The Replacements is an animated television series that ran on Disney Channel from July 28, 2006 to March 30, 2009. It centers around two orphans and their new adopted family that they received through a program of the FleemCo company to replace people throughout the town with ones better at their job in some way. This was usually a source of conflict when some of the substitutes were too perfect or even worse in a certain way.
It's noted for its roster of celebrity guest stars, including High School Musical star Zac Efron, Cory in the House star Jason Dolley, Harry Potter star Bonnie Wright, Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus, and Sonny with a Chance star Doug Brochu, as well as Ed Begley Jr., Josh Duhamel, Gilbert Gottfried, Tim Gunn, and Carson Palmer (playing themselves).
Plot[]
- Main article: The Replacements episode list
The opening sequence explains that siblings Todd and Riley lived what seem to be their entire lives in an orphanage, with no explanation of what happened to their birth parents. While cleaning the floors, they stumbled across a Fleemco comic book. They mail-ordered a Fleemco phone (which allows them to replace any person or animal they desire) and in the process they got adoptive parents: a female British secret agent named Agent K and a professional daredevil named Dick Daring. Whenever Todd and Riley want to replace someone, they call Conrad Fleem on the Fleemco phone via a large button. Fleemco immediately replaces the person with someone to the liking of Todd and Riley. The series follows their chaotic misadventures as they use Fleemco to attempt to better their lives in nearly every problematic situation they encounter.
Cast[]
He is the lazy, trouble-making, and self-centered sibling. He and his older sister Riley are the adopted children of K and Dick Daring. He is 11 in the first season and 12 in the second season. He usually uses the Fleemco phone to replace people for selfish purposes. He is best friends with Jacobo. In an episode, it is revealed that Todd has a talent for singing. Riley, K, and Dick forced him to join the school choir, along with Shelton Klutzberry and the twins. Todd loves the Monkey Cop movie series as well as playing the Gamecone (parody of GameCube) video game console. He hates school, learning, and reading which forces him to replace the librarian in another episode. His catch phrases include "Don't judge me" and "Sweet". In "Ratted Out" for the first time, Todd sings the second verse to "My Rat Buddy" at the end of the episode. In season two, Todd still has feelings for Sierra after the one-time bond between the two after the parody of Star Trek club. In the episode Tasumi Unmasked, Todd formed his own one-man band and battled against the mailman for his "Game Cone 4". First appeared: "Todd Strikes Out". Last appeared: "Irreplaceable".
She is the kinder, more caring, and more reliable sibling who enjoys school. She and her younger brother Todd are the adopted children of K and Dick Daring. She is 13 in the first season and 14 in the second season. She generally uses the Fleemco phone to replace mean or unfair adults. She is a girly girl and enjoys playing baseball, playing the violin, horses, ponies, Hornet Hive Scouts, candy, and pretty much any form of sugar. At one point she was part of the Journalism staff at school. She has a crush on Johnny Hitswell and they became a couple in season 2. But in "Heartbreak in the City" Johnny broke up with her because of her controlling attitude. She claims she is over him, despite many people who claim otherwise. She has an imaginary unicorn friend named Rainbow Jumper. She gets a B average in school. She prefers playing country fiddle/country rock on the violin. She's a fan of Susie May, Dustin Dreamlake, and J.J. Baker. Riley can easily become jealous, like when Todd made a fortune off of his "Gum Art" and she wasn't with her Unicorn "Art". Riley loves reading and the library. Riley had braces when she was younger. Riley also has a mission: Get Todd to do the right thing and be selfless. Sugar makes Riley hyper. In "The Spy Who Wasn't Riley" Riley tries one of her dream careers as a spy instead of a window washer that the Career Day test and the ex-guidance counselor Mr. Leslie told her to be, and almost blows up Antarctica when she stows away on K's mission to stop Dr. Scorpius, but in the end, Riley saves the day even though K's mission is too dangerous. In "She Works Hard For The Movie" we learn that Riley has an Aunt Debbie, and her middle name is Eugene. In "Ratted out", she started to sing the very first song of the whole series entitled "My Rat Buddy". First appeared: "Todd Strikes Out". Last appeared: "Irreplaceable".
Agent K resembles Emma Peel. She is the siblings' adoptive mother who is of British descent and is a super spy. Agent K height is 6'1 tall. From an outside view it may seem she doesn't care for her kids or husband, but in fact she loves them devotedly, even though she may express it through a recording or videotape. If something is done unfairly, she fixes it very quickly. She is seen to be a terrible cook. Her career as a spy has also made her highly suspicious of anything that is the least bit out-of-place, to the point of paranoia. In the episode Abra K Dabra!, it is revealed that she has stage fright and that her middle name is Mildred. She also has a habit for thinking all her chores are secret missions. She plays classical violin. K once took karate lessons from the evil Master Pho (Master Foe) to bust his secret evil bank-robbing karate gang. Even though she's just as logical as C.A.R., she seems to favor Dick over him. Even though both Dick and Agent K are the replacement adoptive parents, they still seem to be very much in love and care for Riley and Todd as their own children. First appeared: "Todd Strikes Out". Last appeared: "Irreplaceable".
He is the siblings' world-famous daredevil adoptive father. He is a semi-former stunt artist and is constantly working on new tricks. His appearance resembles that of Evel Knievel. He is also rather immature and is seen having a teddy bear known as "Evel Bearnievel". He thinks that C.A.R. is his best friend, though C.A.R. doesn't see it that way. Dick bought Riley a mule named Prince Cinnamon Boots instead of a horse like she wanted. Like Todd, Dick isn't smart at all. In "The Spy Who Wasn't Riley" we learn that Dick is afraid of clowns and tries to force Todd to be a stunt man instead of a circus clown for his career. In "She Works Hard For The Movie" we learn that Dick was in a movie back in the 1970s. We also hear Dick sing his first true song; "Space Training Montage" in "Space Family Daring". It is also revealed in one episode that he is a better cook than K. First appeared: "Todd Strikes Out". Last appeared: "Irreplaceable".
- C.A.R.T.E.R. - David McCallum
C.A.R.T.E.R. aka C.A.R. is the high-tech family car with a British accent. He can do just about anything but is not always willing to do something for the family, especially not for Dick. He often calls Dick a twit but is often indifferent to him. He does not wish to let Dick drive him, presumably under the assumption that Dick's daredevil habits would cause him to wreck C.A.R.T.E.R. He prefers to use a maneuver called "The Oslo Option" to scare Dick, which consists of C.A.R.T.E.R. pulling out a large spinning buzzsaw blade from his hood. The family usually refers to him as simply C.A.R. which is most likely a parody of K.I.T.T from Knight Rider. In the episode Tasumi Unmasked, C.A.R used to be a one-man band player back when he wanted to join other one-man band members but was kicked out for not being perfect. They destroyed his instruments. Also in this episode, he had a goatee, possibly real or not. The goatee was ripped by the other one-man band members. First appeared: "Todd Strikes Out". Last appeared: "Irreplaceable".
Conrad is the mysterious owner of the Fleemco company. He processes Todd and Riley's requests whenever they call him. He has a very long mustache. In the show, his face is never shown until the episode "Irreplaceable" where it is also revealed his mustache is orange and not black. In a flashback of his it appears he was bullied during his childhood. At the end of the series, it is revealed that Conrad is Riley and Todd's long-lost uncle; the tip off is when they find out he craves sugar just like Riley and says "Don't judge me!" just like Todd after they find out Conrad tells them that he will open up the replacement program to other kids so he asks Riley and Todd to help him. First appeared: "Todd Strikes Out". Last appeared: "Irreplaceable".
She is Riley's best friend, who is of Japanese descent and has a crush on Jacobo and kissed him revealed in one episode. There is hint of Tasumi's crush on Jacobo in "The Truth Hurts" when she passes on a note in the classroom that asks Jacobo if she liked him and was crushed when he signed maybe. She wears a pink metal suit which resembles RoboCop. But during season two, she no longer wears her suit. She claims her family is part of a crime-fighting team. (parody of Power Rangers/Super Sentai). She also has a list of people she hates. Riley is either on or off it. In the episode "Best Friends For-Never?" it appears Riley first meets Tasumi in a broom closet when she was new at school and tried to get to homeroom but got lost. Tasumi was in the broom closet because she split her armor and was embarrassed, but Riley fixed it with the duct tape her dad made her carry. In the episode "Tasumi Unmasked", it is revealed that Tasumi is in fact a Japanese pop star. She moved to Pleasant Hills in order to escape the constant adoration of her fans and live a peaceful life, as Pleasant Hills was voted as the least culturally aware town in the world, and she believed that nobody there would recognize her. However, in order to make sure that nobody recognized her, she wore a costume from a popular anime and used details from that anime in order to get a new history. That's the reason she always referred to things such as fighting giant monsters and so forth, but in reality, she never did anything of that sort. When her fans found out about this, she moved back to Japan for 2 weeks to record a new album until Riley replaced her band members with orangutans and she got kicked out by her new orangutan members because she has thumbs (even though orangutans do have thumbs). She came back to Pleasant Hills with Riley and no longer wears her armor, dumping it in the garbage. Under her armor, Tasumi has long black hair and a pretty face complete with a small mole. First appeared: "Todd Strikes Out". Last appeared: "Irreplaceable".
- Abbey Willson - Erica Hubbard in season 1, Tempestt Bledsoe in season 2
She is Riley's other best friend. Even though she hates the popular girls such as Sierra, she is seen wanting to be a one of them and has a habit of telling Sierra she is cool, even though she doesn't mean to. It also seems that her parents are rich. She sometimes can be hypocritical. She has a little sister named Tiffany who dated Todd in the episode "Li'l Tiff". First appeared: "Todd Strikes Out". Last appeared: "A Tale of Two Rileys".
Shelton is the stereotypical nerd at school. He is afraid of girls, and once had a relationship with Celebrity Star. He also has an imaginary girlfriend named Zelda (since an imaginary girlfriend is all that he can handle). He often thinks of himself as cool and calls the others nerds. He becomes very muscular and handsome when he takes his glasses off, but this is not to his advantage because he can't use contacts and has to have heavy glasses (which causes him to appear weak and scrawny). He always seems to be wherever Todd and Riley are. He sometimes just wants to be part of the group. In one episode he is seen to have a giant pet tortoise. In another he and his entire family are revealed to be Jewish. His voice and mannerisms are greatly similar to the famous comedian Jerry Lewis' character from the movie The Nutty Professor. When he speaks of characteristics or actions, he clarifies them by saying "with the" and adding a list of adjectives and effects (etc. "Victory is mine... with the winning, and the accomplishing, and the rubbing it in your face!"). When he gets hurt, he usually says "Hoigle!" First appeared: "Todd Strikes Out". Last appeared: "Irreplaceable".
Buzz is a Wanna-Be bully and is Todd's arch nemesis. He usually makes corny jokes then laughs at them saying "Good one Buzz!" and "I got to start writing these down!". Although he is normally a bully in some episodes, they have put their differences aside and even become friends. Deep down Buzz is jealous of Todd and Riley because their dad is cooler than his dad. Buzz used to have the coolest dad in the neighborhood until Todd and Riley came along. On more than one account Buzz has been mistaken for a wild boar, although, both times, this was by Dingo McGee, on "Field Trippin'" and "Volcano Island". He also has a taste for crabgrass. Like Todd, Buzz hates school, and he has a habit of cheating. He has many secrets including his love of the theater, and what he calls his only two shames, small feet, and ice skating. First appeared: "Todd Strikes Out". Last appeared: "Irreplaceable".
Donny is a professional bully who is much taller than Todd, but still attends his school. He is Buzz's mentor and Todd's other nemesis, and he is feared because of his giant size. First appeared: "The Insecurity Guard". Last appeared: "A Tale of Two Rileys". He was also mentioned in "Irreplaceable" by Shelton.
Todd's best friend who is of Mexican descent (Though his shirt has the colors of the flag of Spain). He has a funny looking mouth. Jacobo loves mystery books and has a secret talent for singing. He has a crush on Agent K. He resembles Fez from That '70s Show. He is always trying to win the affections of Agent K, even in the episode, "Irreplaceable", when he started to date Tasumi. First appeared: "Todd Strikes Out". Last appeared: "Irreplaceable".
He is the subject of Riley's affection and her middle school sweetheart. Even though every girl in the school is all over him, he tends to pay no attention to them most of the time, except for his annual Kumquat Day card readings. He enjoys basketball and baseball and plays on the same baseball team as Todd and Riley. It is true that he likes Riley, because he asked her out on a date and then kissed her. But in season two, he starts dating Riley as boyfriend and girlfriend. In that devastating episode "Heartbreak in the City" from season two, Johnny breaks-up with Riley for being too controlling after she followed him all the way to New York with Abby and Tasumi. He once said in a later episode that she could be smothering as she was in a conversation with her friends. By the end of the series, he actually admits that he wants to get back together with Riley, but he says this while talking to her robot duplicate, and it is never shown if he and Riley do get back together. First appeared: "Todd Strikes Out". Last appeared: "A Tale of Two Rileys".
She is the popular girl at school and is Riley's arch nemesis. She is constantly competing with Riley for the affections of Johnny Hitswell. In the second season, when Riley and Johnny become a couple, her crush on him persists, and her aim becomes to break them up so she can be Johnny's girlfriend. She has her own posse (Jennifer and Claudia) and a huge, conceited ego. She is seen to have another side in which, she is infatuated with a Star Trek parody mentioned, which Todd also likes. This forges a bond between the two, which doesn't last long when she becomes a cheerleader again. It is mentioned in the series finale that she gets her own Fleemco Phone. She has long black hair in pigtails. First appeared: "The Jerky Girls". Last appeared: "Toddbusters". She was mentioned in "Irreplaceable".
He is the Inuit principal of George Stapler Middle School. Since he is from Alaska, he allows school on major snow days until Todd and Riley changed it one time. He is also very cheap and cares about money over the students, the school, and the faculty (he saves money for a vacation on Tahiti). First appeared: "Skate Gate". Last appeared: "A Tale of Two Rileys".
- Prince Cinnamon Boots - Daran Norris
The Daring Family's pet mule. He was originally given to Riley by her father when she asked for a show horse. PCB has many talents, but is often forgotten by his family after Dick says "I keep thinking we're forgetting something". First appeared: "The Majestic Horse". Last appeared: "Irreplaceable".
Shelton's older sister who has less appearances than her brother. She resembles her brother but doesn't change appearance when her glasses are taken off. In "Late Night With Todd and Riley" she is first mentioned as Shelton's sister and also we learn she loves Dustin Dreamlake. Though never mentioned, she presumably already had her bat mitzvah. First appeared: "Best Friends For-Never?". Last appeared: "A Tale of Two Rileys".
- Jennifer and Claudia - Lauren Tom, Erica Hubbard, and Tempestt Bledsoe
Two blonde twin girls who are normally seen with Sierra McCool. In the first season, a common gag in the series was for the two girls to be commenting on what they are wearing when Todd falls in a mud puddle next to them, ruining their clothes. First appeared: "The Jerky Girls". Last appeared: "A Tale of Two Rileys".
Locations[]
- Pleasant Hills - A typical American town where the show is set.
- The Fun O' Sphere - An extremely cool and popular hangout for kids like Todd and Jacobo. It features an arcade and an international food court. Todd had his German teacher replaced in order to be allowed to go there in the episode "German Squirmin'". In another episode, Buzz bet Todd 100 Fun O' Sphere prize tickets if Todd's dad could beat his dad in the Pleasant Hills Septathalon. Todd then has a vision of him buying a giant T-Rex with his prize tickets.
- Volcano Island - An extremely popular reality show where the hottest celebrities, (including Heather Hartley, Ace Palmero, Dustin Dreamlake, and Celebrity Star) all battle for survival. In a later episode, the Winters, Klutzberry, and Daring families all competed on Volcano Island in a special family edition of the show.
- Camp Notalottadoe - A camp with a pretty self-explanatory name that Todd and Riley go to in season two of the show. Riley is made a camp counselor and given power over Todd, Shelton, and Buzz, but exploits this power and goes out for a night with other camp counselors, an action that leads to the aforementioned kids getting lost in the woods.
- Obrich Gardens - The local zoo in Pleasant Hills which is looked down upon by Riley as it is full of animals crammed into extremely cramped cages. She later replaces Hiram Smeck, a worker at this zoo (who was very underpaid), which only leads to more trouble as a result. She releases all the animals, and the remainder of the episode was spent getting them back. At the end of the episode, they went to the man in charge of the zoo, Mr. Rottswillow, who, after some coaxing, agreed to let the animals roam free on his golf course instead.
- The Royal Spy Academy - A school located in England where people learn how to be spies. This school was attended by Agent K, and is currently run by her mother, Agent B. Todd and Riley secretly enrolled in this school when Agent K's father took C.A.R. back to London with him in the episode "London Calling". They later took part in a high-speed chase to get the Spyclopedia back from Clive, C.A.R.'s evil replacement, when it was taken from the Royal Spy Academy.
- Fleemco - A company founded in 1989 by Colonel Cadmus K. Fleem, which is currently run today by Conrad Fleem. Fleemco is known for its many consumer products, such as FleemSol, the Fleemer Steamer, OxyFleem detergent, Fleem Brite Toothpaste, Fleem Dream Mattresses, the FleemPod, FleemDos Computers, Fleem Star Line, which operates the steamship Fleemtanic, and Fleemsoft fabric softener. It is also known for its many online ventures, including Fleemster and FleemBay. But by far the most distinguishing characteristic of Fleemco is its ability to replace any given person at any given time, depending on the preference of its customers, of course. However, a customer must have a FleemTel cell phone in order to access this Fleemco service.
- George Stapler Middle School - The school that both Todd and Riley attend. It used to be called George Washington Middle School, however the name was changed in the episode "The Insecurity Guard" when Todd's Robo Fleem SGX intimidated his teacher into stating that George Stapler was in fact the first president of the United States' real name instead of George Washington.
- Le Petit Formage - A French restaurant where Riley went with Johnny Hitswell on a date. Todd's parents later forced him to replace the American waiters there with real waiters from France in an attempt to make Riley's date absolutely perfect. However, this didn't turn out so well, as the French waiters never showed up, and Todd and his parents therefore had to disguise themselves as the waiters instead.
- Carlos & Ed's Tacos - A fast food restaurant that is first seen in "The Rizzle" when Todd imagines himself as having glasses. In his imagination, the sun reflects off his glasses and melts various letters off this sign so that it reads "Closed". It is again seen in "A Buzzwork Orange" in the flashback where Jacobo and Buzz meet.
- Uncle Scorpion's Taco Shack - A restaurant in a Spanish country. Agent K travels here as she believes that this is a cleverly disguised hideout of Dr. Scorpius.
- Pleasant Pop Popcorn - Another restaurant in Pleasant Hills that Todd destroyed with the heat vision coming from his gigantic glasses, (only in his imagination, of course).
Cultural references[]
- In the episode "Zoo or False", while the monkeys are free, and they grab Todd, he says "Take your filthy paws off me you darn, dirty apes!" This is a rendition of a famous line is from Planet of the Apes.
- In the episode "Maid for K", K can be heard saying "Out, darn spot!" while vacuuming, in reference to Macbeth.
- In the episode "The Spy That Wasn't Riley", Riley makes a reference to global warming and Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth, when Dr. Scorpius is going to melt Antarctica, she says melting Antarctica will inundate coastal cities, and then says, "The truth a little inconvenient, for you."
- In the episode "Hollywoodn't", as Todd walks away from Celebrity Starr (voiced by Jessica DiCicco) he says, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a hoigle," referencing the famous line in Gone with the Wind. Also, while Agent K is on the roof looking through her binoculars, a woman who looks a lot like Carmen Sandiego appears in the Studio.
- Shelton's imaginary girlfriend from the episode "The Frog Prince" is a reference to Princess Zelda from the Legend of Zelda series.
- In the episode "The Means Justify the Trend", as Riley struggles to escape the mob of copycat fans from school, an instrumental parody of "Tell Me Why" plays. Also, as Riley was running from a mob of copycat fans, she stopped and began to dance, as did the others, in a style parodying the music video for the song "Thriller" by Michael Jackson.
- In the episode "Late Night with Todd & Riley", when Tasumi imagines what will happen to Riley, the blueprint background and setup of the trap is a reference to the hit animated TV show Tom and Jerry.
- In the episode "iTodd", Todd and Riley get into a fight over a computer mouse in the library; afterward Todd gets the mouse and says "My Precious", which is a reference to the character Gollum in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
Availability[]
Season 1 is the only season available to stream on Disney+. Both seasons are available to purchase on iTunes. As of 2022, Disney seldom has any plans for a DVD release of the show.
Trivia[]
- Anyone who gets replaced is typically overzealous or poorly suited for what they were being replaced for.
- This is the tenth Disney Channel Original Series to end after two seasons; following Lizzie McGuire, The Proud Family, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Phil of the Future, Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, Shorty McShorts' Shorts, American Dragon: Jake Long, Cory in the House, and The Emperor's New School.
- It is also the seventh animated series to end with two seasons; following The Proud Family, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, Shorty McShorts' Shorts, American Dragon: Jake Long, and The Emperor's New School.
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