Looking Back on My Favorite TV Show

Hello! As you may or may not know, I'm not a big TV person. I'm trying to get into more shows to understand the hype surrounding particular ones I'm intersted in. For some reason, I'm just not a fan of watching TV. Heck, I'm watching three shows right now that I enjoy but can't bring myself to sit down and watch them. But the show I'm talking about today has a had a little bit of a resurgence, and upon revisiting it, I think I can say it's my favorite.

Gravity Falls aired from 2012 to 2016 on Disney Channel and Disney XD and was created by Alex Hirsch. Despite only having two seasons and 40 episodes, the show is very compact and complete. The premise is two twins, Dipper and Mable Pines, being sent to live with their great-uncle Stan in Gravity Falls, Oregon for the summer. Along the way, they uncover mysteries surrounding the small town. You may be asking, what could be so good about a kid's show? While Gravity Falls is intended for children and I discovered it in middle school, it definetley threads the line between family friendly and for older audiences. From adult jokes to old references, I feel it reaches for a larger audience than it appears. Even better, there has been more Gravity Falls content since 2016 with multiple shorts series and books from Alex Hirsch, the most recent being The Book of Bill this year, which was written for an adult audience.

So what's so good about this show? I definetely think one is the development of its content. While originally for younger audiences, it's now leaning into content for older audiences. I was barely a teenager when the show was airing, and now I'm in college. Its content seemed to age with its audience, which is something I always appreciate when pieces of media do . Another thing is just me having very fond memories of watching this show. When the mid-season two specials "Not What He Seems" and "A Tale of Two Stans" dropped, it was probably the most exiciting thing to ever happen to 11-year-old me. It was unimaginally hype, and I always look back at those episodes fondly. The end of the series was also insanely hype and climactic, and I remember watching it with my dad, who was also into the show.

There's so much I regain from looking back. At 12, I had no idea what a "gay person" was and coming back at 21 and let's just say... not straight, I've realized how much this show is catered towards the queer community. So many people resonate with the characters in the show and even its message: that you can find connectedness and love, no matter how different or weird. I used to relate a lot to Mabel, who was quirky and boy crazy, and something tells me she might not be now. The crazy part is that there isn't any explicit representation in the show, besides a reveal of a gay couple in the last episode (which is a huge win). There was a big struggle between Alex Hirsch wanting to include more representation and Disney, who didn't let him.

Finally, Gravity Falls impacted me so much as a writer. It perfectly encapsulates the tone I try to go for: threading the line between being light and mature. I want to write Y/A but still to include darker themes, and this show was a big inspiration. I also want to write stuff for older audiences, so I will be reading The Book of Bill definitely at some point. The show deals with stuff like horror and aburdism, is a great example of the "monster of the week," and has good comedy. There are great characters, dynamics and conflicts, settings, mysteries, and magic system, which are probably less interesting to hear about, so I won't ramble about them.

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on Gravity Falls. I know I didn't go into too many specific details about the show and more of my experience looking back, but if you'd like a more general, plot-heavy review of the show, let me know. Either way, I've been Grace, and I'll see you next week!