Disclaimer: Disney/Pixar, Disney Channel and Disney XD sent me to Los Angeles on an all-expenses paid press trip, in exchange for my coverage of these events, which included celebrating the end of Phineas and Ferb – the screening of Phineas and Ferb Last Day of Summer, Q&A with creators and picnic. All opinions are my own.

This week marks my daughter’s first week of summer vacation, but for one television family, it’s the last day of summer.

Last day?

Yes! And tears have been flowing (more on that later)!

Children everywhere are glued to their televisions as we speak to catch the Phineas and Ferb marathon of every episode ever aired! The 73-hour marathon began TUESDAY, JUNE 9th……but what it’s leading up to has caught the attention of everyone.

Phineas and Ferb’s THE LAST DAY OF SUMMER will be airing this Friday and it is the last episode to close out the Emmy award-winning, #1 animated series for tweens and kids – PHINEAS AND FERB!

THE SCOOP:

Friday, June 12, 2015

Original Series – Special One-Hour Episode Premiere

Phineas and Ferb “Last Day of Summer“

(9:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET/PT)

The summer season is coming to a close and it’s Candace’s last chance to bust her brothers. She is quickly foiled, but is presented with an opportunity to redo the day when she sets off Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s Do-Over-Inator, which results in other consequences like rips in the space-time continuum, the shortening of days and the disappearance of her brothers.

Photo Credit: Disney XD/Valerie Macon

As part of a special Phineas and Ferb Press Event this Monday, we headed over to Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California for a special screening of THE LAST DAY OF SUMMER, a summer picnic (oh, the BBQ), and a special interview session with Phineas and Ferb creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh.

There was laughter.

There were tears.

It was an emotional morning. Follow along as I bring you inside the event…..

Dan and Jeff “Swampy” introduced the last episode and talked about kids animated series in general. You know, they never really have an ending. There’s no closure. I got to thinking about that while I was sitting there…..it’s so true. They joked that’s why as adults we are always craving “closure” on things.

So kids of all ages will get closure with the airing of LAST DAY OF SUMMER. I have to admit, they did an excellent job of it. In fact, my favorite line from the last episode says it all.

“What’s your favorite thing we’ve built all summer?”

(Here I was expecting the rollercoaster or something on a huge scale, right)

The answer —> “Memories”

Awwwwww!

Photo Credit: Disney XD/Valerie Macon

Speaking of building things, Phineas and Ferb are always up to something creative and many wondered where the inspiration came from.

Dan shared, “Most of our inspiration actually comes from our own childhood you know. ‘Cause Swampy and I were both sort of creative kids and we had creative parents that would allow us to do ridiculous things and were always building. So you know tree houses and you know I was the king of my neighborhood.”

Jeff added, “A lot of it starts with us putting ourselves back as you know a 10 to 12 year old boy and thinking if you could do anything and that’s pretty easy for us to do–‘cause we’re, we’re pretty close to that maturity level.”

There was so much laughter between the two creators and you instantly realized they were co-workers, teammates and genuine friends. I had to admit their childhood stories reminded me of ones my dad used to tell. Crazy stories of what they would be up to in the neighborhood. Things like crawling through drainpipes and building go-carts out of old materials.”

Jeff remarked, “It’s really amazing that I’m here. And I have all my teeth, most of ’em.”

So now we know how Phineas and Ferb got to be that way! 🙂

Photo Credit: Disney XD/Valerie Macon

But many want to know why it has to end.

Dan shared, “Well, we’ve been doing this for a decade and we felt like this is a good time. I feel like this show is still really good and really, really fresh. I felt like let’s go out before it starts feeling tired.”

Jeff added, “There’s a whole new batch of kids that could start in episode one.” And you know, he’s right. My daughter had just recently started watching the series and she’s a new fan. She’ll be enjoying it for years to come as it will still air on Disney XD and Disney Channels worldwide.

In fact, my daughter is upstairs watching the Phineas and Ferb marathon right now!

On Monday, before the marathon began Dan and Jeff were looking forward to it. A comment was even made, ” My Aunt is already started brewing coffee for it.” Yes – I think they are watching too!

Why? This show has been a huge part of their lives. And the impact it has had on the community…..well, I’ll let them tell you.

Jeff mentioned, “You would be shocked at how many letters we get of people telling us you got us through a really dark time.”

Dan remembered other letters saying, “You inspire my kid to be more, more creative.” And added, “Somebody sent us a letter that before their kid was watching Phineas they would sort of get through art class to go out and play and would never draw anything, would never do anything you know. And she sent a picture that’s being drawn from before Phineas and it was like one line on a piece of paper. And then a picture that he drew after he started watching Phineas and all the creativity that she saw coming out of him. That makes me proud.”

And then it got emotional.

Really emotional.

I think it being the week of the final episode really got to Dan and Swampy. The reality of it hit during the questioning.

Dan mentions when the big announcement came that the show was ending, many reached out on social media saying, “This is the show that got me through PTSD. This is the show that got me through chemo with my kid because it was the one thing that would make him smile.” They’re all these kind of things. And I started crying like I’m doing right now.”

And despite Dan and Jeff knowing for quite a long time that this ending was happening, an entire community of fans were just realizing it.

Photo Courtesy of Disney

But this isn’t the end of Dan and Jeff!

Ooooooh, I’m so excited to share what’s next for them! And it involves Disney too!

Let me introduce you briefly to…..drumroll please…..

MIKEY MURPHY’S LAW

Dan says, “I feel like this is a good follow up to Phineas ‘cause it’s a completely different show, but it has the same sort of positivity that, that Phineas does. Mikey is a kid who is the great, great, great grand– grandchild of Murphy from Murphy’s Law. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong around him constantly since he was a little kid. But just as if you were born with one arm you learn to do everything with one hand you don’t think of it as an imposition.”

Jeff added, “If you ask Mikey he’d say he’s lucky because his life is filled with adventure and excitement every day.”

Dan says, “So he takes everything with the most absolute optimism and positivity and he puts a positive spin on anything and he just copes with it as it comes because this stuff has happened all the time. He’s got a back pack with you know a helmet, and surgical tape, and goulashes. And you know he’s got sort of like Mary Poppins backpack with everything in it and it is really about meeting adversity with positivity and optimism.”

Jeff adds, “It’s deciding how to take the things that life throws at you. You can either take them as an excuse for why your life is awful, or you can choose to look at them as why your life’s exciting.”

I LOVE the messages of this show and cannot wait for the 2017 slated premiere!

Photo Credit: Disney XD/Valerie Macon

I had a question.

They had talked about closure before our screening. Wanting to put an end out there.

But I wanted to know if they would like to see Phineas and Ferb make an appearance down the road?

Jeff immediately chimed in, “Never say never.”

Laughter fills the room immediately!

Dan said, “Yeah we’ve thought about it, but we know these kind of things have a life of their own. They’re still making Scooby Doo you know and we were sort of the Scooby Doo for a whole generation. We were the one that all the kids were watching for a large portion of that time. So I could imagine you know 10 years from now them sort of dusting it off and wanting to do more with or without us. You know, I’d never say no.”

Dan added, “I was ready to step away for a while but I already miss those characters. I miss voicing Doof. I just miss spending time with them. And you know now when funny things happen in my life or I get an idea for something really funny for the last year I haven’t been able to go and put it on TV. And there’ssomething really great about you know like oh I’ve got this really funny idea. I can put it on TV for the whole world you know by just going to work and fitting it into the show.”

“For a while anything I wanted to rant about I could.”

And he talked about the Carly Rae Jebson song…….”Call Me Maybe”. And went on and on. Jeff was grateful Dan had a place to vent all this. Too funny!

And then Dan ranted about One Direction……and how their hair all blew in one direction.

In stitches! They had us in stitches. And that’s why I’m sure Disney has partnered up with them yet again!

Photo Credit: Disney XD/Valerie Macon

I had already decided I really liked these two guys. I mean, Dan and Jeff really seemed to be genuine people. But it was the last question and answer that really told me everything I needed to know about them.

They talked about our children. As a mom, that is what struck me.

It went to the heart of what Phineas and Ferb was about.

Jeff said, “The thing that I want people who are making programs to get out of this is that you can never go wrong over estimating the intelligence of kids. That’s what I hope people get. You can make shows that appeal to everybody from adults, to teenagers, to middle kids, all the way on down without being mean, without having you know the shows filled with jerks and idiots and that you can put big words in and it’s okay.”

“And you can do classical music and jazz music and folk music, and rock and roll, and rap, and all of that and kids’ll get it. And if you can just stop people from dumbing down the subject matter that they feel they need to put in front of kids this whole thing will be a success. That’s what we fought for.”

“So, I’m for treating kids smart and clever and everybody that we started hearing from in the early days got that and that was so rewarding. It’s a show we can sit down with the whole family and they’ll feel really comfortable with my kids watching it and they’re inspired and I’m inspired.”

On the importance of obeying your parents……

Dan said, “We made a lot of choices early on about making sure that Phineas and Ferb are never disobeying their mom. They may be doing things that will get them in trouble, but they don’t know that they would get them in trouble you know. It’s like mom doesn’t say don’t build a roller coaster in the back yard. She says, “Stay out of trouble.”

“They don’t really have a frame of reference for trouble since they’ve never really been in trouble. And Candace is not trying to hurt Phineas and Ferb she just wants– she’s going for fairness. “If I did this mom wouldn’t get mad at me. So I just need mom to see this.” And, and they’re very subtle differences and then just like having everybody be sort of nice to each other. Nobody’s ever motivated by meanness.”

“These are all very subtle things that we thought would go over the heads of the audience but just to have a nice feel. And people have written all sorts of articles about the show in which they get all of those things. And I’m just thrilled that it actually came through and that it feels like it’s a kinder, gentler show than a lot of other shows out there.”

Photo Credit: Disney XD/Valerie Macon

I left the interview session and as a parent, I was excited that my daughter had discovered Phineas and Ferb. We need more television like that. We need more creators like that.

And with that, it was time to do a little celebrating. We were kicking off the “last” day of summer with a BBQ! Dan and Jeff along with their buddies Phineas and Ferb were joining us for a menu of…..

BBQ Chicken and Brisket

Portobello Mushrooms

Cowboy Beans

Potato Salad

Cornbread

We may have been celebrating the end of Phineas and Ferb, but I have a funny feeling we’ll see them again!

Photo courtesy of Disney

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Be sure to follow along as I bring you more from this press trip – Teen Beach 2, Inside Out Red Carpet Premiere and more!

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