborators Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle had been working for Disney Channel for years on many of the movie-to-show based projects for the network. However, they desired to contribute something original and the network, looking for shows that featured ordinary children in extraordinary circumstances, let them pitch one. While riding in an elevator after lunch, McCorkle said the phrase “Kim Possible. She can do anything” which led Schooley to respond “Ron Stoppable, he can’t.” That, essentially, led to the creation of Kim Possible.

Kim, Ron and Rufus.

            Schooley and McCorkle developed the concept of Kim around the notion of giving their own daughters a character they could look up to and relate to as they had been provided in the things they enjoyed. Kim Possible centered around the titular Kim (Christy Carlson Romano), your everyday average high school cheerleader who just happened to fight crime on the side. Her partners were her klutzy best friend, Ron (Will Friedle), 10-year-old computer genius and Kim’s tech support Wade Load (Tahj Mowry), and Ron’s pet naked mole rat Rufus (Nancy Cartwright). Sometimes Kim’s other best friend, Monique (Raven-Symone), was brought along on missions to make use of her fashion skills, providing a bridge between Kim’s two worlds Amongst Kim’s usual foes was her arch nemesis, Dr. Drakken (John DiMaggio), a mad scientist seeking world domination with the aid of his far-more-intelligent minion, Shego (Nicole Sullivan); father and son billionaires Senor Senior, Sr. (Ricardo Montalban & Earl Boen) and Senor Senior, Jr. (Nestor Carbonell), who treated villainy as a hobby out of boredom; “world’s deadliest golfer” Duff Killigan (Brian George); and Bonnie Rockwaller (Kirsten Storms), Kim’s cheerleading rival and polar opposite (hey, high school is tough, man!).

Shego trying to keep her patience with Dr. Drakken.

            Kim Possible began airing on the Disney Channel on June 7, 2002 with a theme performed by Disney contributor Christina Milian. It ran for 3 seasons and two TV movies: A Sitch in Time and So the Drama. The show ended with Kim and Ron entering a relationship, which was planned from the outset. Schooley and McCorkle had already moved on to other projects when fans, interested in where that relationship would go, prompted Disney to renew the show for another season. It became one of the few Disney shows to bypass the 65-episode cap, running 87 episodes and being the longest-running on Disney Channel until it was passed by Phineas and Ferb in 2012. What they thought could have been a restricting mistake, exploring the relationship without making it a soap opera reinvigorated Schooley and McCorkle on the series. The show was nominated for eight Emmy Awards and won one, and also won a Parent’s Choice and Annie Award. In 2018, Disney announced on their Instagram plans to produce a live-action Kim Possible Disney Channel Original Movie.