Another IMDb User called "Dog With a Blog" "The Brady Bunch" meets Mister Ed," or something to that effect. Likewise, "Liv and Maddie" is a new version of "The Patty Duke Show." Not "Double Trouble," "Sister-Sister," or "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody," and it's spin-off series. In those twin-coms, the main characters were played by real twins. In fact, in an interview, Dove acknowledged the connection, and said she would love to see Patty Duke have a guest appearance on the show.
Some of you already know the story; Teenage actress Liv Rooney has just finished the final season of a sitcom called "Sing It Loud!," and returns home to her family in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, including her Twin sister Maddie both of which are played by Dove Cameron. While Liv is a star on the small screen, Maddie is the high school basketball star. The other family members include nerdy brother Joey Rooney (Joey Bragg), diabolical little brother Parker Rooney (Tenzing Norgay Trainor), school psychologist Karen Rooney (Kali Rocha), and high school basketball coach Pete Rooney (Benjamin King). Many of the episodes involve Liv's attempts to adjust to a normal high school life.
Liv Rooney, is the definition of girly-girl to the extreme. Combine Ann Marie with Quinn Morgendorffer, and jack the girliness of the two of them up past ten, and you've got Liv. Maddie is supposed to be the tomboy, but not much of one. Maddie's teammates include a girl named "Stains" played by ex-So Random player Bridget Shergalis, and Willow (Jessica Marie Garcia) who has a gigantic unrequited crush on Joey. The show also gives credit to Cameron's body doubles, something which as far as I know, the producers of The Patty Duke Show never did (although I could be wrong).
As Liv, Dove Cameron is an unbelievably fantastic singer; Way better than Laura Marano, and she's amazing herself. Therefore she was a terrific choice not only for the starring role, but the show within the show. But the true measure of her skills as an actress can be found in the episode "Skate-A-Rooney," where we meet Liv's brain dead skater-dude of a boyfriend who dumps her in a text message. One viewing of a crucial scene from the episode, and you will know the definition of a broken songbird.
Later episodes deal with Liv being sought out for the role of the hero of a graphic novel series about a Space Werewolf (No, I didn't make that up), who would be better off played by a 28-45 year old man than a teenage girl. Normally, casting a 16-year-old diva girl like Liv Rooney in the starring role would make John Wayne playing Genghis Khan look like casting Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi. Yet Hollywood chooses her anyhow, and she actually looks good as the hero. Meanwhile Maddie has to try to deal with her feelings towards another Jock at school best known as "Diggie," played by Cameron's real-life boyfriend Ryan McCartan. Mainly, they involve Maddie's willingness to admit to everyone else that Diggie is her boyfriend, something that comes to a head when an ex-cast member of Liv's old sitcom flirts with Diggie, even as Maddie is about to leave town to join the Junior Olympic Basketball Team.
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to the season finale. From what I gather of the promos, it looks triumphant, and I mean that in the traditional sense of the word.
