My Babysitter's a Vampire (TV series)


My Babysitter's a Vampire is a 2011 Canadian television series, based on the television film of the same name. In Canada, the series premiered in French on Télétoon on February 28, 2011, in English on Teletoon on March 14, 2011, and on Disney Channel in the United States on June 27, 2011, and finished airing October 5, 2012, on Disney and April 11, 2013, on Télétoon. The show was created by Fresh TV, creators of 6teen, Total Drama, and Stoked. The show follows Ethan Morgan, who, in the television film, learns that his babysitter Sarah is a vampire. In the film, he learns he is able to have visions and his best friend Benny Weir is a spellmaster. The series follows the three as they take on supernatural forces and have adventures, with occasional help from fellow vampires Rory and Erica, while dealing with the troubles of regular high school life.
A second season was confirmed to start production in September 2011 and it first premiered on Disney Channel on June 29, 2012, it premiered on Teletoon September 6, 2012. Télétoon started featuring season 2 sneak-peek episodes on October 28, 2012, and premiered it on January 10, 2013. On September 18, 2013, Fresh TV Inc. said that there will be no season 3 as of now, but they are exploring a possible second movie. However, on February 18, 2014, Fresh TV tweeted they were still working on producing a second movie as well as getting the series picked up again.
On April 7, 2014, Fresh TV announced YTV would be airing the pilot movie as well as seasons 1 and 2 of MBAV. The movie on April 11 at 6:00PM and again on the 13th at 8:00PM ; The series will then air Monday-Thursday nights at 8:00PM ; season 1 starting April 14, 2014, and season 2 episodes on May 6, 2014. Fresh TV urged fans to watch the movie and episodes airing on YTV, for them to pick the series up for a third season and produce a 2nd movie.

Premise

The series follows the supernatural adventures of Ethan Morgan, a geeky freshman and Seer who has visions from contact with the paranormal, his best friend Benny, who is a spellmaster, and his younger sister's babysitter Sarah, who is a vampire. They are often aided by Rory, their dorky friend, and Erica, Sarah's best friend, both of whom are vampires turned in the pilot film.

Episodes

Characters

Main

Original film

My Babysitter's a Vampire aired on October 9, 2010, on the Canadian television channel Teletoon. The French version of the film aired on Teletoon's French-Canadian counterpart, Télétoon, on October 16, 2010. It premiered in the United States on the Disney Channel on June 10, 2011. The film was released on DVD in the United States and Canada on May 22, 2012, with the whole first season. The film was released on DVD in the United Kingdom on June 25, 2012, with the premiere episode of the series, "Lawn of the Dead".

Production

Early in 2011, four episodes of the series aired on Teletoon as previews for the series. Disney Channel announced in June that year that they acquired the rights to air the movie and series. Disney Channel aired the movie on June 10, 2011, and aired first-season episodes from June 27, 2011, to July 19, 2011, with all episodes premiering before the series made its official premiere on Teletoon. First season episodes aired on Thursdays at 8:00 P.M./E.T. on Teletoon and at 8:30 P.M./E.T. on Télétoon starting January 5, 2012, through April 5, 2012, on Teletoon. The first-season finale on Teletoon had an extra scene added to coincide with the online companion game results, which Disney Channel did not air.
A 13 episode second season of the show was greenlit by Fresh TV, and was originally revealed by Vanessa Morgan on her official, personal Twitter. Filming for the second season lasted from September 21, 2011, to November 17, 2011. The same day filming ended, Disney Channel announced that it would pick the show up again for a second season. A promo for the second season first aired on Disney Channel on May 7, 2012. It was later revealed by Vanessa Morgan on Twitter that it would premiere June 29, 2012, at 8 PM Eastern time on Disney Channel. Teletoon released its first season two promo on August 13, 2012, with the season premiering on Thursday, September 6, 2012, at 7:30PM Eastern time.

Broadcast

Season 1

The show originally premiered on Teletoon on March 14, 2011, and on Télétoon on February 28, 2011. In the United States it premiered on June 27, 2011, on Disney Channel. In the UK and Ireland it premiered on October 4, 2011, on Disney Channel and in April 2012 on Disney XD. The series premiered in late 2011 in Australia and New Zealand.

Season 2

The second season originally premiered on Teletoon on September 6, 2012, and on Télétoon on October 28, 2012. In the United States it premiered on June 29, 2012, on Disney Channel. In the UK and Ireland it premiered on October 22, 2012, on Disney Channel. The season premiered October 6, 2012, on Disney Channel in Australia and New Zealand.

Reception

Ratings

The first season episodes of My Babysitter's a Vampire that aired on Disney Channel in the United States in June 2011, averaged 3.7 million viewers and was the number 1 cable show among kids 2–11 in its time period.
In an interview about Disney Channel programming; Senior VP of programming, scheduling, multiplatform, acquisitions and co-productions, Paul DeBenedittis; stated "My Babysitter’s a Vampire was a great performer for us this past summer. It is a well-crafted series, with rich characters and great stories. It was creator-driven, with a strong point of view that was relevant and connected with our core audience in a big way," when he was asked about top-performing acquired programming.
The second-season premiere episode, which originally aired June 29, 2012, on Disney Channel in the United States, was watched by approximately 3.20 million total viewers and was ranked as Friday's #2 cable TV telecast and the #2 TV telecast in Tweens 9–14.

Awards and nominations

Video game

In May 2011, prior to first-season episodes of My Babysitter's a Vampire airing on Disney Channel in the United States, and after certain episodes aired as sneak peeks on Teletoon/Télétoon ; Secret Location, with support from the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, began developing a video game for Teletoon and MBAV called "Humans vs. Vampires in 3D". Humans vs. Vampires is a modern spin on classic arcade-style games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. In this badge system game, the user can play as either a human or a vampire, using over 30 battle moves to defy their opponent, including three special moves unique to each character. Each character has over 30 moves plus three special moves, players battle their way through five levels and five different opponents, with rivals getting increasingly more difficult to beat as the game progresses. The points that are scored get counted toward the overall site tally, which affect the outcome of the season finale.
A testing session for the game took place in Toronto, Ontario, CA on Sunday, June 5, 2011, before the game officially launched on the official website on October 14, 2011. In February 2012, popular game site Kongregate added Humans vs. Vampires to their website. Based on the final scores for each team, an extra scene was aired after the season one finale on Teletoon that was not aired on Disney Channel.
Between July 27 and July 31, 2012, another testing session for Humans vs. Vampires took place in Toronto for an iOS App release for mobile devices to play the game. In the mobile version, Ethan's sister Jane and a character from season 2 named Boltz are added to the game. It's optimized for the fourth generation iPod touch, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.
The game is free to download in the App Store under the title "Humans VS Vampires". A one-time 99 cent in-app upgrade allows players to unlock all five good guys and five undead characters. The game has been nominated for a Digi and Kidscreen Award, and won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Cross-Platform Project in Children's and Youth.