This year, Disney+ put the kibosh on its previously announced Lizzie McGuire revival, largely because the company didn’t want to depict a grown-up Lizzie in her 30s who does, indeed, have sex. While Hilary Duff and show creator Terri Minsky have petitioned Disney to simply move the revival over to Hulu as they did with Love, Victor, fans have been left with mere daydreams of what an all-grown-up McGuire would look like, until now. Actor Jake Thomas, who played twerpy little brother Matt, did the world a very un-twerpy solid by organizing a cast reunion table read of the pivotal Lizzie McGuire episode “Between a Rock and a Bra Place,†a.k.a. “the bra episode.†On May 11, 19 years to the day after the episode originally aired on Disney Channel, it was re-created on Hilary Duff’s Instagram, and the whole gang was there: Duff, Thomas, Adam Lambert (Gordo), Lalaine Vergara-Paras (Miranda), Lizzie’s parents, the episode’s writers, annoying kid Tudgeman, and even popular girls Kate and Claire.
As the episode’s writers, Nina and Jeremy Bargiel, explain at the beginning of the table read, the bra episode felt especially daring for Disney Channel at the time. Nina remembers wondering, “Could we write about bras on the Disney Channel?†Instead of refusing to acknowledge the existence of bras, Disney okayed the episode, so long as they didn’t actually show a close-up of a bra. “It’s kind of like Jaws in the original Jaws, that’s what the bra was,†Thomas says. Then, the table read is heartwarming and delightful. Lizzie’s mom, Jo (Hallie Todd), gives an MVP performance and looks fabulous. Cartoon Lizzie pops up. Duff doesn’t know how to pronounce the word oboe — she pronounces it “Obie,†like the award, which is honestly chic. The whole thing serves as a reminder of how much better Lizzie McGuire was than most tweeny dreck. It also benefitted various charities that need support during the coronavirus crisis: Frontline Responders, No Kid Hungry, Baby2Baby, Support and Feed, LA Food Bank, and NY Food Bank. The lack of Ethan Craft is frankly rude, but Gordo’s giant mustache almost makes up for it.