- Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Mrs. Dabney could be seen as a manifestation of Teddy's future self, considering her current behavior and choices.
- Charlie's Ping Pong Naïveté can easily be interpreted as intentionally messing things up For the Funnyz or For the Evulz.
- PJ could be engaging in Obfuscating Stupidity. Many times his apparent stupidity comes from a result of just not paying attention or outright attempting to fool people.
- Award Snub:
- Was nominated for Favorite TV Show and Bridgit Mendler for Favorite TV Actress at the 2012 Kids Choice Awards, but lost them both to Victorious and Selena Gomez of Wizards of Waverly Place respectively.
- Not to mention Bridgit's Snub for Favorite TV Actress. While it is highly unlikely she would have beat Selena, who has the backing of the Beliebers, or Nick actresses Victoria Justice and Miranda Cosgrove, she was given the worst possible awards promo. For those who didn't see it or forgot it, they showed a scene with Alex and Mason for Selena, a scene with Carly and the smart British dude in "iQ" for Miranda, and Tori and Beck for Victoria's. What did Bridgit get? A shot from "Termite Queen" with her dad while she is on stage dressed as a Termite shooting hundreds of eggs from her rear end. Ouch. As if a scene with her and Spencer was hard to find.
- While Charlie might have a few more funny moments than Teddy, and Bridgit didn't stand a realistic chance of winning, one could argue that she was screwed by a network she doesn't even work for. How rare.
- Badass Decay: Gabe isn't necessarily badass, but you'd think even in his mid-20s he'd be able to keep his kid from tying him to a chair.
- Broken Base:
- Teddy getting back with Spencer. Although most fans either have let it go or entirely forgotten about the circumstances of their initial break-up by series' end.
- The Holiday-themed crossover with Jessie. Lines are mostly split among the fandoms of the two shows: Jessie fans thought the crossover was ok at worst. Fans of Good Luck Charlie think the GLC cast ended up being grossly under-utilized (only Teddy and PJ got to interact with any of the Jessie cast at all), the characters of the two shows not meshing with each other as smoothly as had been on other crossovers involving either show (especially given how off-putting Zuri's snarkiness can be) and how the entire crossover seemed overly biased in Debby's favor (especially as people were expecting/hoping Debby and Bridgit, both notable singers, to be in a duet, but got a solo from Debby instead).
- Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Alice became a very popular character after her premiere episode, for being a massive case of The Woobie and helping Teddy stand up against her Mean Boss.
- Skyler, who despite also dating Spencer, she and Teddy become close friends after they bond over the fact that he broke both of their hearts. Plus, she's also hilarious.
- Jo, for being pretty much the same type of Little Miss Badass Melina was.
- Fan-Preferred Couple: Most fans like the idea of Gabe and Jo getting together eventually and weren't too thrilled with the introduction of a new Love Interest (and what later turned out to be a revolving door of love interests) for Gabe in Season 3.
- Hollywood Homely: Emmett is a classic example. He's meant to be an off-putting dweeb, but he's just a pretty good-looking (even cute, to some) nerdy guy with glasses. It's more his attitude towards Teddy that makes him an Abhorrent Admirer.
- Ho Yay: Spencer and Emmett out on the dance floor.Ivy: What's going on?
Teddy: Emmett stole my date! - Les Yay: In "The Case of Mr. Dabney".Ivy: Let's see how we look.
Ivy and Teddy: (in unison) Perfect!
Ivy I'd date us.
Teddy: I'd marry us.- Teddy also got pretty cozy with her women's volleyball teammate Vonnie for a while...
- Memetic Mutation: After Amy's actor made some anti-mask and anti-vax social media posts, the meme of Bob Duncan as a single father was born.
- Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Lauren Dabney wasn't very popular due to being a Replacement Scrappy to the more popular Jo and the Retcon of the Dabneys having suddenly had children. Over time she grew on fans for keeping the rivalry between Gabe and Mrs. Dabney understandable since Gabe's actor was getting older and his former antics no longer worked and his character Took a Level in Kindness. Many fans also credit her for his Character Development as by Season 4 he's pulling entirely selfless acts without hesitation such as getting Charlie the gift she wanted for Christmas or burying the hatchet with Mrs. Dabney for good in the finale.
- Retroactive Recognition:
- Gabe became a doctor at a superhero hospital with Fletcher Quimby.
- Calum Worthy was in "LARPing in the Park" as one of the LARPers.
- After Skylar was Put on a Bus, Samantha Boscarino became the new leader of the Perfs. She came back when that gig ended.
- Tyrel Jackson Williams as the kid with a fish hook in his lip in "Study Date".
- Teddy and PJ should've recognized Luke Ross from the JESSIE crossover since he was fake Gabe in "The Singing Dancing Duncans"!
- Devin in "Rock Enroll" is Parker Rooney!
- Emma from "Team Mom" and Kelly from "Teddy's Choice" are now better known as Dawn and Belinda.
- The Scrappy: Most viewers tend to point towards Amy when asked who their least favorite character in the show is. Her selfish, egotistical, and just plain crazy behavior comes off as more annoying and jerkish than funny (despite what the overused laugh track might suggest). Her crowning moments of Scrappiness include replacing all the members of the family except Charlie for a talent show (which was something she technically didn't apologize for), hijacking Teddy's interview for Yale for her TV show (thankfully, Teddy got in anyway), and leaving Victor trapped in a hole just so that she could do a news story on it. Additionally, she has a complete inability to get rid of her negative traits, despite every character seeing her as a nutty attention whore. Also, she manipulates her husband and kids and was teaching Charlie how to do the same. And the one time she expressed any kind of regret for her actions (in the Series Finale, when even she admitted she'd messed up her hosting gig), things still turned out fine for her!
- Special Effects Failure: Actually an example of leaving special effects in when they're not called for. At the end of The Movie, we see Charlie through the perspective of Teddy's camera - but the washed-out "hand-held cam" effect is still present even after Teddy folds the hand-held cam away.
- Take That, Scrappy!: While she gets off scot-free a little too often, there have been a few times Amy gets what’s coming to her, such as:
- In “Return to Super Adventure Land”, when the director kicks her off the set of the commercial for constantly interrupting the shot.
- In “Amy Needs a Shower”, when Charlie repeats all of the insults she said about her “friends” behind their backs; they leave the party.
- It's a very brief moment, but in "Duncan v Duncan", it is pretty satisfying hearing Bob stand up for himself by calling Amy a lunatic to her face.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Karl, the "neighborhood jerk" is portrayed as a villain for scaring Charlie. On Halloween. After this, he only appears in the Thanksgiving episode when Teddy and Ivy go to an electronics store and he waits in line with them. For someone built up as a minor antagonist, he doesn't appear in the show that much.
- Toy Ship: There's a surprising amount of tension between Gabe and Jo, who are both 10.
- Charlie gets a crush on a boy her age in "Snow Show."
- Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
- It's extremely hard to root for Amy, considering her selfish behavior and the fact that she causes most of her conflicts in the first place (witness "Amy Needs A Shower" - "It's nobody's fault," she says twice towards the end, but it's actually her fault).
- PJ in "Kwikki Chick". Sure, it's understandable for him to be upset about not getting the position that was his idea in the first place, but his anger toward Teddy for getting the job instead is completely unfounded due to Teddy doing nothing to try and steal it from him (PJ's boss gave Teddy the job simply because she walked in to use the bathroom). The fact that he seemingly harbors no anger toward his boss, the real person at fault, doesn't help his chances for sympathy.
- Ivy in "Gabe's 12 1/2 Birthday". She repeatedly insults Teddy's boyfriend Derek, basically calling him dumb several times, but when Teddy fires back saying she doesn't like how much Ivy talks about her own boyfriend Raymond, to which Ivy says "you got your wish, because I'm never speaking to you again" and leaves.
- Why Would Anyone Take Him Back?: Many fans were appalled at Teddy taking back Spencer after he cheated on her. Considering Disney Channel's target audience, this was definitely not sending a good message to kids.
- The Woobie:
- Alice Wartheimer. Poor girl has asthma, is teased at school, has no friends, and was regularly yelled at by her boss for no reason. When she tells Teddy that she was the only person who went to her Arbor Day party, you can't help but feel sorry for her. And then there's her last name...
- Bob rarely gets respect from anyone and his wife steps all over him.
