What's Stevie Thinking? (lost pitch pilot of cancelled spin-off of "Lizzie McGuire" Disney Channel comedy series; 2005)

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StevieSanchezPilot.jpg

A cast shot of the unaired Stevie Sanchez pilot.

Status: Lost

What's Stevie Thinking? (also known as Stevie Sanchez) is an unaired spin-off of the popular Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire.

The pilot was ultimately not picked up by Disney Channel, due to having only one more slot for another sitcom at that time. After the failed pitch, the pilot was not shown again and is now considered lost.

Background

Following the release of The Lizzie McGuire Movie in May 2003, it was announced that Lizzie McGuire would end production due to financial and contractual disagreements between Disney and Hilary Duff's management. Prior to this, they were in talks about producing a primetime sitcom about Lizzie's high school years for ABC.[1] Due to the high popularity of the show's brand, executives still wanted to continue marketing the Lizzie McGuire franchise, even with Duff gone from the show. Disney then chose to produce a spin-off involving Lalaine's character Miranda Sanchez.

For the spin-off, Lizzie McGuire creators Terri Minsky and Stan Rogow decided to center the spin-off around a new character named Stephanie "Stevie" Sanchez, who would be connected to the original show by being the younger sister of Miranda Sanchez (This idea may be off-putting to keen-eyed Lizzie McGuire fans, as Miranda's sister was said to be a baby in the Lizzie McGuire episode "Misadventures of Babysitting", and the spin-off would have suddenly spurted the character from infancy to tween-age).

In March 2004, future Disney star Selena Gomez auditioned for Disney Channel after a nationwide casting search. The executives liked her so much that they asked her to come back and audition for the role of Miranda's sister Stevie Sanchez. The show was formally announced in a Variety article in November 2004. (Hannah Montana, another popular Disney Channel show was mentioned to have begun pre-production in this same article)[2] Further auditions were held during late 2004 and early 2005.[3]

The show would have been about the Sanchez family moving to Australia to help support wildlife conservation at a zoo. Stevie allegedly would have also had an animated persona to voice her inner thoughts much like the original Lizzie character.

The pilot was ultimately being filmed during the week of February 11, 2005 and was pitched to Disney Channel by the summer of that year.

Cancellation

During 2005, the only other show being pitched to Disney Channel was Hannah Montana. This resulted in the network not picking up the spin-off as they only had room for one new sitcom that year.[4] Another likely reason could be that Lizzie McGuire had already finished airing all of its episodes and Disney felt that the franchise had already ran its course. After several guest appearances in other Disney Channel shows, and another failed pilot, Selena Gomez would eventually gain success with her own show Wizards of Waverly Place.

Availability

The pilot has yet to surface, but has been mentioned on a few rare occasions. Clips of Selena Gomez's audition tapes were shown on a DVD for Wizards of Waverly Place and her episode of E! True Hollywood Story.

In 2020, Lizzie McGuire cast member Jake Thomas brought up the spin-off in regards to a fan's question about the cancelled Lizzie reboot stating; "@beautysupernova I'll answer that question with another question: was anyone able to see the old Lizzie spin-off, Stevie Sánchez, with @selenagomez?"

Cast

  • Miranda Sanchez (Lalaine)
  • Stephanie "Stevie" Sanchez (Selena Gomez)
  • Edward Sanchez (Armando Molina)
  • Daniella Sanchez (Dyana Ortelli)
  • Deli (Charlie Stewart)
  • Gilroy (Loren Berman)
  • Mark Lanalampi (Blake Foster)
  • Hannah (Haley Hill)
  • Henry (Gus Hoffman)
  • Taylor McConner (Shane Hunter)
  • Miss Avery (Kelli McCarty)
  • Marc De'Antone (Street Vendor)

Gallery

Images

Videos

Selena Gomez's audition for Disney Channel

Selena Gomez's audition for Stevie Sanchez.

Selena Gomez - Disney Channel Auditions

See Also

Lizzie Mcguire

Disney Channel

Playhouse Disney

Disney Junior

Toon Disney

Disney XD

Other

External Link

References