Gravity Falls

Gravity Falls is an American animated mystery comedy television series created by Alex Hirsch for Disney Channel and Disney XD. The series ran from June 15, 2012, to February 15, 2016.

The series follows the adventures of Dipper Pines (voiced by Jason Ritter) and his twin sister Mabel (voiced by Kristen Schaal) who are sent to spend the summer with their great-uncle (or "Grunkle") Stan (voiced by Hirsch) in Gravity Falls, Oregon, a mysterious town full of paranormal forces and supernatural creatures. The kids help Stan run "the Mystery Shack", the tourist trap which he owns, while also investigating the local mysteries.

On November 20, 2015, Hirsch announced that the series would finish with its second season, stating that this was "100% [his] choice" and that "the show isn't being cancelled- it's being finished" and was simply reaching its natural conclusion. The show culminated with a one-hour finale, "Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls", airing on February 15, 2016. Hirsch later stated that he remains open to continuing the series with additional episodes or specials.

Gravity Falls received critical acclaim with praise directed at its writing, characters, humor, and multi-generational appeal. Additionally, the series won two Emmy Awards, three Annie Awards, and a BAFTA Children's Award, among various other wins and nominations. Gravity Falls garnered high viewership amongst kids, teenagers, and young adults during its run and was Disney XD's highest rated show in 2015 and early 2016, while also setting several ratings records for the network. The series has attracted a broad and passionate fandom and has been considered to be an influence for many animated shows that followed it. The series has also inspired a variety of official merchandise including books, toys, and a video game.

In February 2018, on the second anniversary of the final episode of the show, Hirsch used a cipher to announce Gravity Falls: Lost Legends, a continuation of the Gravity Falls story in a new graphic novel that was later released on July 24, 2018. On August 8, 2020, Disney Channel aired a Gravity Falls-inspired episode of the show Amphibia titled "Wax Museum".

## Production

### Conception

Prior to working on the series, series creator Alex Hirsch's primary inspiration growing up was the popular animated sitcom *The Simpsons*, where he observed that "animation could be funnier than live-action. That animation didn't have to just be for kids. That it could be satirical and observational and grounded in a sense of character interaction". Hirsch graduated from the California Institute of the Arts, and was hired to work as writer and storyboard artist for the Cartoon Network series *The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack*, where he was paired up with Pendleton Ward, the creator of *Adventure Time*. Afterwards, he moved on to co-develop the Disney Channel animated series *Fish Hooks*; shortly before he pitched (and was subsequently green-lit) *Gravity Falls*.

Hirsch says he was at the California Institute of the Arts when he turned down DreamWorks Animation executive Jeffrey Katzenberg out of a desire to work for Disney. He first coined the concept for the show in an 11-minute low-budget student film which he made at the Institute. Hirsch was called in to do a pitch for Disney Channel for a show based on the short pilot. Disney Channel bought the idea and aired the series' preview in the June 15, 2012.

The series was inspired by Hirsch's own childhood experiences and his relationship with his own twin sister growing up during their summer vacations. He placed many of his real-life experiences in the show, like living in Piedmont and trick-or-treating with his sister as kids. Dipper Pines is based on Hirsch's memory of how it felt to be a kid. When Hirsch was around Dipper's age, he "would record [him]self and play it backwards and try to learn to speak backwards." Hirsch described himself as "that neurotic kid who would carry 16 disposable cameras everywhere I went." Mabel Pines was inspired by his twin sister, Ariel Hirsch. According to Hirsch, just like Mabel, his sister "really did wear wacky sweaters and have a different ridiculous crush, every week." In the series Mabel gets a pet pig, just like his sister had always wanted when she was a kid. Grunkle Stan was inspired by Hirsch's grandpa Stan, who according to Hirsch "was a guy that told tall tales and would frequently mess with us to get a rise out of us. So, my family really inspired the characters on the show."

### Writing

Hirsch explained in an interview with *The A.V. Club* that during the production of season 1, that a typical episode is conceived in a room reserved for writers, where a simple synopsis is presented, and from then on dramatic structure is defined, and the plot is modified to include a character-driven subplot, which Hirsch expresses as "the hardest thing ... to find a character story that actually uncovers, explores, or pushes tension—on something our characters care about—that is properly explored via the magic or monster or impossibility of the week."

B- and A-stories are created and are given to a writer to produce an outline, which is then subsequently checked-off by Hirsch for feedback. The writer produces a draft from these edits, where more notes may be given. Hirsch states that he and creative director Mike Rianda may personally create a draft for themselves before a final script is produced, in which the dialogue from the draft received from the writer is significantly revised; Hirsch states that the revising process "is not a discredit to our writers—it's just we have a very particular vision. In particular, I usually rewrite almost all of Dipper's dialogue and most of Mabel's dialogue, just because I have them in my head. Me and Mike will stay up for about 24 hours prior to the delivery of every script. We'll take the weekend, we'll work all night, we'll drink Red Bull, we'll sleep on the couch in shifts like maniacs, we'll slap each other in the face."

### Animation

After a script is delivered, an episode then gets translated into a storyboard, where feedback is received from Hirsch to the board artists if a certain element, such as a gag, doesn't work. Afterwards, a pitch for the episode is given to the network, where they do a read-through, and then the episode is either checked out by the network, or retooled in the small amount of time allocated before an animation studio must receive something to work with. The series is animated by Rough Draft Korea, Digital eMation and Yearim Productions.

## Broadcast

### Initial broadcast

The first twelve episodes of *Gravity Falls* aired in a regular weekly slot on Disney Channel starting in mid-2012, but subsequent episodes were broadcast without similar regularity; it took until August 2013 to broadcast the remaining eight episodes of the first season. The second season began airing a year later in August 2014, transitioning over to Disney XD, but again without any regularity as to when new episodes would be first broadcast. The first nine episodes aired from August to November 2014, the following two in February and March 2015, the next eight from July to November 2015, and the finale aired on February 15, 2016. According to Disney XD, as each episode took about six months of work to complete, they opted against stockpiling episodes to show weekly but instead take advantage of the serial nature of the show, broadcasting each episode as it was completed and making an event out of it. On April 2, 2018, reruns of the show started airing on Disney Channel, although reruns of the show still air on Disney XD.

### Disney Channel

The series began airing on Disney Channel Canada on September 1, 2015, following Corus Entertainment's acquisition of Disney Channel rights in Canada. In Canada the show began airing on Disney XD starting on December 1, 2015, following the launch of Disney XD. The show started broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland on July 20, 2012, as a preview and officially premiered on September 7, 2012. In Australia and New Zealand it previewed on August 17, 2012, and premiered on September 24, 2012. It also premiered in Southeast Asia on October 27, 2012. In India it premiered on September 16, 2013. In the Middle East region, the series was previewed on October 19, 2012, and premiered on November 10, 2012.Template:CN

### Other

The series preview debuted in Canada on June 15, 2012, and premiered on July 6, 2012, on Family Channel, until January 2016 when it moved to the local Disney XD channel following Corus Entertainment's acquisition of Disney Channel rights in Canada from Family's owner DHX Media.The Series Aried On Toon Disney On September 20, 2020-Present. In Australia, the show airs on Disney XD and 7mate while in Chile, the show was broadcast on Canal 13 on November 24, 2013, under its programming block *CuBox*. In the Philippines, the show was shown on TV5 beginning on May 4, 2014, while in Brazil, the show also began airing on Rede Globo on May 10, 2014. In Indonesia, the show premiered on RCTI on August 17, 2014.

### Broadcast edits

The symbol on Grunkle Stan's fez was changed from a crescent shape resembling the Islamic crescent to a fish-like symbol mid-way through the first season's broadcast. The symbol represents his membership in the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel. When the series was put on Disney+, the crescent-shaped symbol was edited out entirely, leaving a symbol-less fez in the early episodes—later episodes featuring the fish-like symbol were unaffected. However, the crescent symbol remains in the thumbnails, and on the zodiac wheel in the title sequence. Hirsch drew attention to the change on Twitter. Disney has not commented on why it was removed. Sometime later, the symbol on the fez was restored.

In 2017, Disney Channel redubbed Louis C.K.'s minor role as "The Horrifying Sweaty One-Armed Monstrosity" in the 2015 episode "Weirdmageddon: Part 1," as well as its 2016 follow-up episode, "Weirdmageddon: Part 3: Take Back The Falls," following the comedian's admission of sexual misconduct. Series creator Alex Hirsch is now credited as playing the character.

## Potential film

On July 14, 2017, Hirsch revealed that he and Disney had talked about making a *Gravity Falls* film. Disney ultimately passed on the project, as the studio felt the show "wasn’t big enough to warrant [a film]", Hirsch said he was still interested in the idea.

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Template:Cite news
2. ↑ Template:Cite news
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Template:Cite news
4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `variety`
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Radish, Christina (6 July 2012). Creator Alex Hirsch Talks GRAVITY FALLS, How He Ended Up Making a Show for the Disney Channel, His Love for TV Animation and More. Retrieved on December 27, 2019.
6. ↑ Template:Cite news
7. ↑ Template:Cite episode
8. ↑ Disney Channel Medianet. Disney Channel Medianet. Retrieved on July 14, 2012.
9. ↑ 'Gravity Falls' brings quirky comedy to Disney Channel. The Orange Country Register. Retrieved on November 21, 2015.
10. ↑ Zahed, Ramin (June 2, 2012). Tales from the Weird Side. Retrieved on August 12, 2020.
11. ↑ McFarland, K.M. (November 23, 2015). Gravity Falls' Many Fans Couldn't Save it from an Early End. *Wired*. Retrieved on July 21, 2016.
12. ↑ Disney Channel Central (April 6, 2018). Gravity Falls Returns to Disney Channel – Promo.
13. ↑ What's On TV. Disney UK (September 7, 2012).
14. ↑ Template:YouTube
15. ↑ Gravity Falls – Disney Channel Asia.
16. ↑ Template:Cite news
17. ↑ Schedule. Family.ca (July 6, 2012). Archived from the original on October 15, 2013.
18. ↑ Gravity Falls on 7mate, Sydney, Guide for 21/4/14. *Guide TV* (April 21, 2014). Archived from the original on January 12, 2015. Retrieved on April 21, 2014.
19. ↑ 'Gravity Falls: Um Verão de Mistérios' estreia na telinha da Globo dia 10 (pt). *Globo.com* (May 8, 2014). Retrieved on April 7, 2014.
20. ↑ Tentang Gravity Falls (Indonesian). RCTI. Archived from the original on October 6, 2015. Retrieved on November 16, 2015.
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 Elderkin, Beth (November 15, 2019). *Gravity Falls* and the Vanishing Symbol: A Disney+ Illuminati Mystery. *Gizmodo*. Retrieved on November 16, 2019.
22. ↑ Patrick Shanley (December 21, 2017). Disney Redubs Louis C.K.'s 'Gravity Falls' Character After Sexual Misconduct Admission. Retrieved on September 8, 2020.
23. ↑ Daniel Kreps (December 22, 2017). Disney Redubs Louis C.K. 'Gravity Falls' Voice Role. Retrieved on September 8, 2020.
24. ↑ Kaiser, Vrai (July 14, 2017). Interview: Gravity Falls’ Alex Hirsch Talks About Disney’s Censors, Pacifica’s Parents, and Future Plans. The Mary Sue.