Recess

At Third Street Elementary School, six fourth graders share their daily lives: TJ, Vince, Spinelli, Mikey, Gretchen, and Gus. Much of their life unfolds in class, but the real stage is recess, a break from the classroom where the kids have built their own society, complete with a government, a pecking order, and unwritten rules. The six friends move through that world like citizens of a small country. The series, created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere, airs on ABC. Each episode puts the kids' freedom up against the order that adults try to impose, whether through the principal's office or social conventions. The main characters work to strike a balance between being themselves and respecting the group's rules.