Awkward: Lesser known facts about this teen-drama

Updated on July 29, 2022 18:02 PM by Dhinesh

‘Awkward’ debuted in 2011 and had its final episode in 2016. The story revolves around Jenna Hamilton and her life. The show makers initially broadcasted the show on MTV. The actor who played the role of Jenna is Ashley Rickards.

The actor has signed in for the part of this fifteen-year-old teenager who wanted to have an everyday life but ended up having something which she never thought of having.

The awkward Ashley Rickards

The actors used to have lots of fun during the intervals of their filming. Ashley Rickards always felt that the creators showed her character as a Disney Princess rather than a typical girl. She used to eat a giant-sized bagel with a ton of cream before her shoot making her co-stars get bemused on the sets of their first season.

The facts behind the scenes

Nikki DeLoach used to call Jillian Rose Reed her ice in case of emergency purposes if she wanted to have someone closer to her. Brett Davern once filled Jillian Rose Reed’s trailer and bathroom with balloons. Beau Mirchoff even considered taking a couch from the set as a memoir, as he found the sofa too comfy.

If given a chance

Brett Davern often forgot his lines, so the cast and crew always joked that Brett didn’t know his lines in any given shot. On the other hand, if given a chance, Beau Mirchoff would love to play the role of Valerie Marks, which Desi Lydic played.

He found her very attractive, and her character was more like being in her world and trying to give enough guidance to the high school students. Beau Mirchoff, who played Matty McKibben, found the character of Valerie Marks full of fun and unexpected turns.

A role play for Jenna Hamilton

Jenna Hamilton was once seen playing the role of guidance counselor for a day in place of Valerie Marks, listening to all the other students’ issues. Ironically that day, she could not speak due to a dental procedure she went through.

But, coincidentally, she was reported as the best guidance counselor for a day in place of Valerie Marks as she kept quiet and listened to all the issues of the students.

The triangle in the show

Sadie Saxton and Lissa were shown as close confidants in the series but, given a chance, Greer Grammer, who played the role of Lissa, would love to go back in time and take a stab at Molly Tarlov's character, Sadie Saxton, due to her being the sass queen of the high school. Moreover, Sadie Saxton was shown to be hating on Jenna Hamilton as she and Matty McKibben had a thing on the show.

Given a chance to trade

Given a chance, Jillian Rose Reed would have loved to play the role of Sadie Saxton or Valerie Marks if allowed to play any other character other than hers. Nikki DeLoach loved her character Lacey Hamilton so much that she would always choose her over and over again if the show ever came back with a Season 6. On the other hand, Ashley Rickards does not want to have the life of Jenna Hamilton because the character continually falls into awkward situations.

The roles of Brett and Beau

Brett Davern originally auditioned for the role of Matty McKibben. Still, the show creators rejected him, and he returned for the part of Jake Rosati and got selected for the position.

Not many know, but Brett Davern’s character was initially called Jackson Rosati. Brett Davern recalled watching a tall and pumped-up Beau Mirchoff walking in for the audition of Matty McKibben, and he got chosen by the creators as he was all-good looking.

The initial introduction

It is more of an inside joke between Brett Davern and Beau Mirchoff because both thought they were good in the roles of Matty McKibben, but since Beau Mirchoff was good-looking, he got chosen.

But, Beau Mirchoff said he never examined Brett Davern for his petite and teddy bear looks, but Brett always thought so. Brett Davern even recalled that he asked Beau Mirchoff softly, “How are you doing?” and Beau Mirchoff threw off that deep voice, saying, “Ya, I am doing good.”

Beau and Brett are still going strong

Beau Mirchoff has denied all these funny recalls of Brett Davern and said Brett is a dirty liar, as Beau never showed any attitude to him in any way. All the actors admitted that the filming of Season 5 was gloomy and dramatic and ate up their feelings to show up for filming the respective scenes.

All the cast and crew were at the edge of their seats and on the verge of tears. Beau Mirchoff and Brett Davern are best friends in real life and meet up often and share pictures on social media.

They formed a family

All the actors were sad and held onto each other for the last time during the filming of the final episode. The actors were close to each other, formed a family, and still maintained friendship even after six years of the shelving of the show.

The actors were close to each other as friends and were always on the sets roaming around even when they didn’t have any scene to shoot.

They still are connected

During the show's filming, Jillian Rose Reed and Molly Tarlov always sat together and learned their lines. They are still real-life friends and enjoy spending time together gossiping and having a good time.

Recently Ashley Rickards took to Instagram and shared a picture with Jillian Rose Reed and Molly Tarlov. Desi Lydic even said she loved spending time on the set as some cast or crew members would talk about ridiculous stories that would make them laugh and entertain their time.

The little whiteboard

There used to be a small board maintained on the sets of Awkward where each of the mics, given to the actors, had a number. So, if any of the actor’s voices are less audible, they can call out the number, and the sound of that respective mic would be set right.

Jimmy was behind tuning in the sound on the sets for the actors. Beau Mirchoff used to spend more time with Jimmy, as the latter is a fabulous guitar player. Jimmy used to play various songs on his guitar, and Beau Mirchoff loved spending time with him.

The filming set had its world

The mics used to be customized depending on where the actors used them to film a scene; for example, if they had to film a scene in the high school bathroom, Jimmy used to tune up the sound of the mics for the actors.

The main corridor shown in the show was the most hanging out place for all the actors. Ashley Rickards even said the hall of the high school setting was the most boring place as all the cast and crew members used to spend time tweeting or doing something on other social media apps.

Hanging around with friends

Brett Davern used to hang around with Molly Tarlov and Jillian Rose Reed gossiping with them in between the filming of the extensive scenes. One of the well-known trivia facts is Brett mimicking Ashley on and often whenever she used to talk with the media or introduce the press to the sets around in Awkward.

The hallway posters used to be changed all the time depending on the scene or a specific day they used to film on the locations.

Awkward Quad place

So, viewers can see different posters in different seasons and sometimes in various episodes. The Quad place of Awkward location used to take forever to shoot because all the cast members were frolicking around and fooling each other.

So, the filming of any scene used to take an awful time for the directors. So, the favorite day of their shoot was the Quad place, as all the cast members used to get time to spend with each other and have a little exclamation

Different opinions on ending

Brett Davern and Beau Mirchoff always thought that the series ended positively. It’s more like the high school chapter ended, and the students went to college, which was a different arena.

So, completing high school in Season 5 was a reasonable decision by the makers, according to Beau Mirchoff. But, Brett Davern was much more reluctant to choose Season 5 as the last and final season as he thought; it was the showrunners' choice to draw the line.

The miscellaneous facts

The bathroom mirror of the Awkward set has seen the girls putting on lip glosses multiple times. The room of Jillian Rose Reed was everything with cheetah prints as it used to be another side of the high school setting.

Greer Grammer would be singing or dancing if she had not been acting. Ashley Rickards said that burping was her hidden talent back then, and Beau Mirchoff considered flipping his eyelids as one of his hidden talents.