PRODUCTION/CULTURAL REFERENCES (written on 4/13/15-4/16/15)
-The plot for this episode was written a few months ago, and about 90-95% of what I originally came up with made it into the final cut.
-This episode was made to give Jaylynn a proper backstory based on her character and delve into why kids bully each other. This also directly addressed Jaylynn's change in characterization. When she first came onto the show as a main character in season two, Jaylynn was just a little more than the person she was based off of. About a year and a half later, she has developed into more of an original character and has started to show more traits of a protagonist. She has learned to respect people if she wants respect herself ("Masters of the Universe"), showed a large amount of self-determination ("Young, Stupid, and Pseudo-Religious"), and has become more self-aware than she was when she first came on the show. It has admittedly become more fun to write episodes for her at this point, and although I was initially uncomfortable with having her, I started to settle in and now Jaylynn is just as important to Thank You, Heavenly as the boys.
-This episode is also based off of real-life events which I do not plan to discuss here. The situation did involve bullying, but to a lesser extent than what was shown in this episode. When I first came up with the idea for this episode, Sarah was not as close to Jaylynn as she was portrayed here. She was initially just one of Jaylynn's many friends and became obsessed with being her friend again because she did not understand why Jaylynn stopped talking to her. I made her Jaylynn's best friend to give the episode more emotional depth.
-There was a certain problem in making Sarah look sympathetic, which would instead make Jaylynn look like the antagonist. I also considered making Jaylynn and Sarah constantly bicker during the episode over what happened. I rejected both scenarios and went with Sarah being an antagonist because Jaylynn turned her into one.
-To highlight Sarah's change in personality, I used Sabrina Carpenter for her current voice because Carpenter has more of a deep, serious vocal tone. On the other hand, Rowan Blanchard's voice is more representative of an actual child but it would contrast with Sarah's personality in a way that did not fit, so she was used solely for flashbacks. Blanchard and Carpenter also work together on Girl Meets World as best friends Riley Matthews and Maya Hart, and are just as close in real life (this actually played a part in casting them both).
-Another problem with this episode when I started writing it was that it would come off as too serious or it would not fit with the tone of the show. I decided to play the serious moments (like Jaylynn getting assaulted for the first time) straight because any attempts at humor would have killed the mood almost instantly. I was actually very proud of the script after finishing it.
-The short was another episode that never went into production, which would have originally aired as an 11-minute episode last month with another one related to it. I was going to finish it here, but I wanted to get the actual episode done so part two to the short will most likely come next week.
-While writing this episode, I continued planning out the rest of the third season. The goal is to get to 75 episodes overall, so at this rate, without skipping a single week, season three would officially end on June 28, literally nine months after the season premiere. That would set me up to do 25 episodes for season four (making the overall count 100), which I am actively considering. I already have the first couple of episodes for that season lined up. Two ideas I am considering for season three right now involve another time travel adventure with RK, Wade, and one of the other main characters, and another guest appearance by Cimorelli. Although this time, the joke would be that the other characters are even more annoyed by them but they are oblivious to it. It would mark Cimorelli's third appearance on the show, and they would be the first to make a guest appearance in every season ("Buster's All-Star Birthday Bonanza (Part II)," "My Weekend with the CimFam").
-Jaylynn's poetry contest was a reference to the fact that April is National Poetry Month.
-I had some hesitation about putting in the joke about Buster's pride in falling down the stairs, mostly because I did not want him to come off as an idiot. In the end, I put the joke in anyway.
-Like I said before, for privacy reasons, I will not go into how much of this episode was inspired by real-life events. But there is a lot of the material that I spun around to not only keep the story interesting, but provide a logical reason for Jaylynn's original personality before she met the boys. This is a callback to season two's "It's the Holidays, Dammit!" where we find out Jaylynn was traumatized and negatively influenced by her broken family.
-There was some thought over putting a chase scene in the episode where Jaylynn would avoid Sarah and drive away from her. One bit involved her singing "My Generation" by The Who until she saw Sarah in her way, forcing her to stop the car. However, it did not fit in with the rest of the episode at all and I decided not to use it.
-The Pop Tarts parody was a response to the suggestive commercials that have been airing lately, especially in one where a girl plays a nurse and menacingly says "Time for a feeding" while standing over a baby Pop Tart. The worst part is, the baby's parents are watching this and cannot/do not do anything to stop it.
-I would not be surprised if Sarah kicking Sparky in the face is considered unintentionally funny by some people, mostly because it comes out of nowhere.
-I want to explore Wade's character more these days. I feel like he has not been given a whole lot to do this season, and that is what makes the show so interesting to write for. You have 20-something episodes a season and you have to explore all five main characters, plus the episodes with a focus on the whole group at once or the side characters. This gives you a lot of material to mine from, at times.
-Wade's speech in the mirror has no context or anything like that. It is only meant to show how much he is breaking down. Him shaving his head while giving this speech is a reference to the season five Family Guy episode "Stewie Loves Lois" where Peter shaves his head and smears lipstick on his face after a failed prostate exam.
-Wade's transformation was inspired from The Undertaker's mental breakdown after Triple H refused to face him at WrestleMania XXVIII. This resulted in Undertaker cutting his hair (in the storyline) and speaking in more of a natural Texan accent (due to Mark Calaway, the man who plays The Undertaker, being a Houston native). This was supposed to be in a season two episode that eventually never finished production and was scrapped.
-If this show ever makes it to television, I would definitely do an episode in the first season that properly introduces Jaylynn and gives this particular episode more of a purpose. Looking back, I really did not like the way she first appeared which is why I worked hard on developing her character beyond that.
-Jaylynn references Joey Gladstone's famous "Cut. It. Out!" catchphrase from Full House. Dave Coulier has actually used this catchphrase on other shows, such as Out of Control where it originated.
-I wanted to play a Cimorelli song at some point, but I did not want it to come off as corny. Something tells me I have used "Renegade" before, though.