Series / Debra!

"I'm not like everyone else, When the world says left I go right by myself."

Debra! (originally titled and marketed as Decidedly Debra!) is a Canadian tween comedy created by Andrew Nicholls and Darrell Vickers, and produced by Cookie Jar Entertainment and aired on the Family Channel.

Debra Delong (Niamh Wilson) is a spirited and kooky 14-year-old girl who sees the best in people and wants to one day start a company specializing in bringing joy into the lives of others. Upon transferring to Camfield High School she starts looking for people who can help achieve for goal in life. The friend she chooses: Preston Lunford (Will Jester), a down-to-earth, if a little cynical boy with a penchant for guitar and magic tricks. Bemused at first, Preston decides that Debra is a good friend and promises to assist her in her zany schemes if she let him improve her often non-existent social skills. With them are his bandmates, the smooth talking, but mostly unsuccessful ladies’ man Auzzie and the tall, good-natured, if a little slow Brud. Together they will make every day at Camfield High a new adventure.

Notably, it was Niamh Wilson's big break before she was cast as Jacqueline "Jack" Jones on Degrassi: The Next Generation.

The series is available to stream on Tubi.

Debra! provides examples of:

• Actually Pretty Funny: After a while Dancy starts to find Preston's jokes funny on their "date" after initially being cold to him.
• All Girls Like Ponies: Debra decided on the name of her future company at age 6, calling it The Magical Flying Pony Company.
• All Guys Want Cheerleaders: Mank leaves Dancy for a cheerleader in “Operation Dancy”.
• Alliterative Name: Debra Delong.
  • Her full name is even Debra Carnegie Cameron Delong.
• Alpha Bitch: Dancy, the self-proclaimed "Queenager" of Camfield High school is of the Passive-Aggressive type. She even has her own Girl Posse and keeps a blog with a list of all the reasons she's better than Debra.
• Apathetic Teacher: Principal Ridge and Mrs Treadgold are variant takes on this trope:
  • Principle Ridge is mostly interested in the school's appearance and the perks that come with the job, such as getting funds for a cushy new desk in his office rather than using the money to improve the cafeteria food options and a free meal at to a fancy restaurant when chaperoning the school raffle winners.
  • Mr. Treadgold, on the other hand, is interested in doing his job, but is shown to have been worn down by the job due to his non-confrontational personality to the extent that Debra's unending questions and imaginative digressions in class stress him out and Principal Ridge sees him as a spineless lackey.
• Bad "Bad Acting": Rolf employs some of this in "Operation Dancy" as part of the "Scooby-Doo" Hoax.
• Bad Date: It looks as if Preston and Dancy are going to have one in "My Date With Dancy", especially when Dancy plots to have Mank come to the restaurant and make a scene, but then Preston's jokes make her warm to him and they start to enjoy themselves, but to Debra's horror and fear she could lose Preston to Dancy.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: Auzzie (little) and Brud (big) whenever they're together.
• Big Red Button: The band have a box that shoots streamers out when the big red button at the side is pressed. Then Debra sees it and the room is covered in them.
• Birthday Episode: Preston's in "Let's Party".
• Bitch Alert: When Dancy first appears she gets a slow motion strut towards Debra and Preston to signify her Queen Bee persona and status.
• Blackmail: Gracie to her dad, Officer Lunford when he accidentally causes a blackout trying to change a light bulb:
  (Officer Lunford turns around, tired.)
  (All lights immediately go off in the house.)
  Gracie: Dad!!!
  Officer Lunford: It's okay. Just blew a fuse. Gracie don't tell your mom.
  Gracie: What's it worth to you?
  (Officer Lunford sighs in defeat.)
• Book Dumb: Brud appears to be a slow learner, sadly it leads him to quit his drumming lessons because he can't keep up and opt for karate instead.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Debra frequently does confessionals to talk directly to the audience. Dancy tries her hand at it in "My Dinner with Dancy".
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Preston is a reserved, realist who often responds to Debra's plans with snarky comebacks and worldly cynicism, while she is a free-spirited and open-minded optimist who greets everybody with kindness.
• Canada Does Not Exist: While the series was produced in Canada it is never mentioned.
  • It is subtly implied when Preston makes a reference to Elizabeth II in "Designing Auzzie" as "The Queen" whereas an American might colloquially say "The Queen of England".
  Preston: Auzzie needs confidence like The Queen needs waving lessons.
  • In The Teaser of "Cannon Have Your Cake" Mr Treadgold can be seen briefly holding up a history book with Canadian History as the title.
  • In "Spelling Bee Rematch" both a Canadian flag and an American flag can be seen on a teacher's desk.
  • Delong and Cologne are French names.
• Canadian Equals Hockey Fan: In "Let's Party" when Debra is trying to get ideas for the ideal gift for Preston's birthday and sends her cousin Marla in for information he tells her he likes to make scale models of ice hockey players out of uncooked pasta, to which Gracie presents him with one of Wayne Gretzky.
• Cannot Talk to Women: Poor Auzzie, the below mentioned Casanova Wannabe. He has the moves, but not the tongue. It leads to Debra trying to teach him how to appeal to girls, with special emphasis on what not and never to say to a girl, such as:
  "Another fifteen pounds to go and you'll be perfect."
  Or this:
  "Your sister is so cute... are you adopted?"
• Carpet of Virility: Invoked: Preston has to use a chest wig as part of his costume for the radio contest where the prize is tickets to see Lung Trumpet, a KISS expy.
• Casanova Wannabe: Auzzie. It's tragic sometimes.
• Cassandra Truth: After Debra accidentally shoots him out of a cannon for real instead of the dummy Preston tries to tell his parents that it was him, only for them to think it's a joke.
• CatchPhrase: Debra ends each episode with a variation on "May the Giant Soaring Pony be with you".
• Character Tics: Debra is prone to do voices, react vividly with facial expressions and try to invent new words.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: Tries to cheat in her rematch against Debra when she finds a list of words from the spelling bee, but it backfires and she is taken away to be punished by Mr Treadgold.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Debra comes off this way to many people.
  • This exchange between Debra and Mr Treadgold in "Drum and Drummer":
  Debra: Oh! That just made me have a totally unrelated idea.
  Mr Treadgold: You have a related idea?
  • The theme song even emphasizes these traits in Debra as central to her personality:

I'm not like everyone else,

When the world says left I go right by myself.

...because I'm just me, and you'll see.

They say I'm weird and wacky, but I've got my own philosophy.

• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Preston.
• Comically Missing the Point: Happens frequently to Brud, Debra and Dancy.
  • When Mank dumps Dancy for a cheerleader she tells Debra:
  Dancy: If you must know, Mank and I decided in a mutually, respecting and adult way (starts to break down) that he'ld leave me for some snotty cheerleading airhead.
  Debra: That's what everyone said when he left Sue Radcliffe for you.
  Dancy: I was never a cheerleader...
• Confession Cam: Debra frequently talks to the audience directly with one. Dancy gets one in "My Dinner with Dancy”.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: Debra becomes this in "Chez Camfield", attempting to diversify the school cafeteria menu and covertly tries out her new recipes at Principal Ridge's meeting with the mayor, much to Preston's horror that she will be a Lethal Chef.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: Debra is adorable, but often causes problems due to her accident-prone nature.
• Disappearing Box: The main act of Preston's magic show is The Mystical Box of Kashmir in which Dancy is the volunteer from the audience for and is disappeared with a still concussed Principal Ridge appearing inside when it is reopened with Dancy manifesting back inside the box after the talent show is over and the auditorium empty.
• The Ditz: Dancy, granted she would rather do her nails in class than pay attention.
• The Dividual: Dancy's Dancyettes are of the Twindividual type which each of them near identical and with little personality traits to distinguish between.
• Don't Try This at Home: Debra tells the audience this in her confessional at the end of "Cannon Have Your Cake" after she successfully SHOT PRESTON OUT OF A CANNON:
  Debra: May the big soaring pony be with you. Oh, and by the way, don't ever try this at home. Or in a dentist's office. Actually, don't try it anywhere.
• The Dreaded: Camfield High School's resident jock girl Jo 'The Slammer' Briggs is feared by most of the student body for her reputation for roughhousing during basketball, which as Preston tells Debra, put six other players in hospital. Subverted in that Jo later explains that the numbers were overblown and that minor injuries are common in sports.
  • Debra appears to be this to the teachers at Camfield High School to the extent that Principal Ridge has a picture of her face with the general prohibition sign over it on his office door.
• Dumb Jock: Dancy's boyfriend Mank often misses the point, though he is very considerate to her and is able to correct her when she thinks butterflies buzz.
• Egocentric Team Naming: Dancy calls the members of her Girl Posse her Dancyettes.
• Embarrassing First Name: Mr Treadgold's first name is Nedward which he claims was a typo on his birth certificate and that his parents are still appealing it. He's a middle-aged man.
  • His nephew Cornelius might also count, considering its fall into obscurity in much of the modern Anglophone world.
• Embarrassing Old Photo: Many photographs from events previous to the episode are shown onscreen for humorous effect, one of them is of a little Auzzie dressed as a frog kissing Dancy on the cheek at a school play, much to Dancy's chagrin past and present.
  • Dancy even uses an awkward one of Debra for the poster advertising the spelling bee rematch.
• Evil Former Friend: Dancy is this to Debra.
• Face on the Cover: Debra imagines her face on the trucks for her future company in her first class with Mr. Treadgold.
• The Fashionista: Debra sees herself as this, is always colourfully and stylishly dressed and attempts to design clothes for jock girl Josie to wear to the fashion show in "Project Josie".
• Founding Day: "Cannon Have Your Cake" revolves around the town Camfield marking its centennial.
• Four-Man Band:
  • Debra is The Smart Guy, coming up with the schemes and avoids humiliation through relative success and avoiding arrogance.
  • Preston is The Only Sane Man whose reactions to zany schemes makes for drama and comedy. He is also more successful with the opposite sex than Auzzie due to his self-awareness as his date with Dancy shows.
  • Auzzie is the Casanova Wannabe whose antics and failed attempts are often comedic.
  • Brud is the Butt-Monkey who provides humor, though never maliciously.
• Four-Philosophy Ensemble:
  • Preston is The Cynic.
  • Debra is The Optimist.
  • Brud is The Realist.
  • Auzzie is The Apathetic.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble:
  • Debra as the Sanguine (cheerful, extroverted, people-orientated, adventurous, clownish in humour, Genki Girl).
  • Preston as the Choleric (unemotional and reserved, task-orientated, responds passionate with snarky remarks).
  • Brud as the Melancholic (calm, humble, submissive, dependable).
  • Auzzie as the Phlegmatic (people-orientated, easy-going, a sweetheart, flexible).
• French Cuisine Is Haughty: Chef Des Chalet is a well-regarded professional French chef Principal Ridge hires.
• Friend to All Children: Debra is in many ways more childlike than her teenage peers and is able to bond with Preston's little sister well.
• Garage Band: Preston's Floor De Voort tribute band Floor De Voted is more-or-less one.
• The Ghost: Pretty much all of Debra's immediate family with her unseen, but often mentioned grandmother said to be taking care of her while her parents are on a scientific expedition.
• Ghost Story: Barbecue Arnett in "Operation Dancy".
• Gibberish of Love: Auzzie, who already suffers from a case of Cannot Talk to Women falls into a helpless stutter when Dancy asks him to coach her for the spelling bee rematch against Debra.
• Girl Posse: Dancy is regularly seen with two gal pals, the Dancyettes.
• Girliness Upgrade: The plot of "Project Josie" involves Debra helping jock girl Jo 'The Slammer' Briggs become more girly.
• Gone Horribly Right: Debra had intended to shoot a dummy out of a cannon in place of Preston, but when she checks after everyone has left to go to the crash site its the dummy that's left inside the cannon.
• A Good Name for a Rock Band: Debra lists a few in "Lung Trumpet".
• Good Parents: Gabby and Jack Lunford are shown to be this to Preston, and at times to Debra.
• Gotta Pass the Class: The plot of 'Graduating Fenufsky' as Craig has not being able to make it in time to PE which accounts for his criteria to graduate due to it clashing with his part-time job.
• Held Back in School: Craig Fenufski in "Graduating Fenufsky".
• Henpecked Husband:
  • In "Designing Auzzie" Debra has an Imagine Spot wherein Auzzie has become one to Helen, and has even aged for both of them into an old man while she remains young.
  • It can be assumed Dancy was training Mank to be a boyfriend version of this.
• Hidden Depths: In "My Dinner with Dancy" resident mean girl Dancy opens up to Preston during the "date" they win in the school raffle when he asks her what it's like to be popular. She tells him popular kids don't have perfect lives and she has an amateur interest in astronomy and a telescope in her room she looks at the planets through, though she thinks Jupiter is the smallest planet.
• Human Cannonball: Poor Preston.
• I Can't Believe I'm Saying This: Preston after his first few minutes with Debra:
  Preston: I have never said this to a girl before, but could you please leave me alone.
• Imagine Spot:
  • Mr Treadgold has a few in "Spelling Bee Rematch" about being on a topical island in The Bermuda Triangle, while still in school in anticipation of his vacation before his plans are cancelled by Principal Ridge ordering him to oversee the Spelling Bee rematch.
  • Auzzie as an old man married to Helen mentioned above in "Designing Auzzie".
  • "Drum and Drumer" has Mr Treadgold as a superhero in a cape when he tells Debra he's his nephew's hero.
  • Auzzie and Dancy both have one each in "Graduating Fenufsky" about how incredible locker 79 is, with Auzzie's is focused on how its situated in the middle of various pretty girls and Dancy's on how she can combine it with her's to make a locker mini-mall.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: Brud claims he knows how to sow as his dad taught him in the event his clothes are ever ripped by a bear.
• Inkblot Test: Gabby helps Jack practice with one for his annual police psychological evaluation as part of the police force fitness test.
• Invisible Parents: Debra's parents are away on a scientific expedition and have left her in the care of her grandmother. They text her in the first episode after the school talent show, but are only mentioned in passing in later episodes. While their specific scientific fields are not mentioned it is assumed they are biology-based and tied to animals.
  • By extension this would also describe Auzzie, Brud and Dancy's parents.
• It Runs in the Family: Eccentricity runs in the Delong family from what we hear from Debra, though the only other member to actually appear in the show is her cousin Marla from Glen Cove who is about on the same level as our girl.
• Jaded Professional: Mr Treadgold constantly looks tired at best, at worst, one Debra question away from a nervous breakdown.
• Jock Dad, Nerd Son: Preston and his dad, Officer Lunford are shown to be this, with Preston's non-athletic, more intellectual and esoteric passions like stage magic and Dutch pop bands and his dad's physically-demanding job as a cop, though it is subtle and never negatively impacts their father-son relationship.
• KidAnova: Auzzie is an unsuccessful example.
• Literal-Minded: Both Debra and Brud can be this at times.
  • Brud has a memorable example when Josie falls over backstage at the fashion show:
  Debra: Brud pick her up.
  Brud:(looks down at Josie) Hey. My name's Brud.
  Preston and Auzzie facepalm.
  Debra: Not pick her up. Pick her up off the floor.
• Little Miss Snarker: Preston's little sister Gracie has her moments.
• Lost Wedding Ring: A child-parent example happens in "Teen Capsule" when Debra and Preston fear they may have accidentally put Preston's mother's wedding ring into a time capsule that is to be buried in the ground for 200 years.
• Malaproper: Debra is often fascinated by words likes to make up her own, such as "smoosh", a portmanteau of sneak and goosh.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Debra becomes this to Preston from the moment they meet.
• Masked Luchador: When Preston dons a Mexican wrestling mask as not to be exposed when he agrees to take Craig Fenufsky's place in his final wrestling match to get him enough credits to graduate his senior year.
• Metalhead: The gang encounter a large number of them in the form of die-hard Love Trumpet fans at the radio station when entering the contest. They are surprised to find Mr. Treadgold among them.
• Names to Run Away From: Jo "The Slammer" Briggs.
• New Transfer Student: Debra to Camfield High.
• No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Auzzie feels this way when Dancy confronts him about him liking her when she is fresh from her break-up, much to Preston's amazement in "Operation Dancy".
• No Social Skills: Debra, though not to the extent that she cannot socialize, but misses social cues and misinterprets metaphors and conversations.
  • Auzzie's failure as the school casanova can be seen as the result of his own ego and over-confidence.
• Noodle Incident: Preston brings up the time Debra crashed a golf car into a wall when he is trying to motivate her in "Spelling Bee Rematch". There is no flashback, but Debra insists the wall was made up of foam bricks.
• Offscreen Breakup: Dancy and Mank are said to have broken up after Mank's one and only episode.
• Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: Brud and Auzzie eavsdrop on Debra telling her cousin Marla about Preston's upcoming birthday and incorrectly assume Debra is trying to set Preston up with her for a long-distance relationship.
• Paper-Thin Disguise:
  • Debra and Dancy as waitresses in "Chaz Camfield" are mildly convincing as they have aged-up clothes, Dancy with a wigs, Debra with a different hairstyle, shoes, attempt to speak with accents and are close in age to actual waitresses. Preston, however, is significantly shorter than the real Chef Des Chalet and is very clearly a young boy. In Auzzie and Brud's case it's also unlikely that two teenagers would be sent to interview Chef Des Chalet for a receiving an apparently prestigious award.
  • Subverted in "My Dinner With Dancy when Preston is eventually able to see through Debra's disguise at Antonio's.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: When trying to determine what Preston's body would look like in "Operation Dancy" Debra figures it would be blue with Preston being a boy. It Makes Sense in Context.
• Placebo Effect: Preston gives Debra the Fear-Be-Gone watch... as a prize for getting over her stage fright before the spelling bee rematch against Dancy. Subverted in that Debra knows it's a placebo the whole time, but goes along with it anyway.
• The Pollyanna: Debra.
• Quaking with Fear: Debra's legs are seen trembling with cartoon sound effects when she practices for the spelling bee rematch in front of Preston's family at which Preston discovers she suffers from stage fright.
• Quirky Household:
  • Though unseen Debra's family and their house is suggested to be this.
  • The Lunfords in a nutshell.
• Radio Contest: Debra enters one with Preston when she worries Preston's parents might be breaking-up in "Lung Trumpet" to win tickets to see their favourite band for their anniversary in the hopes it will rekindle their love.
• Raised by Grandparents: A "while the parents are away" example. Debra's grandmother is said to be looking after her while her parents are away on a scientific study.
• A Rare Sentence: Preston's "Leave me alone" line to Debra after they first meet (see above).
• Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Debra peppers her descriptions with these.
• School Newspaper News Hound: Auzzie and Brud try to be this in "My Dinner With Dancy".
• School of Seduction: In an impromptu non-building example Debra attempts to teach Auzzie the proper way to charm a girl in "Designing Auzzie".
• "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: The gang stage one in the school at night to snap Dancy out of her heartbreak after her break-up with Mank.
• Second Prize: When Debra and Preston only get 2nd prize in the radio contest in "Lung Trumpet" which turn to be a meal at a restaurant, Knuckle Dusters, wherein Preston's parents went to after leaving the concert disappointed and had their actual first date there.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Compare the short, socially naive, nonetheless always conscientious and full of ideas Debra to the tall, but shallow and not-too-bright Dancy.
• Shout-Out:
  • Debra wonders if a runaway truck killed Wile E Coyote And calls Roadrunner the "Beep! Beep!" guy and mistakes him for a chicken after her disastrous attempt at driver’s ed.
  • When Debra first meets Preston in "Introducing Debra" she excitedly asks if they are "a brothers band".
  • Preston asks Debra if Dancy's mirror told her Debra was the fairest in the land" as to why Dancy hates her.
  • In "Graduating Ferufsky" Debra lists Gotham City as among the places altruists can be found.
  • The band Lung Trumpet is very clearly inspired by KISS.
  • In "Operation Dancy" Debra uses a feminist interpretation of the Wicked Witch of the West to help Dancy move on after her break-up:
  Debra: Dancy, you are who you are because of you. Not because of some silly boy. The Wicked Witch wasn't defined by Mr Wicked... (bites lip pensively)
  Dancy: That's a really bad example.
  • Debra says Preston reminds her of Justin Bieber.
  • The Barbeque Arnett costume Preston wears has a mask quite like Michael Myers and a glove with blades coming out his fingers like Freddy Krueger.
  • In "Designing Auzzie" Preston asks a dressed to impressed Auzzie why he is dressed like Austin Powers. ^note Ironically, though probably not, Auzzie is played by Austin MacDonald.
  • Later, Debra invokes Hamlet when Auzzie ends up becoming a slave to a bossy senior girl:
  Debra: "Woe is totally me, as Shakespeare would say if he was girl alive today and not some guy who’s been dead four hundred years."
  • In a flashback in "Spelling Bee Rematch" to when Debra started getting stage fright after attempting to speak in French with Céline Dion being one of the few words she was able to say clearly.
  • In The Stinger for "Spelling Bee Rematch" Preston introduces his mother's stand-up set on stage to which she refers to herself as G. Lo.
  • "Project Josie" is one to Project Runway.
  • The episode title "Drum and Drummer" is one to Dumb and Dumber.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: Preston and Gracie's parents, Jack and Gracie Lunford are this from their Establishing Character Moment onward.
• Socially Awkward Hero: Our girl Debra, complete with No Social Skills at school and Malaproper tendencies for inventing new phrases.
• Spelling Bee: Debra takes pride in her victory over Dancy at one in the 3rd grade and even carries the victory certificate along with her to hit back whenever Dancy tries to run her down. In "Spelling Bee Rematch" they duel once again. Debra wins.
• Spit Take: Preston does one after he hears Debra trying to telephone Principal Ridge.
• Stage Magician: Preston aspires to be one.
• The Stakeout: A Spies In a Van example as police officer Jack Lunford brings his wife, Gabby and daughter, Gracie along on one in "Teen Capsule". Gabby provides snacks and Gracie just tries to get her homework finished while ignoring her parents' loved up couple talk.
• Status Quo Is God: After Debra transfers to Camfield High and befriends Preston, Auzzie and Brud there is no major shift or change in the series' world.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Happens a lot in "Operation Dancy", first Dancy to Debra and Preston, then both of them to her, and then Mr. Treadgold to Principal Ridge. Particular fitting for the episode's horror elements.
• Stylistic Suck: Gabby's jokes when she tries out stand-up comedy in "Spelling Bee Rematch" are innocently corny.
• Sucks at Dancing: Preston's mom, Mrs Lunford wants to go on a date night and Officer Lunford remembers their first date, wedding and New Year's Eve in the ballroom, all of which ended in the back of an ambulance as a result of her "two left feet". Fourth time is not the charm.
• Sucky School: A very subtle example as Camfield High's main problems tend to stem from apathetic teachers and lack of public funding as seen in "Chez Camfield" when Debra complains about the school cafeteria and Principal Ridge is interested only in securing funding for a new desk for his office. The same episode also has a vacancy for a school bus driver posted outside the school if it's any indication.
• Super Gullible: Mrs Lunford when she asks Gracie what Preston wants for his birthday.
• Supreme Chef: Solomon Des Chalet, the French chef Principal Ridge hires to cook the dinner for his meeting with the Board of Education and the Mayor that Aussie distracts by pretending to be a journalist interviewing him for an award he has won.
• Surprise Party: Debra and Marla plan one for Preston in "Let's Party".
• Take Our Word for It: Debra in her confessional says they can't show any more of the wrestling match in "Graduating Fenufsky" because it's too violent and that some of the boys on the team requested grief counselling after seeing it.
• Talent Contest: The first episode, "Introducing Debra" features a school talent show at Camfield High wherein Dancy and her Dancyettes perform a glamorous routine in and Debra motivates Preston to enter his magic act in with her acting as his assistant.
• The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Brud leaves a note for Auzzie on his locker telling him he had to go home early and accurately anticipates his reaction.
• Teachers Out of School: Preston is startled to run into Mr. Treadgold outside of school hours at a radio contest for tickets to see the KISS-inspired metal band Lung Trumpet with the normally timid substitute teacher in full cosplay as a band member.
• The Teaser: Every episode starts with one, usually with Debra asking Mr. Treadgold random questions during class. Each time the class is different ranging from music to mathematics, and even Driver's Ed in the first episode where it appears they actually meet for the first time when he asks her age. "Chez Camfield" and "Teen Capsule" are the only exceptions to this.
• Time Capsule: The town buries one in "Teen Capsule".
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Dancy and Debra used to be friends before Dancy discovered the perks and allure of popularity and abandoned Debra to become a resident mean girl.
• Two-Fisted Tales: Gracie types up her father's account of a case for a real crime magazine in a dynamic and sensationalized style close to a Raymond Chandler story.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: Most episodes have a main plot featuring Debra’s misadventure with Preston and a subplot with either Gracie and the rest of the Lunfords or Auzzie and Brud which would often come to a conclusion with the climax of the Debra plot.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Dancy according to Debra.
• Villainous BSoD: Dancy has a 24-hour-long one in "Designing Auzzie" after Auzzie bypasses her for a senior girl as she was anticipating him trying his luck with her again and was preparing "the ultimate put-down". She just stands there in the cafeteria all night.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: The Lunford parents are this to the cynical Preston and level-headed Gracie.
• We Used to Be Friends: Debra and Dancy before Dancy discovered popularity.
• Welcome Episode: "Introducing Debra" focuses on Debra just having transferred to Camfield High, meeting Preston, Auzzie and Brud and reigniting her history with Dancy.
• What Does This Button Do?: Debra is frequently prone to this, both when she hits the bottom on the band's confetti machine in "Introducing Debra" and the lever to start pouring the cement in "Teen Capsule".
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Our girl once again.
• Wig, Dress, Accent: Debra and Dancy pretend to be French waitresses to serve the school board Debra's recipes in "Chaz Camfield". Heels are also included.
• The Wildcats: The school football team are called the Camfield Cougars.
• X Must Not Win: A consistent reason for prompting Debra to compete against Dancy.
• Young Entrepreneur: Debra, while she hasn't officially started her future company yet thinks as one.
• Zany Scheme: Most episodes involve or require one of these.
• Zombie Gait: Debra does an impression of a zombie in the first episode which is also used in the opening credits.

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May the big soaring pony be with you.