What We Can Learn From Disney Channel Couples Of The 2000s

Memorably iconic series like Lizzie McGuire and Even Stevens effectively depicted the innocence of youth while also presenting the challenges of growing up in a wholesome and realistic manner. (I’m looking at you, Euphoria!) Of course, no coming-of-age series would be complete if it didn’t tackle the exhilarating and sometimes heartbreaking thrill of first love and relationships. Although the good ole days of Disney may be far behind us, the Disney series of the 2000s have withstood the test of time because of the valuable lessons the characters have taught us through their relationships. 

Lizzie and Gordo (Lizzie McGuire)

As one of the most enduring and celebrated offerings the network has produced, Lizzie McGuire was the perfect storm for a beloved series. What’s not to love about Lizzie McGuire? It had a relatable and lovable female protagonist whose struggles to find her identity amidst the unpredictability of adolescence resonated with the average pre-teen/teen girl. We all laughed and cried along with Lizzie and her friends David “Gordo” Gordon and Miranda Sanchez as they navigated the oftentimes turbulent waters of junior high, dealing with the struggle to fit in and be popular while remaining true to themselves. Of course, we can never forget Lizzie’s animated alter ego who bluntly expressed her internal thoughts and feelings with self-deprecating humor! 

Throughout the series, Gordo, whom Lizzie has known since childhood, proves to be a true and loyal friend. As the laid-back nerd who couldn’t care less about the social hierarchy, Gordo was the perfect foil to his more status-conscious friends, dispensing sage advice about the fleeting nature of popularity. (He really is a wise old soul, isn’t he?) During certain moments in various episodes, we can sense that Gordo is beginning to develop feelings for Lizzie. In the season 2 premiere “First Kiss,” Lizzie is on cloud nine when she falls head over heels for Ronny, the neighborhood paper boy. Having found her (potential) first boyfriend, Lizzie giddily breaks the news to Miranda at school. In Lizzie’s absence, Miranda asks Gordo if he’s jealous, which he, of course, denies. (Are you sure, Gordo?) Later on in the episode, Lizzie and Ronny go rollerskating together. While Lizzie and Ronny are initially nervous to admit that they are indeed a couple, Ronny finally confirms it. As a romantic gesture, he gives Lizzie a ring and the two share a kiss. A stunned Gordo watches in the background. Ouch. That’s gotta hurt. 

Of course, with first love comes heartbreak. Nearing the end of the episode, Ronny utters “the four worst words in the English language,” according to Lizzie’s mom: We need to talk. Mrs. McGuire’s fears are realized when Ronny reveals to Lizzie that he is torn between Lizzie and another girl at his school (Oh no!) and that he is unsure whether he and Lizzie should be in a relationship at the moment. This confession devastates Lizzie as she tearfully gives Ronny her ring back and runs away distraught and heartbroken. At the library, Gordo finds Lizzie upset and crying over Ronny. She pours her heart out to him, and being a true friend, Gordo does his best to console her. (He gives her a giant chocolate chip cookie too!) Just when Gordo is about to say something else to her, (come on, Gordo, we know you really want to), he stops short. 

As the series progresses, it becomes quite obvious that Gordo indeed has feelings for his best friend, although Lizzie is painfully oblivious to it. The romantic tension between Lizzie and Gordo comes to a head in The Lizzie McGuire Movie, where Gordo wrestles with his burgeoning feelings for Lizzie amid the school trip of a lifetime to Rome. Needless to say, we all know the story: Lizzie is mistaken to be Isabella, the former singing partner of Italian pop sensation Paolo Valisari, and she goes galivanting around the Eternal City with him while Gordo covers for her so she doesn’t get in trouble with Mrs. Ungermeyer, the strict chaperone. Long story short, Gordo and the real Isabella reveal to Lizzie that Paolo is a lip-syncing fraud (Milli Vanilli, anyone?) and that his sweet-talking (“You shine like the light of the sun”) was all part of a ruse to embarrass Lizzie onstage and destroy Isabella’s career in the process (the scoundrel!). Of course, Paolo is exposed as the con artist that he is on a live stage while Lizzie gives the performance of a lifetime (SLAY!), and Gordo and Lizzie (finally!) share a rooftop kiss to the delight of the viewers, the moment we were all waiting for. 

The big takeaway from Lizzie and Gordo’s friends-to-lovers relationship is that friendship is the foundation of a good and strong relationship. Throughout the series, Gordo is there for Lizzie through thick and thin. They experience the highs and lows of growing up together. He is there to provide a shoulder to cry on. Additionally, Gordo isn’t afraid to tell Lizzie the truth about Paolo, no matter how crushing a blow it is to her. Besides being a good friend, telling the truth for the good of the other person, no matter how unpleasant it may be, is crucial to a successful relationship. We all swooned when Lizzie finally realized that what she was looking for was there in front of her all along. 

Louis and Tawny (Even Stevens)

With its slapstick humor and the effortlessly natural comedic stylings of Shia LaBeouf, Even Stevens is another beloved classic of Y2K Disney. As the class clown little brother to his overachieving honor student older sister Ren and star athlete older brother Donny, Louis Stevens made us all howl with laughter with hilarious escapade after hilarious escapade. Of course, none of these hijinks would’ve been complete without his best friends Alan Twitty and Tawny Dean, whom Louis develops feelings for as the series progresses. 

Throughout the first and second seasons, it’s subtly implied that there is something more between Louis and Tawny. Tawny has been there for Louis since his awkward first day of junior high (it’s revealed that they first met when Louis falls off the flagpole after trying to get everyone’s attention, and the two lock eyes in the flashback episode “A Weak First Week”). As the budding shrink to her psychiatrist dad, Tawny is there to give guidance to her two friends, all the while embracing Louis’s quirks. While she’s more introverted when it comes to Louis and Twitty’s shenanigans, she nevertheless joins in as a reliable co-conspirator. 

In the season 3 premiere, “The Kiss,” Louis decides to act on his feelings for Tawny. After accidentally sharing a kiss at lunchtime, the two decide to start dating (swoon!). Tawny also admits that she has liked Louis “ever since the day she first met him,” confirming to us that there was always something more to their friendship. 

Unfortunately, the relationship was short-lived because Louis struggles to keep his jealousy in check when Tawny is in a school play and has to kiss another boy in one scene. Of course, she tries to assure him that she doesn’t feel anything when she kisses her co-star and that Louis has nothing to worry about, which he seemingly believes. However, premiere night turns out to be disastrous when Louis crashes the stage just when Tawny is about to kiss her co-star and makes a scene, sabotaging the play. Tawny confronts him after the play for embarrassing her, to which Louis owns up to his immaturity, and they mutually agree that they’re not ready for a relationship yet. But not without Louis kissing Tawny again…Keep the faith, everyone!

Louis and Tawny continue to maintain their friendship as the series progresses. Everything all changes in the series finale, “Leavin’ Stevens,” when the Stevens family is preparing to move to Washington D.C. after Louis’s mom is elected to Congress. With the impending move from Sacramento to D.C., Louis and Tawny are faced with the reality of never seeing each other again. They each record videos, revealing their true feelings for each other, realizing that they were meant to be. In a rather surprising twist of events, a recount reveals that Louis’s mom lost the election, signifying that the Stevens family will stay in Sacramento after all. The following day at school, after having watched each other’s video confessions, Louis and Tawny look at each other before they walk away holding hands (Gah, where are my tissues?). 

Like Lizzie and Gordo, Louis and Tawny demonstrate the value friendship plays in building a romantic relationship. Tawny is a good friend to Louis because she accepts and embraces his quirks. She also helps him to be self-aware by pointing out the error of his ways. Aww. In addition, Louis’s and Tawny’s personalities balance each other out. Louis brings Tawny out of her shell by making her laugh and helping embrace her silly side, while Tawny helps Louis to be a more serious person when it’s necessary. Talk about yin and yang. Furthermore, Tawny also proves to be loyal and dependable in a crisis in The Even Stevens Movie. After discovering that the Stevens family were unknowingly set up by a ratings-hungry TV producer, Tawny charters a boat with the help of Tom and Twitty in order to rescue the Stevens family, tell them the truth about their dream vacation that became a nightmare, and turn the tables on the unethical producer. If we truly love and care about someone, we will do the right thing to help him or her out when a troublesome situation arises. 

Phil and Keely (Phil of the Future)

Of course, we can’t talk about memorable Disney Channel couples of the 2000s without discussing Phil Diffy and Keely Teslow from the zany sci-fi sitcom Phil of the Future. In the series premiere, “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” Phil arrives as a new student at H.G. Wells High School. The Diffys, however, aren’t your average family who just moved to town. They happen to be from the 22nd century and accidentally wound up in the 21st century after their time machine broke down! Now that’s a big secret. 

At first glance, Phil and Keely seem to be polar opposites. He’s the nerdy outsider (with a big secret, of course!) and Keely hangs out with the popular crowd. They meet for the first time when Keely comes to him for help with her algebra homework, and she turns out to be cheerful and outgoing. They soon become friends. After suspecting that Keely’s crush Tanner is cheating on her with a girl named Darcy, Phil morphs into Tanner (with the help of a futuristic gadget, of course!) and kisses Darcy when she asks him about Tanner, confirming his suspicions about Tanner. Although Keely initially refuses to believe Phil when he breaks the bad news to her, she eventually finds out the truth and apologizes to Phil for not believing him. As a result, Keely knows that she can trust Phil. In later episodes, Phil also helps Keely gain confidence by helping her overcome her stage fright when she is about to sing onstage. What are friends for, amirite? 

More than halfway through the first season, Phil and Keely’s friendship is tested in “You Say Toe-Mato.” During a school trip to a local tomato farm, Phil, embarrassed over his lack of a fifth toe, wears a prosthetic toe. Unfortunately, the toe gets lost during one of the activities in which the students walk barefoot through a vat of tomatoes, and Keely is the one who discovers the prosthetic toe (Yikes!). Phil panics and throws a tomato at Keely, which devolves into a food fight in which the whole class is pelting each other with tomatoes. Afterward, they have a heart-to-heart discussion about honesty (I just love heart-to-heart discussions, don’t you?), and Phil reveals to Keely a secret bigger than having only four toes – he’s from the future! Despite her initial shock, Keely promises not to reveal his secret and proves to be trustworthy, much to the relief of the Diffys. If you can confide in someone with a big secret, it only proves he or she is a keeper. 

In the series finale, “Back to the Future (Not the Movie),” Phil and Keely decide to date after being voted Cutest Couple by their classmates. However, after discovering that the time machine is fixed and that his family will be going back to the 22nd century, Phil realizes that he would be leaving Keely just when they’ve admitted their feelings for each other. Although Keely initially misses the opportunity to say goodbye to Phil, he surprises her at school after asking his dad to come back so he can say goodbye to her. “I didn’t wanna leave before saying goodbye for real,” he tells her before he gives her a passionate kiss in front of the school. Keely asks Phil to wait for her, and he agrees. Of course, he gives her another kiss. (I’m not crying, you are.) 

At the end of the episode, the Diffys realize that they left their pet caveman Curtis behind in the 21st century, and they go back. Maybe Phil will be seeing Keely a lot sooner than he promised? Unfortunately, we will never know because this episode was the series finale, and it ended on a cliffhanger (don’t you hate that?). 

As Phil and Keely’s relationship shows, trust is fundamental to a relationship. Phil isn’t afraid to tell Keely the truth no matter much it would hurt her, demonstrating the value of honesty. Being able to admit when you’re wrong and apologize also goes a long way. In addition, encouraging and empowering each other to venture beyond our comfort zones strengthens a relationship. It allows us to try new things and embrace the unknown. Although the fate of Phil and Keely’s relationship is left up to the interpretation of the viewers, I think we can safely assume that maybe the Diffys changed their mind about going back to the future and decided to stay in the present. After all, it was revealed early on in the episode that Phil’s dad had been intentionally leaving the time machine in disrepair because the family was so happy living in the 21st century…

Closing Thoughts

In a world where toxic relationships in teen dramas like Gossip Girl (Chuck and Blair) and Euphoria (Nate and Maddy) are romanticized, I think it’s safe to say that couples like Louis and Tawny, Phil and Keely, and Lizzie and Gordo have aged (and will age) much better than the couples we’re often accustomed to seeing in film and television today. While most teenage relationships are often riddled with jealousy, lies, manipulation, and sometimes abuse, whether physical or emotional, the Disney Channel couples of the 2000s all impart to us valuable and positive lessons about love and relationships. Honesty, trust, kindness, empathy, and laughter are all qualities that are essential for a relationship to succeed. With that being said, I think a re-watch of Lizzie McGuire, Even Stevens, and Phil of the Future on Disney+ is warranted, don’t you? 

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