It’s been 19 years since it first aired, but the episode of “Lizzie McGuire” titled “Between a Rock and a Bra Place” still holds up!
Fans of the early-aughts Disney Channel series will never forget the heavy dose of cringeworthy relatability and hilarity that came from watching BFFs Lizzie (Hilary Duff) and Miranda (Lalaine) go on their first bra-shopping adventure at the tender age of 13. And thanks to a surprise video reunion, those fans can relive the same middle school laughs with the now-30-something stars — and the rest of the classic cast.
On Monday night, Duff shared a table read of that unforgettable season one script on Instagram TV, which featured both her and Lalaine, as well as Jake Thomas (who played Lizzie’s brother, Matt), Adam Lamberg (better known as Gordo), Ashlie Brillault (Kate), Davida Williams (Claire) and Hallie Todd and Robert Carradine (aka Lizzie’s mom and dad).
The episode focused on Lizzie and Miranda’s quest for popularity and support in the form of the perfect transformative undergarment, but when the gals hit the lingerie department, they weren’t really ready for all the letters and numbers of bra “math.”
And as it turned out, the network wasn’t ready for all that bra talk back in the day.
“It was sort of a thing where it was like, ‘Could we do this? Could we write about bras on the Disney Channel?'” Nina Bargiel recalled thinking when she and her co-writer brother joined the chat.
“When the network asked us about that, there were raised eyebrows,” Jeremy Bargiel said. “They were like, ‘OK, well, we're going to throw down the gauntlet. You can say the word twice. You can’t ever show one.’ But it was definitely something they thought would just go away.”
But keeping it real was a vital element of the tween sitcom.
“I was going through a lot of the same things,” Duff explained during a 2018 interview with TODAY. “And the writers would pull a lot of things that were happening in my life and kind of, like, write them into the show. So drama with friends or having to go bra shopping with my mom, kind of being uncomfortable and klutzy in my own skin and falling down or, you know, whatever kind of was happening. Not that they took all of my life things, but it was very similar what was happening in my life and what was happening in her life."
She added, "I definitely think that the bra episode is one that stands out in my brain as being like, first of all, really wanting it, because I thought a bra was cool, and then second of all, being like, ‘How am I going to get that? I have to talk to my parents about that. That's going to be the worst thing ever.’”
That sense of authenticity is why, in February, Duff voiced her hopes that a previously planned “Lizzie McGuire” reboot could go to Hulu rather than Disney+ — if it ever airs at all.
“Was incredibly excited to launch ‘Lizzie’ on D+ and my passion remains! However, I feel a huge responsibility to honor the fans’ relationship with LIZZIE who, like me, grew up seeing themselves in her,” she wrote. “I’d be doing a disservice to everyone by limiting the realities of a 30 year old’s journey to live under the ceiling of a PG rating. It’s important to me that just as her experiences as a preteen/teenager navigating life were authentic, her next chapters are equally as real and relatable.”