Mia Talerica, Bradley Steven Perry, Jason Dolley and Bridgit Mendler, who play the kids Charlie, , Gabe, PJ and Teddy on the Disney Channel show Good Luck Charlie
Disney Channel’s Good Luck Charlie is building up to the birth and naming of the latest Duncan family member, with the episode “Name That Baby” airing at 7:30 p.m. tonight, and followed by a special one hour show at 8 p.m. on Sunday, June 24th, in which the baby finally arrives.
Disney Channel offered me an inside look at the show this month in preparation for the new episodes. Last week, I talked to the actors playing the parents, Leigh-Allyn Baker and Eric Allan Kramer. This week, the co-creators of the show talked about why they created the show, why it’s so personal, and how their kids are involved.
Drew Vaupen and Phil Baker have been working together for over twenty years, a creative partnership that Vaupen joked was “like a long marriage without the sex.” Originally a pre-med student, Vaupen graduated from the University of California, Berkley, but moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles to pursue writing instead of science. He said he’s always written and was encouraged to make it a career when a writing professor sent a short story to Hollywood.
Vaupen said they met when they were working at Warner Brothers, both as assistants. “I would call Phil to set up meetings with his boss for my boss,” Vaupen said. They eventually began talking about their writing, finished a script together and have worked as co-writers/co-producers ever since. Their other television credits include Pig Sty, Suddenly Susan, Almost Perfect, Common Law, Rodney and Sonny with a Chance.
Baker said Good Luck Charlie was born when they were developing ideas for the Disney Channel and loved the idea of how a baby changes the family dynamic, especially with older kids. As Baker put it, “the target demo for the show is living in my house.” This is the first family show they’ve done and they felt like there was a purpose in it, in entertaining kids and their families.
The most important part to making the show fun for families, they agreed, starts on the set. “The best way to create this kind of show is to have a family atmosphere on the set.” They praised the young stars of the show as “poised and professional” from very stable families and said brothers and sisters of the cast members are often on set as well.
And their kids, as well as the children of the show’s staff writers, often contribute to the show as their real lives inspire events on the show. The eldest daughter on the show, Teddy, is named after Baker’s daughter, Teddy, who was in turn named after his wife’s late father. Baker said he receives a real sense of accomplishment because, in many ways, he’s doing the show for her.
Vaupen is married with two sons, Max, 13, and Alex, 11, who he said frequently contribute ideas to the show. He said Max was with him when he was reviewing footage one day and “he was telling me to edit out some of the footage because it was too slow.” And one incident on the show, where one of the kids ask their father to lick his armpit actually happened to Vaupen, when one of his sons asked him if it was possible to lick an armpit.
Vaupen’s sons are named after paternal and maternal grandparents. Not so the case on Good Luck Charlie, where the new baby will be named by the fans. Twenty-five million of them from around the world voted on the internet to select the baby’s name. Interestingly, the votes were event split between boy’s and girl’s names.
If the child is a boy, he’ll be either Noah, Jonah, Toby, Bobby Jr., or Bo. If the child is a girl, she’ll be Sydney, Erika, Mallory, Talia, or Jenny.
I asked Vaupen and Baker if they had a favorite among the names but they declined comment, afraid of spoiling it. They said from among the names, they each had a favorite but it was not the chosen one, and that was as far as they were willing to go.