Recess is an American animated television series that was created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere, and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation.

Recess focused on six elementary school students and their interaction with other classmates and teachers.

The center of every episode revolved around the interaction between the six main characters of the series. Typical plots involved the group banding together in order to unravel government conspiracies, or attempting to outwit their teacher chaperones. Almost all the characters of Recess attend Third Street Elementary School. Most of the series is centered around the time they spend playing outdoors during recess, which in the school's case lasts for forty minutes. The outdoor environment of Third Street Elementary School is littered with typical playground equipment, and obscure structures (most notably the Ashley Clubhouse). During this time, the children are governed by a pseudo-monarchy, and required to conduct themselves according to a clichéd set of unwritten laws.

Recess premiered on ABC’s “One Saturday Morning” programming block on September 13, 1997. Despite coexisting with big-name Disney shows like Pepper Ann and Doug, Recess established itself as one of the most popular and successful shows of its time. Recess’s success spawned two direct to video titles and one theatrical film, Recess: School's Out which was released in 2001.

The series was cancelled in 2001, and Disney stopped airing new episodes after November 1, 2001, but still continued to show episodes on ABC's One Saturday Morning and UPN's Disney's One Too programming blocks until 2003 when both blocks were phased out. Re-runs also aired on ABC Kids until September 2005 (when the block turned into an all Disney Channel line-up). It also remained on The Disney Channel until 2003. So far, the episodes from Season 6 have not been shown again since their initial airing.[1] The cancellation led to Disney still releasing the unreleased episodes to video. In 2003, two direct-to-video movies were made of Recess. Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade, one of the films, was actually made up of three different Recess episodes that take place in what can only be called a previously unreleased and unfinished seventh season where all the characters are now in the fifth grade. The show has started again but no new episodes have been released.

Along with the six main characters, Recess featured a plethora of other characters from various socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.

Theodore Jasper "T.J." Detweiler
T.J. is the ringleader of his five best friends. He is almost always seen wearing his trademark red baseball cap. T.J. usually spends time planning pranks against the teachers, at which he is quite talented. In one episode, he wins the title of "Prankster Prince" from King Bob after beating him in a prank-contest. It is revealed that the "J" in T.J stands for Jasper. His siblings include an older sister named Becky who was seen in Recess: School's Out and was voiced by Melissa Joan Hart. T.J.'s catchphrase is "whomps," a word he and Vince came up with so that they wouldn't get timeout for cursing in school. Both maintain that the word "doesn't mean anything." T.J. has good leadership skills, and has a talent for speaking in public. The series suggests that he harbours a crush on Spinelli. He was voiced by Ross Malinger from 1997-1998, and Andrew Lawrence afterward. The Christmas special suggests he may be Jewish.

Vincent Pierre "Vince" LaSalle
Known around 3rd Street as "the cool one," Vince is the most talented athlete in school. Although he sometimes is overly competitive, he is generally a good sport. Vince is also a skilled chef. His biggest rival is Lawson, a fifth grader who regularly engages him in competitions. Vince is rarely seen without his green basketball jersey. It was revealed that he has an older bother whose only appearance was in the episode Big Brother Chad. He was voiced by Rickey D'Shon Collins.

Ashley Funnicelo Spinelli
Spinelli is a feisty tomboy who enjoys pro wrestling. She hates her first name Ashley because of the other Ashley girls. She and the other Ashleys often butt heads due to their opposing views. Where the Ashleys are girly and stylish, Spinelli is tough and messy. She often mentions her brother Vito, but he is never seen in the series. The boots she wears once belonged to him. Her parents often embarrass her in front of her friends or in the middle of a grocery store. Because of this, Spinelli doesn't tolerate much interaction between her parents and friends. Spinelli was voiced by Pamela Segall Adlon.

Gretchen Prunella Grundler
Gretchen is academically talented and extremely intelligent, and is known as "Smart Girl" on the playground. She has shown the ability to do grade six work and probably that of a higher level. Although she is not on the edge of fashion and can be clumsy, she is very kind and understanding. She was voiced by Ashley Johnson.

Michael "Mikey" Blumberg
Large, likes to eat, and very philosophical. He writes poetry, performs classical dance, and believes in notions of peace that are often dismissed by the others. He also loves to sing, though he was initially hesitant to do so in front of others. He used to sing in the bathroom and only after his music teacher worked with him did he become more confident. Mikey is very kind and loves to help others. Mikey was voiced by Jason Davis; his singing voice was provided by Robert Goulet.

Gustav Patton "Gus" Griswald
The newest kid in Third Street, Gus is usually naive to the rules of the playground and its traditions. For a while he was known only as "new kid" in accordance with the playground charter. He is normally the most timid and most accident-prone of his peers, but has been heroic on several situations and is also has an incredible skill at playing dodgeball for which he was nicknamed "EL DIABLO". Gus comes from a very disciplined military family, which caused his family to move around frequently. He has a little kindergarten friend named Hector who looks up to him and calls him "Safety Man" and another younger female friend named Cornchip Girl. He calls her "Cornie" for short. Their fathers are naval rivals. He was voiced by Courtland Mead.