Kiff Wiki
Kiff Wiki
Kiffpedia
854
pages
in: A to Z, Kiff (TV series), Series

Kiff (TV series)

View source
Main page

Looking for something different?

This article is about the series. You may be trying to look for the character.

Kiff is an animated musical comedy TV series created by Lucy Heavens and Nic Smal for Disney Channel, airing simultaneously on Disney XD and Disney+ on streaming. It is produced by Titmouse, Inc. and Disney Television Animation, and premiered on March 10, 2023.

Premise

The series follows Kiff Chatterley, an optimistic squirrel whose best intentions often lead to complete chaos, and her best friend Barry Buns, a sweet and mellow bunny. Set in the bustling city of Table Town, where animals and magical creatures live together in harmony, the series features the duo as they take the town by storm with their endless adventures and zest for life.

Production

In 2017, creators Lucy Heavens and Nic Smal first met each other when they were animators for Triggerfish Animation Studios, with the duo later recalling that they "spoke the same comedy language".[1][2] Conception for the series began in December 2017,[2] with two protagonists being created; a squirrel named Donk and a rabbit named Bunny Guinness. The series was eventually optioned by Disney Television Animation five months later,[1][3] after other pitches to various animation enterprises, such as Cartoon Network Studios, Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon Animation Studio, and Netflix Animation, failed.[4] At some point between the show's optioning and eventual announcement, a pilot episode featuring Donk and Bunny, who were already cast and voiced by Kimiko Glenn and H. Michael Croner, respectively, was created.

The show was announced in June 2021, now titled Kiff.[5] Writing for the main series began the following month.[6] Glenn and Croner were publicly announced to be the voices of the now-renamed Kiff and Barry, respectively, in October 2022.[7]

Kiff was inspired both by Lucy Heavens and Nic Smal's childhoods in Cape Town, South Africa, and by various animated series, with The Simpsons cited as a major influence.[8] The primary location of the series, Table Town, is named for Cape Town's Table Mountain, and the school Kiff and Barry go to is modeled after Smal's primary school.[9] Smal has stated the writers often draw from life experience when brainstorming for ideas, whether they be inspired by childhood memories or things that happened to them as adults.[9] Heavens and Smal value the show's positivity, and state they try not to make the series too cynical or sarcastic.[10]

The animation is co-produced by Titmouse, Inc. in New York City and Yearim in Seoul, South Korea, and is done in a two-dimensional and hand-drawn style;[4] the only digital process used for the series is Toon Boom Harmony, which scans the drawings and also colors them.[8]

Every episode of the show begins with a title card on a billboard, and has a "sponsor", an advertisement placed on the aforementioned billboard for an entity that appears at some point in the episode. These are typically businesses or products, but can also be simple concepts (such as art, in "Ghost Wolf's Art"). In an interview, Heavens and Smal explained that as they were developing the series the two realized the wide variety of jobs the characters had, and began the opening sponsor gag in response to that.[11]

Kiff also features at least one musical number for each episode, with a diverse number of genres being utilized. Heavens and Smal stated in a 2023 interview that they see the songs as different parts of the human psyche, and their ability to help motivate the episodes.[4]

Kimiko Glenn noted in a 2023 interview that she and H. Michael Croner are allowed to go off-script and improvise during recording sessions.[12] When Glenn auditioned as Kiff, she was tasked with singing various songs, as music and songs are a crucial part of the series.[13]

Voice cast

For a full voice cast list, see List of cast and crew § Voice talents and additional voices.

Main characters

Supporting characters

Episodes

Main article: List of episodes
Season Episodes Segments Season premiere Season finale
1 30 60 March 10, 2023 February 10, 2024
2 18+ 36+ March 15, 2025 TBA
3 TBA TBA TBA TBA
Specials 2 4 October 5, 2024 January 21, 2025

Reception

Kiff received highly positive reviews, with praise going toward its animation, morals, characters, songs, faithfulness, constant callbacks to previous episodes, and voice acting. In a May 2025 graph summarizing the show's IMDb ratings, 84% of 842 ratings were positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10; the average rating of an episode on the site is 8.8/10.[14]

Matthew Aguilar of ComicBook.com asserted, "Those who watch will soon find themselves transported to a delightful animated world full of hilarious scenarios that always find a way to also be relatable."[15] Joel Keller of Decider wrote, "Kiff is lots of surreal fun, with a warm friendship at its center. Most of all, parents will enjoy it for its smart humor almost as much as their kids will enjoy the colors, sounds, and pratfalls."[16] Ashley Moulton of Common Sense Media compared Kiff favorably to Australia's Bluey "with its simultaneous imagination and real-life truisms". She wrote that Kiff "pays loving tribute to childhood friendships" and complimented its visual style and moments of mature humor, concluding, "The whole family can enjoy the quirky characters and the ridiculous situations they find themselves in." The website gave the series a grade of four out of five stars and praised the depiction of positive messages and role models, citing the presence of characters demonstrating kindness, and summarizing, "Quirky buddy comedy celebrates kid friendships."[17]

In October 2024, Kiff was placed at the #10 spot in DirecTV's "Top 10 Cartoons for Kids on TV" list.[18] In March 2025, the show was listed by The New York Times as one of "The 50 Best TV Shows and Movies to Watch on Disney+ Right Now", with critic Scott Tobias calling it "a gateway to the gentle irreverence and surrealism of animated favorites like Adventure Time and Phineas and Ferb" and "the rare series that might appeal as much to parents as to their young children."[19]

Accolades

Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
2023 Children's and Family Emmy Awards Outstanding Main Title and Graphics Kiff Nominated [20]
Outstanding Voice Directing for an Animated Series Sam Riegel Nominated
2024 Children's or Young Teen Animated Series Kiff Nominated [21]
Original Song for a Children's or Young Teen Program "Things" Nominated

International release

Country Language Original network Premiere date
Canada Canada English Disney Channel March 10, 2023
United Kingdom United Kingdom English Disney+ March 29, 2023
Ireland Ireland
Australia Australia English Disney+ April 5, 2023
New Zealand New Zealand
Portugal Portugal Portuguese Disney Channel May 15, 2023
Angola Angola
Mozambique Mozambique
Taiwan Taiwan Chinese
Cantonese
Mandarin 		Disney+ May 17, 2023
Hong Kong Hong Kong
Spain Spain European Spanish Disney+
Disney Channel 		May 20, 2023
Andorra Andorra
Latin America Latin America Mexico Latin Spanish Disney+
Disney Channel 		June 7, 2023 (Disney+)
September 11, 2023 (Disney Channel)
Brazil Brazilian Portuguese
South Korea South Korea Korean Disney+ June 14, 2023
Israel Israel Hebrew Disney Channel June 25, 2023
Philippines Philippines English Disney+ July 17, 2023
Italy Italy Italian Disney+ July 24, 2023
Turkey Turkey Turkish Disney+ July 29, 2023
MENA English Disney Channel August 21, 2023
Egypt Arabic
Greece Greek
Sweden Swedish
Finland Finnish
Norway Norwegian
Netherlands Netherlands Dutch
French 		Disney Channel September 4, 2023
Belgium Belgium
France France French Disney Channel September 9, 2023
Luxembourg Luxembourg
Switzerland Switzerland
Haiti Haiti
Japan Japan Japanese Disney Channel September 30, 2023
European Union Central and Eastern Europe Bulgaria Bulgarian Disney Channel October 2, 2023
Czechia Czech
Hungary Hungarian
Romania Romanian
Poland Polish
Slovakia Slovakia Slovakian Disney+
Quebec Quebec French La Chaîne Disney (Disney Channel) March 2, 2024

Trivia

Production

Broadcasting

  • Kiff is the first Disney Television Animation series to premiere episodes simultaneously on Disney Channel and Disney XD.
  • In the Hungarian dub of the series, a majority of the students at Table Town Middle School are voiced by children and teenagers, with Barry, Trevor, Kiff and Candle being notable examples.
  • As of October 2024, the series has yet to receive a German dub, or to release in Germany or Austria in any way; this is likely due to "Kiff" translating to "smoke weed" in the language.
    • Despite this, nine episodes of the series are available to stream with German subtitles on Disney+ outside of the aforementioned countries.

Gallery

Click here to view the image gallery for Kiff (TV series).
Click here to view the gallery for Kiff (TV series).

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Zahed, Ramin (September 24, 2021). ‘Kiff’ Creators Lucy Heavens & Nic Smal Forge a Path from Cape Town to Disney Channel. Animation Magazine. Retrieved on December 15, 2024.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Zahed, Ramin (February 27, 2023). ‘Kiff’ Creators Lucy Heavens & Nic Smal Gives Us the Scoop on Their Colorful Disney Comedy. Animation Magazine. Retrieved on December 15, 2024.
  3. ↑ Reif, Alex (October 29, 2023). LightBox Expo Recap: “From Pitch to Premiere: Developing a New Series” with “Hailey’s on It!” and “Kiff”. Laughing Place. Retrieved on December 15, 2024.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 ANIMATION MAGAZINE Interviews Disney Legends NIC SMAL and LUCY HEAVENS With Kiffy Details. DTVA News (February 28, 2023). Retrieved on December 15, 2024.
  5. ↑ Dickson, Jeremy (June 18, 2021). Disney greenlights South African toon Kiff. Kidscreen. Retrieved on July 1, 2023.
  6. ↑ Jost, Hannah. Hannah Jost. LinkedIn. Retrieved on April 29, 2024.
  7. ↑ Schneider, Michael (October 6, 2022). Kimiko Glenn, H. Michael Croner to Voice Disney’s New Animated Series ‘Kiff’ (EXCLUSIVE). Variety. Retrieved on July 1, 2023.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Davis, Victoria (March 8, 2023). ‘Kiff’: A Cape-Town-Inspired Buddy Comedy that Captures the Soul of Hand-Drawn. Animation World Network. Retrieved on June 28, 2023.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Murphy, Jackson (March 6, 2023). INTERVIEW: The Gift Of “Kiff” With Creators Of New Disney Series. Animation Scoop. Retrieved on July 1, 2023.
  10. ↑ Aguilar, Matthew (April 3, 2023). Kiff Creators Reveal What Inspired the Characters and Humor of Disney's New Series. ComicBook.com. Retrieved on July 1, 2023.
  11. ↑ Betti, Tony (March 8, 2023). Spending Some Time With “Kiff” Creators Nic Smal and Lucy Heavens. Laughing Place. Retrieved on July 2, 2023.
  12. ↑ Aguilar, Matthew (April 15, 2023). Kimiko Glenn Talks Bringing Disney's Kiff to Life in Delightful New Series. ComicBook.com. Retrieved on June 28, 2023.
  13. ↑ Dar, Taimur (March 8, 2023). INTERVIEW: Kimiko Glenn gets nutty in new Disney animated series KIFF. The Beat. Retrieved on July 1, 2023.
  14. ↑ Kiff ratings (TV show, 2021-). Rating Graph. Retrieved on February 12, 2025.
  15. ↑ Aguilar, Matthew (April 3, 2023). Kiff Creators Reveal What Inspired the Characters and Humor of Disney’s New Series. ComicBook.com. Retrieved on June 7, 2024.
  16. ↑ Keller, Joel (March 15, 2023). Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Kiff’ On Disney+, Where An Overachieving Squirrel And Her Bunny Buddy Navigate Life In Their Nutty Town. Decider. Retrieved on June 7, 2024.
  17. ↑ Moulton, Ashley (2023). Kiff TV Review. Common Sense Media. Retrieved on July 1, 2023.
  18. ↑ Top 10 Cartoons for Kids on TV. DirecTV (October 4, 2024). Archived from the original on December 10, 2024. Retrieved on November 27, 2024.
  19. ↑ Tobias, Scott (March 3, 2025). The 50 Best TV Shows and Movies to Watch on Disney+ Right Now. The New York Times. Retrieved on April 2, 2025.
  20. ↑ NOMINEES ANNOUNCED FOR THE SECOND ANNUAL CHILDREN’S & FAMILY EMMY® AWARDS. National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (November 8, 2023). Retrieved on February 9, 2024.
  21. ↑ 3rd Annual Children’s & Family Nominations. National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (December 12, 2024). Retrieved on December 13, 2024.
v • e — Episodes —
Kiff
Season 1 1. "Thirst to Be the First"/"The Fourth Bath" • 2. "Pool Party"/"Road Trip" • 3. "Brunch DJ"/"Career Day" • 4. "The Five Pigeons of the Acapellapocalypse"/"Leave a Little Juice" • 5. "Big Barry on Campus"/"Club Book" • 6. "Kiff's Mix"/"Kiff's on a Plane" • 7. "Farley"/"Two for One Hot Dogs" • 8. "Halfway There Day"/"Be Still My Harp" • 9. "Friendiversary"/"Totally Table Town" • 10. "Hat"/"Lost and Found" • 11. "Principal Dance Socks" • 12. "Two Truths and a Bunny"/"Nicknames" • 13. "The Sound of Helen"/"Weekly Grocery Shop" • 14. "Friendship in the Time of Cheese Caves"/"Soup Opera" • 15. "Mall Leader"/"Ghost Wolf's Art" • 16. "Fresh Outta Grandmas"/"Maybe-sitting" • 17. "Everyday I'm Riddlin' Riddlin'"/"Life on the Inside" • 18. "Weird Delivery"/"No Dad Ideas" • 19. "Faculty Lounge"/"Personal Assistant" • 20. "Trevor's Rockin' Halloween Bash" • 21. "I Like to Move It!"/"Hive Got an Idea" • 22. "You Can't Handle the Tooth!"/"Blooper Quest" • 23. "When You Mow, You Mow"/"Harry's Maturity Crisis" • 24. "Silly Moods"/"Chatterley vs. Chatterley" • 25. "Hungee Squirrel"/"Foreverangees" • 26. "Snow More Ketchup"/"Kiff and Barry Go to Prom" • 27. "Kiff Is Good at Sports"/"Mushroommates" • 28. "Principal Helen"/"Dial B for Butt" • 29. "Fun Uncle Pat"/"Kiff Escape!" • 30. "Beach Day"/"Sun's Out Buns Out"
Season 2 1. "Kiff Has to Sneeze"/"Never Meet Your Mailboxes" • 2. "The Other Movie"/"Roy-alty Check" • 3. "Stramded"/"Hairstory" • 4. "Lights Out"/"Dinner at Barry's" • 5. "Taily"/"Cocina Island" • 6. "Up All Night"/"Rotten Banana" • 7. "OTDR"/"Good Morning Table Town School" • 8. "Wiz Ed"/"Mystery Spell" • 9. "Trash Clumpers"/"Wiff & Larry" • 10. "Helping People Feels Good"/"Dinner with Darryn" • 11. "Spoiled Again"/"Much Ado About Muffin" • 12. "Arrested Dehelenment"/"Here Comes the Wedding Episode" • 13. "Rock Kick"/"The Macaroni Affair" • 14. "Kiff and Barry Save Halfway There Day" • 15. "Kristophe's Big Day Out"/"Annoying, Freaky, Cool" • 16. "A Troll Through the Woods"/"Big Coat" • 17. "The Tower on Trevor"/"Friends On Line" • 18. "Martin Waxed the Floors!"/"Juice Break"
Season 3 TBA
Specials "The Haunting of Miss McGravy's House" • "Lore of the Ring Light"
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.