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Taina
Christina Vidal as Taina.
Format	Sitcom / Musical
Starring	Christina Vidal Khaliah Adams Chris Knowings David Oliver Cohen LaTangela Newsome
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26 (List of episodes)
Production
Location(s)	Nickelodeon Studios
Running time	23 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Nickelodeon
Original run	January 14, 2001 – May 11, 2002

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

Premise

Taina Morales is a young Puerto Rican 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 reuinte with Lamar, who neither has seen since elementary school. Taina and Renee's arch-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. Production on the show began sometime around the summer of 2000. The show premiered on January 14, 2001 on Nickelodeon's TEENick, where ratings grew ^[1][2]and lasted for two seasons. The show was even put on Nickelodeon's SNICK lineup on Saturday nights in January-May 2002, where ratings more than doubled in its second season ^[3]. Despite its popularity, the show was canceled that June. Nickelodeon canceled it because they thought it only appealed to girls. ^[4] CBC reran the show for a few months in 2003.

Episodes

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

Characters

• Taina Morales: The show's protagonist, a young Puerto Rican girl 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 was occasionally put in scrape, she always let her honesty and truth get herself out of it.
• Renee Jones: Taina's best friend. She's an aspiring rapper and comedienne. A wacky girl, she attended the performing arts school to become a comedian. She often helped to ground Taina when her imagination ran away with her. Renee also tended to chase after boys frequently; unfortunately, her soul mates were never the right ones for her.
• 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".
• Lamar Johnson: Taina's friend, an aspiring journalist 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 Nathaniel McDaniel: Taina's other male friend, a musician, who also shared the same school locker with Taina. His loves included writing songs, playing the guitar, 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 loved The Beatles, and usually accompanied Taina's songs on his guitar.

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 canceled after two seasons, despite big ratings. The main reason being was that they thought it appealed more to females than males, which is puzzling considering Nickelodeon's future shows — Zoey 101 and Unfabulous. 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 canceled.

DVD

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.

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. ^ Yahoo! Groups
4. ^ http://www.usenet-replayer.com/faq/alt.tv.nickelodeon.html

External links

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