Austin & Ally

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Pictured left-to-right: Dez, Trish, Ally, and Austin.

Austin & Ally is a sitcom that first aired on December 2, 2011.

Ally Dawson is an aspiring singer-songwriter with extreme stage fright who works at her father's instrument shop at the Mall of Miami. Austin Moon is an aspiring singer who visits the shop one day and ends up finding her "Inspiration Room" the same time Ally is working on her newest song. After unceremonously kicking him out, she is shocked when a day later, her good friend Trish brings news that Austin has become an Instant Web Hit over night ("Actually, it was more like two nights" Austin admits in an interview) but what really shocks her is the fact it happened with him singing her song.

After an episode's worth of misadventures trying to get Ally the credit she deserves, the two decide to combine forces. Ally writes the song, Austin sings it, Trish is Austin's manager and personal stylist, and Austin's friend Dez is their producer and music video maker.

Will Austin and Ally make it big? We'll have to watch and find out.

---

Tropes found in this show

• Adorkable: Both title characters.
• Adults Are Useless: Ally's father regularly leaves her alone with her friends to run the store. He is also perhaps the only father in all of Disney to discourage his child from following her dream.
• Anchored Ship: Austin and Ally have become this, and it's only the third episode.
• Anti-Love Song: "Not a Love Song", which we assume is about Austin's relationship with Ally.
• Artistic Title: The Title Sequence is pretty awesome!
• Bad Job, Worse Uniform: Approximately half of Trish's jobs.
  • Her headbands seem to be deliberate. She could just be quirky.
• Bag of Holding: Dez's backpack contains whatever's relevant to the gag.
• Beach Episode: "Songwriting & Starfish".
• Big Eater: Dez, who's known as "the guy who ate the twenty-pound hamburger".
• Bland-Name Product: Twitter-->Tweeter; Tweets-->Twits
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Austin's the blonde, Ally and Trish split brunette duties, and Dez is the redhead.
• Bookworm: Ally.
• Brainy Brunette: Played straight with Ally and Averted hard with Trish.
• Brick Joke: Dez's twenty-pound hamburger, and how he likes to autograph for those who remember that.
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: Each of the main four in their own way:
  • Austin can be too laid back, but yet can sing and play a variety of instruments.
  • Ally is shy and a bit neurotic, but writes amazing songs.
  • Trish is shown to be lazy and irresponsible, but has gotten Austin a concert and interview.
  • Dez is completely random, but from what we saw of the first music video he made, awesome at directing.
• Catch Phrase: Nelson's "Aw, nartz!"
  • Trish's "Guess who got a job as/at the name of job that changes!"
    • It even stems from her days in kindergarten. "Guess who got a job as the hall monitor!"
• Caught on the Jumbotron: Ally unknowingly admits her crush on the cellphone accessory guy on the mall Jumbotron.
• Character Tics: Ally chews her hair when she's nervous.
• Cheerful Child: Nelson.
• Childhood Memory Demolition Team: Ally's favorite pond being torn down.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Dez. Austin counts as well.
• The Confidant: Trish. She's just not very good at it.
• Continuity Nod: Ally mentions in The Pilot that she hates sand, which comes into play during the Beach Episode.
• Creative Sterility: Ally when she's being pressured to write a song.
• Dawson Casting: Largely an aversion, with Calum Worthy (b. 1991) hardly being an Egregious example and the rest of the main cast being 15-16 at the start of filming.
• Deathbringer the Adorable: Mad Dog, Face-Puncher's ballerina daughter.
• Defying the Censors: This surprising, yet hilarious line from the Pilot:

Austin: Then imagine you're at the beach. Ally: Ugh! Sand's getting everywhere. Ew! Is that guy really wearing a thong?

• Department of Redundancy Department: In "World Records & Work Wreckers":

Austin: These official record officials will be officially recording our official time...*Beat*...Officially!

• Disproportionate Retribution: Tilly Thompson in "Bloggers & Butterflies" has hated Ally since kindergarten because Ally's good song was picked over her terrible one for an insect-themed play. She even takes this grudge out on Austin.
• Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune: "Without You" performed by Ross Lynch.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Austin in "Zaliens & Cloudwatchers" and "Bloggers & Butterflies".
• Doorstopper: The books provided by Ally's book club.
• Duet Bonding: Austin intentionally tries to defy this in "Secrets & Songbooks" by avoiding practicing with Ally with the door closed.
  • The entire sequence of "Break Down the Walls" in the Pilot.
• Establishing Character Moment: Trish is first shown announcing her newest job.
• Everything Is an Instrument: Austin is first shown playing the drums with corndogs.
• Extreme Omnivore: Dez. He once deep-fried several objects, which he probably ate. One of these objects are his own shoes.
• Four-Man Band:
  • The Hero - Austin
  • The Lancer - Ally, also The Chick and The Smart Girl, for her songwriting skills.
  • The Big Guy - Dez, also The Lancer to Austin.
  • The Smart Girl - Trish, for her managerial skills.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Austin is sanguine, Trish is choleric, Ally is melancholic, and Dez is phlegmatic.
• Freudian Excuse: Mocked. Tilly's excuse for hating Ally is seen as a pretty lousy reason.
• Fun T-Shirt: Dez's whole wardrobe consists of these and cardigans.
• Geek Physiques: Ally is very short and skinny.
• Genius Book Club: Ally's part of one, which is part of why it takes her so long to complete songs for Austin.
• Genki Girl: Trish.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: In the episode "Secrets and Songbooks", Austin is conflicted as to whether or not to read Ally's book. So a good Austin and a Bad Austin appear on the real Austin's shoulders. Then a Trish dressed in a red pushes the Good Angel away and tells him to read the book.
• Happy Dance: Dez in "Managers & Meatballs", which quickly turns sad.
  • Ally has at least two endearing bursts of these in "Soups & Stars".
• Hands-Off Parenting: Ally's dad often gives her the responsibility of taking care of the music store herself.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: Austin and Dez.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Tilly Thompson (H8ter Girl) and Walter (the usher from the Fright Fest) are better known as the girl who's going to marry Zack Feldman and Rufus.
  • Also, Ally's old teacher Miss Suzy is Miss Yvonne.
  • Mindy from "MyTab and My Pet" is Lauren Zises.
• Humiliation Conga:
  • A condensed one when Ally accidently destroys a television studio.
  • Tilly Thompson gets one in "Bloggers & Butterflies", first accidentally admitting she faked her negative video footage of Austin, then having a meltdown in front of the audience she'd lined up to see Ally embarrass herself. She ends up so humiliated that she had to shut down her blog.
  • Trish organizes one for Dallas in "World Records & Work Wreckers". She hires a Marching band, a group of cheerleaders with a large banner, and a gospel choir to tell him that he's fired. There are even balloons! Problem: he already quit.
  • A mix of this and Trauma Conga Line when Dallas turns down Ally's Dance of Romance and Dez crashes both into the DJ station and Trish's table of birthday presents.
• Hypocritical Humor: Trish lists a number of jobs she's been fired from in one period of time (for slacking off and generally not showing up at all) and proceeds to call Austin and Ally lazy.
• I Can't Dance: Ally and Dallas.
• Identical Stranger: Ralphie Hayes for Austin.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: An alliterative "X & X".
  • Subverted for "Zaliens & Cloud Watchers", perhaps to show how different the two elements and people really are.
• Idiot Ball: Austin is unable to help any of the customers at the store with their instruments even though he may just be more musically talented than Ally.
• I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship: Austin's logic in trying to become a turn-off to Ally.
• The Illegible: Ally's chicken-scratch leads to multiple misunderstandings in "Kangaroos & Chaos". Ally claims this is just due to being rushed, because she really went to calligraphy camp.
• Improbable Age: Ally's the head of the mall association.
• Incessant Music Madness: Many of Austin and Dez's skits in the music store.
• Instant Web Hit: Austin becomes an internet sensation overnight ("Actually, it was more like two nights") but his music video is bumped to second by the end of the episode. The newest hit? Ally accidentally destroying the TV show studio!
• It's All About Me: Austin like all the time.
  • But he's gotten better.
• It Makes Sense in Context: In-Universe, Ally talking to her father in Episode 1.

Ally: The one I have upstairs is older than the lady I'm dating Sunday.

• • Basically the whole plot of "Songwriting & Starfish".
• Its Always Sunny in Miami
• Just Friends: The title characters.
• Kangaroos Represent Australia: Played with in "Kangaroos & Chaos". The kangaroo causes most of the damage and conflict in the episode, but hundreds of people pay just to see it in the music store.
• Lady in Red: Devil!Trish in "Secrets & Songbooks".
• Longing Look: Ally to Dallas in "Secrets & Songbooks".
  • Also in "Club Owners & Quinceñearas".
• Loony Friends Improve Your Personality: Austin, Trish and Dez throw a private dance party in the store to help Ally loosen up.
• Kawaiiko: Nelson.
• Keet: "I'm Austin, and I like pancakes!"
• Mad Libs Catchphrase:
  • "Guess who got a job as/at X?"
  • Ally's "There's no eating in X!" - once in "Rockers & Writers", four times in "Bloggers & Butterflies".
  • Also, Ally's "Don't touch my X!" Usually, it's her book.
• The Mall: Almost all scenes take place here.
• Meaningful Name: The store where Ally works is called 'Sonic Boom'.
• Missing Mom: Ally's mother is neither shown nor mentioned.
• Moment Killer: Inverted in the third episode. Ally loses her songbook and promptly freaks out; Dez plays a jaunty tune on the piano in response.
• Name and Name: Applying to both the series' title and its Idiosyncratic Episode Naming.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: "The Helen Show".
• No OSHA Compliance: Trish and Dez worked at a pirate-themed seafood restaurant that made employees serve food and operate the fryer wearing a fake hook hand.
• Noodle Incident: Whatever it was that caused Ally to develop terrible stage fright.
  • Recently revealed to be because of Ally freaking out during an audition for a prestigious music school, which caused a fear of rejection.
• The Not Love Interest: Austin and Ally are this for each other, for the time being.
• Odd Couple: Calm Austin and neurotic Ally. Their lack of common interest becomes a problem in one episode when Austin dislikes a song Ally writes because it fits her personality more than his, so they spend the whole episode learning more about what the other is interested in.
• One Head Taller: Austin is one head taller than Ally.
  • And more than a head now. On March 1, 2012 he boasted on his twitter page that he was "finally 6 feet!"
• Only Sane Man: If the pilot is anything to go by, Ally is shaping up to be this.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Trish gets one of zebra print for her quincenera.
• Platonic Life Partners: Austin and Ally... seemingly.
• Poor Communication Kills: When Austin reads Ally's song book before she has the chance to tell him about her crush... on Dallas.
• Power Blonde: Austin, the musically talented web hit.
• Pretty Boy: Austin.
• Running Gag/Catch Phrase: "Don't touch my book!"
• Sarcastic Clapping: Ally in "Deejays & Demos" after Dez hypnotizes himself while attempting to hypnotize her.
• Secret Diary: Ally's song book.
• Shallow Love Interest: Dallas, the cellphone accessory guy, for Ally, because he has "kind eyes", "hair that flops just the right way" and "a great smile".
• She's Got Legs: Ally.
• Ship Tease:

Austin: I'll always be an Ally Dawson fan.

• Shirtless Scene: Austin, per Beach Episode protocol in "Songwriting & Starfish".
• Shockingly Expensive Bill: The bill to repair the store window.
• Shrinking Violet: Ally is this whenever she get's on stage. How bad is it? She accidentally destroys an entire TV studio while trying to get away when Austin gets her on a live TV show.
• Shutting Up Now: From "Bloggers & Butterflies":

Ally: Wow, Hater Girl is good. I mean she's bad, but she's good at being bad because she's a bad person but she's just so good at being - I'm going to stop talking now.

• Spicy Latina: Trish.
• Status Quo Is God: The Zalien movies set up a sort of Odd Friendship for Dez and Trish... which promptly crashes at the end of the episode due to minor differences (a disagreement of each others' favorite pizza topping).
• Tall, Dark, Snarky, and Bishoujo: Ally.
• Teen Idol: Austin strives to become this.
• This Is a Song:

"This is not a love song..."

• Too Dumb to Live: Dez. And how.
  • Inverted with Austin in Filmmaking & Fear Breaking (or Austin just joins him?), where the two engage in Who's on First?-style puns with Dez saying, "Fight with this oar," and Austin answering, "This or what?" - repeated until Dez gets tired of it and calls it a paddle.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Pancakes for Austin, pickles for Ally.
• Trauma Conga Line: In the second episode, Trish gets a job at a dry cleaners, from which she "borrows" a leather jacket for the video shoot. Over the course of a few minutes, it gets stretched by a kangaroo and thrown in a bucket of caramel. What makes it even worse is the name of the guy who owns the jacket - "Face Puncher". Even worse? He has a daughter named "Mad Dog"! The cleaning process both shrinks the jacket and discolors it from black to pink. Mad Dog is delighted with "her" new jacket.
• True Companions: Austin, Ally, Trish and Dez.
• Two Scenes, One Dialogue: "Secrets & Songbooks" has Austin mistakenly believing Ally has fallen for him when he reads her Secret Diary; meanwhile Ally elaborates on her crush on the cellphone accessory guy.
• Unreliable Narrator: Tilly in "Bloggers & Butterflies".
• Uptight Loves Wild: Doubly played with. Austin is only a rocker while on stage; also, Austin tries to convince Ally that she doesn't have a crush on him, because he doesn't want to ruin their friendship.
• Who Wears Short Shorts?: Ally.
• Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: A Running Gag with Trish. She goes through two or three jobs a day before finally becoming Austin's manager. According to Austin, her resume was eight pages.
  • Lampshaded in the second episode where Trish comes into the music shop while wearing her work uniform for a part time job.

"Its my first day... And probably my last."

• • And by the time we see her again, she has another new part time job.
  • In "Bloggers & Butterflies", we learn that Trish got fired from her first job in Kindergarten because she didn't realize a hall monitor can't charge people to use the restroom. In other words, she's been doing this since she was 5.
  • Also in "Bloggers & Butterflies", Trish wants to support Ally, but she and Dez have to work. Dez points out that they could just ask for the night off, but Trish decides they need to get fired instead because it's just the way she does things.
  • In "World Records & Work Wreckers", Trish finds a job she is good at, but ends up quitting anyway.
  • In "Burglaries and Boobytraps", all the mall store owners are offering a reward for the capture of the burglar. Trish offers yarn (she's working at the yarn store) but says she'll probably get a job with better stuff to offer soon.
  • She manages to get a job at police station even after openly admitting that she doesn't do any actual work.
• Woman Scorned: Ally, after she finds out that Austin read her book.