Even Stevens
Even Stevens is an American comedy television series that aired on Disney Channel with a total of three seasons and 65 episodes from June 17, 2000, to June 2, 2003. It follows the life of the Stevenses, a family living in suburban Sacramento, California, mainly focusing on the clashing personalities of its two younger children, Ren and Louis.
| Even Stevens | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Matt Dearborn |
| Developed by | Matt Dearborn Ehrich Van Lowe |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | John Coda |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 65 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | |
| Camera setup | Film; Single-camera |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Brookwell McNamara Entertainment |
| Distributor | Buena Vista Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | Disney Channel |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
| Original release | June 17, 2000 – June 2, 2003 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | The Even Stevens Movie (2003) |
| External links | |
| Website | |
The series was produced by Brookwell McNamara Entertainment. It is often recognized as launching Shia LaBeouf's breakout career as an actor. The show also features fast motion photography, which it employs in every episode.
The feature-length Disney Channel Original Movie based on the series, The Even Stevens Movie, premiered on June 13, 2003, and serves as the series finale. The show was cancelled after reaching the 65 episode limit that Disney Channel had at the time.
Premise
The Stevens family live in Sacramento, California, where the two younger children in the family, Ren and Louis, who have opposing personalities, often clash.
Episodes
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired (U.S. dates) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season premiere | Season finale | |||
| 1 | 21 | June 17, 2000 | February 23, 2001 | |
| 2 | 22 | June 15, 2001 | February 15, 2002 | |
| 3 | 22 | February 22, 2002 | June 2, 2003 | |
| Movie | June 13, 2003 | |||
Cast and characters
Main
- Louis Anthony Stevens (Shia LaBeouf) – Louis, the youngest Stevens sibling, is viewed as immature, rude, lazy, boisterous, selfish, carefree, and extremely mischievous. His entire family is viewed as perfect next to him. He is always pulling jokes with best friend Alan Twitty and is described as ruining everyone's lives. He never seems to change with time. His parents seem to favor his sister Ren and brother Donnie because of the great successes both have achieved, but his parents do love him dearly and try to defend him. Louis tends to do unattractive things (saying nasty words, picking nose, etc.), though everything is presented to the audience in endearing ways. Tawny Dean becomes his girlfriend at the end of the series. His birthday is on June 27 as shown in episode 33.
- Ren Stevens (Christy Carlson Romano) – An intelligent, well-behaved, perfectionist 8th-grader, Ren is the middle sibling and only daughter. She is the classic overachiever, constantly running for hall monitor and class president while trying to keep Louis's schemes from becoming disasters. She is the head newscaster for "The Wombat Report" and spent a few weeks on her school's cheerleading squad. Ren is the editor of the school newspaper and the yearbook, a straight-A student, and Principal Wexler's highly valued assistant. Despite her top-student ranking, Ren got sentenced to, and served, detention on at least one occasion. Ren's favorite color is purple.
- Donnie Stevens (Nick Spano) – Ren and Louis' athletic big brother. Donnie is highly concerned with his appearance. His popularity, good looks, and superb athletic skills made him a heartthrob and legend at their school, even after his graduation. Although he excels in many sports, he's an airhead.
- Steve Stevens (Tom Virtue) – A quirky lawyer and the patriarch of the Stevens family. He played college football for Michigan State University with the nickname "Stiffie" Stevens. He used to be a wrestler for his school.
- Eileen Stevens (Donna Pescow) – The matriarch of the Stevens family; a successful, no-nonsense, Jewish American state senator who launched a campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002 and was narrowly defeated.
- Alan Twitty (A.J. Trauth) – Louis' closest best friend. Twitty is similar to Louis but usually isn't as extreme and often has to get Louis out of situations. Referred to as "Twitty" by his friends, he is on the basketball team and the baseball team, plays guitar, and also has success with girls. Twitty's catch phrases are "Dude" and "Sweet".
- Tawny Dean (Margo Harshman) – Louis' female best friend, and eventually his girlfriend. Tawny, at first, has no friends and is an outsider, until she meets Louis. Tawny usually dresses in goth clothing, unlike her classmates, and refuses to conform with others' trivial pursuits.
- Ruby Mendel (Lauren Frost) – Ren's best friend who loves to gossip about crushes and dating couples. She once had a crush on Louis (while under the spell of a lucky penny), in the same episode that she had a crush on the boy band BBMak. Ruby speaks with a heavy Brooklyn accent.
Recurring
- Thomas "Tom" Gribalski (Fred Meyers) – Louis' nerdy best friend. When Louis cooks up a scheme, Tom usually tries to talk Louis out of it and usually doesn't play along. Also, Tom speaks in a very scientific, philosophical, and intelligent manner. He is commonly the victim of many pranks by Louis and Twitty. He calls his mother by her name (Doris). In season 3, Doris is seen playing the piano when Tom auditions for SACCY, a performing arts school.
- Monique Taylor (Kenya Williams) – Ren's other best friend. Monique is a perky cheerleader. Monique takes many things to extreme limits. She has a strong Southern accent.
- Nelson Minkler (Gary LeRoi Gray) – Ren's childhood best friend who seems to be allergic to everything and overprotects himself when he's outside. He is usually with Ren, and at times Donnie, but has spoken to Louis only once. He is fluent in French. Nelson was also Gray's character's name on The Cosby Show as a child.
- Bernard "Beans" Aranguren (Steven Anthony Lawrence) – The Stevens' extremely annoying neighbor, who comes into their home uninvited, makes himself at home, and refuses to leave. His love for bacon is a recurring theme, and in "Little Mr. Sacktown" he visits a bacon shack. He eventually turns into a sidekick for Louis and Twitty's schemes, usually double-crossing the two.
- Lawrence Anthony "Larry" Beale (Eric "Ty" Hodges) – Ren's nasty, equally-popular, charismatic, know-it-all rival in school. Larry hates Ren and always tries to destroy her reputation, but his schemes usually backfire. His favorite victim is Ren, but he occasionally tries to ruin Louis as well. Larry is secretly jealous of Ren and considers Louis a threat, but will never admit it. Larry is an Army brat. In the movie, he hinted he might even have romantic feelings for her, as he shows a bit of jealousy when it showed that Ren was sharing a kiss with an actor.
- Coach Terry Tugnut (Jim Wise) – The gym coach who is always tough on Louis but crazy about Donnie, Larry, and food. He loves to eat. Once he weighed over 300 lbs. He is frequently the victim of Louis' pranks. Coach Tugnut often serves as Wexler's enforcer/sidekick. He is obsessed with dodgeball and with the three "major points" (arm, head, stomach). A running gag throughout the series is Coach Tugnut shouting, "Stevens!" when Louis causes trouble.
- Conrad Wexler (George Anthony Bell) – The principal of Lawrence Jr High. Principal Wexler favors Ren over the other students. They have had arguments, but they're good friends. Ren is his student assistant, while Louis drives him crazy. He usually makes Ren do his dirty work.
- Carla and Marla (Lisa Foiles and Krysten Leigh Jones) – Two girls who look up to Ren. Carla and Marla are both on the newspaper staff with Ren and Ruby. After the episode "Quest for Coolness", Carla and Marla are never seen or mentioned again.
- Bobby Deaver (Brandon Davis) – Ren's middle-school boyfriend; he appeared in seven episodes. Ren broke up with Bobby after Louis told her that he was cheating on her by dating Mandy Sanchez, a rival of Ren's.
- Ivan (Eric Jungmann) – Larry Beale's yes-man sidekick in the first season, although he occasionally serves as a yes-man for other popular kids, such as Blake Thompson in the episode "Louis in the Middle".
Production
The show was originally produced as a show called Spivey's Kid Brother.[1] A pilot was filmed in July 1999, and was later picked up by Disney Channel as Even Stevens. In the pilot episode, Disney had to dub out the name "Spivey" to "Stevens". In fact, in the gym class scene, a banner is visible in the background reading, "Home of Spivey and the Wild Wombats."
In the theme song of the show, clay animations of Louis and Ren turn their remote controls into lightsabers, alluding to Star Wars. Prior to this, Ren reads a TV guide with live-action photos of Christy Carlson Romano and Shia LaBeouf on the cover.
Lawrence Junior High is apparently a standard three-grade junior high school. Although the show lasted three seasons, the timeline of the show is only two school years, with Louis and his friends remaining in the 7th grade until some point after the middle of the second season. In several third-season episodes there are subtle references to an advance in the timeline that puts Ren and her friends in the 9th grade and Louis in the 8th grade. Ren finally graduates in The Even Stevens Movie.
Shia LaBeouf and Christy Carlson Romano are the only two actors to appear in all 65 episodes of the series.[2]
Broadcast
The series reran on Disney Channel from June 2, 2003 to September 4, 2006. On July 7, 2007, Disney Channel aired eight episodes as part of their "Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Louis" marathon, to coincide with the release of Shia LaBeouf's film Transformers.[3]
In 2006, Superstation WGN (now WGN America) acquired the rights to Even Stevens and Lizzie McGuire.[4][5] It aired on the channel from September 18, 2006 to September 12, 2008, during the week originally airing after each other on weekday afternoons before moving to the late night hours, when both shows' target audiences were generally not awake, with Even Stevens airing Tuesdays and Thursdays and Lizzie airing the rest of the week.
In 2009, after a three-year absence, Even Stevens returned to television on Disney XD; it was removed from the channel in January 2010.
From 2015–2016, Even Stevens aired on Freeform for two hours after midnight on Wednesdays as part of the That's So Throwback block. In the UK, Even Stevens aired on CITV (having previously been shown on CBBC) from 2009 to 2012. The show currently is no longer airing, however, The Even Stevens Movie continues to air on Disney Channel and on Family Channel occasionally.
The series released on November 12, 2019 with the launch of Disney+.
Home media
The first season of Even Stevens was made available on DVD on Region 4 in Australia and New Zealand on July 25, 2006. To date, no further seasons have been released on Region 4. Region 1 has not released any season of the series, however, the television film, The Even Stevens Movie, was made available on June 28, 2005.
Awards and nominations
- BAFTA Awards
- 2002 – Best International – Matt Dearborn, Sean McNamara & David Brookwell (Won)
- Daytime Emmy Awards
- 2003 – Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series – Shia LaBeouf (Won)
- 2003 – Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series – Donna Pescow (Nominated)
- 2003 – Outstanding Children's Series (Nominated)
- 2002 – Outstanding Children's Series (Nominated)
- 2002 – Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series – Donna Pescow (Nominated)
- 2001 – Outstanding Children's Series (Nominated)
- 2001 – Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series – Donna Pescow (Nominated)
- 2003 – Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs – Gregory Hobson for episode "Band On The Roof" (Nominated)
- 2002 – Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs – Sean McNamara for episode "Very Scary Story" (Nominated)
- 2001 – Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs – Paul Hoen for episode "Take My Sister... Please" (Nominated)
- 2001 – Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs – Sean McNamara for episode "Easy Way" (Nominated)
- Young Artist Awards
- 2004 – Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama): Supporting Young Actress – Margo Harshman (Nominated)
- 2003 – Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama): Supporting Young Actor – Steven Anthony Lawrence (Won)
- 2003 – Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama): Supporting Young Actress – Lauren Frost (Nominated)
- 2002 – Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series: Leading Young Actress – Christy Carlson Romano (Won)
- 2002 – Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama): Supporting Young Actress – Lauren Frost (Won)
- 2002 – Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series: Leading Young Actor -Shia LaBeouf (Nominated)
- 2002 – Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series: Leading Young Actor – A.J. Trauth (Nominated)
- 2002 – Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series: Supporting Young Actor – Steven Anthony Lawrence (Nominated)
- 2001 – Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series: Leading Young Actress – Christy Carlson Romano (Won)
- 2001 – Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series: Leading Young Actor – Shia LaBeouf (Nominated)
- 2001 – Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series: Guest Starring Young Performer – Ty Hodges (Nominated)
- Young Star Awards
- 2000 – Best Young Actor/Performance in a Comedy TV Series – Shia LaBeouf (Nominated)
References
- Hogan, Mike (August 2007). "Landing in Hollywood". Vanity Fair. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
- "8 Things You Need to Know About Even Stevens ASAP". Teen.com. March 22, 2015.
- "Nick & More! Media". tvschedulearchive.com. Archived from the original on December 18, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
- "CMT Drops 'Foxworthy', Cuts 'Dukes' Airings; WGN Buys 'Lizzie McGuire' & 'Even Stevens' Reruns; TV Land June Changes". sitcomsonline.com.
- "Disney Channel Shows to WGN". multichannel.com.
External links
- Even Stevens on IMDb
- Even Stevens at TV.com