Hailey's On It! was a 2023 animated comedy-adventure series created by Devin Bunje and Nick Stanton for Disney Channel.[3] The series ran for 30-episodes from June 8, 2023 until May 18, 2024. It aired on Disney Channel and DisneyXD, while formerly streaming on Disney+.[2][4]
From creators and executive producers Devin Bunje and Nick Stanton (Disney XD's "Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything"), the series, set in Oceanside, California, follows Hailey as she is pushed outside her comfort zone to discover the greatness that lies within. Whether she's tackling every ride at the county fair, performing in a musical, reuniting a singing duo, or facing her ever-growing and complicated feelings toward her best friend Scott, Hailey is always encountering new challenges ― and more opportunities to conquer her fears.
Press Information
The earliest concept for Hailey's On It! was conceived when Devin Bunje and Nick Stanton came up with a scenario of a girl failing to pay attention to a time-traveling messenger. The duo grew interested in the characters and slowly began to develop what would eventually grow into the series.[5] Two working titles for the series were: Hailey Banks and the Apoca-list and I WILL NOT Kiss Scott Federman. The plan for the show is to get to at least three seasons.[6]
News of the series was first officially announced on August 18, 2021, by senior vice president and general manager, Meredith Roberts.
Longtime writing and producing partners Devin Bunje and Nick Stanton will serve as executive producers with Howy Parkins. Roberts said, “Nick and Devin began their writing careers at TVA nearly 15 years ago and have now come full circle returning to their TVA roots to launch their first animated series. The series’ fast-paced comedy, heart and grounded stories about two best friends who happen to get caught up in extraordinary circumstances made it a perfect fit for Disney.”[3] Auli'i Cravalho, Manny Jacinto and Gary Anthony Williams also joined the principal cast.[3] Writers for the series include Mary Gulino and Kevin Yee.[7] Karen Graci serves as story editor.[8] The character of Beta was created because the writers wanted a way to "organize and prioritize list items" without always relying on the list itself, with the idea of a technologically-advanced smartphone being conceived due to the dynamic such character could have with Hailey.[5] Beta was originally meant to be a minor character, but his role was expanded after the writers enjoyed Gary Anthony Williams' performance and further developed him.[9]
On June 15, 2022, Disney Branded Television revealed that the series would be receiving 10 additional episodes, bringing the total from 20 episodes to a 30 episode count for Season 1.[10] On April 13, 2024, production for the first season wrapped.[11] In hopes to get the series renewed for a second season, the writers were already been writing "several new episodes" by June 2024.[12]
Hailey's On It! aired with two episodes on Thursday, June 8 (8:00 p.m. EDT/PDT), on Disney Channel, Disney XD and began streaming the next day on Disney+.[2][4][13] Afterwards, the series began airing Saturday mornings starting June 17. Additionally, several Theme Song Takeover, Broken Karaoke, How NOT To Draw and Chibi Tiny Tales shorts featuring characters from the series began rolling out in July on Disney Channel, Disney Channel YouTube, and DisneyNOW.[13] The final episode aired on May 18, 2024. In September 2024, the series was removed from Disney+.[14][15] It is still available to stream on the DisneyNOW website.[16]
This, Hamster & Gretel and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur are the last DTVA animated shows to feature serialized elements and story arcs, due to the announcement on October 2021 that Disney Television Animation would be moving story-driven shows away from Disney Channel (future upcoming serialized story-driven shows by DTVA will be on Disney+ moving forward) and move onto more episodic-musical shows.
This is overall the 10th and final series by DTVA to be serialized/story-driven and to premiere on Disney Channel, following Gravity Falls, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, DuckTales (2017), Big Hero 6: The Series, Amphibia, The Owl House, Hamster & Gretel, and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.
Ironically, the series was first unveiled on November 18, 2021; one month after the announcement.
This is the second Disney Television Animation show to premiere simultaneously on Disney Channel and Disney XD, and to continue to premiere new episodes simultaneously, following Kiff.
Hailey’s On It! features music from a cross-section of popular genres, from K-Pop to musical theater to pop-rock to EDM. A digital soundtrack with six original songs is set for release on June 9 on Walt Disney Records. Emmy Award-nominated Matthew Tishler (High School Musical: The Musical: The Series) and Emmy Award-nominated Andrew Underberg (The J Team) are the series’ songwriters and composers.[13]
Several Theme Song Takeover, Broken Karaoke, How NOT To Draw and Chibi Tiny Tales shorts featuring characters from the series will begin rolling out in July on Disney Channel, Disney Channel YouTube, and DisneyNOW.[13]
Coinciding with the series premiere, DisneyNOW will launch themed updates in two games: Bubble Burst and Color Splash.[13]
Creating the series was on Devin Bunje and Nick Stanton's lifelong to-do list since the pair were in their twenties. Their first job was on Phineas and Ferb, a Disney animated TV show. Stanton said “We love the whole culture here, and I think we always saw ourselves creating a show eventually. I think we got a good one!”[18]
Ironically enough, Phineas and Ferb's pilot episode has Phineas telling Ferb they should start a huge list of things to do for the entire summer.
Also, the plot could be inspired by Phineas and Ferb's , since the titular characters and their friends do something epic every day/episode.
Every time Hailey comes up with an idea she wants to do, she just puts it on her list and plans to put it off. But she gets a little tip from the future, and she eventually gets the confidence and ability to do all these crazy things she wrote down on her list. That is her first step towards becoming a great person that does great things in the future.[18]
There are some episodes in the first season that are just kind of ordinary episodes, like spending all your old gift cards, but then that would take them on an adventure.[18]
Hailey and Scott's friendship is the central dynamic of the show, mostly based off Jim and Pam in the first season of The Office, with a lot of twists and turns in their relationship along the way.[18]
Kristine plays against the trope of the popular girl at school being a jerk to people. She’s almost annoyingly sweet and nice. Even when she ends-up asking out Scott in front of Hailey, she can’t help but say “Yes” because she knows it’s in a polite, friendly way.[18]
Early on Bunje and Stanton wrote this “Tunnel of Love” song in the premiere and had a couple people take a swing at it. They blew the duos minds with their take, and that’s take is the one in that episode.[18]
The series takes inspiration from Phineas and Ferb with a new adventure every day. They were going to do the most with that one day of their summer. Bunje and Stanton kind of wanted that energy with Hailey’s On It! too. The whole show has a positive vibe where Hailey’s doing these things with big stakes but they’re just kids going on an adventure every day.[18]
There are several hundred things on Hailey's list.[18]
There's an episode where Hailey finds out she can add to the list, and then she has to end-up completing that list item as well.[18]
Stanton and Bunje modeled the setting based on Oceanside and North County views after visiting San Diego County several times on family trips. Both were raised in colder climates, Bunje in snowy Northern California and Stanton in rural Minnesota. This influenced them to create a world opposite for Hailey that is warmer, idyllic and worth saving. “I grew up watching shows like ‘Saved by the Bell’ and sort of always had this beautiful vision of Southern California,” Stanton said.[19]
Bunje and Stanton met at the University of Southern California film school, where they first got their foot in the door working on animated series. Eventually, they worked on live-action shows like Zeke and Luther and Prince of Peoria before returning to their animation roots with Hailey’s On It! “We spent a lot of time down there when creating this show,” Bunje said. “We came up with this ideal version of North County that has all sorts of elements from there – we have episodes with fish tacos, festivals, plant life of the area and Solana Beach’s cliffs as the backdrop. We really liked the area and leaned into its beauty.”[19]
Viewers will also catch other familiar sights like the Oceanside Pier and hear references to Camp Pendleton. “One of the characters is into street art murals like the ones in Oceanside. Our design team used a lot of different elements like the city’s natural shape, local plant life and other small nods to the town.” Stanton added, “It’s our love letter to San Diego County. People there will get a kick out of watching the show and finding all the little Easter eggs in there.”[19]
It was confirmed by Auli'i Cravalho, who voices Hailey Banks, that Hailey is API and has Pacific Islander descent. Cravalho also stated, “I've sprinkled some Hawaiian words in there so it feels really good to see that representation on screen.”[20]
In an interview, Nick Stanton revealed that "Weird Al" Yankovic would be doing a couple voices, along with some musical numbers as well.[21]
Devin Bunje revealed that the pilot was worked on for three plus years, with every other episode at least probably one year each.[22]
There are a lot of throwaway gags in the series. The Hats musical had a full montage of different musical types. Composers and songwriters, Matthew Tishler and Andrew Underberg came on early in the pilot stage, and found they had the exact same sense of humor, and they're incredibly talented, and like the same kind of music. When writer Kevin Yee kind of threw in, ‘Oh, let's do this montage of different parodies,’ they came up with the greatest little snippets of all those different genres in a way that the crew just fell in love with.[22]
Another parody are the potato chip called ‘Dingles’, based on Pringles, in Hailey's world. And at one point, the kids end up getting a factory tour of the Dingles factory, inspired by a Willy Wonka kind of thing.[22]
In the first season, there is a growth in the characters and in the stories. It’s not a show that resets every episode. Certainly, there are standalone eleven minute episodes where they do a list item, but there’s a series arc.[23]
When asked about their favorite episodes, Nick Stanton recalled one that is later in the in the season, "When Squeeples Attack," where Hailey finds this little thing called squeeples, which the Professor comes from this crazy adventure in the future and accidentally drops off a squeeple. Borrowing from some classic sci-fi shows, it’s turns out that this cute little thing is multiplying and has a taste for rubber. He eats all the rubber in town and ends up at a drive in movie theater, which is this big set piece.[23]
Devin Bunje said another one later in the season that he really likes is the episode "I Know What You Did Last Slumber," where Hailey has her first sleepover. Everybody’s getting tired so she tries to encourage them to pull a prank on A.C., who is sort of her rival. In the process of pranking him they accidentally destroy his most treasured possession. It becomes sort of an I Know What You Did Last Summer parody as someone seems to know what they did and is leaving clues around town. They slowly are driven to madness over the guilt of destroying this.[23]
When asked about cultural references and regards to the characters’ ethnicities, Stanton revealed that it happened once we put the cast together. Really, with Auli’i and Manny and after the cast was in place, the characters background's were tailored to the actor, with Auli’i in particular.[24]
Throughout the series there are a few references to Hailey’s heritage but they’re more subtle. From her dad or even the clever names of her siblings, Dwayne and Johnson. Kai’s culture and background gets more explained as the series goes on, while Scott's comes a little later in the year, with plans for even more developing beyond that.[24]
It was also revealed that in the first episode, Scott starts dating Kristine and that complicates the relationship with Hailey, but in some future episodes, Scott and Hailey’s relationship takes some different turns.[24]
A lot of the fun things on Hailey's list are things that her and Scott always wanted to do together. There's one item where it’s beyond a Barney kind of show that they watched as kids but they find out it’s cancelled. They have to figure out a way to get the people back onto the show and then they can be in the audience to watch it or something like that.[24]
There are a lot of fun family stories pretty early in season one. Hailey’s family is very supportive, with her dad being sort of a stay at home dad who is taking a permanent break as a therapist and her mom is a hardworking realtor in town. And when Patricia finds out about her daughter’s feelings toward Scott and sort of complicates it in a sense that she finally has someone to talk to but also, it’s her mom which is kind of an embarrassing person to have your romantic secrets known to.[25]
Gallery
The image gallery for Hailey's On It! may be viewed here.
↑ Is she Hailey’s granddaughter? Or Hailey herself? Or a weirdo imposter who is just messing with Hailey? The real answer is none of the above, but we won’t find that out until Season 3!
![Hailey Banks (voiced by Auli'i Cravalho): A teenager who must overcome her fears and face challenges if she is to save the world.[3]](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/haileysonit/images/0/0a/Hailey_Banks_-_Profile.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/78?cb=20230105074319 "Hailey Banks (327 KB)")
![Scott Denoga (voiced by Manny Jacinto): Hailey's best friend and love interest.[3]](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/haileysonit/images/b/b7/Scott_Denoga_-_Profile.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/67?cb=20230527031816 "Scott Denoga (475 KB)")
![Beta (voiced by Gary Anthony Williams): An artificially intelligent operating system from the future.[3]](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/haileysonit/images/1/19/Beta_-_Profile.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/173?cb=20221231222819 "Beta (118 KB)")
