"I do my thing."note
"So anytime I feel some type of way
Don't understand the human race...
So what, so what, so what?"
Don't understand the human race...
So what, so what, so what?"
— Theme song
Gabby Duran & the Unsittables is a sci-fi comedy series based on the novel of the same name by Elise Allen and Daryle Conners. It had its world premiere on the Disney Channel on October 11, 2019.
After living in the shadows of her successful mother and smart younger sister, Gabby Duran (played by Kylie Cantrall) finds her moment to shine when she gets a job babysitting an unruly group of extraterrestrial children who have been hiding out on Earth disguised as humans. Gabby resourcefully and fearlessly steps up to the challenge to protect the children and their secret identities.
A second season was announced ahead of the series premiere which premiered June 4, 2021, about a year after the first season ended. It finished on November 26 the same year.
On December 1, 2021, Nathan Lovejoy announced on his Instagram that the series has been cancelled and will not be renewed for a third season, leaving the series Left Hanging.
Tropes:
- Accidental Truth: In "Sky's First Youth Overnight Sleeping Event", Sky dares Gabby to make a prank call, and she gives one to Swift, saying his refrigerator is "running". Unknown to her at the time however, the fridge actually is running thanks to the Blurbles Jeremy is watching bringing it to him, and he unintentionally thanks her for giving the warning.
- Alien Among Us: All of the kids Gabby babysits are aliens hiding on Earth.
- Amicable Exes: Seems to be the case for Gabby's parents, Dina and Bruce, from what the Christmas Episode shows.
- Badly Battered Babysitter: As Gabby is a normal human babysitting aliens, this trope comes into play. Specifically, several trailers show her getting Covered in Gunge thanks to her charges.
- Bait-and-Switch: In the first episode, Gabby is called to Principal Swift's office after covering his car in tinfoil and spray-painting said tinfoil with her name. The principal asks for confirmation that she did this... then thanks her, as his car is now protected from bird droppings.
- A Bad Future timeline at the end of season 2 shows that if Gabby had not redirected her energies into alien babysitting, she would have become a viciously vindictive prankster so terrifying her own sister becomes a shut-in due to the trauma Gabby can induce with her pranks.
- Birthday Buddies: Gabby happens to share a birthday with her old best friend Mimi.
- Birthday Episode:
- "The Party King and Timbuk, Too" for Jeremy.
- "Mimi from Miami" for Gabby.
- Blatant Lies: Gabby's constant excuses to hide the truth about the aliens.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Gabby speaks to the viewers at the beginning of the first episode.
- Big "NO!": Swift screams one, combined with Skyward Scream, at the very end of "Dia De La Dina" as he is left on Earth and his "fancy drinking stick" is taken away in his place.
- Birthday Episode: "The Party King and Timbuk, Too" for Jeremy.
- Blob Monster: One of Gabby's charges is a shapeshifting blob alien named Jeremy. His uncle, Principal Swift, is likewise a shapeshifting blob alien.
- Book Ends: Season 1 starts and ends with Gabby addressing the viewer at the beginning, finishing with the subtitle "the best babysitter in the galaxy".
- Character Name and the Noun Phrase: The series title, Gabby Duran and the Unsittables, "Gabby Duran" being the character name and "The Unsittables" being the noun phrase.
- Christmas Episode: In “It’s Christmas, Gabby Duran!”, with Bruce's flight getting delayed, it looks like he's going to miss Christmas, which devastates Olivia. Gabby convinces Principal Swift to pose as Bruce to keep the holiday fun on track, but things get tense when Swift suffers shape-shifting trouble, and Gabby starts thinking about how she rarely sees her dad these days. Meanwhile, Jeremy is readying traps for Santa Claus, as he believes him to be an evil, youth-draining alien. Wesley agrees to help in order to prove that Santa is actually good (but also an alien).
- Cliffhanger: Season 1 ends with Dina Duran walking in on the rest of the main cast explicitly discussing alien matters.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Principal Swift comes off as kind of crazy thanks to his Fish out of Water status.
- Covered in Gunge: The teasers show Gabby ending up with slime all over herself several times.
- Crotch-Glance Sex Check: In "Crybaby Duran", Sky's dad brings a dog in Sky's room, not knowing Wesley was in there and that his daughter was at school, and Wesley believes that the dog is his long-lost pet, Brisket note .To find out if the dog is really Brisket, he makes it do tricks and orders steamed broccoli, Brisket's favorite treat. When the dog doesn't eat the broccoli, he flips it over to find out it was a female.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Gabby's ringtone is the theme song.
- Disappeared Dad: Gabby and Olivia's dad, Bruce, is not around, due to the folks being separated and living in different towns.
- Establishing Series Moment: The first teaser
shows protagonist Gabby in what looks like your typical horror movie set-up, being stalked by something leaving a blue slime trail. Eventually, she goes outside, is confronted by a terrifying Blob Monster...and calmly threatens to tell said blob's parents that he snuck out again. - Family Theme Naming: Swift's real name is Granis, while Jeremy's real name is Franis. There's also the latter's sister, Dranis.
- Fish out of Water: Principal Swift and Jeremy are struggling to adapt to human customs.
- Fluffy the Terrible: The Blurbles in "Sky's First Youth Overnight Sleeping Event".
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The brief clip of Fritz's android scan of Gabby in "Who Is Joey Panther" reads "smile: perfect," then "voice: perfect," then "style: perfect." Meanwhile, the top-right corner of the scan reads: "analysis: beautiful, funny, cool two-toned hair."
- Heroic BSoD: Swift goes through one throughout "The Darkness" over being rejected by the Gor-Mon chief advisor.
- His Name Really Is "Barkeep": Principal Swift. His first name literally is "Principal".
- Idiosyncratic Wipes: The view quickly zooming out or in to begin/end a scene.
- In Medias Res: The series starts with the Durans having recently moved to Havensburg.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: "Mom Wipe" revolves around Gabby trying to erase Dina's memory of her accidentally discovering her alien babysitting job.
- Long List: Swift's list of personal secrets he reads to Jeremy in "The Note".
- Mobile-Suit Human: Fritz, one of her charges builds and uses these.
- Once per Episode: The aliens Gabby babysits.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Swift's and Jeremy's real Gor-Mon names are Granis and Franis, respectfully.
- On the Next: Like Andi Mack, each episode ends with a preview of the next episode's events. However, it, for the most part, mostly avoids going the cliffhanger route.
- Pokémon Speak: The Torkwob aliens in "Ratita and the Ultras" has this for their method of communication.
- Precocious Crush: Fritz has one on Gabby.
- Real After All: The end of the subplot in "It's Christmas, Gabby Duran!" implies White Beard, the villainous alien counterpart of Santa Claus, is indeed real.
- Reveal Shot: The second episode begins with Gabby talking to someone about the events of the previous episode. A pull-back shows she is talking to the alien baby she's watching. She even lampshades such.
- Ring-Ring-CRUNCH!: The first episode begins with Gabby smashing her alarm clock until it dies down.
- Secret Identity: Gabby has to keep her job and the aliens a secret from everyone, especially her family.
- Secret-Keeper:
- Wesley has a huge secret entrusted to him as of the second episode. He promises not to tell anyone else.
- Olivia becomes this as of "The Note".
- Shout-Out: Between the bow tie, the jawline and the British accent, Principal Swift bears a suspicious resemblance to a certain other alien.
- Sequel Hook: At the end of "Olivia Gone Wild", Susie is shown spying on Gabby and Olivia and vows revenge, and is shown to have Dina's rating of zero on her phone.
- Show Within a Show: In "The Party King and Timbuk, Too", Swift watches a Gor-Mon soap called The Real Blobwives of Gor-Monia.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Gabby is the tomboy to Olivia's girly girl.
- Touch Telepathy: Sky and other telepathic aliens can read the thoughts of others by making physical contact.
- Truncated Theme Tune:
- The theme song was cut short in the first episode.
- The title theme itself was shortened down on certain weeknights since 2020, to make room for more commercials and to commemorate the "Commercial-Free Night" programming.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: Episodes generally follow this format, with Gabby and her babysitting duties as the main plot, along with a b-story featuring Swift and Jeremy in their own situations.
- Two Scenes, One Dialogue: In "It's Christmas, Gabby Duran!", there is a scene that cuts back and forth between Gabby and Olivia practicing their song for Bruce and Wesley being forced to go Christmas caroling with his family.
- Vocal Dissonance: Jeremy's friend Timbuk, who is a preteen but has the voice of an adult man.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: The Gor-Mons are living blobs that can shapeshift into multiple objects and forms.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: In "Dia De La Dina”, Dina gets food poisoning after eating clams casino and tries to find a bathroom (or at least, a container she can throw up in), but there is a line for it. She bumps into a woman pushing her baby in a carriage; because she can’t hold her vomit much longer, she accidentally does so in the baby’s face, but the scene cuts to a waitress dumping salsa into a cup.
- What Is This Feeling?: The subplot of "Crushin' It" revolves around Swift discovering Gabby is in love and belie ingredients it to be a dangerous disease.
- With a Foot on the Bus: Swift almost leaves Earth for Gor-Monia, but when he is rejected he stays, thus entering a Heroic BSoD.
- You Are Grounded!:
- In "Sky's First Youth Overnight Sleeping Event", Gabby and Sky are grounded for sneaking out of the house and their sleepover ends early.
- Gabby gets sent to her room in "The Note" when she doesn't tell her mom the truth about the letters.
- And Olivia gets grounded in "Vortex & Night Train" after she sprays milk in Dina's face with a water gun (she had chemicals on her face that makes her skin green).
