- Bile Fascination: The show got mocked a lot and was generally considered the weakest of the Disney shows at the time, yet many people watched it just because of how fascinatingly bad it was, to the point where it became one of the most viewed shows on the network.
- Critical Dissonance: Still chided for its basic plot and sticking to the Disney Channel formula but this is one of the most popular shows on the network right now. Until it was Screwed by the Network by being placed at the Friday night 7:30 death slot.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: Max has her fair share of fans for being The Comically Serious Perky Goth.
- Fridge Logic: Although Avery is friends with Lindsay, and now Nikki, in the Pilot she hasn't had company over since their families combined and moved into the same house. In that episode she says it has been over 11 months. So a good straight A student that never breaks rules, can't have company over? She either has zero friends or very strict parents. Could be a little of both when you think of how Ellen is. She is possibly being smothered by her mother, and Bennett for that matter, has somewhat cruel parents that won't let a good kid bring over her only friend. Most likely she's seen as a nerd and possibly had no friends at all until meeting Lindsay and Nikki, This would also explain why she is the closest to Stan, since she seems like the child most in need of a friend.
- Growing the Beard: By embracing the show's Narm Charm and Guilty Pleasure aspects along with generally better writing and plots.
- Harsher in Hindsight:
- This moment from the pilot in regards to the firing of Kuma, the dog that played Stan for the first five episodes who was replaced due to an incident during filming where the dog suddenly had a seizure, as well as a contract dispute with the owner:
Avery: If we can't take care of him, we can't keep him! It's obvious what we have to do...
Tyler: Find another dog that looks exactly like Stan and teach him how to talk!- "Cat With A Blog" has Bennett as a part of the Washington Generals, the episode aired only a few weeks after they had disbanded.
- The earlier episodes had Ellen say that she wanted a cat instead. It's not so funny after "Cat With a Blog", where Stan wishes he was never adopted after he ruins Ellen's couch, and wonders what his life would be like if he were a cat instead.
- In "My Parents Posted What?" Avery thinks an interesting assembly is warning people to sneeze into their arm to avoid a pandemic. Sadly, that would be the case years later with the COVID-19 Pandemic.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Tyler's dismissive line against Avery's study group in the pilot, "X equals why should I care?" becomes this in light of the fact that Tyler is a math genius.
- One of the items in the video game Stan plays in "World of Woofcraft" is called the Soul Stone.
- Like You Would Really Do It: Stan faces the possibility of leaving at the end of the first season. Unsurprisingly, the issue is resolved in the last few minutes and his former owner really was a kook.
- Memetic Mutation: Gamer juiceExplanation
- Narm: A lot of heartwarming moments come off as cheesy, especially with the Sentimental Music Cue. Additionally, the fact that the show tries to combine Denser and Wackier with realism isn't a good mix.
- Retroactive Recognition:
- Audrey Whitby, who was in the first episode, was later a semi-recurring character as Aubrey on Liv and Maddie and is now probably best known as Cherry from The Thundermans. Bridget Shergalis, who was also in an episode, was also a recurring character as Stains on Liv and Maddie.
- Francesca Capaldi would later become the official voice of the Little Red-haired Girl.
- Wes later moved to New York City and changed his name to Lucas.
- Avery's best friend Lindsay is now Georgie Diaz.
- Kathryn Newton plays Tyler's first girlfriend and Gator's daughter, Emily, a year before becoming more recognizable as Claire Novak in Supernatural.
- Kaylee Bryant, who would later gain fame as Josie Saltzman in Legacies, appears in two episodes as one of Brie's cheerleader friends, Maddie.
- The Scrappy:
- Chloe. Scenes involving her come off as either annoying, selfish, pointless, or just too unfunny. The episode involving her game of 'Chloe-Chess' comes off as annoying and especially pointless. Most of her plots are even irrelevant with the main one. Later episodes had her mature and give her less childish jokes, and dialing back some of her nastier quirks.
- Avery. She's extremely controlling and annoying, plus treats her friends poorly. A lot of her jokes (especially in season 1) tend to fall flat, and her lovelife storyline made her come off as insanely awkward, weird and obsessive. She also comes off as much more of a caricature than her siblings, which is saying something. She does get much better in later seasons though.
- Heather. The Jennings' obnoxious and annoying next door neighbor, she doesn't miss a chance to say how much she hates the Jennings.
- So Bad, It's Good: The main appeal of the show was the Narm Charm and the awkward tone that didn't fit with the rest of the network's line-up. The creators seemed to realize this and embrace the aspects by season 2.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Karl's and Heather's romantic spark in "Stan Has Puppies" after the two discover they have a lot in common is completely forgotten in favor of pairing Max and Karl. Though to the show's credit they at least had a spark between those two in a previous episode.
