Tag Archives: Disney Channel

August 18, 2000 – The Disney Channel Original Movie Quints Premieres

“You see, this is my story. And yeah, it’s one of those ‘girl finds herself even though she didn’t know she was lost’ stories. But I promise you: it’s not going to be lame, and it’s not going to be boring.”

On August 18, 2000, the Disney Channel Original Movie Quints premiered. It was written by Matthew Weisman and Gregory K. Pincus, and directed by Bill Corcoran. It starred Kimberly J. Brown as Jamie Grover, Daniel Roebuck as Jim Grover, Elizabeth Morehead as Nancy Grover, Shadia Simmons as Zoe, Jake Epstein as Brad, James Kall as Mr. Blackmer, and Vince Corazza as Albert.

The movie begins with Jamie Grover introducing her family, and the story of how her brothers and sisters arrived. Taking the story back to January, she introduces her father, who is going back to college, and her mother, who publishes a small-town paper in Milford. She introduces her life, including her school, although she embellishes quite a bit. Her friend Zoe tries to get Jamie to go to Art Club, but Jamie has to go work on her science project. She has a goal to attend the science magnet school, and relates her pressure to not let her parents down as the only child, and the first of her family to go to college. Her parents are almost smothering her with attention, and poor Jamie can’t stand it anymore, although she understands that her parents just want to best for her.

The spare room is quickly made over into a nursery to house the new arrivals

Later on, she heads home to find her parents rather stressed. They tell her the news that her mom is pregnant, and Jamie is thrilled. Her mother then drops the bombshell: she’s carrying quintuplets. The family quickly sets to work turning the spare room into a nursery, and Jamie reveals that during those months, nothing really changed, save for her mom’s appearance. Finally, the babies are ready to arrive, and Jamie experiences her first bout of being forgotten, as her parents almost forget to take Jamie with them to the hospital. Her siblings were the first quintuplets in the state, and they arrive home to a whole media frenzy. Jamie then shows off the new life with her siblings, who are crying and creating chaos.

Jamie heads to school, completely exhausted. Her friends ask her what she’s going to do with her new freedom, and try to get her to join art club. Her teacher asks her where her heart is, and Jamie can’t answer, as she’s never had to answer that question before. The moment she gets home, Jamie is roped into baby duty, and a baby nurse is hired to help take care of the quints. Not wanting to keep doing baby duty, she decides to join Art Club, although she has no idea what to do. The baby nurse, Fiona, tries to keep everything on schedule, but with all the financial woes and exhaustion, the family is soon falling apart. After a few weeks, Fiona quits, as she can’t handle it anymore, and the parents panic. Jamie volunteers to take care of the kids, although she isn’t exactly sure of how she’ll be able to do so.

The Grover’s money troubles are over with the arrival of Albert

Suddenly, their wishes are answered when Albert Lensley, an agent, appears at their door to give the family free diapers and other gifts if the babies do some advertising and marketing for Cutie Pants Diapers. While Jamie focuses on her life, she realizes that she actually has a real talent for art, and might have to come up with a new plan for her life. Her teacher, Mr. Blackmer, asks her to draw people, and she starts drawing the quints, getting inspiration mostly from her sibling Adam. However, the family is photographed without Jamie, and it is almost as if she’s not part of the family anymore. Mr. Blackmer convinces her that she has enough distance to see the entire situation and point out the details. Her parents finally listen to her when she’s able to correctly identify the baby and the reason she’s crying, while her parents can’t tell at all. Her parents are all caught up in the marketing, forgetting they have five babies instead of just one set of quints.

Later that night, her father comes into Jamie’s room to confess that he’s upset that he can’t tell the babies apart, because he was working so much and not spending time with his family. Her further confesses that he doesn’t know what he’s doing, but Jamie tells him just to love them. Unfortunately, her parents are further sucked in to the quints marketing campaign, and Jamie is completely ignored. Her friend Brad reassures her when they forget to go to her parent-teacher conference, but she’s still angry at them. Her mother suggests that they get Jamie in the national commercial with the quints; unfortunately, Jamie refuses to appear when she’s dressed as a giant diaper. Jamie feels she’s completely forgotten, and accused of being selfish. Her friends and teacher tell her that her future lies with her, and she can make her future great, especially when Mr. Blackmer is going to feature her sketches at the school’s art fair.

Albert brings the Grovers the exciting news about the “Parents of the Year” award

Jamie announces her good news to her parents, who are thrilled at hearing this. They promise to be there at the gala opening, but Albert arrives with news that they’ve won Parents of the Year, and the dinner is the same night as the art show. Jamie is heartbroken, and heads to school to rip up all of her sketches. Zoe and Brad try to ask her what’s wrong, and she explains that her parents are choosing their awards dinner over her art show. She refuses to go to the art show, but Mr. Blackmer will still showcase her art. One day at school, Mr. Blackmer rushes Jamie to the hospital, where Adam is rather ill. Her parents finally admit that they understand what Jamie meant when the quints were five different babies rather than a unit. Jamie then admits that she wants to follow her own plan for her life, not their parents. Her parents accept her the way she is, and the relationship is mended. After Albert pushes his marketing campaign too far, the Grovers fire him.

Brad and Zoe volunteer to help Jamie take care of the quints while Jamie’s parents head to the gala dinner, although the parents forgot to bring the quints with them. Mr. Blackmer helps to save the day, driving the quints, Jamie, Brad, and Zoe to the dinner. Unfortunately, Mr. Blackmer’s car breaks down on the way there, and the kids quickly board a bus and the subway to get there. The Grovers begin to panic while at the dinner, but Jamie and the quints arrive just in time. The Governor offers to give Jamie a ride anywhere, and she decides to go straight to the art show. At the art show, the winner is Jamie, and she is awarded her first blue ribbon. When she receives the ribbon, she is also surprised by her parents, who wanted to be there for her big moment. In the end, while she is eligible to go to the science magnet school, she decides to go to Milford High for the great art program.

April 24, 2009 – The Disney Channel Original Movie Hatching Pete Premieres

“Let’s get this over with. No one knows it’s me. Just walk around, flap your wings, be generally annoying like Poole for a couple of hours, and go home.”

On April 24, 2009, the Disney Channel Original Movie Hatching Pete premiered. The movie premiered with 4.1 million viewers, one of the lowest openings for a DCOM in three years. The film was written by Paul W. Cooper, and was directed by Stuart Gillard. It stars Jason Dolley as Pete Ivey, Mitchel Musso as Cleatus Poole, Josie Loren as Angela, Tiffany Thornton as Jamie, and Brian Stepanek as Coach Mackey.

The film begins at Brewster High School’s basketball game, where the mascot is getting suited up for his big entrance. However, Cleatus Poole, who goes by “Poole,” is the worst mascot the school has ever seen, thanks to his allergy to the suit. His best friend, Pete Ivey, shows up at the game, only to once again be mistaken as a new student as he is extremely shy and introverted. Poole is aware that Pete has a crush on his sister, Cammie, and Pete is hoping to ask her out, but Pete fails miserably thanks to his shyness, and she is dating basketball team captain and all-around jerk Dill. Poole and Pete leave the game, both feeling rather dejected. Pete heads home and practices gymnastics on his home trampoline, displaying a natural talent. His father tries to give him a pep talk, and his parents try to get him to go to the game, although Pete refuses as Brewster has lost the last twenty games and doesn’t see the point.

Poole stops by Pete’s before the game and works his way into making Pete accept the job as “The Chicken.”

Poole stops by before the game, and asks Pete for a favor: $500, and for Pete to be the mascot for the night. Pete refuses at first, especially after Poole brings up the story once again that it’s his family legacy to be the Rooster, which is why he can’t quit. Pete only agrees when Poole promises to put in a good word with Cammie. The game starts, with the rival team scoring right off the bat. Pete, in the mascot outfit, makes his way to the game and runs inside, although he is rather ungainly in the outfit. He tries to act like Poole, and ends up knocked to the ground by the rival team. As he decides to leave, he gets hit in the head with a basketball and flips on the ground. After getting injured, he decides to give people something to notice, following his dad’s advice, and begins dancing and flipping, entertaining the crowd more than the game. Pete heads to Poole’s after the game to return the outfit, but he can’t admit to Poole that he actually liked being the mascot.

At school the next day, students are congratulating Poole for a job well done at the game, although Poole has no idea as to why. Meanwhile Coach Mackey, who was kicked out of the game for unsportsmanlike behavior, tries to get Poole expelled for the antics of the mascot, but the principal says that that Poole stays, as he has better job security than the coach. In the locker room, Poole is about to get beaten up by the basketball team, but is begrudgingly saved by Coach Mackey, as the coach will be fired if there’s no mascot. Things get weirder when Poole goes to class and everyone applauds him, with Pete being pushed aside while Poole takes credit for Pete’s antics. Pete then starts working on the float committee for the homecoming parade with new girl and cheerleader Angela, and he starts crushing on her, even though she has a boyfriend back in Houston. Later, Poole stops by to ask Pete what Pete did at the game. Pete can’t describe what he did very well, but Poole wants Pete to continue as the mascot so he continue being popular. Poole decides to go to the game in disguise to watch what Pete does, and to be there in case of trouble.

Pete does a variety of stunts as the mascot, much to the delight of the audience and dismay of Coach Mackey.

Pete continues his antics while the game once again looks like a loss for the Brewster Roosters. At one point, Pete’s antics distract the opposing team long enough that the Roosters are able to score. Pete then picks up Angela and takes her out into the hallway, and although he successfully flirts with her, she thinks he’s Poole instead of Pete. At the end of the game, Poole congratulates Pete for a job well done, but Pete is still unhappy with Poole getting the glory for all of his work. Poole then tells Pete that Pete’s going to play “The Chicken” full-time, much to Pete’s discomfort. Finally, Poole talks Pete into staying the mascot. Pete and Angela start working on the float together, although she asks him a lot of questions about Poole, as she seems to be developing feelings for “The Chicken.” On the way to a game, the basketball players come up with a theory that it’s not really Poole inside the mascot outfit, which explains why he’d gotten better all of the sudden. Dill goes off to pull the mascot’s head off, revealing Poole, who lets out a huge sneeze. Once they reach the game, Poole quickly makes a switch with Pete, and Pete heads out of the court while a disguised Poole sits in the stands. Once again, Pete’s antics are more interesting than the game, but he also has an effect on the players, and they are able to score more points than usual.

At one point in the game, Pete saves Angela from getting accidentally hit by a player from the opposing team, but after Angela has been pushed out of the way, the player hits cheerleader Jamie, whom Poole has been dating since his rise in popularity. Jamie gets a bloody nose, and both Pete and Poole are worried that this could cause problems for them. Angela later thanks Poole for saving her, and Pete overhears their conversation, and stops Poole from kissing Angela. Later, Poole admits that he can’t keep up the façade, as he feels like a fraud, and apologizes for everything Pete’s gone through. Pete is terrified that he isn’t funny without the chicken suit, and tells Poole that he needs to continue being the mascot, at least until the parade. He then hears that Angela is missing, and goes to find her. When he finds her, he sees that she’s been crying, as she’s been dumped by her boyfriend via text message. The two begin to bond, and go back to build the float. At the parade, everyone cheers for “The Chicken,” while Poole hides in audience in disguise. However, Poole is pulled up onto the float to dance, and the ruse is half-revealed, as no one knows who “The Chicken” is. Pete flees in the sheriff’s car, with the whole town pursuing him.

Poole faces the ridicule of the town before being taken in for questioning by the police

Poole is taken in for questioning by the police as to the identity of “The Chicken,” but Poole refuses to say who the mascot really is. Poole finally admits to his father that he couldn’t be the mascot because he was allergic to the suit. His father admits that he was allergic to the suit as well, and wished he had the courage to quit like his son. Meanwhile, Pete flees to his house and hides the chicken suit in his car. As he walks along the road, Angela stops him and asks him who he thinks “The Chicken” is. He asks if she really wants to know, and she says that she might, but she worries that once the mystery is gone, then the attraction to him will be gone as well. Poole stops by to talk about their next steps, but Pete is furious that Poole ruined everything. Poole decides to that they should retire the mascot, but Pete is unsure. At the next game, everyone is hoping the mascot will show up, but are sorely disappointed when he doesn’t appear. All the fans leave the game when it’s revealed there is no mascot, and the basketball team loses once again. The principal then has Coach Mackey announce to the entire student body that “The Chicken” needs to return, as everyone needs him.

At the next game, however, Pete doesn’t come back, especially when he overhears the cheerleaders saying there’s no way Pete could ever be the mascot. However, he does make an appearance on the school’s news program to explain why he decided to call it quits. When he explains why he won’t take off his mask, comparing himself to the Lone Ranger, Angela realizes that Pete is the mascot, as she was the one who told him the same reason why she didn’t want to know. Poole tries to convince Pete to go to the game, but Pete’s afraid people will stop liking “The Chicken” when they realize it’s just plain old Pete Ivey inside. At the Roosters’ final game, the team is scared to play without “The Chicken,” but they summon up a little bit of courage to play. However, true to form, the Roosters play miserably, unable to score a single shot. At one point, the lights in the gym go out, and “The Chicken” appears in the rafters before flying down onto the court. Encouraged by his appearance, the team is ready to win the game. Finally, everyone wants to know who is underneath the mask, and Pete decides to reveal his identity. Angela runs off to help him get his mask, revealing that she knew it was him. Everyone cheers for him, and he resumes his duties as the mascot as the team works on securing a victory, their only victory for the season. In the end, the Roosters win the game, and everyone rushes the court excitedly while Angela and Pete share a kiss.