Join Eric as explores the connections between Disney and Selena Gomez. Once a Disney Channel star as a kid, she has gone out on her own to pursue a more grown-up image, only to return to the Walt Disney Company in their Hulu/20th Century Television Production Only Murders in the Building. Selena had a starring role on Wizards of Waverly Plance, as well as a very successful music career with Disney’s Hollywood Records. This is the first episode in a mini-series focusing on the cast of Only Murders in the Building! Taking a look at the three main protagonists and discovering which one is the true Disney Legend!
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00:04 --> 00:07 Synergy loves company.
00:10 --> 00:53 We have this coterie of rich franchises, the company now that people want to engage with. I came here to try and continue what Walt Disney and his associates set in motion 50 years ago, which is to experiment with every new and innovative kind of entertainment possible. It's what we hope to do here, to really develop something that just more than an entertainment enterprise. It's something that contributes many other ways.
01:02 --> 20:38 Hey, this is Synergy Loves Company, where we explore how Disney connects to everything. I'm Eric, and I want to thank you so much for joining me today and keeping me company. I'm so excited because one of my favorite Hulu shows is coming back for a third season only Murders in the Building. If you haven't seen it, it's a hilarious take on the murder mystery genre, and it includes some great jokes and gags for podcasters and podcast listeners. If you hadn't had the chance to watch it, I suggest you fire up that Disney bundle and get to it. But after you're done listening to this, that is, of course, the show itself is really one big Disney connection. It airs on Hulu, one of Disney's streaming services. It's produced by 20th Century Television, also one of Disney's companies. And it was announced not too long after Disney's Fox acquisition had been finalized. So it was one of Disney's first big projects launched under the 20th Century Television label. The creators of the show are Steve Martin, who we're going to talk about later, and John Hoffman. I want to talk about him a little bit right now. John Hoffman got his start on television in 1992 as an actor by portraying the Mad Hatter in Adventures in Wonderland on Disney Channel. If you remember that one. It was the one where all the characters kind of wore these strange 90s Wonderland costumes. The rabbit I always remember the rabbit was Rollerblading. It was kind of a strange, fun show from back in the early 90s. But John Hoffman got his start there as the Mad Hatter. Then he got his first big break on the other side of show business as a writer in 1997 with Northern Lights. Now, Northern Lights might not sound too familiar, but it's kind of a controversial movie for Disney in that it was the first original movie produced for Disney Channel. It predates Under Wraps by a couple months, but Under Wraps still gets the title of first Disney Channel original movie. Some people will say no. Northern Lights is the first Disney Channel original movie. But when Disney Channel did like an anniversary, looking back, they didn't recognize Northern Lights as the first movie, even though it was an original movie produced for Disney Channel anyway, that original movie was written by John Hoffman, one of the creators of Only Murders in the Building. So let's get back, though, to Only Murders in the Building, the show itself. The show is about three neighbors who live in the same building, but they're all from different walks of life and in some cases, even different generations. But they all get to bond together over a true crime podcast that they all love. They then get involved in making their own true crime podcast about a suspicious looking death that just happened in the building where they live. I think the main reason that it works so well is the fantastic cast, especially its three core protagonists selena Gomez, Martin Short, and Steve Martin. Each of these actors has so many different connections to the Disney Company, and each give a legendary performance on the show. So I really wanted to consider each member of the cast and take a look into their Disney legend status. Welcome to the miniseries Only legend in this series. There's only one legend in this whole series. One Disney legend. I know you could go look it up, but it's fun. Just come along this journey with me. It in 2020, when she was cast in the upcoming Hulu show Only Murders in the Building. It was obvious she was the young one in the cast. Her costars had been on the small screen since before she was born, but this was far from her first rodeo. She had already been a pop star, a wizard, and spent some time with a certain purple dinosaur. And it was all on TV and all before she turned 15 years old. Her career continued to expand, and by the show's premiere in 2021, she was 29 years old, a well known accomplished movie actress, musician, and producer about to return to her television roots to star in Only Murders in the Building. It would be legendary, but does Selena Gomez have what it takes to be the only legend in this series? So the Disney Legend Award is what we're kind of focusing on here. It's sort of a hall of fame to recognize individuals who have made great contributions to the Walt Disney Company. If you take a look at the D 23 website, it explains the process of how a legend becomes awarded. It says the Legends are chosen by a selection committee formerly appointed and chaired by the late Roy E. Disney. Since its inception, the program has honored many gifted animators, imagineers songwriters, actors, and business leaders as having made a significant impact on the Disney legacy. For example, Disney legend Annette Funicello received her award for the work that she had done for Disney, first becoming a superstar on the Mickey Mouse Club and then moving on to starring in a few Disney feature films. And then she became a successful recording artist for Disney's Buena Vista Records label. Later on, she went on to star in some non Disney movies filmed mostly on the beach. But she basically, for Disney, was a TV star that turned into a Disney music recording artist. Selena Gomez started her career in 2002 with the Barney Show on PBS the big purple dinosaur. She was ten and she was a bit too old for the target audience, so it didn't last very long. But she managed to get a break during that time with a bit role as Water Park girl in the movie Spy Kids 3D Game Over. This one is actually her first Disney connection, though it is a little weak because when Spy Kids came out in 2003, it was released by Dimension Films and that company at the time was a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. I know it's not anymore, but at the time when Spy Kids came out, it was one of those other production companies owned by Disney. Selena's real big break comes next and it's completely intertwined in the Walt Disney Company. Selena became a Disney Channel kid in 2006 when she was cast in one episode of The Sweet Life with Zach and Cody. The Disney Channel has a history of casting child actors and holding on to their contracts and their work in a way similar to the old Hollywood studio system. They usually are pretty strict contracts and pretty much only allow the actors to work for Disney. You often see the stars show up in multiple shows and movies across the Disney Channel and across the Disney Company, and if a star was lucky enough, they would get to trace the mouse ears with a magic wand in the corner of everyone's television set. That's really what they all wanted, right? So from there, Selena got a recurring role in Hannah Montana, where she played Michaela Marie, a pop star who's friends with Miley Stewart but is sworn enemy of Hannah Montana. That's a little awkward since spoiler alert, they're the same person. So that was a few episodes on Hannah Montana and now that she was established in the Disney Channel system, selena set out to get her own starring role. The first two tries were failed pilots for spin offs of other Disney Channel shows. One was coming from Sweet Life called Arwen, didn't make it past a pilot. Another one was the spinoff of Lizzie Maguire alongside Lalaine who played Miranda on Lizie Maguire, and it was called What's Stevie Thinking also didn't make it past the pilot. But the third time was a charm when Selena landed the starring role of Alex Russo in Disney Channel's hit sitcom The Wizards of Waverly Place. Wizards was big. It ran from 2007 until 2012 and it focused on a family of wizards living in and running a restaurant in modern day New York City. Selena's character, Alex Russo, was the spunky teenage daughter and the main protagonist of the show. This was a time when Harry Potter fever was in full force. Stories about teen wizards was definitely a trend at this time. While on Wizards, she started popping up in other Disney projects in 2009. That was particularly a giant year for her. She was really truly becoming a massive teen idol. Let's go through a list of some things that happened in 2009 with Disney and Selena Gomez. First, the Wizards of Waverly Place. The movie debuted as a Disney Channel original movie and it was a big continuation of that sitcom and kind of a big TV event. She got her own movie. Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana was another special event that happened. The Disney Channel likes to do these giant crossover episodes and this was definitely a really early one, if not the first one. I'm going to have to look into that. Disney Channel likes to do these big crossover events and it kind of makes us believe that all of their sitcoms exist within the same world. They started doing it back then when this one came out, but they continue to do it today with shows like Bunked. In this episode, the Wizards of Waverly place the sweet life on deck, and Hannah Montana came together on the sweet life boat. Since Selena had guested on the other two shows, in theory she exists in three different ways. She has three different variants in the same universe from those other shows. Think about that. She was on Hannah Montana. She was on Sweet Life and she was on Wizards of Waverly Place. And then they all came together. So there are variant Selena Gomez's somewhere out there. That's what I'm going to believe anyway. Another project that came out in 2009 from Selena Gomez was the Princess protection program with her Barney costar Demi Lovato. In this one, Selena doesn't play the princess. She plays the protection program. Demi Lovato plays the Princess rosalinda maria montoya Fiore And Selena's character is the daughter of the agent from the Princess protection program. And her family takes Rosalinda in at their home in Louisiana. While Rosalinda's country has been invaded just before her coronation, the two protagonists have a rough start but develop an unlikely friendship. Oh, yeah. She also at this time guested as herself. Selena Gomez played Selena Gomez on Demi Lovato's show. Sunny with a chance. There's another thing that happened in 2009, but one thing I really want to focus a lot on that happened with Selena Gomez in 2009 is she launched her music career with Hollywood Records. Another one of those Disney Record labels. Selena Gomez and the Scene. In 2008, Selena announced that she would be forming a band, not going solo, forming a band. She said she was inspired by the band Paramore and she just wanted to be the front woman of a group, not a solo artist. She named the band The Scene or the More Marketable. Selena Gomez and the Scene. It's a reference to people considering her a poser and like a wannabe scenester. And in 2009, they released their first album with Hollywood Records and it was called Kiss and Tell. It was mostly kind of like a poppy punk rock, pop rock style. But the biggest single off the record was a song called Naturally. That was kind of a total 180 from the rest of the sound of the album. It had more of a dance electronic pop vibe in 2010 when they released their second album, A Year Without Rain. Still, with Hollywood Records, it leaned mostly into the dance pop genre that the previous single Naturally, had done well with. In 2011, the scene had another album called when the Sun Goes Down. And the biggest hit off of this album was Selena Gomez's biggest hit with The Scene ever love You Like a Love Song. This one was still that kind of dance pop style. But on this album, it wasn't just purely dance pop. She had been inspired by some music that she had been recording and wanted to use more acoustic instrumentation. So that kind of came into her sound there. So it was like a dance pop with kind of more of those rock band instruments. Acoustic instruments kind of comes full circle when you figure she started as a rock pop rock band, went fully electronic and then incorporated some of that original instrumentation back in. Full disclosure, I had all these CDs back in the day. I was a fan of Selena Gomez and the Scene. I listened to a lot of different stuff. But when the sun goes down had the coolest art deco style cover. She looked like a 20s starlet on the COVID It was just really a cool vibe for that album. In 2011, she also had a cameo as herself in that Disney Jason Siegel Muppets project, that movie that came out. She got to play Selena Gomez once again in that movie. I guess she's the best person to play Selena Gomez. You wouldn't want anyone else to play her. And so then we get to 2012, which was kind of the beginning of the end for Selena Gomez and Disney. The Wizards of Waverly Place finally ended after a very successful run and she announced that The Scene would be taking an indefinite hiatus. So in 2013, Selena completed her final projects for Disney. Well, for the time being, wizards of Waverly Place had one more Disney Channel special. It was called Wizards Return Alex vs. Alex. And Selena finally went solo musically with her album Stars Dance, which was also in the dance pop genre, similar to what she had been doing with The Scene. And this one was also on Hollywood Records. Though none of her future albums after Stars Dance would be on any Disney labels, she would go on to Interscope and some other labels. Selena was finished with Disney and her original Disney Channel contract. It's important to note at this point that she did have a pretty big career outside of Disney while she was still on the Disney Channel and recording with Hollywood Records. I know I said a lot of times the Disney contracts are pretty strict. She was able to make movies outside of Disney and she did a lot of them like Ramona and Bezos and Another Cinderella Story. And she also recorded songs for those soundtracks. She also did some voiceover for movies like Horton Hears a who and Hotel Transylvania. And even after Disney, her career continued with some very undisneylike films like Neighbors, Two Spring Breakers, and a bunch of kind of horror movies and thrillers. She also became a successful producer with projects like 13 Reasons Why for Netflix. So she kind of went in a totally different direction to kind of shed that Disney child star persona. Eight years after her last Disney project in 2021, she had made a return to the Walt Disney Company by starring as Mabel Mora in Hulu's. 20th century television produced only murders in the building. Ironically, during press for the show's release, Selena spoke about how she finally felt free of her Disney image. And this role offered her a chance to play a more sophisticated character, more her age back at Disney was where she could shed that Disney image. But we're here to figure out who the Disney legend is. Selena had a lot to contribute to the Walt Disney Company. But would it be enough to become a Disney legend? If we go back and consider Disney legend Annette Funicello, we can see some similarities to Zelina. Both had started on Disney television shows. They had both become huge stars with their young audiences. And they had both launched successful music careers on Disney record labels. Both then did undisneylike movies for other production companies. It did, however, take Annette about 30 years after her last project with Disney, to become a legend. And it will probably be some time before we see if Selena will become a Disney legend. Unfortunately, Selena is not the only legend in this series. The only legend in the series would have to be someone older, someone who has more big screen theatrical Disney credits, someone who has a connection to the theme parks. Hey, I hope you had fun with this one. I had fun doing kind of the true crime thing. I was trying to pay homage to Only Murders in the Building and that genre. So definitely if you enjoyed this, let me know. I'm on Instagram and Threads as Synergy loves company. I'm still on Twitter as Eric H. Synergy. You could find links in the notes of the podcast. Also remember, there's going to be more of these. There's three stars of the show and we still have to figure out who's the only legend in the series. It's going to be an exciting, thrilling adventure. So if you're enjoying Synergy Loves Company, make sure, of course, that you follow or subscribe in your podcasting app. But don't just do that. Don't keep it to yourself either. Share it with a friend who loves Disney just as much as you do. Tell them to visit Synergylovescompany.com because because sharing the show is the number one way that you can support the show, and your support means the world to me. Thanks for exploring Disney's connections with me. And until next time, keep discovering the magic in everything.