There are several reasons to keep binge-watching Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. After all, who needs Spotify when you’ve got a show playing everything from Destiny’s Child’s Say My Name to Kesha’s Tik Tok to The Proclaimers’ I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)?
At the same time, we also can’t get enough of the performances put on by the various people who seem to cry out to Zoey (Jane Levy) for help. Now that the show is on its second season, we’re quite sure that we’ll be seeing more of that. And while we wait for more episodes, we thought we’d reveal some behind-the-scenes facts:
The Show Was Inspired By Creator Austin Winsberg’s Father
For Winsberg, the entire process of creating the show and overseeing its production has been extremely personal. After all, the family story arc surrounding the titular character had been based on his own experiences with his father. “From the onset of diagnosis of my dad's PSP, progressive supranuclear palsy, to him passing away was nine months…,” Winsberg told The Hollywood Reporter. “Everything you saw over the course of the season in the house was literally stuff that happened in my family's house during those months.” On the show, Gallagher portrays Zoey’s dad.
Jane Levy Didn’t Have To Audition To Play Zoey, It Was Offered To Her
For the show to work, it needed an actress that could also sing and dance. As it turns out, Winsberg had always known she was multi-talented since she did a musical in 2014 entitled Bang, Bang Baby that was featured at the Toronto Film Festival. “I was the lead of that and it was a strange ’60s, Ann Margret, on acid musical. And so there’s footage of me singing,” Levy told The Playlist. “So I was actually offered this part. I didn’t audition.” To date, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is among Levy’s most highly-rated shows aside from Suburgatory.
It Was Jane Levy Who Suggested That Lauren Graham Should Play Her Boss
Graham is one actress who’s been in an impressive number of hit shows. In fact, early on in her career, she starred in sitcoms such as Seinfeld and Townies. Graham also happens to be good friends with Levy.
And so, Graham had known about the show while Levy was still deciding on whether she should take the role. While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Graham recalled, “And then it almost became a joke where she was like, ‘You should play my boss.'” On the show, Graham plays Levy’s boss who later becomes her good friend.
The Show Has A Music Budget And Specific Song Rules
As fans may have realized by now, music is an integral part of the show. As a matter of fact, every episode of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist features several musical numbers. To make this possible, the show plans its playlist way ahead of time. The selection always adheres to Winsberg’s criteria. “The songs need to advance the plot, the character, or be funny.” As for the budget, Winsberg also told Script. “We have a music budget, and because we’re creating our own version of the song, there are two types of song rights, which affects the price of the song.”
The Show Uses A Mix Of Pre-Recorded Audio & Live Performances
For the show’s cast, pulling off elaborate music numbers can be tricky. After all, it’s not just the singing aspect that they have to worry about. There’s a lot of choreography involved too. And when the time came for Levy to shoot the episode (the one entitled Zoey’s Extraordinary Glitch) where she performs six songs, the actress told The Playlist, “There’s a mixture of me live singing and pre-records.” Admittedly, Levy also said that working on the numbers was “really scary.” Nonetheless, it was “really fun and then really fulfilling.”
The Show Films In Canada
Just like several Disney productions, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist also films in Canada. As it turned out, the production location also worked in the show’s favor when COVID protocols came into play. As Winsberg has told Paste, it was “a little bit easier” to shoot in Canada and it also helped that the country had lower number of cases. That said, Winsberg also made it clear that the show still practiced “a tremendous amount of precautions,” including multiple COVID testing each week. Moreover, dance rehearsals were always done with masks on.
It Took Eight Takes To Film Skylar Astin’s Con Te Partirò Sequence
The Pitch Perfect star is no stranger to productions that involve a lot of music performances. That said, it’s not every day that he is asked to perform a song in Italian. Hence, when time came to shoot his Con Te Partirò sequence, Astin wanted to make sure that every aspect of it was perfect.
And that essentially meant filming it multiple times. “I probably did about eight takes of Con Te Partirò when I normally do around four,” Astin revealed while speaking with Entertainment Weekly. “I just wanted to make sure I had everything perfectly.”
The Show Took Three Days Off Production To Prepare For Jane Levy’s Performances In Episode 8
Filming the episode Zoey’s Extraordinary Glitch took a lot more work than usual. This was especially true for Levy whose character did all the singing in the episode. As it turns out, Winsberg had always thought there should be an episode where Zoey would perform every number. And while Levy knew about this play early on, the episode still required more preparation on her part. While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the actress revealed, “We took three days off of production so that I could prepare all these numbers.”
Peter Gallagher Had Always Known That His Time On The Show Was Limited
On the show, Zoey’s father passes away during the season’s finale entitled Zoey’s Extraordinary Dad. As it turns out, Gallagher had signed up for the show knowing that his character’s story arc may end sooner than he’d like. While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the actor admitted that it was “hard to be part of a powerful story that you really love telling, knowing that you won't necessarily be with the story as it goes on.” Gallagher may have made an appearance in the second season premiere but fans are still anxious to know if he’ll keep appearing in the new season.
Lauren Graham Had To Exit Season 2 Due To COVID
The show had no intention of losing Graham but sadly, the crew had to deal with circumstances beyond their control. As many would know, COVID forced a lot of show and movie productions to delay filming. And for Graham, this had caused scheduling conflict since the actress was also due to shoot The Mighty Ducks series for Disney+. “As the dates got pushed the more we realized that scheduling would be a major issue and we just weren’t going to be able to have her (Graham) the way we thought we were,” Winsberg told Paste.