Accidental Aesop: Zack never being given the opportunity to apply his genuine talent in fields like woodworking and the nightclub industry and instead being expected to live up to his genius twin brother can serve as a cautionary tale about the failure of the education system focusing on grades more than finding students' talents and passions.
Adorkable: Cody is an endearingly awkward geeky kid, as well as incredibly sweet and sensitive, so he naturally qualifies...until the second season of the sequel series, wherein he Took a Level in Jerkass.
Alternate Character Interpretation: Carey's relief when she learns Zack only dressed as a girl to try to win the grand prize in a beauty pageant has been vilified as judgmental by many, though it's just as possible she was worried her son was pretending to be a contestant to prey on the other pageant girls and is relieved he wasn't.
Best Known for the Fanservice: "Health and Fitness" is remembered for its brief scene of London imagining herself with a massive behind. The "extra thicc" memes of the late 2010's in particular have had a lot of fun with this.
Mr. Moseby is portrayed as antagonistic towards the twins for punishing them whenever they run around treating the hotel like their personal playground, when in reality he is just doing his job to keep the hotel clean and secure from all trouble. It gets even worse when an episode has the twins wish to be superheroes with Moseby as the supervillain.
Sandy Butteaux from "Team Tipton" is portrayed as incompetent and gets his "comeuppance" by being thrown out a window. While he wasn't making a lot of progress, he was trying, and he admits he has only been in the field for seven weeks. The majority of the issues came from the staff being unwilling to help themselves, whether it was constantly arguing over each other, or botching exercises like dropping Millicent right as she was starting to trust them. The person really to blame was Moseby for hiring a guy with far less experience than should be required to help with a 5-star hotel, and the staff for expecting him to be a miracle worker who can create progress in the face of defiance.
Diagnosed by the Audience: Cody can be read as autistic due to him not recognizing social cues and having a range of special interests that class him as 'weird' and 'strange' to his peers. He also shows signs of OCD, planning things so that they go perfectly and cleans obsessively, especially in On Deck.
Arwin was very popular to the point he almost got a spinoff. His actor, Brian Stepanek, was a host for many events on the Disney Channel and starred in live-action shorts as well. He was also the only recurring character aside from the twins' parents to appear in On Deck more than once.
Minor one but Esteban gets a lot of love due to his Adorkable behavior and incredibly long name. Being attractive also helps.
Max remained the most popular out of the twins' recurring friends, considering how she's a Tomboy with an... interesting relationship with Zack. It helps that she's played by Alyson Stoner.
Jessica and Janice are pretty popular due to the Rosso twins being very pretty, despite the fact that they really didn't have any personality traits until On Deck.
Fanon: Max's name is short for Maxine. This is never discussed in canon but is accepted in fanfiction. Her last name is never agreed on.
Genius Bonus: In "Lost In Translation", Cody says in Japanese that he has a hornet nest in his pants, causing the Japanese guests to run away in fear. While most people would do the same, there's the fact they could've thought he meant the Asian Giant Hornet, which can melt flesh.
Growing the Beard: While the first season is well-liked, it's generally seen that season 2 is an improvement. What with the actors being more comfortable in the roles, the humor being perfected, and side characters like Arwin and Esteban getting more screen time. One downside to season two, though, is some people prefer how London was more of a typical, shallow, rich girl with airheaded moments in season 1 compared to how flanderized she'd later become.
Chris Brown made a guest appearance in one of the final episodes of the series shortly before the story broke on his abuse of Rihanna.
London's b-plot in "What The Hey?" has her telling her newest stepmother, Brandi, that she is just one of many women who have come into her and her father's lives and left. While they do make up in the end, Brandi is never seen or mentioned after her single appearance in this episode, and Suite Life On Deck reveals that Mr. Tipton married another woman.
Heartwarming in Hindsight: Maddie and London being mothers for a school project became this when Ashley Tisdale and Brenda Song became mothers within 2 weeks of each other.
The first episode of the series has Esteban swinging from a chandelier. Seems like Sia got the inspiration to write the song, "Chandelier".
Maddie explaining to London that a shoelace tip is called an aglet may have been a one-off joke, but if you take Ashley Tisdale's other role into consideration, which had an entire episode about aglets... In that same episode, Maddie straight-up tells London “You are so busted!”
In the Season 1 episode "Maddie Checks In," Daniel Booko appeared as London's love interest, Kyle Lawford. Fifteen years later, Booko and Brenda Song would co-star again in the Netflix movie Secret Obsession—as newlyweds.
"Romancing the Phone" features Jaden Smith as Cody's karate teacher.
Another one, in the original series's "French 101", Moseby was asked where the twins were going, and he responds, "With any hope, The Bermuda Triangle." Guess where they head in the Sequel series.
And while we bring up the sequel series, Carey and the boys take a trip on the SS Tipton in "Let Us Entertain You," which would eventually be the twins' place to stay for the sequel.
The above-mentioned Paris Hilton being president in an alternate universe. In 2008 Paris released a parody video for Funny Or Die where she said she planned to run for president.
In "Tiptonline", Mr. Moseby says because of his gaming addiction, he hasn't done any work in a fortnight. "Plus, I just said fortnight."
"Rock Star In The House" ends with Zack playing video games with Jesse McCartney. The episode aired in 2005, one year before McCartney'sStar-Making Role as Roxas in the PS2 game Kingdom Hearts II. And then Kingdom Hearts III Re:Mind took things up to eleven with Dylan Sprouse voicing Yozora, the Superboss of the Secret Episode. Bonus points for Sprouse posting an image on Twitter of a photoshop of Sora fighting Mr. Moseby months before this. Even before Kingdom Hearts IIIAlyson Stoner appeared in the series several times as Kairi's second voice actress and is arguably better known in the series for voicing Xion.
As noted above in Best Known for the Fanservice, London's worry about being too heavy (and having a butt that's too big in particular) is this when in the 2010's, public perception of curvier, heavier women became more positive.
One episode had Mr. Moseby, a black man, dress up as a founding father. It's even lampshaded by Phill Lewis' daughter on Twitter.
Cole Sprouse plays a normal kid who is suddenly given the ability to read minds in one of the later seasons of the show. Years later on Riverdale he would do the same thing again.
The show's staple joke that London is a parody of Paris Hilton came full circle in 2023 when Paris named her second child London.
Bob and Zack seemed to have a deeper relationship than just friends. Zack seemed very hurt that he had become mushy with Barbara. Of course, it was only played for laughs.
Also, Esteban sometimes seems to have Smithers'reasons for working for Mr. Moseby, such as saying, while smiling, "He never yells for me. He yells at me... but only when I deserve it, which is often. He's a great man..."
Informed Wrongness: The episode "Kisses & Basketball". Apparently, we're supposed to side with Max after she became upset at Zack for dating her just to "take one for the team". This ignores the fact that this whole thing was actually Cody and Tapeworm's idea, and Zack himself even refused right before Cody explains why Zack has to do it. The fact that Max didn't even give Cody and Tapeworm a stern lecture of this even after she knew they were the ones who talked Zack into it while Zack was the one who got the punishment (via getting sundae shoved in his face by Max) makes the former two come off as a couple of Karma Houdinis. Made worse when you learn that this whole conflict between Zack and Max started with Cody and Tapeworm mocking Zack for receiving a kiss from Max. While Zack shouldn't have said "It wasn't a girl, it was Max", the whole predicament wouldn't have happened if Cody and Tapeworm weren't teasing Zack in the first place, and despite that, when Max suddenly becomes aloof towards Zack; Cody, and Tapeworm still try to make it seem like it was all Zack's fault.
Mr. Moseby can be overly stern and a Mean Boss to his employees sometimes, but not only is he dealing with a stressful job, but he also has to babysit Zack, Cody, and London, so it's hard not to pity him.
Jaime (played by a pre-iCarlyNathan Kress) is abrasive towards everyone in the episode "Back in the Game" but it's clear throughout the episode that he's bitter about losing the life he once knew to his accident and being confined to a wheelchair. While everyone is trying their best to help him, he feels they don't understand, which, to be fair, they really don't.
As a school assignment, Maddie and London have to take care of a baby doll. They get really into being the baby's mommies and end up fighting about parenting styles as if they were a real couple raising a baby.
After a heart-to-heart talk about her father, London tries to buy diamond jewelry for Maddie.
"Poor Little Rich Girl":
London: "You took me in when no one else would. You like me for richer or poorer, for better or worse, in sickness and in health-" Maddie: "We're not married, London."
Worth noting regarding this joke is that at the time of the episode, Massachusetts had become the first state in the USA to legalize same-sex marriage not long before the series began.
"Time to strip and make the beds!"
London:(starts taking off her clothes) Okay, if that's what poor people do...
Maddie: Whoa there, big girl!
In Suite Life Goes Hollywood, the Hollywood studio got Dante Basco to play London in their Show Within a Show, with their excuse being that they wanted a romance between the candy counter girl and the owner's kid. London's response?
There is also Corrie, one of the students at Our Lady Of Perpetual Sorrow, who is a big fan of London to the point where she comes across like she is in love with her. In the episode where Maddie and London have to raise a fake baby for a class assignment, Corrie names her baby after London.
London's driving lesson with Moseby and how she pronounces the letters on a car's gear shift (PRNDL) as "prindle", which leads to the line:
"Why don't we just relax and maybe turn on the radio? Would you likeAMMMMM, or FMMMMMM?!
NO X IN MY LOBBY!
Esteban swinging off of the chandelier in the pilot. note Now to the tune ofSia's song "Chandelier"
"HOW DO YOU LOSE A WOMAN?!" "You forget to cherish her." explanation This dialogue exchange between Moseby and Cody when the twins lose a very important Japanese performer needed for a convention.
Everything Moseby says.
Moseby's ridiculous dancing, particularly how one guy in the audience sounds like he's having the time of his life.
Maddie wondering why nobody sees the resemblance between her and Ashley Tisdale.
Esteban Julio Ricardo Montoya de la Rosa Ramirez!!!
"My sister got a groom, I got my own room! WHAT!"explanationMr. Moseby imitating Maddie when she lies about not having room in her home to house a recently-broke London.
Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: London is the quintessential Asian Airhead, but is beloved by many Asian children who loved that someone who looked like them was a prominent character on a Disney Channel sitcom. It helps that the character is given plenty of Hidden Depths, bordering on Spoiled Sweet, and has a spectacular Unlimited Wardrobe. And Brenda Song's comedic timing is greatly respected to this day.
Never Live It Down: Some feel Carey was way too harsh on Zack in "Bowling". Even some of the characters In-Universe agreed.
"The Ghost of Suite 613" is a genuinely creepy episode, from the graphic (for a kids' show) description of how the woman died, to Esteban's possession and Slasher Smile during the séance, and the real ghost coming back in The Stinger.
"Health and Fitness" has some worrying consequences, both onscreen and implied, for the cast's poor health habits. Cody warns Paolo he will eat himself sick and have a drastically shortened lifespan, Zack is addicted to sweets, London starts suffering fainting spells from starving herself and over-exercising to try to lose weight, and Maddie has rapidly gained weight from resorting to gorging herself to try to get more curves.
The episode "Loosely Ballroom" gets many, including a Dirty Old Man played by Rip Taylor, his nurse who he constantly harasses (Dancing with the Stars professional dancer Cheryl Burke), a Toy Ship for Moseby, and Alexander (the great!), a rival for Esteban, played by another DWTS pro dancer Louis von Amstel. None of them are ever seen again, nor do any of them appear in the credits when everyone else is shown dancing in the lobby.
Sister Rose from "Volley Dad", partly because, unlike Sister Dominick, she had no problem calling London out for her poor performance and blaming Maddie.
The Problem with Licensed Games: The DS game is pretty much universally agreed to be terrible, to the point that Cole Sprouse advised a fan to smash their copy on Twitter.
Due to High School Musical, Ashley Tisdale's role was reduced in Season 3. This led to Maddie's replacement, Millicent as the new candy girl, who is hated for basically only having one joke about her character (she's easily scared).
Maddie may be this for those who know her more as Sharpay. This was lampshaded in the episode Lip Synchin' In The Rain, when they put on High School Musical as a play after the film had premiered and became a big success. Of course, you'll also recognize her as Candace Flynn.
David Blue, who would go on to star as Eli Wallace in the Syfy series Stargate Universe, appeared in the episode "Nurse Zack" as Dr. Chip Walters, the Tipton's young, inexperienced, and unprofessional staff physician.
Sister Dominick is hated by a majority of the fans for how she treats Maddie in such a biased, unfair, and condescending way simply because she prefers London due to her wealthy status. It doesn't help that London in those situations is basically a Karma Houdini as a result. The best examples of this are "Books and Birdhouses" and "Forever Plaid".
Barbara Brownstein, Cody's girlfriend, who was more or less a Flat Character other than she was as smart as him. She garnered a lot of hate for the episode "Graduation" which featured her constantly stepping on Cody's foot because he jokingly would try to beat her attempts to be overly-academic; fans were satisfied when Cody got back at her by wearing steel-toed boots. Her overbearing Academic Alpha Bitch nature comes off as even more unflattering seeing as she was stated as being both Asian and Jewish and by consequence, an outdated stereotype of both.
The famous Slap-Slap-Kiss between Maddie and Trevor in season two, no doubt thanks to their actors later appearing in High School Musical.
Special Effects Failure: Some shots of the hotel are clearly animated. Particularly in the first season.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: In "What The Hey", we meet London's fifth stepmother Brandi, who is excited to be a mother and obviously cares about London, something the latter isn't used to due to a string of stepmothers who came and left. Brandi and London's relationship could have been interesting to explore, and she could have served as another positive adult influence in London's life besides Moseby, but she is never seen or mentioned beyond her one episode, and On Deck reveals Mr. Tipton married again.
Trans Audience Interpretation: Cody dresses as a girl on two separate occasions, likes many feminine things like cooking, cheerleading, and fashion, and is sometimes mistaken for a girl. Some fans have taken this as him being a closeted trans girl. Some people interpret him as a trans boy instead, with him disliking being referred to as a girl and feminine. He's not good at sports but wants to be so that he can be 'like one of the guys.' In the fairytale episode parodying Hansel and Gretel, where Zack is Hansel and Cody is Gretel, he says that; "I prefer to be called Greg."
There are a few pop culture references here and there that clearly date the series to the mid-2000's, perhaps none more notable than London being a parody of Paris Hilton who was the resident tabloid star of the decade.
Society has become more accepting of curvier women since the show’s airing; to the point that by the end of the 2010's, more people would openly and unironically prefer London if she was the size she imagined herself in the mirror in "Health and Fitness".
Zack becomes this in "Kisses & Basketball". While it was wrong for him to imply that Max wasn't a girl in the beginning after receiving a kiss from her, it isn't exactly very easy to blame him since he was getting teased by Cody and Tapeworm about it. What's more is that when Max became upset at Zack, the former two suggested that taking Max out on a date would take one for the team, and since Zack was the one who was reluctant about this himself, it's pretty hard not to take his side when Max becomes upset at him after finding this out while saying nothing to Cody and Tapeworm.
Zack's Brilliant, but Lazy nature in general can be seen as this when you look at who his brother is. When he finds something he's passionate about, such as woodworking or running a nightclub, he's actually willing to put in the hard work to make it successful and applies his intelligence quite well. He could have a lucrative career as a cabinetmaker or nightclub manager if he were in an environment that nurtured those talents. Instead, he's overshadowed by his valedictorian brother, who has achieved more accolades before graduating high school than most achieve in their lifetime. His lackadaisical attitude towards school comes off less as him being lazy and more as him simply not wanting to be in an environment where he feels he can't succeed.
Tim in the episode "Birdman In Boston". He gets dumped by his fiancée for a very superficial reason, he didn't pay enough money for the engagement ring. He paid a 1-month salary rather than a 3-months salary, so it's not like he cheaped out. You can't help but feel sorry for the guy who lost a woman he loved over something so frivolous only to be derided by everyone else for it. The only person who feels sorry for him is Moseby.
Zack's behavior to Cody in the Christmas episode. Throughout the episode, Cody feels that his parents are falling back in love, especially around the Christmas season due to overly analyzed assumptions, which Zack keeps putting down. While it's understandable Zack doesn't believe their parents are getting together again (along with the fact he's probably accepted the divorce better than Cody has), he comes off as very spiteful and rude to Cody over it instead of explaining to him why their parents wouldn't get back together.
Cody becomes this in "French 101". He's the one who's portrayed as the more sympathetic type who we should feel sorry for due to not having as much luck with girls as Zack. The problem is that he comes off rather spiteful as he locks Zack in the closet just to keep a French girl that Zack talked to first. To add on to this, ZACK'S the one Carey forces to apologize to the girl, yet she lets Cody not only get away with locking Zack in the closet, she's also okay with him going out with the girl Zack was the one who decided to date.
Carey's actions in "Commercial Breaks". She is presented as being the victim because the jerkass Director, who is also her previous boyfriend, forces her into a minor role. However, she did leave him in an immature manner, and years later, out of fear that he might have a grudge against her, tried to hide her identity from him during the audition. The Director has every right to be upset at Carey for thinking very lowly of him.
Carey in "Bowling" for punishing Zack for a prank against Cody. In this case, Cody wasn't exactly an innocent party as he was repeatedly insulting Zack beforehand and Zack pulled the prank in response to it. There's also to take into account the fact Carey was ruining a bowling tournament important to everyone just because Zack did something wrong and she could've just punished him after the game since Zack is the team's strongest player. To add on to this, it also makes her actions here hypocritical since she did nothing when Cody locked Zack in the closet in "French 101" just to keep a French girl all for himself despite the fact that Zack was the one who laid eyes on her first, which shows a tasteless, biased case of Parental Favoritism on Carey's part.
What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?: The Christmas episode has a couple named Mary and Joseph who couldn't get a room in the Tipton but are stuck there thanks to the snow. Later Mary goes into labor and has a child in the elevator on Christmas Eve. The cast Lampshades how similar it is to the birth of Jesus. Except London, who doesn't get it.
Woolseyism: The Chinese version of the title accommodates the pun by translating suite life as first-class or first-rate (the word means the top-notch or best or even highest level) life rather than using the word suite.
YMMV items for The Suite Life on Deck
Adorkable: Bailey's naivete from her Country Mouse background combined with her enthusiasm, cheerfulness, and unabashed nerdiness make her adorably dorky.
Alternate Character Interpretation: Cody's strength is inconsistent, he can lift a glass case but struggles to catch a small fish. However, it could be mind over matter. It's said that Cody has a low opinion of himself so he could actually be strong (or at least, of average strength) but he doesn't think he can actually do it. In "Any Given Fantasy" once he uses science to play he actually is good at football.
Base-Breaking Character: Marcus Little. Some people find him funny and an underrated character who should have more screen time. Others think that he didn't add anything to the show and that his gimmick, being a former child star, wasn't used enough to justify his existence. People also didn't like how he was advertised as a main character in the opening. While Woody, who has more appearances, has been there since the beginning and is generally more well-liked, was never included in the credits.
Broken Base: Cody and Bailey. While the majority of fans agree they wanted together, when they were together fans cannot agree whether this was good for the show.
"Snakes on the Boat" particularly. It was meant to be a parody of Snakes on a Plane, but this was believed by some to even be unnecessary and not really serve much purpose.
"Starship Tipton" takes the cake, but it was saved for being such a campy yet loving send off of the original Star Trek series. The episode starts as normal and then suddenly it has a terminator parody with a robot Mosbey going back in time to eliminate Zack. It's only at the end of the episode where it turns out the entire episode was all a story that Zack made up.
"Once Upon A Suite Time" is a dream that London, Cody and Zack have about Snow White, Hansel and Gretel and Jack and the beanstalk, respectively. It's a fairytale parody complete with costumes.
Contested Sequel: Some people think that On Deck is either better than the original, on the same level or a bad sequel full of flanderized characters and writing. It's usually seen as the best Disney Channel spinoff, however.
Creator's Pet: Cody in Season 2 into Season 3. He has moments where he acts like a jerk and still he's the center of most episodes. The writing doesn't call him out, whereas they would for Zack.
Pretty much everyone likes Woody for being a Big FunNice Guy with some of the funniest lines in the show and were disappointed that he never got Promoted to Opening Titles despite his appearances, especially in Season 3 where he's shown more than even Bailey and Mr. Moseby.
Addison is extremely popular with the fandom for being a sweets-laden Genki Girl despite her few appearances. Fans also appreciate her adorable relationship with Woody.
Although he only appeared in a handful of episodes, Kirby is loved among fans due to his fun-loving nature and having some of the best comedic timing on the show. His popularity was enough that when his actor Windell D. Middlebrooks passed away in 2015, it got the phrase "R.I.P. Kirby" trending.
Fanon: It's somewhat agreed on that Jessica is a lesbian, despite nothing to go on except for some Les Yay with Bailey.
Fanon Discontinuity: Some fans choose to ignore the movie and a lot of fans don't speak of (or haven't even seen) the I'm in the Band crossover.
An author once wrote two stories about romances between Bailey and Jessica Ellis (who at the time was just one of two twins), then "Model Behavior" happened and Jessica and Bailey shared several Les Yay ridden scenes.
In another fanfic called 'Zoey 1803', Zack is turned into a girl named Zoey. Zack would later get a love interest named Maya, played by Zoey Deutch.
In "My Oh Maya", Maya lists various drinks the smoothie bar sells, including the Cherry Chiller. In 2012, McDonald's released a smoothie called the Cherry Berry Chiller.
In Maddie on Deck the episode's antagonist is a childish young prince named Jeffy who's a spoiled brat. Guess we know where SuperMarioLogan got it from.
"Bermuda Triangle" shows an alternate universe where Zack and Cody have swapped personalities, with Zack being a sensible nerd while Cody is the troubled delinquent who wears a leather jacket. Cole Sprouse, Cody's actor, went on to play Jughead on Riverdale who is also a delinquent who wears a leather jacket.
Haley Tju plays a younger version of London Tipton in "A London Carol". Tju and Brenda Song would later play Marcy Wu and Anne Boonchuy in Amphibia, respectfully.
"Beauty and the Fleeced" episode combined this with a Stupid Sexy Flanders incident where at the beginning Woody is apparently describing an attractive girl before Zack points out that Woody just mistook Cody for a girl.
"Ala-ka-Scram" makes an argument for Zack and Woody, especially during their makeup scene.
For one episode Bailey and Jessica have a ton of this with some fabricated sexual tension (to fool Cody) included.
"The Play's the Thing" had a scene in the play where Haley frenched a mime played by Addison. While Cody ended up playing her, he originally intended for Bailey to do so.
"In Breakup in Paris" Cody reads the poem he wrote about Bailey which says, "When we first met you looked like a boy, when I found out you weren't, my heart filled with joy" which makes it sound like he was already attracted to her before realising that she was a girl and was slightly ashamed of it. Zack likewise says "Please tell me the explanation is that you're a girl because - strangely strangely attracted to you right now."
Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Zack has been paired with Maddie, London, Bailey, Woody, Marcus, Maya, Bob, Max, Janice, a few of his one shot crushes from both series and even Cody.
In the crossover with Wizards of Waverly Place we get both Alex Russo and her brother Max as potential shipping partners for Zack.
Not to mention Jessie from Jessie.
Jerkass Woobie: London Tipton Took a Level in Jerkass around Season 2, but seeing what led up to it can really make you understand why. While it's understandable her father wanted her to stop skipping school, he simply dropped her off on a boat to get rid of her, even though it has been shown repeatedly that his lack of presence is why she turned out the way she did. To make matters worse, London admired the limelight in the original series due to how it gave her some way to fill the void. Being on a cruise ship most of the time, this is borderline impossible. While Moseby is shown to care deeply about her, he has to focus on his job and can only do so much. With all this, it's easy to see her attitude as a coping mechanism for being in a situation she feels completely hopeless about getting out of.
Let's shoot for 40!ExplanationIn the episode "Seven Seas News", when Bailey and Zack are reporting news, Bailey decides to report about how female employees still make 30% less than male employees. Zack congratulates them immediately after she says it, and says this line. Mostly used for Black Comedy 's sake.
In November 2023, the dinner reservation scene from When in Rome.... experienced a resurgence when fans took to Instagram to remind Cole and Dylan Sprouse that their table would be ready on the 16th. Chef Gigi's actress, Sandra Purporo, later acknowledged this and posted this video on Tiktok. Dylan Sprouse would also comment on this in a 2024 interview, humorously adding that seeing the messages he got about it made him feel old.
Narm: The haunting scene from "Ghost And Mr. Martin" for the most part passes off as being effectively scary. The ending where the ghost barricades Cody, Woody, and Zack in Zack's room is hampered by the fact the way the ghost stacked the chairs looks like a giant bra.
Replacement Scrappy: Maya was briefly this during the beginning of Season 3, due to viewers thinking she replaced Bailey or Marcus, though thankfully this died down.
Bailey was this for Maddie at first. Both were sweet, smart, poor girls who struggled to keep up with London's antics. It didn't help that Bailey was written as a love interest and the person to bounce off London rather than her own character in season one. Most people came around by season 2.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Maya was met with an unwelcome reception at first due to the perception that she was going to be a replacement for Bailey or Marcus. Once Bailey returned and she started a genuinely healthy relationship with Zack, showed an amusing Lad-ette personality, and made him more likable, she became a lot more well-received. By the end of the series, fans were genuinely heartbroken when the two broke up.
The magician from the episode "Alaka-scram!" is Justin "Kredible" Willman, a real magician who has appeared in several TV specials and hosted Disney Channel's revival of Win, Lose or Draw
Arguably a borderline example since she did have her name on the opening credits every episode, but Debby Ryan has since become a major star for Disney Channel in JESSIE.
Also, the Prince of Linchtenstamp in the same episode where Ashley Tisdale showed up later became Joshua Matthews in his teens.
And Doc Shaw would go on to be one-half of Pair of Kings (hence his Season 3 departure).
Rachael Kathryn Bell, who played Addison in the series, would (as of 2022) go on to write and record indie pop under the name little Luna.
Romantic Plot Tumor: A common criticism is that Bailey and Cody's relationship and break-up took up a majority of the seasons' spotlight with them fighting with each over over trivial things, putting them both in a bad light. The viewers also felt that Zack and his plots were pushed into the sidelines despite him being one-half of the show's protagonists.
Seasonal Rot: From mid-Season 2 into the first few episodes of Season 3, wherein most characters' Flanderization came to a peak. Once Season 3 got off to a roll, the characters began to recover their charm and depth.
She Really Can Act: "A London Carol" sees Brenda Song playing an older version of London Tipton whose friends have all abandoned her due to her selfish ways. The scene where Old London realizes that she has nobody to be with on Christmas is genuinely heartbreaking to watch and Song makes you feel sorry for London even with you knowing she kind of brought it on herself.
Special Effects Failure: This is probably inevitable since it's a studio set, but the main set piece of On Deck, the top deck of the ship, features a backdrop of a blue, sunny sky as the location is obviously outdoors. Occasionally a character will walk near the backdrop, and thanks to the studio lights, their shadow will appear against the sky.
Strangled by the Red String: Cody and Bailey border on this. While they do have similar interests and personalities, in nearly every episode they are a couple, they get into several fights based on misunderstandings, which some viewers found frustrating and others felt like the storyline of their breakup was contrived and dragged on for too long.
In "A London Carol", the part where she goes to the future and realizes that she will end up with no friends at all.
During an episode where everyone dreams that their fairy tale characters London is the Evil Queen from Snow White, her dreams “happy ending” involves London herself dying. (Get this girl a therapist.)
Most moments regarding Cody and Bailey's breakup, especially at the end of "The Play's The Thing" when Bailey after being hurt by Cody's negative portrayal of her character in the play about their relationship she says she thinks they shouldn't speak to each other again and ends up crying alone in her room.
The prom episode where Bailey just wants to win prom queen, she goes a little over the top in wanting to win and she takes it well when she doesn’t. That said it’s not hard to feel sorry for her when she finds out that nobody voted for her. Cody, her boyfriend even wrote “Drop dead Bailey” on his slip.
In the same episode, the normally cheery Addison is saddened when she believes that Woody likes and is kissing somebody else just as she was about to ask him out to prom.
Maya having to break up with Zack so she could the Peace Corps.
No one didn't cry when they saw this scene in the series finale. NO ONE.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Surprisingly, Zack falls into this as later on in the series, Cody usually is the center of most episodes while Zack only has a few scenes in the more goofy side plots. Even his romance plot with Maya takes a pause in the middle of the season. Zack and Cody barely interact save the odd line, as well as Zack and Bailey, save the first few episodes. He is basically demoted to a side character who pops up in others characters plots.
Bailey dressing as a guy with only Zack knowing would have been a great plot point that could have been stretched out a few more episodes. Most people tend to forget that this even happened until they go back to rewatch.
A lot of fans felt Maddie, Esteban, and Marcus should've returned for the finale.
The finale is generally well liked but some people don't like how open ended it is. It's not stated what happens to Zack and Cody, except that Cody didn't get into Yale. This is because there was supposed to be another spinoff but it never came to fruition. As it is, the characters future is left unknown.
Zack and Maya's relationship. It was the first time Zack took a relationship seriously, but it wasn't given enough time to properly develop. They started dating at the start of the last season, and then Maya is gone for the rest of the series, only coming back near the end. They split up at the finale, where Maya leaves for the Peace Corps. What makes it even sadder is that Zack's first real relationship was cut short, and not enough time was spent on them and their dynamic.
"My Sister's Keeper". He outright hits on Woody's younger sister Willa and insists on dating her, only because of her looks, then breaks up with her because she's a female Woody. It also doesn't help that he acts rude toward Woody when he tries to talk him out of it all while still revealed to be having feelings for Bailey in a later episode, with the episode expecting you to side with Cody.
Vindicated by History: "When In Rome" was not popular when it first aired due to Cody missing out on eating at a restaurant he looked upon so highly, while Zack eats there. A problem with the later seasons was that Cody Took a Level in Jerkass and was given more focus than Zack. In retrospect, this makes the episode viewed more fondly with the date of their reservation going viral when it finally came to pass.
Fanon Discontinuity: The film is generally seen as flawed and has all the characters act out of character and forget character development just to make the plot happen. It's much more enjoyable if you think of it as an adaptation of the series and don't try to fit it into the timeline.
Hilarious in Hindsight: If you take into account someoftheshows that share a universe with The Suite Life series, and the fact that a different show in the universe crossed over with a Marvel show, then the idea of Zack and Cody facing a mad scientist with plans for world domination sounds a lot less far-fetched.
Tear Jerker: After Zack runs a submarine into the seawall in an attempt to impress a cute science assistant, leading Cody to do the same trying to stop him, Cody gets fired and kicked out of the program. That's not the real tearjerker—that comes in a subsequent scene when Cody tells Zack he hates him and states that despite being twins, they are not brothers.
Also the end. Zack finally gets the car and it's crushed by London's wardrobe crate. Makes it worse when you remember the reason why he wanted it in the first place.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Bailey. She spends a good three fourths of the film doing nothing but bitching and moaning about Cody the entire time she got screentime. It doesn't help that even London and Woody grew disinterested by the 3rd scene they were shown in, and she annoys Moseby with her constant obsession with him. It doesn't help that she never takes into consideration Cody's reasoning and completely overreacts the entire time she's bitching. Needless to say its plain obnoxious. She doesn't contribute to anything until the end. leading to even more hate towards the Cailey shipping.
Win Back the Crowd: You could say that the film was an attempt at this as some fans felt like Zack and Cody barely interacted and didn't seem close as they used to in On Deck and the film put them both in the spotlight and was about their relationship. Whether it worked is up to the viewer.
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