Good Luck Charlie

Set in Denver, Colorado, the series follows the Duncan family, who are still adjusting to the birth of their fourth child, Charlotte "Charlie" Duncan (Mia Talerico). During the movie, Teddy realizes that Amy is pregnant with her fifth child, and this story plot is brought into the series during the third season, when Amy gives birth to a baby boy, Toby. Each episode ends, after the video diary, with an event that is weird and usually cannot happen in real life. ==Episodes==

Main as Charlie Duncan, Bradley Steven Perry as Gabe Duncan, Bridgit Mendler as Teddy Duncan, Leigh-Allyn Baker as Amy Duncan, Jason Dolley as PJ Duncan, Eric Allan Kramer as Bob Duncan and Logan Moreau as Toby Duncan • Theodora Rebecca "Teddy" Duncan (Bridgit Mendler), Charlie's only sister and the second-oldest Duncan sibling. Feeling that she will not be around as much when Charlie is grown, she produces and directs video diaries for her, hoping they will give her advice that will help her be successful as a teenager. She produces these video diaries at the end of every episode, and at the end of every video diary she says "Good luck Charlie". • Amy B. Duncan (née Blankenhooper) (Leigh-Allyn Baker), Bob's wife and the mother of PJ, Teddy, Gabe, Charlie, and Toby. She works as a hospital nurse and is often portrayed as dutiful, protective and comedic. It is revealed in the movie that she is pregnant again with her fifth child. • Gabriel B. "Gabe" Duncan (Bradley Steven Perry), the middle Duncan sibling, being both the younger brother of Teddy and PJ and the older brother of Charlie and Toby. He is initially disconcerted by Charlie's arrival and is the last one of the family to get used to her, until his older sister, Teddy, helps him. He is a prankster and troublemaker, (a rebellious teenager) and has a rivalry with their neighbor Mrs. Dabney, who is often the target of Gabe's pranks and stunts. • Charlotte "Charlie" Duncan (Mia Talerico), the title character and the second-youngest Duncan sibling. She is generally portrayed as being happy, but can also be mischievous at times. Many of the Duncan family's adventures revolve around Charlie. • Robert William "Bob" Duncan (Eric Allan Kramer), the father of Teddy, PJ, Gabe, Charlie, and Toby, and husband of Amy. He owns a pest control company, "Bob's Bugs Be Gone". He is very loving and seems to just agree with his wife; he also was the subject to jokes about his weight particularly from his son Gabe, but he lost a lot due to being fed up. • Potty John "PJ" Duncan (Jason Dolley), the eldest Duncan sibling. He and Teddy often fight, although they care about each other, and he usually gets along well with his younger brother Gabe. He often appears awkward, somewhat careless, and childish, but on numerous occasions has been known to be resourceful, creative, and intelligent. He has also been shown to be a good cook. He and his best friend Emmett have their own band entitled "PJ and the Vibe". In season three, PJ moves into an apartment shared with Emmett. • Toby Wan Kenobi Duncan (Jake Cinoa and Logan Moreau) is the youngest of the Duncan children, born in season 3. Recurring • Ivy Wentz (Raven Goodwin), Teddy's best friend, who is seen spending most of her time with Teddy at the Duncan's residence. She often accompanies Teddy on her dutiful, or personal, excursions. • Mrs. Estelle Dabney (Patricia Belcher), the Duncans' strict and easily annoyed neighbor, who is often suspicious of Gabe, because his pranks and troublemaking are frequently directed towards her. • Spencer Walsh (Shane Harper), Teddy's on-again, off-again boyfriend throughout the series, who she begins to date in the first season. • Emmett (Micah Stephen Williams), PJ's best friend. He has a one-sided attraction to Teddy, though Teddy constantly rejects him. Emmett accompanies PJ on the drums in his band "PJ and the Vibe", and sometimes assists PJ on his problematic excursions. • Debbie Dooley (Ericka Kreutz), the Duncans' neighbor who speaks with a strong Upper Midwestern accent. • Beau Landry (Luke Benward), a later boyfriend of Teddy's who works for Bob's company after moving from Tennessee. • Jo Keener (G. Hannelius), Gabe's tomboyish bully-turned-friend. • Mary Lou Wentz (Ellia English), Ivy Wentz's mother and Amy Duncan's friend. • Harry Wentz (William Allen Young), the husband of Mary Lou Wentz and the father of Ivy Wentz. • Skyler (Samantha Boscarino), Teddy's friend and PJ's girlfriend. • Jake (Tucker Albrizzi) is Gabe's empty-headed best friend. • Toby Duncan (Logan and Jake Moreau), the fifth and youngest Duncan sibling. • Karen (Brooke Dillman), Amy's boss at the hospital, who she holds a feuding relationship with. • Vern Hardy (Frank Collison), an employee at Bob's Bugs Be Gone and a friend of Bob. At work, Bob usually likes to tell him about his family. In Rat-A-Teddy, it is mentioned that Vern quit and started his own extermination company. ==Production==

Development Good Luck Charlie was created by Phil Baker and Drew Vaupen, who have been writing together since 1993 on shows ranging from Suddenly Susan to Sonny with a Chance. The pair aspired to create a program that would appeal to entire families rather than simply kids. Inspired by the success of reruns of shows such as Full House and George Lopez with young audiences, Vaupen and Baker turned to family sitcoms. "We wanted to do a show about a family, to bring back a family sitcom and make it about a real family, not wizards, nobody's a pop star, nobody has a TV show", said Vaupen, Good Luck Charlies central family, the Duncans from Denver, Colorado, was carefully crafted for broad appeal. While the series is still told primarily through the view point of the Duncan children, the children's parents, Amy and Bob, are less on the periphery and writers attempt to add scenes that adult viewers can relate to. For example, in one scene in the pilot episode Amy confesses to Bob that she is overwhelmed with becoming a working new mother again. "She's not sure she can pull this off", says Bonnet. "And just playing that scene the way we did, a very real scene between husband and wife, kind of makes this show different". Broadening Disney Channel's appeal was a concern when choosing the names of the characters and the title of the program. "You want a title that says, a) this is a sitcom and, b) this is something that will interest the main demographic but also we're trying to expand the Disney brand beyond just girls", Vaupen commented. Casting As Good Luck Charlie is low concept and character-driven, "the actors not only had to carry the show, they also had to have "pitch-perfect" chemistry with each other to make the family dynamic believable". Bonnet says Disney Channel executives "just fell in love with" Bridgit Mendler, who stars as teenaged Teddy Duncan. Mendler first heard about Good Luck Charlie in late November 2008. After several rounds of auditions and cast reads, she finally secured the part in January 2009. Mendler and Jason Dolley, who plays Teddy's older brother PJ, have starred in preceding Disney Channel series and movies before both were cast in Good Luck Charlie; Mendler had a recurring role on Wizards of Waverly Place and Dolley starred in Cory in the House and numerous Disney Channel television movies. Variety magazine's Brian Lowry says their careers "[reflect] the Disney Channel's knack for identifying young performers and rolling them from one project to the next, in a fashion reminiscent of the old studio system". The character of PJ was initially called Casey. Baker, who was a new mother herself, was nine months pregnant at the time she was auditioning for the role. Like most series featuring baby actors, producers of Good Luck Charlie had originally intended to have identical twins play Charlie Duncan, the title character and the Duncans' new baby. Logan Moreau was selected for the role. Filming The Good Luck Charlie pilot, entitled "Study Date", was shot in February 2009, The show's production occurred at Sunset Bronson Studios in Los Angeles even though the show is set in Denver, Colorado. The house that was used as the Duncan's house throughout the show is located in Pasadena, CA. Starting with the second season, the series was taped at Los Angeles Center Studios, where Shake It Up was also taped. The show operated on a weekly schedule. Scripts for a new episode were issued on Monday before a read-through, Wednesdays were rehearsal and network run-through day, final scripts were issued on Thursday, and the episode was shot in front of a live studio audience on Friday night. According to Mendler, occasionally "episodes are too big to handle with a live audience [and are] taped without an audience, but mostly they're live". Good Luck Charlie was renewed for a second season in July 2010, three months after its premiere. The third season was ordered in August 2011. In June 2013, Disney Channel announced that the series would end its run after four seasons. The finale aired on February 16, 2014, with a one-hour episode. ==Reception==

The series earned positive reviews. Robert Lloyd of The Los Angeles Times described it as a "professional sitcom from sitcom professionals" with efficient jokes and typical sitcom characters, and situations which are "willfully arranged". Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said Good Luck Charlie would appeal to kids, but not adults. "Parents have seen the same sort of show done before and better in ABC's 1980s-era TGIF lineup", wrote Owen. Contrarily, Brian Lowry of Variety magazine said Good Luck Charlie was "a surprisingly refreshing throwback to ABC's 'TGIF'-style sitcoms". Viewership The series premiered to 4.7 million viewers, making it the highest-rated series premiere for a Disney Channel Original Series since The Suite Life on Deck in 2008, and the week's highest-rated cable program. ''Maclean's'' reported that overall, the first season "has been doing about as well as Disney's more successful shows – The Suite Life and so on". The most-watched episode of the series was "Special Delivery" with 7.5 million viewers. The least watched episode was "The Unusual Suspects" with 1.9 million viewers. The most viewed episode in the United Kingdom and Ireland was "Special Delivery" with 602,000 viewers when it aired on October 12, 2012. Awards and nominations ==In other media==

Film After being ordered in July 2010, a feature-length Christmas Disney Channel Original Movie entitled ''Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas! began production in March 2011. "My Song for You", performed by Mendler and Harper, was featured in the Season 3 Christmas episode "A Duncan Christmas". "My Song for You" peaked at number two on Billboard'' Kid Digital Songs and three on Holiday Songs. ==Note==