OTDE - Maturity

That’s a lot of pop culture references there. Just a heads up, I may end up retconning some elements of this strip later. Because I had a brainstorm yesterday regarding the universe this series takes place in.

Another criticism Off the Deep End has received is that I haven’t done enough to make it clear that this is a parody of Disney Channel sitcoms. And indeed, I myself keep flip-flopping on whether or not I even want to pursue that angle, because I keep thinking it’d help the audience connect with the characters better if I ground the series in reality and have Jamie and Spencer deal with the sorts of things real kids their age tend to have to deal with, like school and dating and what-have-you. That’s what I did with Forever 16, keeping the stories more or less down-to-earth and making a lot of oblique references to real-life popular culture, all to make it clear to the audience that, yes, this is set in the real world.

But that’s not what Disney Channel sitcoms do at all. From what folks tell me, these shows are completely balls-to-the-wall insane, not even bothering to maintain an illusion of realism. And I say “from what folks tell me” because honestly, I’ve never watched so much as one episode of any live-action show that’s aired on the Disney Channel in the last ten years. I know the basic premises of them, sure, but I didn’t know much about the tone. And capturing the tone is a key part of doing an effective parody. I’m ashamed to admit that I committed a cardinal sin of the comedy writer – I attempted to satirize something I’ve never actually seen. So I’m going to have to do a little more research, meaning I have to actually sit down and watch stuff like The Suite Life of Zack and Cody or Hannah Montana in order to spoof them correctly. (All these shows are on Netflix, so finding them won’t be an issue.)

In preparation for this, I did a little more research into these shows via their respective Wikis and TV Tropes, and that’s when I learned that every Disney Channel sitcom is set in the same shared universe. Apparently, characters and institutions that appear on one show are just as likely to show up in another, and crossover episodes and specials are a fairly regular occurrence. So I figured, maybe I oughta set Off the Deep End in the Disney Channel Live-Action Universe too. That way, not only do I free myself up to get a little more goofy with the series and go in a different direction than what Forever 16 did, not only does it become more plausible that Danielle and her kids could be world famous for something that only a handful of people in the real world even know exists, but I can make specific parodies of various elements of these Disney Channel shows, even working in cameo appearances of characters to see what they’re doing now. Maybe London Tipton is a rock-stupid reality show star with a sex tape circulating the Internet. Maybe Hannah Montana got dumped from her recording label and turned just as trashy as her real-life counterpart. Maybe Alex Russo and her brothers got kidnapped by government officials who are trying to figure out how actual wizards can possibly exist.

It opens up a lot of possibilities, and I think it’d help the series gain its footing and become more unique and distinct from my previous projects. Stand by, ‘cause I think this series is gonna get really goofy pretty soon.