Board Thread:Summer/@comment-4146635-20140820171850/@comment-5384369-20140821153307

I will have to disagree with you about a lot of what you said seeing as though you probably didn't get my point at all.

DanTD wrote: I have to agree with you on everything except Liv and Maddie. First, the title isn't that much of a copy. Liv and Maddie doesn't use ampersands, and the episode titles aren't patterned the same way as the main title, like Austin & Ally. Yes, they're patterned an exact way like Austin & Ally, but they don't follow the same patterns.

Austin & Ally is pronounced Austin and Ally, not Austin ampersand Ally. Liv and Maddie is pronounced Liv and Maddie. When you say them, they still sound the same. Just because you spell one different doesn't mean that they don't mean the exact same thing. An ampersand is a way of compressing the word "and". Plus, look at all the people who write Liv & Maddie (or L&M) or Austin And Ally. By technicality they aren't correct because that isn't a show, but they still have the same meaning regardless. I am not looking at the specifics, I'm looking at it generally, so I really didn't care if one repeats _&_ or _____-A-Rooney. Besides Liv and Maddie wouldn't be able to fit the same pattern that Austin & Ally does for their titles because of their names.

DanTD wrote: I know that's not much, but there's more. Simply having main characters who are opposites of one another isn't really that exact. Austin Moon was a complete stranger to Ally Dawson until Ally caught him playing drums at Sonic Boom with corn dogs, while Dez videotaped him. Again, not looking at specifics. The main thing is that they're two people who have completely different personalities, but they're still friends. When you put it in the basics that's mostly what it is. I mean, the little "catch phrase" that A&A uses is "He rocks. She writes. Together they make beautiful music." And like Liv and Maddie, even though they have a few things in common and are friends, they're pretty opposites.

DanTD wrote: Liv and Maddie Rooney were twins, and they did know each other before Liv went off to Hollywood to play as Stephanie Einstein on "Sing It Loud!" Liv was off to who knows where for a long period of time, and from what I believe with little to no contact with Maddie or the rest of her family. I personally believe that if you're away for a long period of time with no contact, you can be considered a stranger. Maybe not the kind of "stranger" that you thought I mean such as the kind that's like you never met in your entire life, but a stranger to you. Like, you don't really know much about their life and vice versa. (Also, Austin probably at least saw Ally because they went to the same High School)

DanTD wrote: Third, Austin & Ally both have musical careers that they've been seeking since childhood, even though Austin got the jump on his first. Liv Rooney is more of an actress than a singer (albeit talented at both), and Maddie is neither. Finally, Liv Rooney was already a star when that series began, and Maddie Rooney was a local basketball phenomenon. Austin Moon became famous the same way Justin Bieber did, and Ally Dawson wrote songs while struggling to deal with her stage fright for a over a season and a half before having the courage to perform. And again, I'm not paying attention to specifics. If Disney completely copied Austin & Ally, Liv and Maddie would be a complete bust. So yes, there are differences in the way one acts (Ally is a bit more shy whereas Madddie screams) and one performs (Austin usually performs scheduled and at the end of the show whereas Liv attempts to sing whenever she can). And also, Austin became an internet sensation within the first episode. So, to a certain extent, he was already well known.

You bring up a few valid points, but you're looking at the specifics "exact same thing", when I'm looking at generalized "exact same thing". I'm aware that Disney can't copy every thing word for word, but the idea of having two opposites that manage to get along really well with each other is pretty much the exact same thing that Austin & Ally and Liv and Maddie base their show off of (originally).

I just can't see them as viable crossovers because they're so similar to each other.