That's Sooooooooooooooooooo Raven!

Okay. So I know the show ended four years ago. And I know they've even stopped airing reruns months ago to give more room for reruns of Hannah Montana, which recently ended as well. Thus, ends the airing of the landmark Disney Channel original sitcom that I practically grew up with.

The show premiered in early 2003, when I was in Form 1 in secondary school. I did not like the idea of a sitcom  with a laugh track, as it appeared like something for adults. At that time, I was very much into Lizzie McGuire and Even Stevens. Raven did not interest me one bit.


But it was after my younger brother introduced me to the show, I immediately fell in love with it. The characters were funny. The situations were hilarious. The storyline was insane, which is a compliment. It became our family's favourite show! Since my house did not have cable, my siblings and I would always make sure we watched Raven when we visited our Granny's place, which had ASTRO.


For those of you who don't know, That's So Raven is about a teenage psychic, Raven living in San Francisco with her chef parents, Mr. and Mrs. Baxter and intelligent but notoriousness younger brother, Cory.  The totally vegan, environmentalist and not-so smart yet sweet Chelsea and inspiring rapper cum self-proclaimed ladies man Eddie are her best friends. Raven struggles to be a normal teenager as she tries to cop with her supernatural abilities which often lands her in awkward and completely hilarious situations.

Raven and Eddie were never romantically linked. Even if they were, it would end with a disaster. But still, Eddie appears as Raven's husband in the future in at least two of Raven's visions...

Raven's life-long dream of working for her idol, a popular fashion designer comes true. But things, as always, turn up to be not as good to be true. 

The importance of the family institution is emphasized throughout the show. It surprises me how much our American counterparts can be so similar to us in the sun-kissed world of Disney, yet so different in other major studio productions' TV shows and movies.

The importance of friendship, and having truly good friends is also the main theme of the show. It sure taught me how to pick good friends in the future. 

Usually, I don't like shows where the story circles around the main character and the main character only. But in this case, I would have totally loved it, had it been done that way. Raven is a character one will totally fall in love with. She is sassy, stylish and quite often self-centered. But when it comes to her family and friends, she always place them before herself. She designs her own clothes.

Raven turns into a cow on Halloween. Thank God it turned out to be the longest vision the show had seen and not reality!

The dialogues, and even the voiceovers like in this scene are written to tickle one's funny bone all the time!

Sibling rivalry: depicted very realistically though in a hilarious manner. But we all know that Raven and Cory will always be there for each other no matte how much they fight and bully each other. 

Raven always finds for trouble, just the way trouble always finds her!

Yes. She is extremely elergic to mushrooms! 

People love watching Raven fall over and over and over and over again! Only to wake up later and say her famous tagline: "I'm okay!" LOL!

One of the many reasons why I can relate to Raven is because she hates P.E. as much as I did back at school!

 Another reason is because she loves music, like me! Here she is with her favourite boy band, the fictional Boys In Motion...

 Most of the series' story lines are ridiculous... which is why I totally love them! Hahahahahahahaha!

OMG! This episode! One of my favourites! Loved Raven in this! 

Her visions often cause her more problems than help her. But I suppose that is what that makes the show work. Some might find her irritating with her often exaggerated facial expressions and body gestures. But as a Raven fan, I think that is what makes the character so lovable. In a special appearance in Cory In The House, the spin-off of That's So Raven, Raven is shown to be attending a designing school, which has been her ultimate dream.

Fashionista: Not ashamed of her body shape. And a designer in the making! 

When one discusses Raven Baxter, one definitely can never disassociate her from the fact she is a master of disguise! Some of my favourite disguises were her as a fat version of her mother, a sculpture of herself with a beak(!), a fat plumber and so much more! Just thinking about it can make me laugh out loud!

Then of course, there are her famous taglines: "Oh snap!", "Ya nasty!", "How ya'll doin'?", and "Oh, no he didn't!" "I'm okay!". 

The show grew rather boring and less funny as we reached the final season, season four. But towards the end of the season four, the show instantly regained the spice and flavour it was slowly losing. It also got much more personal as the characters started to grow. The show when Raven and Eddie's friendship finally turns into romance was somehow expected, but was more of a surprise as they never seemed compatible as an item before. 

Oh yes! They finally end up together at the end of the series! I went all awwwwwwwww... like a girl when they kissed! 

The show even allows space for the stars to exercise their singing and even rapping skills. It is almost a must for every aspiring Disney teen star to be able to act, sing and do comedy. No wonder they are all just so talented, save for a few some of course. 

All in all, alongside shows like Barney and Friends, Power Rangers, Captain Planet and so much more, I suppose this is one of the shows that will constantly remind me of my childhood and when I was growing up. Watching this again on YouTube reminds me of the happy times I spent watching them with my family. Now that I'm so far away from them, it is little things like this that help remind me of the good times we spent together... and the more happy times we will have when I go home soon... God bless... Aum...