Gravity Falls (season 1)
| Gravity Falls (season 1) | |
|---|---|
 
Cover art for digital distribution (volumes 1 and 2 respectively)
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| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Disney Channel |
| Original release | June 15, 2012 – August 2, 2013 |
| Season chronology | |
The first season of the American animated television series Gravity Falls consisted of 20 episodes on the Disney Channel, and aired from June 15, 2012 to August 2, 2013.
The season revolves around the various antics of two fraternal twins, Dipper and Mabel Pines, who were handed over to their Great Uncle (or "Grunkle") Stan, who runs a tourist trap called The Mystery Shack, in the town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. They soon realize that the town holds many secrets, and when Dipper obtains a book that he finds in the forest, they find their everyday lifestyle changes. Alongside them in their antics are Soos and Wendy Corduroy, who work for The Mystery Shack, the latter of whom Dipper has a crush on.
Prior to working on the series, series creator Alex Hirsch's primary inspiration growing up was the popular animated sitcom The Simpsons, where he observed that "animation could be funnier than live-action. That animation didn't have to just be for kids. That it could be satirical and observational and grounded in a sense of character interaction". Hirsch graduated from the California Institute of the Arts, and was hired to work as writer and storyboard artist for the Cartoon Network series The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, where he was paired up with Pendleton Ward, the creator of Adventure Time. Afterwards, he moved on to co-develop the Disney Channel animated series Fish Hooks, shortly before he pitched (and was subsequently green-lit) Gravity Falls.
Hirsch explained in an interview with The A.V. Club during production of season 1, that a typical episode is conceived in a room reserved for writers, where a simple synopsis is presented, and from then on dramatic structure is defined, and the plot is modified to include a character-driven subplot, which Hirsch expresses as "the hardest thing... to find a character story that actually uncovers, explores, or pushes tension – on something our characters care about – that is properly explored via the magic or monster or impossibility of the week."
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