What's Stevie Thinking? (lost pitch pilot of cancelled spin-off of "Lizzie McGuire" Disney Channel comedy series; 2005)

A cast shot of the unaired Stevie Sanchez pilot.

Status: Lost

What's Stevie Thinking? (also known as Stevie Sanchez) is an unaired spin-off of the popular Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire.

The pilot was ultimately not picked up by Disney Channel, due to having only having only more one slot for another sitcom at that time. After the failed pitch, the pilot was not shown again and is now considered lost.

Background

Following the release of The Lizzie McGuire Movie in May 2003, it was announced that Lizzie McGuire would end production due to financial and contractual disagreements between Disney and Hilary Duff's management. Prior to this, they were in talks about producing a primetime sitcom about Lizzie's high school years for ABC. Due to the high popularity of the show's brand, executives still wanted to continue marketing the Lizzie McGuire franchise, even with Duff gone from the show. Disney then chose to produce a spin-off involving Lalaine's character Miranda Sanchez.

For the spin-off, Lizzie McGuire creators Terri Minsky and Stan Rogow decided to center the spin-off around a new character named Stephanie "Stevie" Sanchez, who would be connected to the original show by being the younger sister of Miranda Sanchez (This idea may be off-putting to keen-eyed Lizzie McGuire fans, as Miranda's sister was said to be a baby in the Lizzie McGuire episode "Misadventures of Babysitting", and the spin-off would have suddenly spurted the character from infancy to tween-age).

The show would have been about Miranda, Stevie, and her best friends trying to help support wildlife conservation and help at a zoo in Australia. Stevie allegedly would have also had an animated persona to voice her inner thoughts much like the original Lizzie character.

Around late 2003 or mid 2004, future Disney star Selena Gomez auditioned at 11 years old for the role of Miranda's sister Stevie Sanchez. The show was formally announced in a Variety article in November 2004. (Hannah Montana, another popular Disney Channel show was mentioned to have begun pre-production in this same article) Further auditions were held during late 2004 and early 2005.

The pilot was ultimately filmed in February 2005, and was being pitched to Disney Channel by the summer of that year.

Cancellation

During 2005, the only other show being pitched to Disney Channel was Hannah Montana. This resulted in the network not picking up the spin-off as they only had room for one new sitcom that year. Another likely reason could be that Lizzie McGuire had already finished airing all of its episodes and Disney felt that the franchise had already ran its course. After several guest appearances in other Disney Channel shows, and another failed pilot, Selena Gomez would eventually gain success with her own show Wizards of Waverly Place.

Availability

The pilot has yet to surface, but has been mentioned on a few rare occasions. Clips of Selena Gomez's audition were shown on a DVD for Wizards of Waverly Place and an episode of E! True Hollywood Story.

In 2020, Lizzie McGuire cast member Jake Thomas brought up the spin-off in regards to a fan's question about the cancelled Lizzie reboot stating; "@beautysupernova I'll answer that question with another question: was anyone able to see the old Lizzie spin-off, Stevie Sánchez, with @selenagomez?"

Cast

• Miranda Sanchez (Lalaine)
• Stephanie "Stevie" Sanchez (Selena Gomez)
• Edward Sanchez (Armando Molina)
• Daniella Sanchez (Dyana Ortelli)
• Deli (Charlie Stewart)
• Gilroy (Loren Berman)
• Mark Lanalampi (Blake Foster)
• Hannah (Haley Hill)
• Henry (Gus Hoffman)
• Taylor McConner (Shane Hunter)
• Miss Avery (Kelli McCarty)
• Marc De'Antone (Street Vendor)

Videos

Selena Gomez's audition for Disney Channel

Selena Gomez's audition for Stevie Sanchez.

See Also

Disney Channel

• 101 Dalmatians: The Series (partially found unaired pilot episode of Disney animated TV series; 1996)
• Amazing Animals (found Disney Channel animated educational series; 1996-1999)
• Arwin! (partially found pilot of cancelled "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" spin-off TV series; 2007)
• Disney Channel Interactive (lost Dish Network game channel; late 2000s)
• Disney's Coyote Tales (found Disney Channel extended version of "The Coyote's Lament" animated short; 1991)
• Disney's Doug (found episodes of animated TV series; 1996-1999)
• Dreamfinders (unproduced Disney Channel series based on "Journey Into Imagination" Epcot ride; 1983)
• Dumbo's Circus (partially found Disney Channel live action puppet series; 1985-1986)
• Fish Hooks (partially found unreleased pilot of Disney Channel animated series; 2009)
• Going Wild with Jeff Corwin (partially found Disney documentary TV series; 1997-1999)
• Gravity Falls (found Comic Con 2012 promo of animated series; 2012)
• Gravity Falls (found pitch pilot of Disney animated TV series; 2010)
• Hannah Montana (lost production material of cancelled anime adaptation of Disney Channel teen sitcom; 2009-2010)
• Katbot (partially found unreleased Disney animated TV series; 2005)
• Lizzie McGuire "Season 3" (lost production material of unfinished season of Disney Channel comedy series; 2020)
• Minnie Takes Care of Pluto (found original English audio of Mickey Mouse Works animated short; 2000)
• Mousercise (partially found Disney Channel exercise series; 1983-1996)
• Mouseterpiece Theater (partially found Disney Channel cartoon compilation TV series; 1983-1990)
• Pepper Ann (partially found pilot episode of Disney animated series; 1996)
• Phineas and Ferb (lost script of cancelled theatrical film based on animated series; 2010s)
• Phineas and Ferb: Shooting Star Milkshake Bar (partially found full version of song; late 2000s)
• Phineas and Ferb: Spot the Diff (found Disney Channel animated special; 2008)
• Recess "The Break In" (partially found pilot of Disney animated TV series; 1996)
• Star and the Forces of Evil (partially found unaired pitch pilot of Disney Channel animated series; 2011)
• Talespin - Phil Harris performance (lost audio recordings from Disney animated TV series; 1990)
• Teen Angel (partially found Disney Channel serial drama; 1989)
• The All-New Mickey Mouse Club (partially found Disney Channel original series; 1989-1994)
• The Jersey (partially lost Disney Channel sports themed comedy series; 1999-2004)
• The Owl House (partially found unaired pilot of Disney Channel animated series; 2017)
• The Proud Family (partially lost unaired Nickelodeon pilot of Disney Channel animated sitcom; 1999)
• Welcome to Pooh Corner (partially found Disney Channel live-action puppet series; 1983-1986)

Playhouse Disney

• Adventures in Nutrition with Captain Carlos (partially found Playhouse Disney animated short series; 2004-2007)
• Bear in the Big Blue House "Water, Water Everywhere" (lost unaired pilot of Disney Channel puppet series; 1997)
• Bear in the Big Blue House (partially lost original English audio of Playhouse Disney puppet series; 1997-2006)
• Breakfast with Bear (partially found episodes of Playhouse Disney spin-off series; 2005-2006)
• Handy Manny (partially found unaired pilot of Disney children's animated TV series; 2005)
• Little Einsteins (lost second pitch pilot of Playhouse Disney animated series; existence unconfirmed; 2004)
• Out of the Box (partially lost Playhouse Disney children's series; 1998-2004)
• PB&J Otter (partially found original credits sequences of Playhouse Disney animated series; 1998-2000)
• Playhouse Disney UK (partially lost interstitial material of children's TV channel; 1999-2006)
• Stanley (found unaired pilot episode of Playhouse Disney animated series; 1999)
• The Book of Pooh (found Playhouse Disney puppet series; 2001-2004)

Disney Junior

• Jungle Junction (lost pilots of Disney Junior CGI animated series; 2003; 2005; 2008)

Toon Disney

• Toon News (partially found CGI Interstitial Toon Disney series; 2004/2005)
• Teamo Supremo (partially lost Toon Disney animated series; 2002-2004)

Disney XD

• Billion Dollar Freshmen (lost unaired pilot episode of "Lab Rats" Disney XD live-action comedy TV series; 2010)
• DXP (partially found Disney XD video game block; 2017)

Other

• Bonkers "Fall Apart Bomb Squad" (found episode of Disney Channel animated series; 1993)
• Disney's One Too - Recess gags (partially lost series of animated shorts; 1999-2003)
• Green Monkeys (lost Disney pilot; 1999)
• Herbie the Lovebug (lost animated pilot; late 1990s-2000s)
• La Chambre Folle (lost French Disney children's TV block; 1998)
• Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers (found English dub of anime series; 2015)
• Power Rangers Animated Series (lost Disney XD pilot; existence unconfirmed; 2007-2009)
• Robodz (lost Disney Toei animated TV series; 2008)
• The Mouse Factory (partially found Disney live-action/animated TV series; 1972-1973)
• The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show (found episodes of Disney animated TV series; 1995)
• X-Heart (partially found unreleased English dub of "X-Coração" Brazilian animated TV series; 2014)

External Link

• IMDB page for What's Stevie Thinking?. Retrieved 17 Oct '20