Taina (TV series)

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 and lasted for two seasons. Taina was scheduled to air every Sunday at 6pm. 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. 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. CBC reran the show for a few months in 2003.

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)