Queen of the Willis

Queen of the Willis
Queen of the willis.png
Genre	Animated sitcom Comedy-drama Slice of life
Created by	Ava Zinn Holly Everman
Voices of	Ava Zinn Holly Everman
Opening theme	"Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis (2008-2012)
Composer(s)	TBD
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	200+ (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Ava Zinn Holly Everman
Producer(s)	TBD
Editor(s)	TBD
Running time	21–23 minutes
Production company(s)	CBS Television Distribution
Distributor	CBS Television Distribution
Broadcast
Original channel	First-run syndication
Picture format	480i (4:3 SDTV) (2006–2012) 720p (16:9 HDTV) (2018–)
Audio format	Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

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Queen of the Willis is an American animated sitcom created by Ava Zinn that ran from August 12, 2006 to May 31, 2012. It centers on the Willis family, a middle-class American LGBTQ family in the fictional city of Quillsville, Indiana. It attempts to maintain a realistic approach, seeking humor in the conventional and mundane aspects of everyday life.

The series debuted in syndication on the ATE Media Corporation owned stations in 2006 before moving to NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations in November 2007, quickly becoming a hit. The series' popularity led to nationwide syndication, and reruns formerly aired nightly on NoSirGifts-owned My 50 (WIFX-FDT2) in Indianapolis and INNCD 47 (WXXC) Fort Wayne from 2010 until 2018.

A total of at least 200 episodes aired over the course of its 6 seasons.

History

Facing cancellation

Because it was paired with Hoosier Millionaire on the ATE Media Network, portions of Queen of the Willis episodes were often pre-empted by sporting events that ran into overtime; in season one especially, whole episodes were pre-empted. Ultimately, enough episodes were pre-empted that the majority of the series' 5th season—initially intended to be the final season, consisted of unaired fourth-season episodes.

Television ratings

Season		No. of episodes	Network	Originally aired			Nielsen ratings
				Time slot (ET)	Season premiere	Season finale	Ranking	Viewers (in millions)
1st	2005–06	8	ATE Media Corporation ATE Media Indiana Network First-run syndication	Saturday at 7:30 pm	August 12, 2006	September 30, 2006	#111	5.2
2nd	2006–07	12	NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations First-run syndication	Varies by station	November 2006	May 20, 2007	#109	5.5
3rd	2007–08	22			September 22, 2007	May 17, 2008	#105	6.6
4th	2008–09	20			September 27, 2008	May 2009	#95	6.0
5th	2009–10	20			September 2009	May 2010	#95	6.0
6th	2010–11	20			September 2010	September 2011	#95	6.0
7th	2019–20	20	First-run syndication

Setting and characters

Opening sequence

In the opening sequence of the first six seasons, Ava joins Melissa, Tiffani D, and Pamhauser at the curb outside her house in the morning. When she opens his can of soda pop, the playback speed increases greatly and depicts other main and secondary characters carrying out various daily activities around them. Meanwhile, the four continue drinking soda and a nearby recycling bin fills with their empty cans. When Angie brings a bag of garbage out to Ava, the other three leave and the playback returns to normal speed as she takes it to the trash can and gathers with Angie, Deanna, Tom, and the Willis sextuplets.

The opening theme was "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis. For season finales there is a slight variation. Season one's finale added a "yahoo" to the beginning and the 2-6 finales accompanied the "yeehaw" with a dinner triangle.

Setting

Queen of the Willis is set in the fictional town of Quillsville, Indiana. In addition to drawing inspiration from Indianapolis, Zinn has described Quillsville as "a town like New Haven" (a suburb of Fort Wayne). Indianapolis Monthly magazine praised the authentic portrayal as the "most acutely observed, realistic sitcom about regional American life bar none". As seen in the episode, "Ava's Colt Movie" the town has a population of 290,600 people.

Though the location is based on suburbs of the Indianapolis, the physical location of Quillsville id directly east of Indianapolis. The area s on the Craven Gifts delivery trucks was "765" and later "463," indicating a setting of Anderson or Muncie. Three episodes give conflicting s for the Willis residence: In the Season 4 episode, Ava receives a letter with her 46301 which in real life is the town of Beverly Shores, Indiana, while in the episode "Hank's Choice" the is 46104, indicating that the Willis live in Arlington, Indiana. In Season 3 episode Tiffani Donovan writes Melissa a check for a million dollars. Tiffani Donovan's checks has her address with 46304, the of Chesterton, Indiana. The address of the First National Bank of Quillsville is different but illegible (4?1?? possibly, which would also be an unassigned Indiana ).

Quillsville includes settings such as Evansville Road, where the Willis' and other major characters reside, and Craven Gifts, Ava's employer until retiring at the end of season 7. Also included are parodies of well-known businesses, such as Aldi-Lo Mart (a parody of Aldi and Walmart), Bradidos (a parody of Bandidos), Karsh Supermarkets (a parody of Kroger and Marsh Supermarkets). Ava's friend and neighbor Tiffani Donovan was a hair stylist at Fort Indianapolis an army post (similar to Grissom AFB) near Quillsville. Most of the children in the show attend Vivica A. Fox Elementary School, Bart Peterson Middle School (named after the former Indianapolis Mayor), Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds High School. Early in the series, the schools are referred to as being in the Marion County School District (according to markings on the school buses), though in later seasons this is changed to Quillsville Independent School District.

Characters

Queen of the Willis depicts an average LGBTQ middle-class family and their lives in a typical Indiana town. It documents the Willis' day-to-day-lives in the small Indiana town of Quillsville, exploring modern themes such as parent-child relationships, friendship, loyalty, and justice. As an animated sitcom, however, Queen of the Willis's scope is generally larger than that of a regular sitcom.

Episodes

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
	1	12	August 12, 2006	November 11, 2006
	2	23	November 26, 2007	March 24, 2008
	3	24	September 5, 2008	May 8, 2009
	4	45	August 14, 2009	April 9, 2010
	5	38	August 20, 2010	April 22, 2011
	6	16	January 27, 2012	May 11, 2012
	7 (a) 7 (b)	34	March 1, 2019 July 12, 2019	May 17, 2019 November 22, 2019
	8	13	January 17, 2020	May 15, 2020
	9	30	October 2, 2020	May 7, 2021
	10	22	September 17, 2021	May 13, 2022
	11	22	September 2, 2022	February 24, 2023
	12	22	August 18 2023	May 17,2024
	13	12	August 16, 2024	November 29, 2024
	14	22	February 2025	Summer 2025
	15	40	Fall 2025	August 7, 2026

Reception

Queen of the Willis received critical acclaim over its 6-year run. Early reviews of the show were positive. The TV critic at the Chronicle-Tribune considered it the "most Hoosier television series since One Day at a Time," and praised the show's "sly sense of humor and subversive sensibility."

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result

See also

• Television in the United States
• List of animated television series
• Queen of the Willis (soundtrack)
• List of Queen of the Willis episodes