Shake It Up

Shake It Up is a Disney Channel Original Series, developed by veteran TV producer Chris Thompson that premiered on November 7, 2010.

The series revolves around Cecilia "CeCe" Jones (Bella Thorne) and Raquel "Rocky" Blue (Zendaya Coleman), two thirteen-year-old best friends from inner-city Chicago who find themselves one step closer to their dream of becoming professional dancers when they're hired as backup dancers on Shake It Up Chicago, an American Bandstand-style variety show.

Other characters include:

  • Flynn Jones (Davis Cleveland): CeCe's precocious but annoying younger brother, with an appetite for bacon.
  • Ty Blue (Roshon Fegan): Rocky's older brother, who is himself a skilled dancer. He's also an aspiring rapper, and fancies himself a ladies' man.
  • Martin "Deuce" Martinez (Adam Irigoyen): CeCe and Rocky's long-time friend who is known for his "connections" and his questionable schemes to make a buck.
  • Gunther and Tinka Hessenheffer (Kenton Duty and Caroline Sunshine): A pair of fraternal twins from an indeterminate European country who have been exchange students since the first grade, and also dance on the show. Depending on their mood, they can be either friends or enemies toward the girls.
  • Gary Wilde (R. Brandon Johnson): The handsome and narcissistic host and producer of Shake It Up Chicago.
  • Georgia Jones (Anita Barone): CeCe and Flynn's single mother, who serves as a police officer.
  • Henry Dillon (Buddy Handleson): Child prodigy and Flynn's best friend.

Possibly in the DCLAU due to Teen Court appearing in a recent episode.

Now with its own Getting Crap Past The Radar page. (Considering Chris Thompson previously created The Naked Truth and Action, this isn't surprising...)

Tropes used in Shake It Up include:
  • Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male: When Henry (CeCe's tutor) shows up with his clothes torn and multiple bruises, the audience's reaction is "aww." When it's revealed that his abuser is a girl, cue audience laugh track.
  • Actor Allusion:
    • As mentioned below, CeCe has dyslexia, and so does Bella Thorne.
    • Rocky is a vegetarian, and so is Zendaya.
    • When Cat Deeley guest stars as the Vice Principal in "Wild It Up", CeCe talks about being a dancer on Shake It Up Chicago, to which the Vice Principal responds with "so you think you can dance?"
  • Adorably Precocious Child: Flynn, who handwaves that he's "the only responsible person around here", and even got a model to like him, saying he's adorable, and Henry.
  • An Aesop: Subverted:

CeCe: So you did all this just to teach me a lesson?
Mrs. Jones: No. We just thought it'd be fun! (she and the coach laugh) But the way you said it makes me sound like a better parent, so let's go with that!

Flynn: Oh yeah? Well I just killed a zombie, stole a bus, and spray painted the word booger on the side of a cop car.

    • Wait, what? Doesn't that last one count as vandalism?
  • Artistic License Geography: Some episodes are show as being at "Main" station on one of Chicago's elevated rapid transit lines. A "Main" station does exist on the Chicago L, but it's in Evanston, not Chicago itself.
  • Bait and Switch Comparison: When Flynn is dog-sitting:

Ty: What happened in here?
Flynn: Whimpering, begging, and I had to clean up after an accident (Beat) and that was just Deuce.
Ty: So where is that filthy animal?
Flynn: He's in there giving the dog a bath.

  • Bilingual Bonus: In "Weird It Up", Ty asks Deuce to be a translator for his date with a foreign exchange student that only speaks Spanish.
  • Bill, Bill, Junk, Bill: Parodied in "Apply It Up":

CeCe: Bill for Mom. Bill for me that I'll give to Mom. Catalog for Mom that I'll take for me.

  • Blondes Are Evil: Gunther and Tinka.
  • Broken Aesop: In one episode when Gunther learns to be cool and uses an American accent (which amounts to being obnoxious and acting like he came straight out of MTV) he has girls swooning over him. The aesop ends up being "be yourself" but that doesn't stop an unintended aesop of "act like everyone else and people will like you better" from appearing.
  • Brother-Sister Incest: Tinka had to let Gunther know that they wouldn't grow old and get married. Cue Gunther looking depressed.
  • Butt Monkey: Flynn. Rocky and CeCe can also become this at times too.
    • Deuce also has his Butt Monkey moments.
    • Actually, every character takes a turn to be the Butt Monkey at times.
  • Call Back: "Hello, Bay-BEE!"
  • Camp Gay: The famous choreographer Theodore Vainglorious in the episode "Double Pegasus It Up".
  • Catch Phrase:

Gunther: I'm Gunther!
Tinka: And I'm Tinka!
Together: And we are THE HESSENHEFFERS!

    • Parodied from time to time. Others would introduce themselves in that manner, finishing with, "and we are STAYING!" or "and you are UNEMPLOYED!"
    • Also Flynn's shout when he answers the door:

Flynn: I'll get it, Mom!

    • The shout is subverted in "Vatalihootsit It Up", when he screams it as the phone rings, it's his mom on the line.
  • Cannot Tell a Joke: Rocky.
  • Celebrity Paradox: Between the two of them Bella Thorne and Zendaya Coleman have three songs that have been played on the show during dance numbers, yet no one in the Shake It Up universe wonders why CeCe and Rocky look like them. Could be explained by the fact that the singers of those songs are only heard and never seen, so there's no reason to believe anyone in-universe actually knows what they look like.
  • Chained Heat: After CeCe spectacularly fails her audition, Rocky forces Gary to let her be on the show by stealing CeCe's mom's handcuffs, chaining herself to CeCe and dragging her onto the stage.
  • Child Prodigy: Henry.
  • Cloudcuckooland: Gunther and Tinka's homeland. Lampshaded when Rocky and Ce Ce meet their family:

Rocky: Ohmigosh, Gunther and Tinka are the normal ones.

(Destiny, Flynn's crush, is twice his age.)
Ty: Whoa! Little dude, you left out one tiny detail about Destiny.
Flynn: Didn't I mention she's blonde?

    • Also:

CeCe: She's a gold finger.
Rocky: Digger.
CeCe: No, I don't dig her. She's a user.

  • Compressed Vice: It is mentioned in exactly one episode that CeCe has dyslexia. It is never brought up again.
  • Credit Card Plot: In the second episode, the girls open bank accounts in order to manage their income as dancers on Shake It Up Chicago. Now wielding debit cards, they find it surprisingly easy to lose track of how much they've been spending, and find themselves holding a check they can't pay at an expensive Italian restaurant.
    • Although debit cards don't get overdrawn, they get declined due to insufficient funds.
  • Crossover: with Good Luck Charlie, entitled "Charlie Shakes it Up".
  • Dawson Casting: In-universe example in the episode "Age It Up": "teen sensation" Justin Starr is really 24 and married (his wife goes on tour with him as his "manager"), and plays 16 to appeal to teenage girls. The show itself avoids this--none of the leads are in their twenties, with only Roshon Fegan (whose character is older than the rest anyway) being over 16.
  • Deadpan Snarker:
    • Flynn.
    • Rocky and CeCe also have their moments when dealing with each other. Especially Rocky.
    • Also, Deuce.

Deuce: Man, that would be painful even if the air wasn't running out in here.

CeCe: We're frenemies, right? And the first part of that is "friends."
Tinka: And the last part is "enemies."

Gary: You have the right to remain foxy!

  • Heel Face Revolving Door: Gunther and Tinka.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners/Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: CeCe and Rocky, who do absolutely everything together, and have the same hopes and dreams. Reinforced by Rocky's refusal to be on the show if CeCe can't be on.
  • Hollywood Nerd: Rocky.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The episodes are titled as "(Plot Point) It Up", with the sole (so far) exception of "Shake It Up, Up And Away", which, due to the Title Drop episode name, still has the words 'It' and 'Up', however those two words aren't at the end of the episode name like all other episodes.
  • Idiot Ball: Honestly, what made CeCe and Rocky think that they were going to sneak off to a party and not get caught by a person who catches rulebreakers for a living?
  • Imagine the Audience Naked: CeCe suggests this to Rocky at the audition so she's not intimidated by the other dancers. It backfires horribly when this produces some rather disturbing mental images.
    • It backfires again when CeCe comes down with Performance Anxiety and Rocky reminds her to do this. The only person CeCe can imagine naked is herself.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: Deuce and Flynn's jokes during the talent show.
  • Informed Ability: CeCe's matchmaking skills. It's only brought up in one episode, and the match in that episode didn't hold up so well.
  • Ironic Echo: At least once an episode.
  • Jerkass Dissonance: Invoked In-Universe by Gunther and Tinka towards the Bulldogs' cheerleaders:

Gunther: I know they're calling us losers, but they do it in such an entertaining way that it's infectious!

Ilene: I wish all the little girls could feel as pretty as I do!

    • Gunther and Tinka have their moments of this too.
  • L Is for Dyslexia: CeCe has it. So does Bella Thorne.
  • Little Boy Seeks Big Girl: Flynn towards Destiny in one episode.
  • Local Hangout: Crusty's Pizza Shop, as of Season 2.
  • Loony Fan: Subverted in the episode "Copy Kat It Up", wherein a shy, socially-awkward girl named Kat seems to have a near-stalkerish obsession with the girls, especially CeCe. It turns out to be a Batman Gambit to get a spot dancing on the show.
  • Malaproper: In "Hook It Up", Gary is seen consistently using incorrect names for everyone he talks to:

Gary: Look Coco, Ricky, I like you. If I didn't, I wouldn't have even bothered to remember your names.
Cece: You didn't. It's CeCe and Rocky.

Gary (and later, CeCe): Stop reading my e-mails.

Flynn: Who is it?
Deuce: Deuce.
Flynn: Deuce who?
Deuce: How many Deuces do you know?

Flynn: What? "Hi Flynn?" Where's the insult? Where's the big words I'll have to look up after you leave?

  • Pac-Man Fever: A Bland-Name Product Modern Warfare that plays on Nintendo64, a system older than most of the cast. Bonus points for playing it with wireless PlayStation controllers.
  • Pardon My Klingon: In "Split It Up", upon hearing that Gary has chosen CeCe over her as Gunther's dance partner for a Wake Up Chicago appearance, Tinka rattles off a blue streak in her native tongue that Gunther declines to translate.
  • Performance Anxiety: CeCe suffers it in the Pilot episode, which is ironic since she was the most confident about the audition.
  • Refuge in Audacity: CeCe at the beginning of "Meatball It Up".
  • Running Gag: Flynn: Hello (long-winded description of Henry that includes mockery of Henry's nerdiness). Henry: Hello (equally long-winded description of Flynn that includes a derisive comment about his lack of intelligence).
    • Rocky and CeCe's occasional speaking in-sync.
    • "I'LL GET IT MOM!"
  • Ruritania: Wherever it is Gunther and Tinka are from.
  • Sassy Black Woman: Rocky's mom, and Rocky when she gets mad (though Rocky's brown, not black).

CeCe: You know, you scare me when you move your head like that!

  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Tinka, when she goes on her date with Ty in "Add It Up".
    • Also, Ilene in "Glitz It Up".
  • Shipper on Deck: Rocky towards CeCe and Gunther in "Hot Mess It Up" as a way of teasing the former.
  • Shout-Out: In the episode where CeCe's mom and Coach go out, we get this:

Coach: I was babysitting my niece this weekend, and she begged me to turn on her favorite show. Guess what it was.
CeCe: Wizards of Waverly Place...
Coach: Shake It Up Chicago.

Flynn: Excuse me, it was on the internet. It must be true.

Henry: Mock me now, but when I invent time travel, I'm going to come back and slap you.

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