Bizaardvark (seasons 1 & 2)

Bizaardvark (seasons 1 & 2)
This is what happens when Disney Channel attempts to cash in on iCarly.
Genre: Comedy Running Time: 21–24 minutes Country: United States Release Date: June 24, 2016 – April 13, 2018 Network(s): Disney Channel Created by: Kyle Stegina Josh Lehrman Distributed by: Walt Disney Television Starring: Madison Hu Olivia Rodrigo Jake Paul (S1E1-S2E17) DeVore Ledridge Ethan Wacker Seasons: 2 Episodes: 42

Bizaardvark is an American comedy sitcom that ran for three seasons on Disney Channel from June 24, 2016 to April 13, 2019.

Plot

Best friends Paige and Frankie put their talents to use while making video blogs for their online comedy channel. Upon reaching 10,000 subscribers for their comedic music videos, the friends are invited to produce their videos at Vuuugle Studios, an influential entity in the industry. There, they continue their quest to reach the top of the blogosphere. Together, with longtime friend Bernie and fellow Vuuugle stars Dirk and Amelia, the girls embark on a series of comedic adventures in hopes of becoming even bigger online celebrities.

Why These Seasons are Bizarre

1. The main issue with the series is that it's an overt and unabashed imitation of iCarly, with both shows centering on two teenage girls who create web videos and engage in wild shenanigans, yet it lacks the original's appeal. It appears to be an effort by Disney Channel to capitalize on the success of Nickelodeon's sitcoms. As a result, the plot seems unoriginal. In contrast, Coop and Cami Ask the World, another Disney Channel sitcom with a premise akin to iCarly, is much better executed than this show.
   • Many characters are clones of those from iCarly.
     • Paige and Frankie are rip offs of Carly and Sam.
     • Dirk is a rip-off of both Spencer and Gibby.
     • Bernie is a rehash of Freddie.
     • Grandma Schotz is a rip-off of Marissa Benson.
     • Victor is a rip-off of Nevel Papperman.
       • He is way more unlikable as he attends to ruin other comedy channels just so he can be the funniest channel on Vuuugle, which means he is jealous.
     • Belissa and Principal Karen are derivative characters of Mandy and Nora.
   • It also lazily rehashes episodes from iCarly.
     • "Superfan" revisits themes from both "iAm Your Biggest Fan" and "iPsycho."
     • "Bernie Moves Out" is essentially a remake of "iMove Out."
     • "The BFF (Before Frankie Friend)" seems strikingly similar to "iReunite with Missy."
     • The episodes "Spoiler Alert: Belissa Returns" and "Clash of the Superfans" bear a striking resemblance to "iStill Psycho," and even to the less acclaimed Sam & Cat (a spin-off of iCarly and Victorious) episode titled "#SuperPsycho."
     • "Control + Alt + Escape!" also bears a resemblance to "iPsycho."
2. The title of the show is stupid, which is also the name of Paige and Frankie's Vuuugle channel.
3. Graphically unfunny, nonsensical, cringeworthy and forced humor.
4. Very poor, cringeworthy and uninspired acting.
5. Vuuugle is a poor imitation of YouTube. Unlike YouTube, where creators typically film in their homes, Vuuuglers record in a studio setting. Additionally, its name bears a striking resemblance to Google, the parent company of YouTube.
6. Unlikable and poorly written characters.
   • Paige and Frankie are unique to one another but are seen as very annoying by a lot of viewers.
   • Bernie is a very creepy teenage boy who has a stalker-like crush on Amelia.
   • Amelia is a girly, spoiled bottle blonde country girl stereotype that teaches the show's target audience how to be materialistic. Also, unlike some of the other characters, she hasn’t received any character development or redemption. She can be seen as a rip-off of Emma Ross from Jessie but with none of the charm and likability.
   • Dirk is an annoying and unfunny comic relief.
   • Horse Face Guy is a ridiculous and pointless character who serves no purpose to the show other than being filler. He could be written out and nothing would change.
     • To make matters worse, there's an entire episode centered around him in Season 3 ("Who is Horse Face Guy?").
7. Like most modern sitcoms, the laugh track is extremely overused and plays after almost every line.
8. These seasons have episodes that are pretty mean-spirited, like “In Your Space” (though it's still considered a good episode) and "Puff and Frankie".
9. Unlike Carly and Sam's web videos in iCarly, the web videos and music videos that Paige and Frankie make are extremely unfunny, unoriginal and cringe-inducing and to add salt to the wound, the music videos have low quality special effects and green screen (even for Disney Channel standards).
10. Jake Paul, an infamous and controversial YouTube star, stars in the show. His character Dirk is no better. Thankfully, both him and Dirk got kicked off the show during the latter half of season 2 and haven't appeared since. Although Dirk's absence was briefly explained "House Band" from Season 3 (the reason given is that he simply left Vuuugle with no other explanation given as to what happened to him), he usually isn't mentioned by the other characters anymore, like he never even existed in the first place!
    • To make matters worse, Jake Paul's older brother, Logan Paul guest starred in "The First Law of Dirk" as Dirk's older brother Kirk, though Kirk never appeared again after that episode, especially after Jake and Dirk were removed from the show. Also, the episode was later pulled off of reruns on Disney Channel due to Logan Paul's suicide forest video controversy. It's not even available on Disney+ due to that reason, though the episode can still be watched on DisneyNOW.
11. Some episodes have concepts that sound interesting on paper but ended up getting poorly executed in the process.
    • "Frankie Has a Hater" depicts Paige and Frankie dealing with criticism. The episode had the potential to offer a valuable lesson on managing criticism. However, it ultimately suggests an exaggerated response to criticism, to the extent of pursuing the critic.
    • "Chocolate Bananas" is about Paige and Frankie discovering graffiti on the school lockers and Amelia being accused of the crime. It could have been a good episode without the infamous "Chocolate Bananas" video, poor writing and the bad subplot about Bernie being upset that Dirk doesn't tell him he's his best friend.
    • "Softball: The Musical" is about the gang creating a musical to save face with Dirk. This sounds interesting at first, but ends up being a stupid episode, due to poor writing and unfunny humor.
    • "Don't Think, Just Dare" is about Paige wanting to end her relationship with her boyfriend. This could have been an interesting episode, if not for poor writing and the stupid subplot about Frankie, Amelia and Bernie falling asleep to their teacher's voice.
12. Most of the songs are painful to listen to, feature extreme amounts of auto-tune and occasionally rip-off other songs. Examples are "Blobfish", "So Dramatic", "Oops Wrong Emoji", "Sick Days Are Awesome", "If I Had A Dog", "Lemonade Stand", "The Greatest Rap Song of All Time" (even though it's technically not a song), "Flying Shoes", "Notes in Your Lunchbag", "Chocolate Bananas" and "The Comeback Song".
13. The show tries excessively to be trendy and up-to-date, overusing internet and social media references and featuring unnecessary cameos from internet celebrities to appeal to a younger audience, such as JoJo Siwa, Grumpy Cat, Logan Paul (referenced in Reason #10), Lilly Singh, Thomas Sanders, etc. Unlike iCarly, which occasionally aimed to be contemporary but primarily concentrated on character interactions and development rather than mocking fervent fanbases and pop culture. Fortunately, this approach was slightly reduced in the second season.
14. The treatment of Paige and Frankie in their old school in season 1 was ridiculous as it's stereotypical of private schools.
15. Extremely poor and nonsensical writing. For example, in "Frankie Has A Hater", when Frankie discovers that someone has posted a negative comment about Bizaardvark, instead of ignoring it or deleting it, she becomes so upset by it that she tracks down and confronts the person who wrote the comment. This shows that Frankie can't take criticism.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Bizaardvark's concept is overall pretty interesting as 2 best friends hitting 10,000 subscribers on their channel and getting invited to the Vuuugle (or any other video sharing service) studio to film their videos, but it was executed poorly. Could've been done better.
2. While stupid, the show title is at least creative.
3. It jump-started the careers of Olivia Rodrigo and Madison Hu.
4. There are some funny and even heartwarming moments here and there.
5. Most of the characters experience development as the series progresses.
   • For example; Frankie Wong went from a bland girl who doesn’t take criticism to a girl who has such a sassy attitude who can take criticism and is very self confident.
6. Season 2 is a slight improvement, as the attempts to be hip and current got toned down a little and Dirk got taken off the show in the second half of the season.
   • The final season is a big improvement over these seasons.
7. There are some good episodes, such as:
   • "Mom! Stop!"
   • "Paige's Birthday Is Gonna Be Great"
   • "In Your Space!" (despite the pointless guest appearance from Thomas Sanders, which ended Season 1 on a high note)
   • "First Day of School" (which started Season 2 on a high note)
   • "The Doctor Will See You Now"
   • "Friend Fight!"
   • "Paige Is Wrong"
   • "Her, Me, and Hermie" (which ended these seasons on a high note)
8. Bernie is a very original character and while he can be unlikable at times, he is often hilarious and his comedy makes the show a lot more fun.
9. Some good songs, such as "Love for the Haters", "Party Don't Stop", "Bad hair day ", " The Comeback Song " and "The Worst Lullaby Ever".
   • The theme song is passable, with the exception of the line "Let's go make some videos!" which is pretty annoying.

Episodes With Their Own Pages

• Bizaardvark Changes Lives (Season 3)

Reception

The first two seasons of Bizaardvark were met with mostly negative reviews from fans and critics alike. Many viewers calling it an uninspired imitation of iCarly. While the show follows two teenage girls making web videos, many found the plot unoriginal and the humor forced. Characters like Paige, Frankie, and Bernie were often seen as shallow or annoying, with storylines that echoed iCarly episodes without adding much novelty. Critics also noted that Vuuugle, the show's fictional video platform, felt like a weak imitation of YouTube, detracting from its authenticity. Overall, Bizaardvark struggled to capture viewers’ interest and originality. On IMDb the first season holds a 4.3/10, while the second season got a slightly more mixed reception receiving a 5.6/10.

Trivia

• Ironically, Jake Paul's older brother Logan Paul (who guess starred as Kirk in the episode "The First Law of Dirk") was fired from a YouTube series he starred in titled Foursome after its third season, following his suicide forest video controversy, six months after Jake Paul was fired from Bizaardvark and Disney Channel. Like Jake Paul's role as Dirk, Logan Paul's role as Alec Fixler from Foursome was completely written out without a replacement actor.
• Dirk, Jake Paul's character's final appearance was in the 17th episode of the second season "Bernie Moves Out" before Jake Paul was fired from Disney and his character was permanently removed from the show without a replacement actor.
• The show was originally going to be named “Paige & Frankie” but they changed it to “Bizaardvark” in the process.

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