Austin & Ally

Austin & Ally
Genre	Teen sitcom
Created by	Kevin Kopelow Heath Seifert
Starring	Ross Lynch Laura Marano Raini Rodriguez Calum Worthy
Theme music composer	Joleen Belle Julia Michaels Mike McGarity
Opening theme	"Can't Do It Without You", performed by Ross Lynch (Season 1 - 3) performed by Ross Lynch and Laura Marano (Season 4)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	73 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Kevin Kopelow Heath Seifert Rick Nyholm
Camera setup	Videotape (filmized) Multi-camera
Running time	22–26 minutes
Production company(s)	Kevin & Heath Productions It's a Laugh Productions
Distributor	Disney–ABC Domestic Television
Broadcast
Original channel	Disney Channel
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV)
Original run	December 2, 2011 (2011-12-02) – present
External links
Website

Austin & Ally is an American teen sitcom which first aired on The Disney Channel on December 2, 2011. The series was created by Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert, the writers and producers of the Disney Channel sitcoms Sonny with a Chance and Jonas. Production for the pilot episode began in mid-February 2011, and on May 24, 2011, the Disney Channel announced that Austin & Ally had been picked up as a series. They initially ordered 13 episodes, though that number was later increased to 21, However only 19 aired. The first promo for the series was released on October 2011, during the Disney Channel's Make Your Mark: The Ultimate Dance-Off event. A series preview followed the premiere of the Disney Channel Original Movie, Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas!,^[1] and the series officially premiered on December 4, 2011.^[2]

The show was renewed for a second season, and resumed production in the summer of 2012.^[3] Season 2 premiered on October 7, 2012, and production for Season 2 ended in early February 2013.^[4]

The show was planned to renew for a third season on March 12, 2013 at the Disney upfront.^[5] It was officially confirmed on April 2, 2013 by Disney Channel.^[6] Season 3 premiered on October 27, 2013, and production for Season 3 ended on January 24, 2014.^[7]

Austin & Ally was officially renewed for a fourth season on April 25, 2014^[8] and premiered on January 18, 2015.^[9]

On February 6, 2015, Laura Marano stated that Season 4 will be the last season of the show.^[10]

Plot

Set in Miami, Austin & Ally is a multi-camera comedy about the relationship between two very different musicians: extroverted singer and instrumentalist Austin Moon (Ross Lynch), who is fun-loving and outgoing; and introverted and awkward songwriter Ally Dawson (Laura Marano), who is a singer but has a bad case of stage fright (throughout the entirety of season 1 and the beginning of season 2).

In the pilot episode "Rockers & Writers", Austin secretly records one of Ally's songs without her knowing. He becomes famous from it after his best friend Dez (Calum Worthy) directs Austin in a music video for the song and posts it on the internet. Once Ally, convinced by her best friend Trish (Raini Rodriguez), takes credit for her song, Austin convinces her to become his partner. The two agree to work together, and become close friends, while struggling to keep Austin's new-found fame and profit from it. Trish pitches in as Austin's manager and Dez continues to direct Austin's music videos. The foursome have many adventures while in Austin's music career. At the end of the first season, Austin gets signed to Jimmy Starr's record label.

The second season sees both Austin and Ally taking bigger steps. Ally conquers her stage fright by performing a duet with Austin. By the end of the season two finale, Ally signs a record deal and records an album with Ronnie Ramone, and Austin goes on his first national tour. Due to her schedule with Ronnie Ramone, Ally is unable to attend the first half of Austin's tour, but in the first two episodes of season three, Ally does attend the second half of the tour.

In season three, Ally's career takes off. Later in the season (in Records & Wrecking balls) Ally is making her first album. By the end of the season three finale, Austin sacrifices his music career when his record label forbids him from being together with Ally. Austin chooses to be with Ally as they confess their love for each other. In the end, Austin goes with Ally on her first tour, Dez goes to film school in L.A. and Trish starts her own management company.

The series has been described as a "pint-sized" version of HBO's comedy-drama Entourage.^[11]

Cast and characters

Main cast

• Ross Lynch as Austin Moon,^[12] an outgoing, confident and talented singer who became an "overnight" Internet sensation, when he accidentally stole one of Ally's songs, but the two eventually became friends. Austin's closest friends are Dez, Ally and Trish. He loves singing, dancing, pancakes, and having fun. His middle name is Monica. He likes somewhat childish things, including coloring in coloring books, laughing at toilet humor and has a liking of stuffed animals. He is generally shown to be sweet, naive, and gullible. He is Ally's boyfriend as of Season 3.

• Laura Marano as Ally Dawson,^[13] a singer-songwriter who had massive stage fright, which developed from her fear of rejection. She originally wrote for herself, but after Austin accidentally stole one of her songs and became an internet sensation as a result, she and Trish tracked him down and the two eventually became friends. She has been his musical partner and songwriter ever since. She works at her father's music store, Sonic Boom, and is shown to have unusual habits, such as biting her hair when she's nervous and having an obsession with pickles. Ally manages to conquer her stage fright and begins her own career in Season 2. She is Austin's girlfriend as of Season 3.

Austin & Ally main characters: (L to R) Trish (Raini Rodriguez), Austin Moon (Ross Lynch), Ally Dawson (Laura Marano), and Dez (Calum Worthy) (Use cursor to identify).

• Raini Rodriguez as Trish,^[14] Ally's best friend and Austin's manager. Her jobs change frequently due to her lack of effort and presence at work. She takes her job as Austin's manager, however, very seriously. Trish also became Ally's manager in Season 2. She has a complicated love/hate relationship with Dez. She is sarcastic, vindictive, has little patience and a bit of a temper, but cares very much for her friends.

• Calum Worthy as Dez,^[15] an aspiring director with a strange fashion style, skinny jeans in bright colors and shirts with weird slogans etc. He is also known for his weirdness and odd behavior. Like Austin he is childish. He films all of Austin's music videos and is Austin's best friend. He has a complicated love/hate relationship with Trish. He understands very little and can be very odd and immature, but becomes serious when it counts. He often has strange things in his backpack, such as ice sculptures, a ham, or lots of different types of jam.

Recurring cast

• Cole Sand as Nelson, an awkward young boy who takes music lessons from Ally. His catchphrase is "Aw, nartz!!". He tends to mix up words that sound alike, such as "oboe" and "hobo". He usually gets in trouble. He also has a crush on Megan Simms.
• Andy Milder as Lester Dawson, Ally's cheapskate father who owns the music store Sonic Boom. He is completely ignorant of Ally's musical talents and believes that Ally has a billion-to-one shot at making it in the music business, just like Austin's parents have told him. He and Penny, Ally's mother, are divorced.
• Richard Whiten as Jimmy Starr, the owner of Starr Records who signs Austin to his record label in the episode "Successes & Setbacks". Jimmy has no sense of smell as a result of an operation to fix his childhood drooling problem.
• Aubrey K. Miller as Megan Simms, a 10-year-old Cheetah Beat photographer. Megan tends to use teenage slang terms such as "totes" or "hilar" instead of totally or hilarious. Megan is rather stubborn and nosy as well, though she appears unaware of when she crosses the line.
• John Henson as Mike Moon, Austin's father, who co-owns the mattress store Moon's Mattress Kingdom.
• Jill Benjamin as Mimi Moon, Austin's mother, who used to be a hand model before co-owning Moon's Mattress Kingdom.
• Julia Campbell as Penny Dawson, Ally's wildlife biologist mother. She was researching gorillas in Africa and came home in "Chapters & Choices" to see Ally and her friends. She and Lester, Ally's father, are divorced.
• Kiersey Clemons as Kira Starr, Jimmy Starr's daughter and Austin's ex-girlfriend. Kira temporarily had a case of repugnant breath, causing the gang to be extremely wary of her throughout "Ferris Wheels and Funky Breath". Her bad breath was caused by her constant eating of garlic and anchovy pizza. Her bad breath cleared away in the episode afterward.
• John Paul Green as Chuck, a short, country speaking teenager who believes he is better than Dez at everything. Their rivalry follows a long history of their families feuding, so Chuck and Dez often get into similar battles. He usually wears cowboy attire.
• Trevor Jackson as Trent, Trish's ex-boyfriend and Team Austin's rival.
• Noah Centineo as Dallas, Ally's former crush who worked at a cell phone accessories cart.
• Ashley Fink as Mindy, an older teenage girl who is the manager of The Melody Diner and has a crush on Dez. Mindy was first introduced in the episode "myTAB & My Pet". Mindy is shown to be rude and aggressive, causing Dez to be rather afraid of her in addition to his dislike of her.
• Carrie Wampler as Brooke, who is shown to be very obsessive over her relationships. She seems to be madly in love with Austin, even though they only went on three dates (and claims they went on 37 dates in her dreams). Austin, however, does not return her feelings.
• Madison McMillin as European Supermodel (her real name is unknown), who was hired to be Austin's girlfriend by Trish as a cover-up. She appears again in "Tunes & Trials" as a candidate who the song Steal Your Heart is about.
• Saidah Arrika Ekulona as Val Crawford, the manager of the group The Stray Kitties who tends to go to many lengths to try to get what she wants. She and Team Austin have something of a rivalry.
• Joe Rowley as Ronnie Ramone, the owner of the Ramone Records who signs Ally in the episode "Freshstarts & Farewells".
• Hannah Kat Jones as Carrie, a waitress at Shredder's Beach Club, Piper's sister and Dez's ex-girlfriend.
• Cameron Deane Stewart as Jace, a boy who Trish met when she was on tour and Trish's boyfriend. As of season four it is stated the couple are on a "break." It is unknown if he will return again.
• Hayley Erin as Piper, Carrie's sister who meets Austin in "Fashion Shows & First Impressions" and becomes Austin's girlfriend. She and Austin broke up in "Last Dances & Last Chances".
• Cameron Jebo as Gavin Young, a country artist who works on writing a song with Ally in "Hunks & Homecomings" and ends up becoming Ally's boyfriend. He and Ally broke up in "Last Dances & Last Chances".

Episodes

Jessie crossover

In November 2012, Disney Channel announced that the show would crossover with Jessie as an hour-long special episode titled "Austin & JESSIE & Ally All Star New Year".^[22] The special episode aired on December 7, 2012. In this episode, Austin finally gets to perform in Times Square on New Year's Eve like he has always dreamed of—with help from Jessie (Debby Ryan) and the Ross kids. Later, Jessie and the kids travel to Miami with Austin, Ally, Dez, and Trish. Jessie inadvertently steals lyrics that were written by Zuri (Skai Jackson) and tries to get Austin to sing them with her. Meanwhile, Ravi (Karan Brar) is jealous to see that the family's pet lizard, Mrs. Kipling, may have a crush on Dez (Calum Worthy). It turns out that Mrs. Kipling does not like Dez at all.

Development, production and reception

The series was created by Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert, the writers and producers of the Nickelodeon comedy series All That and the Disney Channel sitcoms Sonny with a Chance and Jonas. Production for the pilot episode began in mid-February 2011.^[23] The pilot was directed by Shelley Jensen. Casting for the series regulars were held nationally around the United States and shooting for the pilot began in early March 2011.^[11] On May 24, 2011, Disney Channel announced that Austin & Ally had been picked up as a series.^[24] On September 29, 2011, it was announced that Disney Channel had extended the show's episode order from 13 episodes to 21.^[25] Shooting for the first season completed on January 27, 2012.^[26] It was announced on March 11, 2012, that the show had been renewed for a second season and production would resume that summer,^[3] though the cast's first day back for the second season was earlier than that, on June 4, 2012. ^[27] The show made its DVD debut with "Austin & Ally: All the Write Moves" which was released on June 18, 2013 and "Austin & Ally: Chasing the Beat" released on August 26, 2014. The third season of the series began production July 8, 2013, with a season premiere expected in October 2013. The fourth season started production on October 13, 2014 for a season premiere set on January 18, 2015.

The series preview attracted 5.7 million viewers and the official premiere garnered 4.0 million viewers. Austin & Ally was ranked the No.1 Telecast on Sunday premieres among pre-teens 9–12 and teens 13–19. As of March 22, 2014 the most viewed Austin & Ally episode is "Rockers & Writers" with 5.7 million views, the second most viewed episode is "Campers & Complications" with 4.9 million views and the least viewed episode is "Homework & Hidden Talents" with 1.4 million views

Songs

Awards and nominations

Broadcast

The series airs worldwide on Disney Channel. It aired as a preview in Canada alongside the original broadcast and premiered on January 20, 2012. It premiered in Singapore on March 3, 2012^[41] and in Australia and New Zealand on March 23, 2012.^[42] In the UK and Ireland the series was a preview on March 30, 2012 and premiered on April 20, 2012.^[43]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Austin & Ally

• Official website
• Austin & Ally at the Internet Movie Database
• Austin & Ally at TV.com