Hailey’s On It! Spoiler-Filled Review

Hailey’s On It! is a comedy-adventure animated series by Devin Bunje and Nick Stanto. Both are well-known writers and producers. This is the first animated series they’ve created together. Both wrote on series such as Phineas and Ferb and The Replacements. This is the 95th animated TV show produced by Disney Television Animation, since its founding in December 1984, with 37 Monkeys as an uncredited production company. Saerom Animation and Rough Draft Korea, two South Korean animation studios, did animation services for the series. Bunje and Stanto executive produce the series. Wade Wisinski directs and Matt Brailey edits. Matthew Tishler and Andrew Underberg are series composers.

Hailey’s On It! focuses on a resourceful teenage girl named Hailey Banks (voiced by Chloe Auliʻi Cravalho) who is on a mission to complete every item on a long list of challenging, and sometimes impractical, tasks so she can save the world. She tries to deal with her fears, which include facing her romantic feelings toward Scott (voiced by Manny Jacinto), her best friend. Hailey is helped by a futuristic A.I. named Beta (voiced by Gary Anthony Williams).

The series is part of an ambitious list of Disney productions, which includes Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Kiff, Primos, and others, such as Tiana and Moana 2. Cravalho will voice Moana in Moana 2. Unlike some series, Hailey’s On It! is an original story, and not based on any existing intellectual property, unlike Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Tiana, and Moana 2.

Hailey’s On It! is aimed at those aged 6 to 14 and families, but the series is more than that. It includes a selection of music from many popular genres, such as pop rock, EDM, K-Pop, and musical theater. This is helped by Tishler and Underberg as series composers and the series’ sci-fi tenner. The series is a brilliant original project. It supplanted The Owl House since Disney may be leaving behind serialized storytelling. It could be the start of another set of series which are “equally as exciting.”

One executive producer and director, Howy Parkins, is known for his work on Rugrats and Lloyd in Space. The show’s story writer, Karen Graci, worked on Tuca & Bertie as a story editor and wrote for the short-lived series, The Harper House. Series creative director Lee Ann Dufour is a Black woman. She previously worked on The Breadwinner as an ink and paint supervisor and as a character designer and artist on other series.

Show producer Wade Wisinski is known for his work on The Owl House and Kim Possible. Jaison Wilson, an artist for this series, is a Black male illustrator who worked in Amphibia, Candace Against the Universe, and Milo Murphy’s Law. Leslie Park and Cat Harman-Mitchell are series directors. Park previously did storyboarding for Paradise PD, Farzar, and HouseBroken, and is an adjunct professor at Woodbury University. She’s of South Korean descent. Harman-Mitchell is Trinidadian-American. She previously storyboarded for Tangled: The Series, The Owl House, and Ducktales, and describes herself as a “queer director/story artist.”

Joining Cravalho, Jacinto, and Williams, who voice the three series protagonists of Hailey’s On It, are Cooper Andrews, Julie Bowen, Josh Brener, and Sarah Chalke. Andrews is a Samoan man who voices Hailey’s Hawaiian father (Kai Banks). Bowen voices the White realtor and mother of Hailey (Patricia Banks). Brener voices the spoiled rival of Hailey who does whatever he can to win: A.C. Aychvak. Last but not least, Chalke voices a scientist known as “The Professor” who comes from the future and often has high energy. There’s also Hailey’s classmates Thad and Jonathan, voiced by Nik Dodani and Nico Santos, who become a gay couple. Dodani is a gay Indian man in real-life, while Santos is a Filipino gay man.

Apart from these voice actors, there’s Judy Alice Lee, Amanda Leighton, Joy Osmanski, Dee Bradley Baker, and Carlos Alazraqui. Lee voices the destructive and mischievous younger sister of Scott, Becker Denoga, who soon develops a crush on Hailey (more on that later) and begins a romantic relationship with Kennedy, her former school rival, voiced by Shara Kirby, at another point. In real-life, Lee is Korean-American, who voiced many video game characters. Kirby is a Black woman from the Midwest and known for voicing Alyx in RWBY. Leighton, a half-Latina woman in real-life, voices a popular school girl who loves fashion and was in a relationship with Scott before breaking up with him. Osmanski voices Scott’s mother, Sunny Denoga, and is Korean-American.

Baker does the vocal effects for Frank, a gay flamingo who loves Petey (Scott’s pet peacock). Alazraqui, a man of Argentinian descent, voices a local business owner named Bill Board who runs a company that erects billboards (per his name). Other well-known voice actors include Billy Hametz (as Road Rash), Chris Parnell (as Robert Vandertranche), Natasha Rothwell (as Carla), Martin Starr (as Cody), and Weird Al (as Chip Dingle).

Casting directors of Hailey’s On It! fumbled in choosing voice actors for certain roles in this series. A Samoan man voiced a Hawaiian character (Kai Banks). A White woman voiced a time-traveling scientist (the Professor). A light-skinned Latina woman voiced a darker skinned Latina character (Kristine). Otherwise, casting choices seem fine in a series which unlike Hamster & Gretel, The Ghost and Molly McGee, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, or The Owl House, does not have White characters as protagonists. However, it shares having a diverse cast with Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, which centers on Black and Brown protagonists and very few White characters from what I remember.

Hailey’s On It! begins with a bang. Hailey and her friend Scott are chased by people on a golf cart, throwing the viewer into action. This all happened because on New Year’s Day, a chaos bot tries to shred her to-do list but a time traveler stops it. A recording from her, in the future, tells her to complete everything on the list. The time traveler says she is important and absurdly claims that her list is the “first step” toward her saving the world. This premise is at the series’ center. Hailey is terrified to do one list item: kiss Scott. She tries to erase it from the list, but that causes a time glitch, allowing chaos bots to come and get her.

Later episodes involve romantic tension between Scott and Hailey. Kristine Sanchez (voiced by Amanda Leighton), a popular school girl with over 2,000 social media followers, asks out Scott, even though Hailey doesn’t want her dating him. Beta often helps Hailey, and Scott, allowing her to fulfill her list. This involves going to a taco festival, stopping mischievous motorcyclers (when becoming sheriff of a Wild West-like coral), and a sand-building contest where she faces AC. Beta, who looks like a teddy bear, is often chased by other creatures.

The aforementioned tension between Scott and Hailey reaches a tipping point in the episode “The Show Must Go Wrong.” In that episode, Kristine directs a school play about hats. Kristine is demanding. Scott’s sister, Becker (voiced by Judy Alice Lee), talks to Hailey. She is pulled into the play and helps Scott get over his stage fright. Scott and Hailey sing a romantic duet, which the audience loves. This hilariously ends when Becker smashes the stage to Kristine’s horror, declaring the show is a “smash hit.”

Hailey is an interesting character because she is not traditionally attractive but is more “bookish” and thinks on her feet when in tough situations. This allows her to get a photo of a rare owl, when she feels connected to her ancestors, building a tower with pop-sickle sticks, cosplay, fighting off bullies, correcting guessing jelly beans inside a jar, getting out of an escape room, and using up gift cards. In the last instance, Kristine and Hailey agree to be friends, and Scott calls Hailey “Hails.”

Other episodes introduce characters such as Frank, a flamingo, when Hailey adopts him. He’s later described as a queer icon by crew members. Otherwise, she hosts a successful town concert, teaches a mouse to play an instrument, works to save a lighthouse from being sold (it becomes a wedding venue), beats a dance challenge game, eats a raw onion, wears high heels, and helps Kristine with her quinceañera. In the latter episode, there is some queer representation, but none involving the main cast. That episode reminded me of a quinceañera held for Naomi Turner in Elena of Avalor and another for LaCienega Boulevardez in The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.

Beyond this, episodes focus on restarting a cancelled show, trying to catch a chaos bot, earning a letter in a varsity sport (cheerleading), winning the “Crab Queen” honor, and an online contest to meet a K-Pop band. There’s also a funny character named Joane Droid. The protagonists think she is a robot but she is actually just an eccentric… Canadian student. All in all, there are White characters, but they are in the minority in this series, with many more characters of color.

In the episode “Catching Felines,” Becker, the wild free-spirited sister of Scott who blows up things for fun, comes out as the first openly queer character. Other characters include Jonathan and Thad, two gay boys. Becker saves Hailey and Scott from wild cats. At the episode’s end, she tells her friend Chainsaw (voiced by Kyle S. More), that she believes that Hailey is into her, and that “some day I’m gonna kiss Hailey Banks.” This is something which Chainsaw supports! Although her voice actor is Korean-American, she is a Filipino-Korean character in this series, like Scott. Their mother, Sunny, is South Korean and their father is from the Philippines. It was revealed that their last name comes from a close Filipino friend of the show creators. Fans and show staff have shipped Becker with Hailey.

The 20th episode is a sea-change. Hailey, Scott, and Beta stop an extraterrestrial from being snatched by N.O.P.E. (National Organization of Paranormal Extraterrestrials). They destroy a chaos bot. At the same time, they rescue Beta from Area 37, and find a symbol which makes Hailey think she is evil. The professor from the future tells her that the symbol is for Haileytonium, the most powerful renewable energy source ever created. There is a probability strike after Kristine breaks up with Scott, increasing the possibility she can kiss Scott.

Scott becomes depressed after breaking up with Kristine. Hailey tries to get him out of this funk. She brings Scott on a romantic dinner. Kristine remains supportive until her declaration that no one else can date Scott, even though she broke up with him, because the break-up has been “so hard” on her. As a result, Hailey ends up destroying a cake which showed her true feelings. With this episode, Kristine’s possessiveness over Scott made me dislike her character more than I had previously.

The next two episodes involved Hailey trying to host a cool party and accidentally building something from the future. In the former instance, she invited a cool girl from Genesis who she was nervous about inviting, and others like Becker, who her voice actor called a “lovable menace.” In the latter episode, she climbed a nearby mountain and she began to gain more confidence and self-assurance. At the same time, Becker realized that Hailey is old news for her, and got closer to a fellow schoolgirl named Kennedy. Both end up getting together. When Becker admits to Hailey that she liked her, Hailey has no idea what is going on.

By the 25th episode, there’s still an open question as to who is sending the chaos boats to “the present.” In that episode, Hailey is tired of people leaching off her. She becomes cool and confident while wearing a leather jacket. Even Kristine says Hailey has the confidence within her without the jacket. Other episodes involve Hailey taking care of a crab, vacuuming coins out of a couch, playing a mock trial, and learning the truth behind a factory. In the process, there’s some gay secondary characters and a lesson about misinformation. In the latter case, a Willy Wonka-type character named Chip Dingle, voiced by Weird Al Yankovich, explains how the dogs run the company and they “free” the beagles by letting them play outside.

Other episodes give some background. A cleaning robot, which sings a song about cleaning like Rainbow Quartz in Steven Universe Future, is the basis for Beta’s operating system. Hailey tries to complete a corn maze and asks a girl (Lucy Morgan) to come over to her sleepover. She also has an all-nighter, completes a trampoline course (with a nod to film noir), and has a sandwich named after her. Later, Hailey has to tell the truth for a whole day, including in front of “chemical spill king” Robert Vandertrache. His favorite thing is paving over playgrounds and he started a campaign to eliminate weekends!

Through it all, Hailey records a message in which she admits her romantic feelings for Scott. After she and Beta are saved, Hailey throws Scott’s phone away so he can’t see the message. Hailey implies she may also have feelings for girls, like Lucy or Genesis as mentioned earlier. There are two girls talking intimately in school (one of their lockers has the LGBTQ+ flag symbol). In the thirty-fifth episode, the series directly alludes to homophobia. Frank the Flamingo is called a “failure.” Chuck Power (voiced by Kyle Kinane) detests his peacock, Petey, being attracted to Frank and vice-versa. Chuck appears to be a stand-in for homophobic people.

Last but not least, Hailey tries to lose a game of bowling to her dad. She attempts to save Christmas party ruined after people from the future engage in portaling pranks. As a result, the cosmic timeline is disrupted. This episode raises the question again: who is sending the chaos bots from the future? Do events need to happen exactly one way? Or can these events happen differently? This reminds me of the reported the necessity to keep “canon events” in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Upcoming episodes may answer those questions. Recent episodes, which premiered on Disney+, focused on obsession with mermaids, Scott’s family living temporarily in Hailey’s house (because Becker released termites for her pet peacock to eat), making fun of sitcoms, relationship honesty, and catching a foul ball. Others were about magicians, crass livestreamers, banned hair gel (with a fake ad which resembles those in Futurama), hosting a wedding, getting detention, flying kites, strikes, parental labor, invasive/non-local species, and other topics.

Presently, forty-seven episodes of Hailey’s On It! are on Disney+, officially packaged as twenty-five episodes. Many are doubled-up into 22-23 minute blocs. Whether Hailey’s On It! will be a hit remains to be seen. There’s strong voice talent which mixes with the fact it is cute, silly, and a rom-com. It focuses on an interracial couple. The latter is still rarely shown in media.

The main and recurring voice cast is diverse. The voices of Hailey, Scott, Thad, Kai, Sunny, Jonathan, and Becker are of Filipino, Chinese, Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, Indian, Samoan, and South Korean descent. A Black man, Gary Anthony Williams, voices Beta. However, brown-skinned characters, such as The Professor and Kristine, are voiced by White women. The latter weakens and dulls the show’s diversity. They are joined by two other White characters: Patricia and A.C. Although the guest cast includes actors of Colombian, African, and Filipino descent, many other guest stars are White actors.

While some say that the writers room being queer matters more than the actors being queer, I think it does matter. A series can have a queer writing room and queer actors, with the latter making such representation authentic. Cravalho herself came out as bisexual in April 2020. Some crew members, like Jaison Wilson, previously worked on Amphibia, which had various LGBTQ characters. Unfortunately, episodes to-date have not added any queer characters to the main cast. This includes Hailey, who could have been canonized as bisexual. The latter hasn’t happened, even though it would be very easy to canonize her bisexuality.

The latter is a similar issue with actors like Raven-Symoné (who voiced Monique in Kim Possible), Alyson Stoner (voiced Isabella Garcia-Shapiro in Phineas and Ferb), Keke Palmer (who voices Maya in The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder), and Karan Brar (voiced Prince Veer in Mira, Royal Detective and Gozi in Cleopatra in Space) to name a few, who are within the LGBTQ+ community. None of these actors got to voice a character which reflected their real-life identities, likely because they were in the closet or those behind those shows didn’t care to add LGBTQ+ characters. For Palmer and Brar this is even more unfortunate considering how recently they voiced characters. Hopefully, Isabella’s character reflects the identity of her voice actor in the new season of Phineas and Ferb.

A largely-circulated spreadsheet in which people anonymously described their conditions in animation studios mentions Disney Television Animation (DTVA), which produced the series, along with 37 Monkeys. Also, Rough Draft Studios and Saerom Animation did animation work for the series. DTVA was described as having low pay, bad treatment, and disorganization. On the other hand, reviews said DTVA had creatively fulfilling projects and the ability to work from home! Work conditions at 37 Monkeys and Saerom Animation are not currently known. Rough Draft Studios was universally criticized for assigning too much work, anti-union activities, having inflexible hours, forcing workers into “crunch time,” and being otherwise hostile toward workers.

Whether the series is overwritten or not, it lacks the magnetism of other series. Hailey’s On It! becomes somewhat repetitive and does not have the depth of other Disney series like Amphibia or The Owl House. Still, it has its strength in its own way. On that note, it’s hard to say that streaming is “the issue.” The real issue is that companies are replacing quality with a desired subscription growth. Hopefully, the Disney execs recognize the series’ quality instead of bringing additional drek to the platform or another platform-wide purge.

Hailey’s On It! is currently streaming on Disney+, airing on Disney XD and the Disney Channel, and episodes can be purchased on PrimeVideo.