Liv and Maddie

Liv and Maddie
Genre	Family/Teen sitcom
Created by	John D. Beck Ron Hart
Starring	Dove Cameron Joey Bragg Tenzing Norgay Trainor Kali Rocha Benjamin King
Opening theme	"Better in Stereo" performed by Dove Cameron
Composer(s)	Paula Winger Bardur Haberg Oli Jogvansson
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	56 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	John D. Beck Ron Hart Andy Fickman Betsy Sullenger John Peaslee
Producer(s)	Linda Mathious Heather MacGillvray Greg A. Hampson
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	23 minutes
Production company(s)	Beck & Hart Productions Oops Doughnuts Productions It's a Laugh Productions
Release
Original network	Disney Channel
Original release	July 19, 2013 (2013-07-19) – present
External links
Official website

Liv and Maddie is an American teen sitcom created by John D. Beck and Ron Hart and produced by It's a Laugh Productions for Disney Channel. The series stars Dove Cameron in a dual role as identical twins with entirely different personalities. Liv Rooney is a girly girl who was an actress in Hollywood for four years. She was offered more roles in other shows and movies, but decides to come home instead because she misses her family and wants to see them again. Her sister Maddie is a tomboy with an aptitude for sports, particularly basketball. The series revolves around Liv readjusting to normal family life after production on her successful television program Sing It Loud! ended.

Plot

Actress Liv Rooney has just come home to Stevens Point, Wisconsin after a four-year stint in Hollywood filming a popular television program called Sing It Loud!, which has just finished its run, to the open arms of her parents, brothers, and twin sister Maddie. The pair had hoped to resume their relationship from before Liv left, but instead have grown into opposing personalities with different interests. Liv has become very girly and enjoys any time someone mentions her former career, whereas Maddie has become a tomboy perfecting her basketball skills and is the captain of her basketball team. They have two brothers: Joey, a typical awkward teen, and Parker, a confident and clever child. Rounding out the Rooney clan is their mother Karen, the school psychologist and later vice-principal in the second season, and their father, Pete, Maddie's basketball coach, both of whom are now anxious to care for all their children under one roof. Some events take place at Ridgewood High, the high school where the three elder Rooney children, later all four due to Parker being advanced, attend and both parents work.

A significant feature is a cutaway where specific characters break the fourth wall to tell the viewers about various things.

Cast and characters

• Dove Cameron as Liv and Maddie Rooney
• Joey Bragg as Joey Rooney
• Tenzing Norgay Trainor as Parker Rooney
• Kali Rocha as Karen Rooney
• Benjamin King as Pete Rooney

Production

Development

Liv and Maddie began production in April 2013.^[1] The series was created by John Beck and Ron Hart, both of whom also serve as executive-producers.^[2] Beck and Hart are a production–writing team whose credits include According to Jim, Hey Arnold!, and Shake It Up!.^[3] Originally, the pair had shopped a script of a project called Bits and Pieces, which featured a blended family similar to shows like The Brady Bunch and Step by Step.^[4]

The series is produced under a joint venture by Beck & Hart Productions, Oops Doughnuts Productions, and It's a Laugh Productions.^[5][6] It is also executive co-produced by Andy Fickman (She's the Man, The Game Plan, Race to Witch Mountain), Betsy Sullenger (You Again), and John Peaslee (8 Simple Rules, According to Jim, Dog with a Blog).^[3]

On January 13, 2014, Disney Channel renewed Liv and Maddie for a 13-episode second season slated to premiere in fall 2014.^[7] The second season was later expanded to 24 episodes.^[8] The second season premiered on September 21, 2014.

On April 3, 2015, the show was renewed for a third season by Disney Channel.^[9] The third season premiered on September 13, 2015.

On December 21, 2015, actress Dove Cameron stated that Disney Channel was picking up Liv and Maddie for a fourth season.^[10]

Casting

Casting took place during the spring of 2012;^[11] however, only a pilot episode was produced. The series followed Jodie Sullenger (Kali Rocha), mother of Alanna (Dove Cameron) and Sticky (Joey Bragg), who married Pete Fickman (Benjamin King), father of Crystal (Cozi Zuehlsdorff) and Brody (Tenzing Norgay Trainor), with all six adjusting to life under the same roof.

Eventually, Disney chose to change the concept of Bits and Pieces into one about a pair of twins.^[4] Instead of hiring a new cast, production chose to keep who they had already hired and film a completely new pilot. The story now focused on Dove Cameron playing dual titular roles, with the same parental units and brothers. Lead billing for Cozi Zuehlsdorff was later dropped to guest star. The family name of "Rooney" was picked because of Sullenger's enjoyment of the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team owned by the Rooney family.^[4]

Episodes

Broadcast

Liv and Maddie airs on Disney Channel in the United States and Family Channel in Canada. The pilot episode aired on July 19, 2013, as a preview of the series after the premiere of the Disney Channel original movie Teen Beach Movie. The first promo for the series was seen on June 28, 2013, after the premiere of Disney's Mickey Mouse Shorts. The series officially premiered on September 15, 2013, in the United States and on September 20, 2013, in Canada.^[12] The series stopped showing in Canada on Family Channel on September 1, 2015, and started airing on Disney Channel on September 5, 2015.^[13]

In the UK and Ireland, the series was previewed on October 7, 2013, and later premiered on November 8, 2013.^[14][15]

In Australia and New Zealand, the series premiered on October 11, 2013.^[16] The second season premiered on January 8, 2015. The third season premiered on December 2, 2015.^[17] It premiered in Singapore (except Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand) on January 10, 2014, on Disney Channel in Southeast Asia.^[18]

In South Africa, the series began airing on March 8, 2014.^[19] The second season premiered on February 7, 2015.^[20]

Music

A full version of the Liv and Maddie theme song, "Better in Stereo", was recorded by Dove Cameron and released as a promotional single by Walt Disney Records on October 15, 2013.^[21] A music video was filmed and aired on Disney Channel the night of October 29, 2013.

In the pilot, "Twin-a-Rooney", Liv shows Maddie a clip from the Sing It Loud! finale in which Liv's character, Stephanie Einstein, sings a cover of On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons. A full version of the song was recorded by Cameron and was released as a promotional single by Walt Disney Records on August 27, 2013.^[22]

In "Fa-La-La-a-Rooney", Liv performs the classic "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" during the Steven's Point Holiday Spectacular. A full version of the song was recorded by Cameron and is included on Holidays Unwrapped, a holiday album released by Walt Disney Records on October 15, 2013.^[23]

In "Song-a-Rooney", Liv performs "FroyoYOLO". It goes viral, but Liv hates it. In the same episode, Liv performs "Count Me In". A full version of "Count Me In" was recorded by Cameron and was released as a promotional single by Walt Disney Records on June 3, 2014.^[24]

In "New Year's Eve-a-Rooney", Liv performs "You, Me and the Beat". A full version of the song was recorded by Cameron and was released as a promotional single by Walt Disney Records on December 2, 2014.

In "Rate-a-Rooney", Liv uploads "What a Girl Is". Two versions were created, the first being the one shown on Liv and Maddie and the other, including Christina Grimmie and Baby Kaely, was eventually recorded. Both versions are included in the "Liv and Maddie" soundtrack. The second version was released on March 5, 2015, on iTunes, while the original version was released on March 17, 2015.

On March 17, 2015, the Liv and Maddie soundtrack was released. The soundtrack includes "Better in Stereo", "On Top of the World", "FroyoYOLO", "Count Me In", "You, Me and the Beat", and both versions of "What a Girl Is". The soundtrack also includes "Say Hey", "As Long As I Have You", and "True Love", the latter of which would be morphed into two versions: Ballad, which would be sung by Jordan Fisher, and a piano duet featuring Fisher and Cameron. On March 5, 2015, with the announcing of the soundtrack, the singles for those songs, minus FroyoYOLO, will no longer be available.

In "Prom-a-Rooney", Liv performs "True Love" at the school prom. Cameron, like the other songs, recorded a full version of the song, and it was released on March 17, 2015, as part of the Liv and Maddie soundtrack.

In "Band-a-Rooney", Liv's band, "The Dream", performs "Say Hey" at the Battle of the Bands. A full version was recorded by Cameron, with the band member's actor doing the chorus. The song was released as part of the Liv and Maddie soundtrack on March 17, 2015

In "Video-a-Rooney", Liv's band performs "As Long As I Have You". Cameron recorded a full version, which was released on March 17, 2015, as part of the Liv and Maddie soundtrack. The song was the final song from the soundtrack that was played in the show.

In "SPARF-a-Rooney", Andy Grammer performs "Honey, I'm Good". This was currently the only song in Liv and Maddie not to be part of the soundtrack.

Songs

Merchandise

Brand marketing promotion from Liv and Maddie still continues strongly, with ACCO Brands under the Day Dream brand featuring 2015 wall calendar and Disney D'Signed clothing line from selected retailers Target and Kohl's. Wooky Entertainment owns Style Me Up, a creative fashion brand for tween girls, featuring Liv and Maddie: Dreams Come True and Liv and Maddie: A Rising Star sketchbooks.^[25][26] Footwear retailer Payless ShoeSource conducts Liv and Maddie-themed character footwear based on the series.^[27]

Accolades

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Liv and Maddie

• Official website
• Liv and Maddie at Disney ABC press
• Liv and Maddie at the Internet Movie Database
• Liv and Maddie at TV.com