Mortified
| Mortified | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Angela Webber |
| Starring | Marny Kennedy as Taylor Fry Nicolas Dunn as Hector Garcia Maia Mitchell as Britanny Flune Dajana Cahill as Layla Fry Luke Erceg as Leon Lipowski Rachel Blakely as Glenda Fry Andrew Blackman as Don Fry |
| Theme music composer | Frank Strangio |
| Country of origin |  Australia |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Phillip Bowman Jenny Bucklan Bernadette O'Mahony Jo Horsburgh |
| Producers | Phillip Bowman Bernadette O'Mahony |
| Running time | 24 min |
| Original release | |
| Network | Nine Network Disney Channel (Asia, Australia, France, Latinamerica and Brazil) CBBC(UK) BBC 1(UK) BBC 2(UK) RTÉ Two (Ireland) Canal Panda(Portugal) |
| Release | June 30, 2006 – April 11 2007 |
Mortified is an Australian Children's television series, co-produced by the Australian Children's Television Foundation and Enjoy Entertainment for the Nine Network Australia, Disney Australia and the BBC. Debuting in 2006, it is a live action comedy-drama which includes surreal fantasy elements. It centres around Taylor Fry, an imaginative eleven year old girl.
Production
Mortified was created by screenwriter and author Angela Webber. Series director is Pino Amenta. It consists of 26 24-minute episodes.[1] The story follows black sheep[2] Taylor Fry, an eleven year old girl living in a beachside town in Queensland ("Sunburn Beach"). She is embarrassed by her parents; jealous of her neighbour Brittany; her best friend, Hector, has a crush on her; and she has a crush on popular Leon.[3] Taylor frequently breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the audience. Her imagination causes inanimate objects to seemingly come to life.
The first season of Mortified had a budget of AUS$9.3 million. It was shot entirely on location in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast while most of the school scenes were filmed at the local Palm Beach Currumbin State High School, starting on June 8, 2005.[4] Mortified was launched in Cannes at MIPTV in April, 2006.[5] It is screened by Channel Nine in Australia; its initial run started on June 30, 2006. In the UK it is screened by CBBC, and in Japan on NHK; the first episode aired on February 19, 2007. In the United States and Canada the show is syndicated to local television stations. Mortified has been sold to Disney Channel Australia, Disney France, Disney Italy, Disney Channel Latin America, Disney Brazil, Disney India, BBC Kids Canada, RTÉ Ireland in addition to broadcasters in the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Bangladesh, CIS, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Spain and the Middle East. In Germany it is screened by KiKa, the first episode aired on March 12, 2008. In Portugal, it airs on Canal Panda since September 1, 2008.
Episode list
Characters
Taylor Fry
Taylor Fry (Marny Kennedy) is the main character and protagonist. She is embarrassed by her parents Don and Glenda, is annoyed by her sister Layla, has a crush on her classmate Leon whilst her best friend Hector has a crush on her. Taylor regularly breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the audience. Marny Kennedy received a nomination for her role in Mortified.
Hector Garcia
Hector Garcia (Nicolas Dunn) is Taylor's best friend. He is a very loyal friend to Taylor, and often gets dragged along on her crusades. However, he falls out with Taylor in the episode "Flag Fall" after Taylor calls him a dork after he volunteers to raise the new school flag and again in "School Trivia Night" where Taylor accidentally gets teamed up with Leon. Hector secretly has a crush on Taylor, even going so far as to send her a Valentine's Day card in the episode "DJ Taylor. He is allergic to cats (as revealed in the episode "Taylor Gets a Job").
Brittany Flune
Brittany Flune (Maia Mitchell) is Taylor's next door neighbour, who sometimes has an on/off friendship with Taylor. She is beautiful and is best known for being perfect. She talks in flowery language and appears to be the leader of a clique in the episode "Bigger Than Vegas".
Leon Lipowski
Leon Lipowski (Luke Erceg) is the class heart-throb. Taylor and Brittany both have crushes on him, though it is slightly obvious that he prefers Brittany. Hector is biased against him since Taylor has a crush on Leon (when Hector has a crush on Taylor) and when Leon always throws "missiles" at him in class, much to the annoyance of Mr McClusky. His father, Gary, is nicknamed "Fingers" and Leon mostly enjoys surfing and sports. Leon at first appears to be an only child until his older brother, Brett, makes his first and only appearance in the episode "School Trivia Night".
Layla Fry
Layla Fry (Dajana Cahill) is Taylor's older sister. She is nasty and annoying and is always getting on Taylor's last nerve. She is obsessed with fashion (in the episode "Mother in the Nude" she gets a job of presenting Hipp's Apricot Hand Cream on a TV commercial and in the episode "The Chosen One" she steals Taylor's hairbrush) and is always finding and dumping boyfriends. Despite the feud between them, Layla does show some positive actions towards Taylor, such as in the episode "Taylor Gets a Job" she gives Taylor her old mobile phone (though it later turned out that all the old numbers were still in the call list and Taylor ended up getting phonecalls from random people) and in the episode "Rome Wasn't Built in a Day" she helps Taylor rebuild her half-destroyed model of a Roman kitchen after Taylor reunited her with her old boyfriend. It is revealed in the episode "Taylor Turns Bad" that Glenda considers Layla a rebel, whilst Taylor considers her an idiot.
Don Fry
Don Fry (Andrew Blackman) is Taylor and Layla's dad and Glenda's husband. He is referred to as the "Underpant King" and even has a shop that sells underpants in the local shopping centre. Despite being ditzy and wacky, he does show mature effects such as the time when he rescued Taylor who was in danger of drowning since she had fallen into the sea when wearing a mermaid costume.
Glenda Fry
Glenda Fry (Rachel Blakely) is Taylor and Layla's mum and Don's wife. She is ditzy and wacky like Don and is stuck in the 60s. She often helps Don at the Underpant King store. Like her cousin Mystic Marj, she is obsessed with things like chakras/mind/body/spirit and often meditates.
Recurring Characters
Mystic Marj
Mystic Marj (Sally McKenzie) is Glenda's cousin. She is a seer/fortune teller/mystic/prophetic/psychic and makes a living out of reading tea leaves. She is eccentric and, like Glenda, has a passion for chakras. Despite her reputation, Marj is often thought to be a fraud and a bit insane. In the episode "Mother in the Nude" she and Taylor create a video where Marj predicts a series of cataclysmic events occurring at the seaside at the time of Sculpture by the Beach (eg. rainstorms, glaciers, landslides and thunderstorms) and no one believed her, and in the episode "Bigger than Vegas" Taylor goes to ask her advice for something and Marj correctly guesses that Taylor had been nominated for School Captain but only because Glenda told her.
Mr McClusky
Mr McClusky is Taylor, Hector, Brittany and Leon's teacher (and presumably Layla's old primary school teacher since in the episode "Taylor Turns Bad" he keeps saying her name and acts like he really knows her). He is wise and can be strict at times (especially with Leon when he throws "air-born missiles"). Mr McClusky appears in every episode of series one (apart from "The Talk") but is absent in series two since Taylor, Hector, Brittany and Leon depart for high school at the end of series one (though he is mentioned briefly by Taylor in the first episode of series two "Little Fish" that Taylor misses him and his bush-walking socks to which Hector replies "Seriously?").
Michael and Loretta Flune
Brittany's parents. They like to keep everything "perfect". They are brilliant musicians (as revealed in the episodes "Taylor's DNA" where they play a piano solo for the talent quest and in "Mother in the Nude" where Loretta plays the piano and Michael plays the cello) and are zero-tolerant of stains (as revealed in the episode "Girl Power" when Taylor accidentally spills raspberry cordial on the carpet) and have strict house rules (as seen in the episode "Taylor's Song").
Gary Lipowski
Nicknamed "Fingers". Gary Lipowski is Leon and Brett's dad. His wife is not shown, suggesting/implying that he is a widower. He owns a repair shop for things like radios and televisions and microwaves. In the episode "School Trivia Night" he was thought briefly to have stolen the Flunes' television and donated it to the school.
Mrs Della Costa
A supply teacher at Sunburn Primary School. She is a minor character who only appears in the episode "Taylor Turns Bad" where she is, along with Mr McClusky, interrogating Leon as to who grafitied Mr McClusky's car with shaving cream.
One-off characters
(Note that quite a few of them are Layla's boyfriends)
- Anthony - Layla's first boyfriend who appeared in the episode "Taylor's DNA". Layla claims he has an after-school job in "animal health and fitness management" when in actual fact he only walks greyhounds (one of which is called Skinny Vinnie, named so because he has skin covered in scabs and grazes that flakes off easily). A running gag in the episode is that whenever, he would be near, either Layla or Taylor would wrinkle their nose up and sniff the air.
- Andre - Layla's second boyfriend who appeared in the episode "Learning to Surf". He is known to surf and is a trainee chef. He later gets falsely accused of trying to kill Mr McClusky's rabbit Butch and making him into soup.
- Alicia - Taylor's "buddy" who appears in the episode "Learning to Surf". Taylor accidentally makes her cry at the start of the episode by calling her little after she ignored Taylor. She is attracted to Butch. A running gag in the episode is that whenever Alicia would refer to Butch as "Fluffy" Taylor would say, "His name is Butch."
- Velnerable Kim - A Buddhist monk who appears in the episode "The Chosen One". It is him who inspires Taylor to sacrifice all her posessions in pursuit of true happiness.
- Dominic - Layla's third boyfriend who appeared in the episode "The Chosen One". He buys a radio and a pair of rollerblades from Taylor's yard sale which he later gives to Layla.
- Joel - A teenage martial arts instructor who appears in the episode "The Talk". Taylor develops a crush on him and she signs up for martial art classes just to see him. He later turns out to be Layla's fourth boyfriend.
- Cliff and Alma - An eccentric elderly couple who live at the local care home. They appear in the episode "Return of the Mothership". They strongly believe that a mosquito bite on the back of their hand is a sign that a UFO/spaceship/Mothership will abduct them and take them into outer space (though it later turned out that they were making it all up in order to sneak out of the care home on a little "adventure"). A running gag in "Return of the Mothership" is that whenever Taylor or Hector was near, Alma would say "Did you bring any caramels?".
- Don Fry #2 - Another Don Fry on the other side of Sunburn Beach who appeared in the episode "The Cross Country". He is known as "The Kilt King". Him and Taylor's dad were both mixed up and the Frys almost ended up moving to Scotland for no reason because of this mix-up.
- Joan of Arc - The ghost of Joan of Arc (referred to as St Joan of Arc) appeared in the episode "Being Me". She explains to Taylor her past life and how she changed her name and became the heroine she turned out to be.
- St Davinia's Girls - A duo of girls who attend the St Davinia's private school. They mock the Fry family (comparing them to The Addams Family) and especially single Taylor out as looking like Cousin Itt. When interviewed by Miss Barnett, Taylor points out their arrogance by calling them "big-mouthed, small-minded snobs".
- Miss Barnett - The deputy headmistress of St Davinia's. She is at first bemused by Taylor's idea of tolerance but offers her a scholarship in the name of Margurite Warburton (an unseen character) to make up for it.
- Miriam - A girl of Japanese descent who appeared in the episode "Little Fish". She is an expert at mathematics, even going so far as to make it her only hobby not only during her spare time, but at the weekend. She is also known for her hayfever. Her sneezing plays a running gag in the episode.
Crew
Prominent crew members include:[6]
- Series Creator: Angela Webber
- Executive Producers: Phillip Bowman, Jenny Buckland, Bernadette O'Mahony, Jo Horsburgh
- Producers: Phillip Bowman, Bernadette O'Mahony
- Writers: Angela Webber, Sam Carroll, Tim Gooding, Johanna Pigott, Steve Wright, Max Dann, Chris Anastassiades, Shirley Pierce, Adam Bowen, Helen McWhirter
- Directors: Pino Amenta, Paul Moloney, Ian Gilmour, Michael Pattinson, Evan Clarry
- Script editor: Sam Carroll
Awards
Mortified has won numerous awards including:[5]
2007 New York Festivals Television Programming and Promotion Awards:
- Grand Award for Best Youth Program
- Gold World Medal for youth programs ages 7 to 12
2006 Australian Film Institute awards:
- Winner: Best Children’s Television Drama
- Winner: Young Actor Award (Marny Kennedy)
- Nominee: Best Direction In Television (Pino Amenta, Episode 1)
- Nominee: Best Screenplay In Television (Angela Webber, Episode 1)
2006 Chicago International Children's Festival:
- First prize in the live action television category
54th Columbus International Film and Video Festival:
- Bronze Plaque for Children and Youth Programs
Australian Teachers of Media Awards:
- Best Children's Television Series
DVD
A DVD of the series was released in PAL format on April 4, 2007.[7] Titled Mortified: Volume 1, the 2-disc DVD has a running time of 299 minutes and includes the first 13 episodes. Mortified: Volume 2, a 2-disc DVD consisting of episodes 14-26 (running time of 312 minutes), was released on July 18, 2007.[8]
See also
References
- ^ "Live Action Series :: Mortified". Retrieved 2007-02-21.
- ^ "Mortified Get me out of here!" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-02-21.
- ^ Greg Hassall (2006-06-30). "Mortified - review". The Age. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
- ^ "26-part Children's TV series to film on Gold Coast". 2005-07-15. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
- ^ a b "Mortified wins 2 major awards at New York festivals". 2007-02-09. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
- ^ "Mortified". Australian Television Information Archive. 2005-12-08. Retrieved 2007-10-28.
- ^ "Mortified - Volume 1". Retrieved 2007-02-21.
- ^ "Mortified – Volume 2". Chaos Entertainment. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-28.