Disney’s Saturdays cast confesses their roller skating skills, talks series inspiration, and more in these exclusive interviews with Mama’s Geeky.
Disney’s new series Saturdays follows three friends and their families as they celebrate the best day of the week — Saturday! They spend their Saturday at the skating rink showing off their skills and going on crazy and hilarious adventures such as trying to be in a music video.
This show is a whole lot of fun, and something that families can enjoy together. Not only will it have you cracking up, there are a lot of serious moments and lessons to learn as well. The friends bond more and their relationship gets stronger with each episode. When you weave in their family members, you are sure to get a good laugh.
One of the coolest things about this series is that at the end of each episode, they showcase a real life skater and their skills. These people are from all around the world and the things they can do will shock you! Within the episodes themselves, there is a lot of skating of course, but it is about so much more than that.
Saturdays is about friendship, community, and family. It has many hilarious moments but it isn’t afraid to throw in the powerful and heartwarming stuff too.
Read on for our exclusive interviews with the cast and creators to learn even more about this series.
Different Levels of Roller Skating Skills
There is a whole lot of roller skating in this series. Everyone shows off their skills and is extremely talented. So of course, we had to find out if they could always skate, or if the “skating boot camp” ahead of filming is how they got so good.
Peyton Basnight confesses that she did not know how to skate before the show. She is from North Carolina originally, but when she moved to Georgia, which has a bigger skate community, it was never something that anyone she hung out with did. “So I definitely learned how to skate for the show.”
Jermaine Harris says that he would go skating a lot with his friends growing up. “We had one roller skating rink in my hometown where everybody would go on Fridays and Saturdays. I already knew how to skate beforehand. But after going through skate camp, it for sure improved my skills tenfold. Now I’m extremely competent.”
Tim Johnson Jr. explains that while he skated a little when he was younger, he was never good. He jokes that the skate camp was great for bonding — him bonding with the floor. But he rose up and is now much better at it.
Danielle Jalade tells us that skating is a big part of the LA culture, so she grew up skating a little bit with her friends. “I would never try to learn any of the tricks or moves because that was way too terrifying. But I would definitely skate around and just have fun. But when practicing before filming, and while filming, I got to learn all these different types of moves. And I got to learn the JB style of skating, which is the Chicago style, which I think is so cool.”
Daria Johns is actually from Chicago, so she knows the JB (James Brown) style of skating well which she describes as a “funky groove” way of skating. “But being on set, I learned more new tricks. And I definitely honed my skills.”
Full Disney’s Saturdays Interviews
Be sure to check out the full interviews with the cast and creators of Disney’s Saturdays to learn all the inside details!
Interview with Norman Vance, Jr. (EP/showrunner) and Marsai Martin (EP):
Interview with Danielle Jalade (“Paris Johnson”), Daria Johns (“Simone ‘Cinnamon’ Samson”), and Peyton Basnight (“Ari ‘Butterfly’ Stevens”):
Interview with Jermaine Harris (“London”) and Tim Johnson Jr. (“Derek ‘D-Rok’”):
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About Saturdays
SATURDAYS, is a single-cam coming of age comedy that only takes place on the best day of the week…Saturday! The series revolves around 14-year-old, PARIS JOHNSON, and her best friends SIMONE & ARI, who hone their roller skating skills on the cool parquet floor of Saturdays, a local skating rink in Chicago. Together they form the We-B-Girlz skate crew, and are determined to show and prove they have the hottest skate routines on the planet!
Saturdays premieres on the Disney Channel March 24th and Disney+ March 25th.
Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. On Camera personality and TV / Film Critic with 10+ years of experience in video editing, writing, editing, moderating, and hosting.