Arborville: The Next Class

Arborville: The Next Class is a teen drama television series and the fourth series in the Arborville franchise. The season marked a series of firsts in the franchise, being that it was the first to be filmed in, the first to be produced from the start by and the first to use a "telenovela" format in the summer months. It premiered on the RKO Network on September 6, 2003 and ran on the network until June 21, 2008.

The series was developed for television by Tom Smythson, Jane Orphanides and Adam Thurley. Smythson was a writer on the first three shows - Arborville High, Arborville Sophomores and Arborville Senior Year - while Orphanides and Thurley were the head writers of Sophomores and Senior Year, respectively.

Development
Initially, FremantleMedia wanted to end the show, citing a lack of interest in the property and the high costs of producing the show in. However, Tom Smythson, a former Arborville writer working at FremantleMedia's parent company, suggested to FremantleMedia the idea of moving the show's production to , citing tax credits and a wide variety of possible filming locations in the country. Executives agreed with his proposal, and planning for a new series soon began.

Production on the series began in January 2003.

Filming locations
The series was mostly filmed at Sasani Studios in, South Africa. The John Moffat Building and the Richard Ward Building on the campus were used for exterior shots of the rebuilt Arborville High School, while interiors were filmed at Sasani Studios.

Main
For cost-cutting reasons, the show primarily cast young actors from, and , who were taught by a dialect coach to speak with American accents.

The first season saw star billing given to ten new students. Betty Gillies played nerdy high-achiever Joanne Bastianini. Gavin Ramsay played bad boy Cody Skipper. Merilyn Heyns was cast as Norah Irving, the school's head cheerleader and queen bee who came from a wealthy family. Anthony Radebe played Francis Sibiya, a computer geek. Soham Kulkarni was cast as Malcolm "Manny" Deshpande, Cody's best friend and sidekick. Roxanne Fonseca portrayed Luciana "Lucy" Rodriguez, a hyperactive cheerleader. Jonathan Evan Watkins portrayed Joseph "Joey" Henry, a basketball star with a quirky attitude. Daniel Wolhuter portrayed Tyler McFarlane, a no-nonsense football star.