The Baby-Sitters Club (Netflix series)

The Baby-Sitters Club is a TV series reboot created by Netflix, based on the main book series. The original TV series ran for one season between November 1990 and February 1993. The first season of the Netflix series was released on July 3, 2020 and the second season on October 11, 2021.

Plot

In this contemporary take on the beloved book series, in which five best friends launch a baby-sitting business that's big on fun and adventure.^[1].

Caption

Season 1: "Join the club!" Season 2: "The next chapter"

Seasons

Season One

Season 1 was announced in February of 2019 ^[2]. Netflix's goal was to "contemporize the story lines and adventures of this iconic group of girlfriends to reflect modern-day issues."

Season Two

Season 2 was announced on October 28, 2020.^[3]. Production started filming in March of 2021 ^[4] shortly after the announcement that Xochitl Gomez was being replaced with Kyndra Sanchez ^[5] for the role of Dawn Schafer. Filming wrapped after three months at the end of April 2021, with the actresses posting about it on their Instagram accounts. ^[6]

Episodes

Season One

1.1 - "Kristy's Great Idea"
1.2 - "Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls"
1.3 - "The Truth About Stacey"
1.4 - "Mary Anne Saves the Day"
1.5 - "Dawn and the Impossible Three"
1.6 - "Claudia and Mean Janine"
1.7 - "Boy-Crazy Stacey"
1.8 - "Kristy's Big Day"
1.9 - "Hello, Camp Moosehead! Part 1"
1.10 - "Hello, Camp Moosehead! Part 2"

Season Two

Cast

Sophie Grace as Kristy Thomas
Malia Baker as Mary Anne Spier
Momona Tamada as Claudia Kishi
Shay Rudolph as Stacey McGill
Anais Lee as Jessi Ramsey
Vivian Watson as Mallory Pike
Xochitl Gomez as Dawn Schafer (Season One)
- Kyndra Sanchez as Dawn Schafer (Season Two)
Alicia Silverstone as Elizabeth Thomas-Brewer
Mark Feuerstein as Watson Brewer
Jessica Elaina Eason as Sharon Spier
Dylan Kingwell as Sam Thomas
Ethan Farrell as Charlie Thomas
Daphne Hoskins as Vanessa Pike

Crew

Lucia Aniello (director and executive producer)
Ann M. Martin and Rachel Shulkert (writers)
Naia Cucukov (executive producer)
Michael De Luca (executive producer)
Ashley Glazier (producer)
Lucy Kitada (executive producer)
Rachel Shukert (executive producer)

Trivia

The actresses for Mary Anne Spier, Kristy Thomas, Claudia Kishi, and Stacey McGill are listed for all ten episodes in Season 1.
This is the first time storylines from the books are made into episodes. Both the 90s TV series and the film have original storylines. However, Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls and Welcome to Camp Moosehead do not have much in common with their book counterparts.
Unlike the '90s TV series and film, which kept the actresses' physical appearances close to their book series counterparts, the current cast is more diverse, with Mary-Anne being biracial, African-American on her mother's side and white on her father's side and also Dawn being Latina.
Claudia has her own phone line because Janine needed high-speed internet, and the line came with the package.
The series now includes LGBTQ+ characters that did not appear in the books:
- Mrs. Johanssen is a lesbian.
- Dawn’s father is gay.
- Bailey, a kid Mary Anne babysits, is transgender.
- Alex is either gay or bisexual.
- Dawn is likely pansexual.
- Janine is a lesbian:
  - Ashley Wyeth is also a lesbian and Janine’s girlfriend.
Kate Nash sings a new cover of “Say Hello to Your Friends” in the season two trailer, this was the original theme of the 90s TV series.
Due to Netflix deciding not to renew the series for a third season, it was canceled on March 11, 2022.^[7]