SVH TV Series Info


Image ©1988 National Broadcasting Company

Overview: Francine Pascal’s originally conceived idea behind Sweet Valley, was for it to be turned in to a TV soap opera for teenagers. Originally entitled Sweet Apple High, Francine was made to change the name, after her brother, world-renowned playwright, Michael Stewart, pointed out to her that Sweet Apple High, was in fact already the name of the school within the Broadway theatre piece, Bye Bye Birdie, and as a result, changed the name to Sweet Valley High.

In February 1988, newspapers reported that The National Broadcasting Company (NBC-TV) were launching a nationwide talent search for identical twins -- 15 years of age or older -- to star as the shows' female leads, for an originally planned 2-hour prime-time network special. This would also act as the series pilot for a proposed TV series, if figures showed it to be well received by fans. However, after a few months of holding auditions, Francine and her co-executive producer, Buzz Potamkin decided to take their "twin search" on to the road, when auditions appeared to be unsuccessful in finding a pair of twins who had what it took to meet Francine’s vision of her beloved Wakefield heroines. In June of ‘88, 12-year-old twins Brittany and Cynthia Daniel made the trek all the way down to Miami, and after leaving a lasting impression on Francine’s eldest daughter and NBC producer, Jamie Stewart Carmen, were amongst the final eight sets of twins narrowed down to be include for the role in August 1988.

NBC’s original idea for the series was to start the twins out at Sweet Valley High, meaning that whoever got cast the roles had to look at least 15 or 16. But after seeing how closely Brittany and Cynthia resembled the Wakefield twins, were considering beginning the series with 'Sweet Valley Twins', before making the screen transition to Sweet Valley High. However, child labour laws in California prevented the 12-year olds from working more than three hours a day on set, and NBC were torn between a decision in going ahead and using 18-year-old twins for the pilot, and using the Daniel twins as guest shots for either cousins or friends of the Wakefield’s. Luckily for them however, NBC took the decision to start shooting in 1993, when the twins were 17-years of age.

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The Sweet Valley High TV show starred identical twins, Brittany and Cynthia Daniel as Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield. The show ran for 4 seasons; from 1994 to 1997 (September 5, 1994 - October 14, 1997) comprised of 22 episodes per season (totalling in an overall 88), and was produced (and distributed) by Saban Entertainment. Due to the targeted age of its audience (12+) - as well as the time slots of which the show was aired - the mood and tone of the show rarely touched upon the more serious storylines found within the books; and when it did, opted to take a more filtered-down, tongue-in-cheek, comedic & occasionally dramatic approach to it. The show - which had a planned 5th season - never got a chance to round off with a proper series finale; as after three/3 seasons in syndication (primarily on Fox stations), the show got moved to the UPN network for its fourth/ 4th (and what was to become its final season) and after clear & evident poor ratings, was cancelled. In 1998, ABC Family, broadcast re-runs of the show up until 2000, and then later streamed them online, via its official website in August, 2008. The rights to the show are now held by Disney-ABC Domestic Television.

Click [HERE] to read a 2008 online article about the show.



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