Disney Channel recently premiered their latest original series “Liv and Maddie.” The show centers on identical twins Liv & Maddie. One, a popular television star whose hit show has just finished its run, and Maddie, an outstanding student and school basketball phenomenon whose popularity is on the rise until Liv makes a triumphant return to their Wisconsin high school. Complicating their lives even more is that their parents both work at the school.
Let me be clear, I am not one of those Disney fans that hates all of the tween-focused programing the channel churns out. It is no secret that “Dog with a Blog” is one of my all-time favorite shows, after all. However Liv & Maddie does not make the cut.
The star of the show, Dove Cameron, pulls a Haley Mills and plays both twins. This requires each twin to have a double who are credited as Liv 2 and Maddie 2 in the credits. Dove can act, to the point that before I discovered the same actress performed both roles; I did not believe that the characters were twins. Their appearance and mannerisms are polar opposites. The unfortunate side effect of having characters that are polar opposites is that they end up being caricatures living on the edges of the spectrum of believability.
I am ok with clichés. In fact, many of my favorite stories are filled with them. But there is a way to do a cliché that is fresh and a way to do it where it is just a retread. Let’s list some that have already occurred in the show. 1) The twin switcheroo. It was fun in the Parent Trap films, but the scriptwriting in a Disney Channel show doesn’t have the strength to pull it off. See Zack and Cody for examples. 2) One of the twins is a teenage star. See Hannah Montana or Sonny with a Chance. 3) The lead character has a goofball brother. See Good Luck Charlie and Shake It Up. 4) The show features a talking dog. Actually, that is just wishful thinking on my part.
The show is not bad. It just doesn’t contribute anything new causing it to feel like a rehash. I felt that Disney Channel was trying new things. Good Luck Charlie focused on an entire family instead of just the female lead; Austin & Ally had a male lead co-starring; Dog with the Blog achieved new artistic heights. Unfortunately, Liv & Maddie takes every Disney Channel formula and puts it together in the same series.
Disney Channel has an interesting series coming up with “Girl Meets World”, the much talked about spinoff of ABC’s “Boy Meets World”. Of course, I am most looking forward to “I Didn’t Do It”. It is a Disney Channel series about two twins. Now that is going to be something different. I wonder if there will be a talking dog.