Making Creator Headlines · Page 2
Romano Recalls a Rivalry Duff Apparently Did Not Attend
· New York time
Christy Carlson Romano says her Even Stevens co-star Shia LaBeouf used to trash-talk competing Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire and was “definitely beefing” with its star, Hilary Duff. According to Romano’s account in Variety, Duff had no clue about the supposed rivalry. That makes this an unusually efficient entertainment feud: one participant could apparently maintain it without troubling the other person’s calendar. Romano’s recollection supplies a glimpse of how she remembers the competitive atmosphere around the shows. It is not Duff’s account of a mutual dispute, and the imbalance is the most revealing detail. Wanting the number-one program can turn another series into an opponent even when its star is simply occupied with her own work. The nostalgia business benefits from these small backstage recollections because familiar programs retain audiences long after production ends. A remembered remark can give an old sitcom a new conversational life without requiring a reboot, a soundstage or anyone to locate the original couch. In this case, the extra episode exists entirely in the competitive imagination. Disney supplied the programming schedule; according to Romano, LaBeouf supplied an unofficial league table, and Duff did not even receive the fixture list.
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