| Sweet Valley High | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Comedy drama |
| Based on | Sweet Valley High byFrancine Pascal |
| Developed by | Josh Goldstein Jonathan Prince |
| Starring | Brittany Daniel Cynthia Daniel Ryan James Bittle Amy Danles Bridget Flanery Shirlee Elliot Jeremy Vincent Garrett Andrea Savage Michael Perl Harley Rodriguez |
| Theme music composer | Ron Wasserman |
| Opening theme | "Sweet Valley High" performed by Kathy Fisher |
| Composers | Shuki Levy Kussa Mahchi Yuval Ron |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 88(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Francine Pascal Haim Saban Lance H. Robbins Josh Goldstein, Abbie Charette, Showrunner (Seasons 2-4) |
| Producers | William G. Dunn, Jr. Ronnie Hadar (Seasons 1–2) |
| Production locations | Alexander Hamilton High School,Los Angeles, California |
| Cinematography | Russ Brandt David E. West |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 21–23 minutes |
| Production companies | Teen Dream Productions, Inc. Saban Entertainment Saban International |
| Original release | |
| Network | Syndication (1994–1997) UPN (1997) |
| Release | September 5, 1994 (1994-09-05) – October 14, 1997 (1997-10-14) |
Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley High is an Americancomedy-drama television series loosely based onFrancine Pascal'sbook series of the same name.[1][2] The program starredBrittany Daniel andCynthia Daniel as the two lead characters and ran from September 5, 1994, to October 14, 1997. The program was produced by Teen Dream Productions, Inc. in association with and distributed bySaban Entertainment in the United States, and its international sister company,Saban International N.V. in the Netherlands.
After three seasons insyndication (mostly onFox stations),UPN acquired the show from Saban Entertainment in 1996. The fourth and final season was used to launch UPN's new teen programming on September 15, 1997.[3][4] It then aired on The Fox Family Channel in 1998 until it became ABC Family in 2001. The show was also broadcast internationally, outside of the United States onBBC One[5] andDisney Channel in the UK,[6]Disney Channel in Sweden,[7] Fox Kids/Jetix in France,[8] Israel,[9] and Greece,[10] and on Fox Kids andNickelodeon in the Netherlands.[11]
Ownership of the series passed toDisney in 2001 whenDisney acquiredFox Kids Worldwide, which also includesSaban Entertainment.[12][13][14]
The series revolves around the lives of Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, beautiful blonde twins who live in the fictitious Sweet Valley, California, and their gang of friends. Elizabeth is warm, friendly and sincere, while her twin sister Jessica is flirty, mischievous, and irresponsible.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 22 | September 5, 1994 (1994-09-05) | February 20, 1995 (1995-02-20) | |
| 2 | 22 | September 11, 1995 (1995-09-11) | March 25, 1996 (1996-03-25) | |
| 3 | 22 | August 26, 1996 (1996-08-26) | February 10, 1997 (1997-02-10) | |
| 4 | 22 | September 15, 1997 (1997-09-15) | October 14, 1997 (1997-10-14) | |
In 1988,NBC bought the television rights to theSweet Valley High book series. The show was originally intended to be a two-hour NBC Family special, with the possibility of becoming a series.[20] In 1993, Francine Pascal mentioned in an interview that the rights to the books had been sold toSaban Entertainment.[21] The show finally aired as a half-hour television series in September 1994.[22]
Francine Pascal's daughter, Jamie Stewart, was the casting director and co-producer and held auditions throughout the country in 1988 for the lead roles of Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield.[23][24] Seven sets of twins were chosen from nearly 3000 entrants to do screen tests for NBC.[25][26] In 1989 it was announced that sixteen-year-old twins Ericka and Sonja Carson had been cast as the leads, with a two-hour pilot to be produced that summer.[27][28] The Carson twins went on to be cast as theDoublemint Twins in 1990[29] and attended acting classes in preparation for their Sweet Valley High roles[30], but the NBC pilot was never filmed.
In 1994 it was announced that eighteen-year-old sisters and another set of Doublemint Twins,Brittany Daniel andCynthia Daniel, would be playing the leads in the series, which was now being produced bySaban Entertainment.[31][32]
The cast participated in several public appearances to promote the series, including one in withSweet Valley High creator, Francine Pascal, at the Mall of America in 1995.[33] Another promotion included a competition to win a shopping spree with the Daniel twins.[34]
The cast members were close, with the Daniels twins sharing an apartment with co-star Amy Danles in 1996.[35] In 1999, Danles married Sweet Valley High co-star Manley Pope.[36][37]
The show drew in around 2 million viewers in its first four weeks.[38] As of 1996, the show was airing on 104 station across the United States during its third season.[39]
Upon its debut, the Houston Chronicle criticised the show, calling it "unrealistic and totally fantasy-oriented".[40]
The show was dubbed in several languages for its international release, including German[41], Greek[10], Hungarian, Italian[42], Lithuanian[43], in French asCalifornia College: Les Jumelles De Sweet Valley, in Czech asSladké údolí, in Polish asSłodka dolina, in Portuguese asE Aí Galera, in Spanish asMellizas y rivales (Latin America)[44] andLas gemelas de Sweet Valley (Spain)[45], and in Turkish asTatlı İkizler. Subtitled versions of the show aired in several countries, including Denmark, Estonia[46], Israel, Norway[47] and Sweden.
In 1997,Grattan signed a deal withSaban Entertainment to launch a line of clothing based on theSweet Valley High television series, due to its popularity with UK viewers.[48] The line launched in 1998.[49]
In August 1996, twoSweet Valley HighVHS tapes were released byWarnerVision Entertainment andSaban Home Entertainment[50] titled 'Kidnapped' and 'Dangerous Love', which featured exclusive music videos based on the songs featured in the TV series, and behind the scenes footage.[51] Although more releases were planned, they never saw the light of day afterWEA folded WarnerVision Entertainment into Warner Home Video and ended their agreement with Saban.[52]
On March 8, 2005,Buena Vista Home Entertainment released the complete first season ofSweet Valley High on DVD inRegion 1.[53][54] A DVD release of Season two was also planned, with an old promotional trailer being posted online in 2013; however, this release was cancelled.[55]
All four seasons of the series are streaming onPrime Video,[56] only for US Region as of January 19, 2023.
In 1995, asoundtrack album was released featuring original songs that were in the series along with a longer version of the show's theme song (sung byKathy Fisher).[57]
