Gravity Falls is an animated Disney Channel Original Series created by The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack alum Alex Hirsch and produced by Rob Renzetti, who previously helmed My Life as a Teenage Robot. The first episode was shown on June 15, 2012, as a "sneak peek", though the show didn't officially premiere until June 29, 2012.
For one whole summer vacation, twins Dipper (Jason Ritter) and Mabel Pines (Kristen Schaal) are visiting their great-uncle Stan (Hirsch) in the valley town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, where he owns the Mystery Shack, a tourist trap operating as "the world's most bizarre museum". Dipper and Mabel's situation worsens (or rather, improves) when Dipper finds a mysterious book, the cover bearing an insignia of a six-fingered hand marked with the number "3". Upon opening it, he discovers that it is a Great Big Book of Everything, explaining the many strange beings, past events, and even federal cover-ups that exist within this town of secrecy.
Thus begins Dipper and Mabel's adventures as they interact with the supernatural world that surrounds them, all while following a Myth Arc where Dipper tries to find the journal's mysterious author.
After the Season 1 finale, the series went on a year-long hiatus. Several mini-series of short films were released over the break to keep fans content. Season 2 premiered on August 1, 2014, a year after Season 1 ended. The series was rebranded as a Disney XD original series, with episodes premiering on that network first before airing later on Disney Channel. In November 2015, Alex Hirsch announced that Season 2 would be the final season, with the Grand Finale airing February 15, 2016, as a one-hour special. Hirsch has since stated he remains open to the idea of continuing the series with additional episodes or specials, and he delivered with the defictionalized book Gravity Falls: Journal 3 in 2016, the comic book anthology Gravity Falls: Lost Legends in 2018 and The Book of Bill in 2024.
A DVD/Blu-ray of the complete series was released on July 24, 2018, from Shout! Factory, making it the first Disney animated series to receive such a release. In March 2023, the box set was discontinued.