History Series / EvenStevens

* EveryoneHasStandards: Despite Principal Wexler's dislike of Louis, while watching Family Fakeout he shows no enjoyment in Miles' torment of the Stevens family, he is even disgusted by it. When it looks like Ren has Louis pushed Louis off a cliff, Wexler is outright horrified.

* ChekhovsGunman: Lance [=LeBow=], the host of the ''Gotcha'' prank show, whom Miles was the producer of and hired Lance before he Miles fired. Lance helps the Stevens family turn the tables on Miles by making him think Ren has killed Louis.

''Even Stevens'' was a Creator/DisneyChannel series that ran from 2000 to 2003 and is best known now for launching the career of Creator/ShiaLaBeouf.

The series focuses on the Stevens family. Steve, the father, is a lawyer whose wife, Eileen, serves as a California state senator (the show being set in Sacramento). Their oldest son is Donnie Stevens, a DumbJock who obsesses over his hair. Most of the show's plots center on middle child Ren, the family's resident [[TheSmartGuy Smart Girl]], [[TeachersPet principal's pet]] and perfectionist, and youngest child Louis Stevens, the show's king of the ZanyScheme, get-rich-quick stunts and practical jokes.

The series ran for three seasons before ending its run in June 2003, with ''[[TheMovie The Even Stevens Movie]]'' serving as its GrandFinale. This would be the last "old school" Disney Channel original series (as in, a show without a TeenIdol as the lead character), before the [[FollowTheLeader paradigm shifter]] ''Series/LizzieMcGuire'' premiered in 2001. It was also the only Disney Channel Original Series [[note]]''Series/LifeWithDerek'', though broadcast on Disney Channel, was not a Disney Channel original series, it was produced in Canada.[[/note]] without a HighConcept premise until ''Series/GoodLuckCharlie'' premiered ''ten years'' later.

* DeconReconSwitch: See "Dysfunctional Family" below.

* DropInCharacter: Beans, probably doubling as TheScrappy.

** Charlotte and Jewel, who [[BrotherChuck outright disappeared without a trace]], were replaced by Monique and Ruby in the second season as replacement best friends for Ren.

* ZanyScheme: Probably the show that first got Creator/DisneyChannel addicted to the trope.

** The Mandelino tribe is entirely multiethnic, with Asian, black, and even white members present. It’s explained that they’re ancestors were a mix of native islanders and shipwrecked sailors, but in reality, they’re all American actors.

* VillainousBreakdown: Miles undergoes two of them. The first time, he loses his cool when Twitty cuts the show off the air, and furiously storms around the studio firing random crew members. The second time, he cries in agony when Ren pushes Louis to his doom, not knowing that it was all part of a prank.

* CallBack: A subtle one: In "Quest For Coolness", Twitty uses the alias "Lars Honeytoast" when meeting the shady shoe salesman. He uses it again in TheMovie when he and Tawny get caught by the ''Family Fake-Out'' staff.

* BigBad: Miles [=McDermott=], the JerkAss host of ''[[ImmoralRealityShow Family Fake-Out]]''. He attempts to drive the family apart through orchestrated conflict, all in the name of good television.

* TheEndingChangesEverything: With the knowledge that the Stevens family ''knew'' they were being pranked and were simply getting back at Miles, rewatching the latter half of the film is a totally different experience.

* ImmoralRealityShow: ''Family Fake-Out'' is this, taking an unsuspecting family out to what they're told is a tropical paradise vacation they won in a contest and then setting events up to where they are forced to survive off the land until help arrives, all the while they are being filmed without their knowledge or consent.

* TrumanShowPlot: The Stevens (along with Beans) win a vacation to an exotic island in the middle of the Pacific and, due to a series of mishaps with the natives, must live off the land until a rescue boat arrives in a week. In truth, the island's only a few miles off the California coast, and the family are unknowingly being filmed for a RealityTV ShowWithinAShow called ''Family Fake-Out'', a combination of ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' and ''Series/TheJoeSchmoShow''.

* TheEndingChangesEverything: With the knowledge that the Stevens family ''knew'' they were being pranked and were simply getting back at Miles, rewatching the film is a totally different experience.

* SanitySlippage: Convinced that Louis is to blame for their family's tribulations, Ren ''loses it'' and becomes a bloodthirsty hunter bent on ''killing'' her brother. Thankfully, [[SubvertedTrope she's only faking it]].

* BigBad: Miles [=McDermott=], the JerkAss host of ''[[ImmoralRealityShow Family Fake-Out]]'' He attempts to drive the family apart through orchestrated conflict, all in the name of good television.

* TheEndingChangesEverything: With the knowledge that the Stevens ''knew'' they were being pranked from the start and were simply getting back at Miles, rewatching the film is a totally different experience.

* CallBack: A subtle one: In "Quest For Coolness", Twitty uses the alias "Lars Honeytoast" when meeting the shady shoe salesman. He uses it again in TheMovie when he and Tawny get caught by the ''Family Fake-Out!'' staff.

* BigBad: Miles [=McDermott=], the JerkAss host of ''[[ImmoralRealityShow Family Fake-Out!]]'' He attempts to drive the family apart through orchestrated conflict, all in the name of good television.

* ImmoralRealityShow: ''Family Fake-Out!'' is this, taking an unsuspecting family out to what they're told is a tropical paradise vacation they won in a contest and then setting events up to where they are forced to survive off the land until help arrives, all the while they are being filmed without their knowledge or consent.

* TrumanShowPlot: The Stevens (along with Beans) win a vacation to an exotic island in the middle of the Pacific and, due to a series of mishaps with the natives, must live off the land until a rescue boat arrives in a week. In truth, the island's only a few miles off the California coast, and the family are unknowingly being filmed for a RealityTV ShowWithinAShow called ''Family Fake-Out!'', a combination of ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' and ''Series/TheJoeSchmoShow''.

* ChekhovsGunman: Lance [=LeBow=], the host of the ''Gotcha'' prank show, whom Miles was the producer of and hired Lance before he Miles fired. Lance helps the Stevens family turn the tables on Miles with a prank of making him think is Ren has killed Louis.
* CoconutMeetsCranium: Moments after Tawny arrives on the island, a falling coconut knocks her out

** In another episode, Louis is walking around with his shoelaces untied, and says that people tripping on their untied shoelaces is just an urban myth that has never actually happened. Guess what happens next.

* ItsAWonderfulPlot: A Hanukkah special had Louis' great great great grandmother show him what the Stevens household would be like if he were never born. Without him, Donnie and Ren developed inferiority complexes from having an evil MartyStu for a younger brother instead, and the lack of comic relief created misery among the family.

* HeroismAddict: In "Louis in the Middle", Louis gets addicted to committing acts of heroism after he saves a kid from getting run over.

* TinySchoolboy: A boy that Ren dates at one point, and she's mocked by her classmates. She doesn't notice the difference until they go on their first date and she finds out that she's head ''[[UpToEleven and shoulders]]'' taller than him. She tries to avoid him for the rest of the episode, but she has no choice but to face him when the school dance is just around the corner.