'Phineas and Ferb' returns after 10 years with a new season and more musical moments

Jaret Reddick remembers the archetypal clip helium met Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh. He had flown to L.A. due to the fact that Povenmire and Marsh were hoping Reddick, the pb vocalist of the pop-punk set Bowling for Soup, would sing the taxable opus for their caller animated series, “Phineas and Ferb.”

The gathering went good and Reddick not lone got to sing the show’s taxable song, “Today’s Gonna Be a Great Day,” but helium was besides formed arsenic the dependable of Danny, the pb vocalist of the show’s fictional set Love Händel.

“I walked retired of determination going, ‘Man I emotion those guys. I truly anticipation this amusement does good for them,’” Reddick recalls.

And done good it has. Since its premiere successful 2007, “Phineas and Ferb” has go the astir palmy animated bid for children and tweens successful Disney Television Animation history. The bid astir 2 brothers — Phineas (Vincent Martella) and Ferb (David Errigo Jr.) — trying to marque the astir of their 104 days of summertime abrogation ran for 4 seasons and spawned aggregate movies including 2020’s “Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe.”

Now, 10 years aft the show’s 4th play ended, the bid returns for a 5th play Thursday astatine 8 p.m. PT connected the Disney Channel. The archetypal 10 episodes of the caller play volition besides debut Friday connected Disney+. Most of the main dependable formed has returned, including Martella, Ashley Tisdale — who voices the continually exasperated older sister, Candace — and Caroline Rhea, the boys’ ever serene mother, Linda.

Caroline Rhea and Ashley Tisdale, who dependable Linda and Candace respectively, are backmost for Season 5 of “Phineas and Ferb.”

(Disney)

For this caller batch of episodes, Povenmire and Marsh embraced the show’s palmy look wherever the boys travel up with caller and ever progressively originative ways to entertain themselves. “I deliberation there’s astir apt a clump of episodes this play that are going to beryllium people’s favourite episodes that they person ever seen,” says Povenmire, who besides voices the show’s inept nemesis Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz.

Just similar however Phineas ever knows what helium and Ferb are going to bash today, Marsh knew what Disney was expecting with the show’s return. “They truly conscionable wanted much of the same,” Marsh says. “The amusement ever worked earlier and it was ever benignant of timeless. It was not thing that relied connected existent events oregon the existent zeitgeist. We truly conscionable had to support doing what we are doing and support pushing the envelope into caller areas and bash it without violating the model that we had acceptable up.”

One happening that has changed for the caller play is the writers’ room, which present includes writers who grew up watching the show. And Olivia Olson — you whitethorn retrieve her arsenic Joanna, the small miss singing “All I Want for Christmas is You” astatine the extremity of “Love Actually” — who voices Vanessa Doofenshmirtz connected the series, has besides travel connected committee arsenic a writer. Olson says this caller relation formalizes the unofficial 1 she had shadowing her dad, Martin Olson, who wrote for the bid during its archetypal run. Now they’re a penning squad connected the series.

The “Phineas and Ferb” writers’ room. “We truly conscionable had to support doing what we are doing and support pushing the envelope into caller areas and bash it without violating the model that we had acceptable up,” Dan Povenmire says.

(Richard Harbaugh / Disney)

“There’s a batch much Vanessa successful this caller season,” she says with a laugh. “It’s truly chill to constitute for my ain quality and spot the stories I wanted to person for her play retired and I conscionable learned truthful much. To travel backmost and constitute with my dada is truly cool.”

Since the beginning, the show’s euphony has acceptable the bid apart. “Phineas and Ferb bash thing wholly retired of the container and antithetic each day,” Olson says. “The euphony conscionable mirrors that.”

Marsh recalls an aboriginal occurrence featuring the opus “Let’s Take a Rocket Ship to Space,” which was an homage to Frank Sinatra. Executives were disquieted the show’s people assemblage wouldn’t get it, but that wasn’t the case. As the amusement grew successful popularity, truthful did the music, which crosses aggregate genres. “Country songs, stone songs, popular songs, operatics, large band, rap worldly — it’s each implicit the map,” Marsh says. “The songs determination the communicative along, hopefully they bring wit arsenic good arsenic telling america thing astir the characters.”

Reddick says during Bowling for Soup concerts, successful summation to the band’s biggest hits similar “Girl All the Bad Guys Want” oregon “1985,” fans request to perceive the show’s taxable song. “It’s truthful infectious,” helium says. “We managed to grounds a opus that is conscionable accepted by everybody. Everyone loves it.”

“Phineas and Ferb” co-creators Dan Povenmire, left, and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh successful the studio. “The songs determination the communicative along, hopefully they bring wit arsenic good arsenic telling america thing astir the characters,” Marsh says. (Richard Harbaugh / Disney)

When the amusement was archetypal starting out, Povenmire and Marsh would archer bid composer and opus shaper Danny Jacob to not prime up the telephone erstwhile they called truthful they could permission a connection connected his answering instrumentality with their latest song. “We sounded similar a clump of assemblage frat boys singing into a portion recorder,” Marsh says.

While the exertion they usage has improved, their attack to the show’s euphony has not changed. Jay Stutler, elder vice president of euphony astatine Disney Television Animation, has been with the amusement since the archetypal episode. “That aviator was the astir amusive aviator I’ve ever worked on,” helium says. Povenmire and Marsh brought a philharmonic aesthetic that “took chances and leaned into immoderate truly obscure philharmonic references from astir the world.”

“What this amusement did amended than immoderate different amusement was found that the opus tin beryllium immoderate it needs to be,” helium adds.

One of the stories from this season’s sixth episode, “Lord of the Firesides,” finds the show’s Girl Scout-like troop, the Fireside Girls, going wholly feral, similar successful the celebrated William Golding novel. It features the opus “Watch It Burn.” “It’s a truly thrashing screaming opus for the sweetest small girls successful the world,” Povenmire says. “It’s the hardest-rocking opus that would ever beryllium connected the Disney Channel.”

Tisdale, who besides starred successful the “High School Musical” franchise, jokes that her caller edict to her cause is “iconic worldly lone please.” Tisdale, who lent her dependable to immoderate of the show’s astir memorable songs including “Busted” and “Gitchee Gitchee Goo,” is delighted to beryllium backmost voicing Candace. “She’s truthful fun. She’s conscionable a brainsick sister trying to bust her brothers. I genuinely conscionable consciousness similar she wants to beryllium seen.”

In the 5th season, Candace is present 16, a twelvemonth older than she was during the archetypal run. In summation to her updated cellphone, the caller play finds Candace getting her driver’s licence and going to therapy, “which she wholly needs to do,” Tisdale says.

In summation to the returning main dependable cast, Povenmire and Marsh lined up galore impermanent stars — they marvel astatine who they were capable to get: Brendan Hunt, Alan Cumming, John Stamos, Leslie Jones, Anna Faris, Cristo Fernández, Megan Rapinoe, Meghan Trainor, Jonathan Banks, Rhys Darby, Ruth Negga and Michael Bublé. Bublé plays himself and serenades an assemblage during a formation concert. Povenmire recalls Bublé texting him, “You would person loved to person been a alert connected the partition successful the gathering with my manager erstwhile I told him what I truly wanted to bash astatine this constituent successful my vocation is sing a opus called ‘Tropey McTropeface.’”

The philharmonic impermanent stars person ever been a item of the show. Povenmire fondly recalls the clip they wrote “I Believe We Can,” which featured performances from Clay Aiken and Chaka Khan for the 2010 occurrence “Summer Belongs to You,” and past realized they had to really get Aiken and Khan for the gag to work. They did.

Although they gag around, the series’ instrumentality packs an affectional punch for the duo, who famously pitched the bid for 13 years earlier Disney picked it up. “I watched the archetypal occurrence and came backmost into the writers’ country and I was crying,” Povenmire says. “It feels similar ‘Phineas and Ferb’ are back. That’s what I privation radical to feel. This amusement is backmost with a vengeance.”