Wizards of Waverly Place

Wizards of Waverly Place is an American supernatural fantasy teen sitcom which ran from October 12, 2007 to January 6, 2012 on Disney Channel. The series was created by Todd J. Greenwald, and stars Selena Gomez, David Henrie and Jake T. Austin as three wizard siblings with magical abilities competing to win sole custody of the family powers. Further main cast includes Jennifer Stone, María Canals Barrera and David DeLuise.

The series won "Outstanding Children's Program" at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards in 2009. A film adaptation of the series, Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, premiered as a Disney Channel Original Movie on August 28, 2009. The film adaptation won "Outstanding Children's Program" at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards earning the series its second consecutive Emmy. The farewell season won "Outstanding Children's Program" at the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards bringing the franchise's total to three Emmy awards. Wizards of Waverly Place ended as the longest-running Disney Channel Original Series (surpassing That's So Raven) with 106 episodes over four seasons. Its series finale averaged nearly 10 million viewers (live+same day), which made that episode the most-watched series finale in Disney Channel's history.

On March 15, 2013, The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex premiered as a one-hour television special.[1] [2] [3] {| class="toc" id="toc"

Contents
[hide] *1 Premise
 * 2 Production
 * 2.1 Opening sequence
 * 2.2 Reception
 * 3 Series overview
 * 3.1 Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie
 * 3.2 Series finale
 * 3.3 The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex
 * 4 Cast
 * 4.1 Main
 * 4.2 Recurring
 * 5 Merchandise
 * 5.1 Soundtrack
 * 5.2 Video game
 * 5.3 DVD releases
 * 5.3.1 Compilations
 * 5.3.2 Season releases
 * 6 Awards and nominations
 * 7 International release
 * 8 References
 * 9 External links
 * }

Premise [edit]
Wizards of Waverly Place chronicles the adventures of the Italian-Mexican Russo Family. The Russos live on Waverly Place in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, above a sandwich shop which they own and run. The family consists of siblings Alexandra "Alex" (Selena Gomez), Justin (David Henrie), and Maximillian "Max" (Jake T. Austin). The three teenagers are wizards and live with their Italian father, Jerry (David DeLuise), a former family wizard, and their mortal Mexican mother, Theresa (Maria Canals Barrera). When the Russo siblings complete their wizard training, they are to participate in a competition to decide who will become the Family Wizard (the one to keep his/her magical powers forever) of their generation, while the others lose their powers and become mortals. Because of this, Jerry tries to teach his children to not become dependent on magic. Since one of them gets to keep their powers, though, Jerry also gives his children wizard lessons (the lessons end mid Season four). The storage room of the Russo family's sub station is a wizard's lair. In the lair is a Portal which allows them to visit the wizard world, and other creatures to visit them. The headmaster of the wizard council, Professor Crumbs (Ian Abercrombie), regularly pays visits to the Russo home.

The Russo siblings attend Tribeca Prep and constantly encounter their Old West style principal, Mr. Laritate (Bill Chott). Because they live in the mortal world, the Russos are required to keep the existence of wizardry a secret. Even so, Alex's best friend, Harper Finkle (Jennifer Stone), discovers the secret in Season 2's episode "Harper Knows". Justin's best friend, Zeke Beakerman (Dan Benson), also finds out in Season 4's episode "Zeke Finds Out", along with Alex's boyfriend, Mason Greyback, who is a werewolf (Gregg Sulkin).

Production [edit]
This series was created and as produced by Todd J. Greenwald, who began developing the show after working as a writer and consulting producer during the first season of Hannah Montana. The show is produced by It's a Laugh Productions and Disney Channel Original Productions. The theme song, "Everything Is Not What It Seems", written by John Adair and Steve Hampton, is of techno-pop style and is performed by Selena Gomez. The series is filmed at Hollywood Center Studios in Hollywood, California.[4]

Opening sequence [edit]
For the first three seasons the show used the same title sequence, the opening title sequence, which is set to Selena Gomez's rendition of "Everything Is Not What It Seems", shows Alex, Justin, Max and Harper engaging in magical antics while preparing for school in the morning. The fourth season began using a slightly altered version of the song, and a different sequence involving the cast, who all appear in Times Square at the end of the sequence with Alex waving her wand.

Reception [edit]
The show debuted on Disney Channel on October 12, 2007 after the premiere of Twitches Too, gathering 5.9 million viewers.[5] In January 2010, "Wizards vs. Werewolves" one-hour special episode became the series' most-watched (non-crossover) episode with 6.2 million viewers,[6] surpassing the 6 million viewers of "Paint By Committee" episode[7] The series' most watched episode, including crossovers, was "Cast-Away (To Another Show)" episode, which was included in the special trilogy of crossover episodes between three Disney Channel original sitcoms, Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana. The broadcast was watched by 10.6 million viewers. In 2009, the series was the top scripted telecast for teens between the age of 9–14 (1.63 million/6.7 rating) and second in kids 6–11 (1.81 million/7.4 rating), which was only slightly behind The Suite Life on Deck (1.82 million/7.4 rating.)[8]

Series overview [edit]
Main article: List of Wizards of Waverly Place episodes

Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie [edit]
Main article: Wizards of Waverly Place: The MovieThe Disney Channel Original Movie, based on the series, premiered on August 28, 2009 on Disney Channel. Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was filmed in Puerto Rico in the caribe Hilton hotel, Los Angeles, and New York City from February 16 to March 27, 2009.[9] The movie received 11.4 million viewers on its premiere,[10] making it the second-most-viewed DCOM premiere in the US after High School Musical 2. It was the 7th most watched basic cable telecast in 2009.[11] It won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2010 for "Outstanding Children's Program".

Series finale [edit]
On Friday, January 6, 2012, Wizards of Waverly Place aired its one-hour series finale, "Who Will Be The Family Wizard?", which averaged nearly 10 million viewers (9.8 million; live+same day)[12] to up to 11.3 million.[13] Although it was not the series' most-watched special, being behind Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, and Cast Away (To Another Show), it was the most-watched finale for a Disney Channel Original Series.[14]

Excluding the crossover programming special, it was the franchise's most-watched episode.[14] The closer also set series best among kids 6–11 (4.2 million) and teens 9–14 (3.8 million). It also obtained a solid 1.9 rating with adults 18–49.[15] Notably, the finale is the current TV season's most-watched cable telecast among scripted programs.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-thrwowp_14-2">[14]

The show ended with Alex becoming the family wizard, Justin being declared new Headmaster of WizTech (also keeping his wizard powers), and Max getting to run the sub shop. Max was very happy with his position.

The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex [edit]
Main article: The Wizards Return: Alex vs. AlexOn September 27, 2012, Disney Channel announced that Wizards of Waverly Place would return for an hour-long special, that began production on October 22, 2012, and ended production on November 10, 2012, for a premiere telecast on the cable channel in early 2013. The special, executive-produced by Selena Gomez, alongside series executive producers Vince Cheung and Ben Montanio (who also co-wrote the special with Dan Berendsen), will center on the Russos', Mason, and Harper's visit to Italy to meet long-lost relatives from Jerry's side of the family. In an attempt to prove to her family that she's not merely a carefree wizard, Alex inadvertently casts a spell that creates two versions of her with differing personalities: an evil version of Alex that ends up involved in another wizard's (Dominic) plan for world domination, and a good version who upon discovering the wizard's plan, tries to find a way to save her family and mankind, leading to a literal battle between good and evil atop the Leaning Tower of Pisa.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2013sptvbn_1-1">[1] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2013spzap_2-1">[2] The film is titled The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex and premiered on March 15, 2013.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16">[16] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-special_17-0">[17]

Cast [edit]
Main article: List of Wizards of Waverly Place charactersThe fourth season main cast (L-R): María Canals Barrera as Theresa Russo, David DeLuise as Jerry Russo, Jake T. Austin as Max Russo, Selena Gomez as Alex Russo, David Henrie as Justin Russo, and Jennifer Stone as Harper Finkle.===Main [edit]===
 * Selena Gomez as Alex Russo
 * David Henrie as Justin Russo
 * Jake T. Austin as Max Russo
 * Jennifer Stone as Harper Finkle
 * María Canals Barrera as Theresa Russo
 * David DeLuise as Jerry Russo

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