Good Luck Charlie Cast - Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries

Good Luck Charlie aired from April 2010 until ? on The Disney Channel.

A sitcom geared towards the whole family, "Good Luck Charlie," revolved around what happened when a new baby joined the Duncan household and roles shifted for everyone in the family, including teen siblings PJ and Teddy ( Bridgit Mendler, Jason Dolley) and tween brother Gabe( Bradley Steven Perry), who had to adjust to the many changes that baby Charlie brought to their lives. Before they knew it, she was sitting up, crawling, walking and running which required them to team up and help their parents, Bob and Amy ( Eric Allan Kramer, Leigh-Allyn Baker), look after the cute little newcomer. In each episode Teddy created a personalized video diary for Charlie ( Mia Talerico), an older sister telling her baby sister about all the things she'd help her learn as she grew up.

A Review from Variety

Good Luck Charlie
(Series -- Disney Channel, Sun. April 4, 8:30 p.m.)
By BRIAN LOWRY

Filmed in Los Angeles by It's a Laugh Prods. Executive producers, Phil Baker, Drew Vaupen, Dan Staley; co-executive producer, Christopher Vane; supervising producers, Erika Kaestle, Patrick McCarthy; producer, Pixie Wespiser; director, Shelley Jensen; writers, Vaupen, Baker;

Teddy - Bridgit Mendler
PJ - Jason Dolley
Gabe - Bradley Steven Perry
Amy - Leigh-Allyn Baker
Bob - Eric Allan Kramer
Charlie - Mia Talerico

Disney has found another budding teen star in Bridgit Mendler, who's easily the best thing about the sprightly new sitcom "Good Luck Charlie," a surprisingly refreshing throwback to ABC's "TGIF"-style sitcoms of old. Using a well-worn but clever device to frame the episodes -- with Mendler's Teddy taping a video diary for her new baby sister, essentially warning her about the rest of the family -- it's the kind of premise likely to resonate among the Disney Channel's "tween" target audience without making their parents run screaming for the hills.

The addition of a baby has added to the turmoil around the Duncan household, what with bug-exterminator Bob (Eric Allan Kramer) and nurse Amy (Leigh-Allyn Baker) both working and already raising three older kids: the aforementioned Teddy, her slightly older brother PJ (Jason Dolley) and 10-year-old Gabe (Bradley Steven Perry), who resents having been dethroned as the youngest.

"You ruined my life," he tells Charlie in the video diary, later raiding a neighbor's kitchen after complaining that nobody has bothered to feed him.

Created by Phil Baker and Drew Vaupen, "Charlie" hardly pushes sitcom boundaries. The premiere, for example, finds Teddy trying to get some alone time with a cute boy during a study date, only to have the family experience some new mishap each time he begins edging closer to her on the couch.

Still, it's all handled pleasantly enough, from Kramer's read on the hoary stereotype of the over-his-head sitcom dad conspiring with the kids to hide his ineptitude from his spouse to the highly relatable feeling of kids being overlooked when new siblings arrive.

Tellingly, both Mendler and Dolley are homegrown talents (she on "Wizards of Waverly Place," he on "Cory in the House"), reflecting 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. And while there's nothing remotely new about "Good Luck Charlie," given how smoothly the pilot (shrewdly scheduled to follow "High School Musical 3") goes down, one suspects the channel has again contributed to its own good fortune.

camera, John Simmons; production designer, Glenda Rovello; editor, Andy Zall; music, Stephen R. Phillips, Tim P.; casting, Sally Stiner, Barbie Block. 30 MIN.

A Review from The New York Daily News

Disney Channel's 'Good Luck Charlie' harks back to traditional family sitcoms

Cristina Kinon

Saturday, April 3rd 2010, 4:00 AM

Disney Channel's new series "Good Luck Charlie" isn't about wizards or teen superstars. It's a simple family sitcom - and that's the whole point.

"Most of our shows are driven by high-concept ideas. That's been our stock in trade for quite some time," said Gary Marsh, chief creative officer for Disney Channel Worldwide.

"What we decided, to change it up a little bit and dimensionalize the network, was to go for something very low-concept, very traditional, where it's the characters that have to drive viewership," said Marsh.

"Good Luck Charlie" centers on the Duncan household - teens PJ and Teddy, tween Gabe, mom Amy and dad Bob - and what happens when one more - baby Charlie - comes along. In each episode, older sister Teddy creates a personalized video diary for Charlie, with all the information she needs as she gets older.

The series stars Disney vet Bridgit Mendler ("Wizards of Waverly Place"), Jason Dolley, Bradley Steven Perry, Leigh-Allyn Baker, Eric Allan Kramer and Mia Talerico as Charlie. "Good Luck Charlie" premieres Sunday at 8:30.

"Family sitcoms have been a part of television history for a long time, and we pride ourselves on being a kid-driven, family-inclusive
network," said Marsh. "What I think ‘Good Luck Charlie' does is push a little bit harder on the family-inclusive side of that spectrum."

Marsh said because most network television has abandoned the traditional sitcom, Disney has been able to snatch up a lot of experienced talent for behind the camera, including co-creator and executive producer Drew Vaupen, who worked on "What I Like About You," and executive producer Dan Staley, who worked on "Cheers."

As for the cast, Marsh said the bar was set high because 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.

The biggest risk was hiring 10-month-old Mia Talerico. Usually, when shows hire baby actors, they find twins so that if one is not cooperating, the other can fill in. It also allows them to work longer days without violating child labor laws. But Mia was too cute to pass up, he said.

"It's like flying without a net. She may have a bad day and we can't shoot and it'll cost us tens of thousands of dollars," said Marsh. "But so far, so good. She's the most obedient actor I've ever worked with. My own daughter, who's 4 now, would never perform this well in front of a camera."

In fact, Marsh is already comparing Mia to another star Disney discovered at an early age.

"Miley Cyrus never acted in her life in any meaningful way and was 12½ years old when we met her and thought, ‘This is a giant risk, but if it works, there's a giant upside,' " Marsh said. "I felt the same way about Mia."

The first season of "Good Luck Charlie" will feature story lines involving all members of the family. "The topics are all very real and very relatable," said Marsh. "The show is capturing the honesty of these relationships."

A Review from The LA Times

TELEVISION REVIEW

Disney's 'Good Luck Charlie': You've seen this family before

Teens, working parents, a late-in-life baby. The setup and high jinks are by the book.

April 03, 2010|By Robert Lloyd

"Good Luck Charlie," a new Disney Channel sitcom premiering Sunday, differs from other Disney Channel sitcoms in that, although the focus is reliably on the teen and preteen members of its cast, it is a family comedy. That is to say, the adults are less marginal to the action than they usually are in these things, though no less confused and ineffectual. In t(w)een TV, the kids always take care of the kids.

That notion is built into the very premise of the show. Because Dad and Mom (Eric Allan Kramer and Leigh-Allyn Baker) have to, or want to, work -- he's in pest control, she's a night nurse -- their three older children are enlisted to help look after the nearly brand-new one, 9-month-old Charlie (Mia Talerico), a "surprise." So while there is no lack of typical teencom goofing and flirting, the core story is all about responsibility.

Created by Phil Baker and Drew Vaupen (Disney's "Sonny With a Chance" and, from big-people's TV, "Suddenly Susan"), it's a professional sitcom from sitcom professionals whose opening half hour is neither awful nor exceptional. The jokes are efficient, the characters are variations on familiar types, the situations willfully arranged. But it does offer the contextually novel picture of a teenage girl taking care of her baby sister with a persuasive nonchalance and practical ease that transcends the strenuous comedy that surrounds it. I do not mean to celebrate an image of Flowering Womanhood here, only to put in a good word for a person acting like a person.

Bridgit Mendler is the girl, named Teddy, and she has been coming up through the Disney Channel ranks in the customary way, first as Nick Jonas' crush in the first episode of "Jonas" -- that is as close to being Cinderella as you get in this particular world -- and then as a four-episode love-interest in "The Wizards of Waverly Place." She is, like the other heroines who share her niche, sweet, smart and, you know it, a little sassy.

Teddy is making a video diary to help Charlie one day understand their "special family," though it is no more special -- which is to say, no less weird -- than most TV families. They snipe at one another like old comics getting together for breakfast at the deli, but they all get along in the end.

Here is some of what they get up to in the first episode:

Dad drops the baby -- throws her into the air, actually, as he bumps down the stairs on his behind. ("Bob, you promised me you weren't going to drop this one," Mom says when she finds out.) Teddy's woolly headed older brother PJ (Jason Dolley, another talented Disney Channel regular) impersonates a doctor. ("Are you sure you're a real doctor?" the patient asks. "You look kind of young." "Now you sound like my wife," Dolley responds.) Needy younger brother Gabe (Bradley Steven Perry), who complains that no one is feeding him, crawls through the neighbor's cat door to eat her food. Teddy wants to kiss her handsome study date, but life gets in the way.

As Charlie, Talerico, born in 2008, is so cute that she is billed above the actors who play her father and oldest brother. She has the seeming ability to be just the baby the scene requires -- though of course the number of takes, downtime or Disney magic required before she gets around to smashing herself in the face with a plate of bananas must remain a company secret.

A Review from The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Tuned In: Disney Channel hopes "Good Luck Charlie" will appeal to both kids and parents
Sunday, April 04, 2010
By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Family sitcoms have started to make a comeback this season with the success of "Modern Family" and especially "The Middle," but there's still room for a cable network to reclaim the TGIF ground, which is what Disney Channel will attempt to do with "Good Luck Charlie" (8:30 tonight).

Disney already has live-action sitcoms on the air but they tend to have some sort of fantastical premise.

"Charlie" is, by design, retro in its ordinariness: Denver's Duncan family has a new member, baby Charlotte (Mia Talerico), or Charlie for short.

Dad Bob (Eric Allan Kramer, "The Hughleys") works as an exterminator; mom Amy (Leigh-Allyn Baker, "Will & Grace") is a nurse. Teenage Teddy (Bridgit Mendler, "Wizards of Waverly Place") creates a personalized video diary for Charlie, often filming siblings PJ (Jason Dolley, "Cory in the House") and Gabe (Bradley Steven Perry).

"What really interested us in working on this project was 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 Drew Vaupen, who co-created "Charlie" with Phil Baker. The pair have written together since 1993 on series as varied as "Suddenly Susan," "What I Like About You" and Disney Channel's "Sonny with a Chance."

Disney's edict for all of its shows is that they have an aspirational hook, but with "Charlie," the hook is pretty simple, Mr. Vaupen said: "Wouldn't it be great to have a family like this?"

Mr. Baker, a 1984 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University's acting program, turned to writing in 1989. He said Disney executives were inspired to move toward a show like "Charlie" based on the success of reruns of past sitcoms with young viewers, including "Full House" and "George Lopez."

"This is a show that has a big, broad appeal," Mr. Vaupen said. "It's a safe, TGIF show. [Networks] had moved away from all of this with single-camera comedy. It wasn't done anymore."

Mr. Baker said the advent of reality shows and reality competition series like "Survivor" drove family comedies out of broadcast network prime time. Families watch "American Idol" together rather than sitcoms.

"Our hope is Disney Channel gets the idea in the ears of parents that here's a show you can sit down and watch with your kids," Mr. Baker said, noting his 9-year-old daughter will watch other tween-targeted shows but there's little in those programs that appeals to parents.

The "Charlie" pilot focuses more on the children - Teddy has a study date while babysitting Charlie; P.J. rehearses with his band - and the parents don't have as much to do. Mr. Baker said that future episodes - 26 have been ordered - will involve the parents more.

"On any other Disney Channel show, the adults are more on the periphery but we've been able to bring them forward and make them part of the ensemble as opposed to a walk-through B-story," Mr. Baker said. "One of the things we do on this show that you don't see on other Disney Channel shows is that some jokes we write are for the parents. Nothing offensive, we're just trying to appeal in the way Pixar movies do where a kid can go and watch on one level and parents enjoy it on another level."

With "Charlie," Disney Channel executives are also trying to broaden the channel's appeal in an effort to get more boys to tune in. That was a consideration when settling on the show's title.

"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," Mr. Vaupen said.

Originally the baby's name was Daisy and that changed in development. Using "Charlie" is likely to make some viewers think it's a story about a boy. Another titled considered and tossed was "Love, Teddy," which is how the Teddy character originally ended her diary entries.

"That one feels immediately feminized and almost excludes boys," Mr. Vaupen said. "We also didn't want to have the word 'baby' in the title because that would exclude certain people."

Unlike past shows that have cast twins in roles of the youngest characters (think: the Olsen twins on "Full House"), the "Charlie" producers had no luck in that search and wound up going with a single, tiny actress, Mia Talerico. Her growth in real life will be reflected in the TV show.

"We want to do stories that come from real life, so we talk to Mia's mom about what's going on with Mia, what she's into, what words she's saying and we incorporate the things she tells us into our stories," Mr. Baker said. "It helps create our show."

An Interview with Bradley Steven Perry

Meet 'Good Luck Charlie' Star Bradley Steven Perry
The young actor talks TV, hobbies and being a member of the Disney Channel family

By Natalie Broulette
MSN TV

Bradley Steven Perry is just 11 years old, but he's already displaying a knack for comedy with his role on Disney Channel's "Good Luck Charlie." He plays Gabe Duncan; formerly the family's youngest child, he's ousted from this spot once baby Charlie enters the picture. We talked with Bradley about the show and his onscreen family, his project with Ashley Tisdale and his Disney Channel pals.

MSN TV: What's the most fun part of working on "Good Luck Charlie"?

Bradley Steven Perry: I think the most fun part about working on "Good Luck Charlie" is spending time with everyone, honestly, because everybody on set is like my brother and sister and mom and dad. They're so fun to be around, so that's probably the best part about working there.

Do you feel like you have two families now?

I do feel like I have two families. It's really funny. It's like I leave one family at home and then I go to set with another family.

More: Set Visit: 'Good Luck Charlie' | Photos: TV's Biggest Families

Tell us about your character, Gabe. What's he like?

Gabe is a kid that was very sad about the birth of a new child because he was the youngest, so he had all the attention, and then when the new baby came along everybody started paying attention to her and he was, like, neglected. So in the first episode, he's trying to find food, but he can't find food; nobody cares what he's doing in that episode. He didn't like Charlie when she was first born, but he's warming up to her slowly. He's still not in love with her, but he doesn't hate her.

How do you relate to your character? Are you similar to Gabe?

I'm actually a lot like Gabe. I have three other siblings just like Gabe, and he's my age so there's that. [Laughs.] The one thing that's really different is Gabe isn't the youngest, and I'm the youngest. He also has a brother and I don't. It's actually really cool because Jason [Dolley] is the first brother I've ever had.

What happens on this Sunday's episode with guest star Ryan Newman of "Zeke and Luther"?

That episode is about Gabe having his first crush and he wants to talk to this girl and get to know her, but he's very nervous and everything just goes wrong at the beginning. So then he has a chat with his mom, and she says to find things you have in common. Gabe took that to mean he should lie, which was the wrong thing to do. He lied and he just made everything wrong, and everything goes awry and he tries to fix it when Kit [Ryan Newman] comes over, but everything just goes bad for Gabe.

Will we see her back on the show? Does this crush develop into something more?

I would really like Ryan to be on the show again because I really like Ryan. She's a really close friend of mine, and I would love to have her on the show again, but Gabe messed up pretty badly. She's gonna have to forgive Gabe.

How do you balance schoolwork and acting?

Well, I'm schooled on set. I'm homeschooled, so the teacher on set does it with me. It's actually pretty easy to balance because I go up and down from school to set.

I think the hardest part is remembering all of what I did in school that day and the scripts, otherwise it's not that bad.

You are going to be in "Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure." Who do you play in that?

I'm filming that right now. I'm in Toronto, Canada. My role is a kid who is 12 years old. His name is Roger Elliston III, and he makes sure that everybody knows he's the third. He's very proper; he looks like he just came out of a Ralph Lauren ad. He dresses very nice, he's very clean cut, and he's very competitive when it comes to [getting] his dog on Broadway, and he's kind of like Gabe in the way that he doesn't give up. He's also very smart. He knows a lot for his age just like Gabe. He's just a very fun character to play because he's really kind of different from me. I feel that Roger probably does not know how to play baseball at all and that is one of my main things -- playing baseball. But I feel it's pretty funny, like Roger probably does not know how to throw a baseball.

Tell us about working with Ashley Tisdale.

A lot of my scenes are with Ashley. The dogs are going for a Broadway role and I am very competitive with Ashley, so we have a lot of scenes where we're fighting, which is really fun.

Do you hang out with other Disney stars?

I do. I know a lot of Disney Channel stars. I hang out with Debbie Ryan. Me and Ryan Newman hang out a lot, and I know a lot of them from Friends for Change -- we all meet from there. It's cool. Everybody is like family at Disney Channel. All the stars are so fun and nice, so it's really fun to hang out with them.

What movies or TV shows are you into?

I like watching baseball on TV. I love watching all the sports. Otherwise, I like watching "Good Luck Charlie." I don't know if you've heard of that one. [Laughs.] I like all the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. I love "Modern Family." I have a lot of friends on that show. My favorite book is "Million-Dollar Throw." It's about football, which is one of the main things I like watching and reading about.

Do you have any fun summer plans or are you busy working?

When I finish this movie, I'm going to spend a lot of time with my family. I'm really kind of excited about that because I've been gone from home since May, so I'm really excited just to spend time with my family and go to the beach and have fun.

"Good Luck Charlie" airs Sundays at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on Disney Channel.

An Interview with the cast of Good Luck Charlie

'Good Luck Charlie' Cast Talks About Their Christmas Movie And Answers Fan Questions
November 30th, 2011 11:42am EST | Fred Topel By: Fred Topel favorite Add to My News

Good Luck CharlieThe Disney Channel’s Good Luck Charlie is getting its own Christmas movie. Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas premieres Dec. 2 on Disney Channel, and the show’s stars told us what we could expect from their holiday adventure.

“I really enjoyed filming the dance number,” Bridgit Mendler said. “I think that was really fun because we’d been preparing that for so long. It was kind of a comedic thing and we were just excited to show that to everybody and actually perform it for real. We had a lot of fun doing it.”

For some of the young actors, Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas reminded them how different movies are from their TV show. “They’re different in so many ways, some good some bad,” Bradley Steven Perry said. “Mostly it’s a lot slower because there’s one camera. When we’re filming the show, there are four cameras and there’s one here, here, here and there. You get it all in four takes but four takes you’re only getting one shot. Then they have to move the camera over there to get it from that angle. So you eventually do 12 takes of it in different angles.”

The Christmas movie fulfilled a lifelong dream of Leigh Allyn Baker. "I was thrilled to be doing a holiday movie, I’ve got to confess,” Baker said. “I know a lot of actors picture themselves winning Academy Awards. I really just wanted to do a Christmas movie because it’s the kind of movie that I really love to watch. I’m a sucker for the holidays. I love to get in a happy spirit of it all and I was thrilled to be doing this.”

Getting ready for Christmas, the cast also shared their real life holiday traditions.

Bradley Steven Perry: We go to my aunt’s house every Christmas Eve for dinner and just hang out there. Then we also open one present the night before so we always do that and we’ve always done that. Just little things.

Eric Allen Kramer: For me I always found that I like to have Christmas at the house. My mother was always great at transforming the house and bringing Christmas into the house. I always remembered that as a kid. A lot of people are into maybe going places at Christmas, that sort of thing. I like to bring Christmas into my house for my kids and create that world for them.

Bridgit Mendler: Every Christmas Eve my dad reads “The Night Before Christmas” and that just gets us all in the Christmas spirit and we’re all ready to go for the next day. My brother and I are always the ones to hop out of bed early. I don’t care if I’m turning 19 this year, I’m still going to hop out of bed at like six a.m. to see what’s going on. I’m kind of itching for a Wurlitzer piano, like the old school keyboard types from the ‘60s. I first heard their sound two years ago and I thought it was the most lovely, magical thing. It sounds so beautiful so I’ve kind of been itching for that for a while. I have my guitar, I have my program keyboard sort of thing so if I was to go really over the top and hope for another instrument, I would definitely want that.

Leigh Allyn Baker: Well, our traditions have been waking up on Christmas morning and feasting on a southern breakfast. I’m from the south. We eat grits and biscuits and gravy and eggs with Ritz crackers and country ham, bacon, you name it. Also making pecan pies and making Christmas cookies which I used to do with my nieces and this year I’m going to start with my son. I keep saying to him, ‘We’re going to make Christmas cookies and give them to all of our friends’ and he says, ‘No, I don’t want to give them to friends.’ So he’s not quite caught on to the true meaning of Christmas yet. He thinks it’s about getting all you can while the getting’s good.

The actors also answered a few non Christmas questions from some of the fans who tweeted us their inquiries:

Q: What has been your favorite episode of the show?

Bradley Steven Perry: My favorite episode I think was when we went on our family trip up to a ski resort and me and Jason had to find money. We went ice dancing as our way of getting money. That was really fun because we had these flaming costumes and we were all decked out, we had our hair all crazy. I had a Mohawk, Jason had a pompadour. We danced on ice and had fun.

Bridgit Mendler: I really like the Battle of the Bands episode that we did last season because I was able to work with a lot of my friends. On top of that, we were able to be kind of musical and kind of goofy. So that was a really good time.

Q: We have a reader who said her favorite was when Spencer kisses you and you say, “That’s a nice way of telling me to shut up.”

Bridgit Mendler: Oh yeah, that was our first kiss in season one. I thought that was a cute moment.

Q: Bradley, will Gabe and Jo kiss?

Bradley Steven Perry: I don’t know. I don’t think so. I don’t know if they will ever become that close. I think they like each other in a way that they like each other, but they don’t like each other. I think they will never have an established relationship that they will enjoy.

Eric Allen Kramer: He wants to kiss her.

Q: Leigh, are you as funny in real life as you are on TV?

Leigh Allyn Baker: Yes. [Laughs] My kid thinks so.

Q: How many hours a day can Mia work on the show?

Leigh Allyn Baker: I think she can work four hours a day but she doesn’t work the whole time. She comes just on shoot days, two days a week.

To watch some clips from Good Luck Charlie go to http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=good+luck+charlie&aq=f

For an interview with Leigh-Allyn Baker go to http://herdingsquirrels.com/2010/03/29/interview-leigh-allyn-baker/

For a Website dedicated to Bridgit Mendler go to http://bridgitmendlerweb.com/

For a Website dedicated to Bridgit Mendler go to http://bridgit-mendler.net/

For a Website dedicated to Bridgit Mendler go to http://www.bridgitmendlerfans.com/

For a Website dedicated to Bridgit Mendler go to http://bridgitmendleronline.org/

For a Website dedicated to Jason Dolley go to http://jasondolleyhome.com/

To listen to the theme song of Good Luck Charlie go to http://www.televisiontunes.com/Good_Luck_Charlie.html