Hannah Montana

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Travis: So you and Miley are pretty close?
Hannah: You have no idea.

Hannah Montana (2006-2011) is about a teenager named Miley Stewart (played by Miley Cyrus) who seems like an ordinary girl to the kids at her school. But secretly, she is also teen pop sensation Hannah Montana, and the only people who know besides her family are her best friends, Lilly and Oliver.

For its fourth and final season, the show was retooled and re-branded as Hannah Montana Forever.

Tropes used in Hannah Montana include:
  • Adam Westing: Billy Ray Cyrus plays his own Captain Ersatz.
  • Adjective Noun Fred: The title of the Japanese dub Secret Idol Hannah Montana.
  • Adorkable: Much of the show's success can be attributed to Miley Cyrus' bright and energetic personality combined with her goofy mannerisms and a total willingness to look foolish on camera. She's even been compared favorably to comedy legends Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett.
  • An Aesop: One per episode, generally. More prevalent during the series' early run - the third and fourth seasons have quite a few episodes that manage to avoid this trope.
  • Affectionate Parody: The Hannah character, and much of the music, seems to parody the teen-pop images of the likes of Hilary Duff and the younger Britney Spears.
  • Alliterative Name:
    • Oliver Oscar Oken, who gets double credit for this trope as he is played by Mitchel Musso.
    • Lilly's alter-ego, Lola Luftnagle.
    • Robbie Ray Stewart's alter-ego, Robbie Ray.
    • Miley and Jackson's deceased mother, Susan Stewart.
    • Amber Addison, the Alpha Bitch.
    • Karen Kunkle, Jackson's - and later, Miley's - Stern Teacher.
    • Music critic Barney Bittman - again, extra credit for Gilbert Gottfried.
    • Gary Green, radio DJ.
    • Movie producer Baz B. Berkley.
    • Special mention goes to Dandruff Danny, Liposuction Liza and Brainless Becky.
    • And finally, Ray Romano, Joe Jonas and Rob Reiner, appearing as themselves.
  • Alter Ego Acting: Miley is also a singer in Real Life—as Hannah Montana as well as herself, no less.
  • Back for the Finale: Done of series of episodes where Lilly's Dad, Aunt Dolly, and Mamaw all return
    • Literally with Oliver who actually only comes back as a Plot Device.
  • Beneath the Mask: A major theme in the show. Thanks to the Hannah Montana persona, Miley is able to see people's True Colors. She isn't fooled by the facade put up by someone like Amber or Rico when they're dealing with Hannah, because as Miley, she knows what they are really like. In fact, everyone but her true friends treat her better when she is Hannah.
  • Be Yourself: The show's overarching Aesop, which seems ironic given that the series is all about a girl who puts on a disguise so she can live a life of fame and fortune... until you realize it merely sets up Miley for the supporting lesson, that friends and family are more important.
  • Big Damn Movie: Hannah has to save her Tennessee hometown from a land developer who wants to build a mall there.
  • Big Eater:
  • Blind Without'Em: Lilly can't tell a person from a post without her contacts.
  • Broken Record: In the movie, during the filming of the video for "The Best of Both Worlds", the CD that they're lip-syncing to keeps repeating, "Best of both, best of both, best of both..." until the CD player gets smacked, and it finally ends, "Best of both worlds."
  • Brother Chuck: A number of characters were quite unceremoniously Put on a Bus, including:
    • Two of Jackson's best friends -- Cooper, not seen since Season 1, and Thor, not seen since Season 2.
    • Roxy, not seen since early Season 2.
    • Mikayla, also not seen since early Season 2. Although there's probably a good reason for that.
    • Dandruff Danny, not seen since Season 1.
    • The Movie gives Hannah Montana a publicist played by Vanessa Williams who is never seen after the movie.
  • California University:
    • Jackson considered The State College of Santa Barbara, then attended Tennessee University for a time, before settling upon Malibu Community College. None of these institutions exist in real life.
    • Lilly and Miley both apply to Standford University. Yes, spelled like that—it's quite visible on a couple of folders in the episode, and Miley clearly sounds out the first D more than once. There's no such school, and if you Google the name, the results pages will keep insisting you meant something else.
  • Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Jackson frequently incurs Robbie Ray's full wrath for infractions that would rate, at most, a stern talking-to for Miley.
  • Catch Phrase:
    • "Sweet niblets!"
    • "Dang flabbit!"
    • "TVTropeseditorsayWHAT?*
    • "What in the Sam Heck?"
    • "Hey-O!"
    • "Rrrrrrrico! Muahahahaha!"
    • "Eep!"
    • "Oh yeah! I went there!"
    • "Ya think?"
  • Celebrity Paradox: This trope is actually quite important, as Hannah and her father are often in many of the same settings and situations that their actors experience in Real Life. They even interact with many real celebrities playing themselves in the show.
    • Played straight for Miley Cyrus, even more so because her character is The Danza. Justified because the entire premise of the series requires that "Miley" be a girl who is not famous. People in the show have never heard the name before, and later struggle to remember it. For example, when Miley Stewart is dating Jake Ryan and she ends up being interviewed on TV, the host calls her "Milky" - and when corrected, doesn't care that he was wrong.
    • Given the above, you'd think the trope would also apply to her father, Billy Ray Cyrus. However, it's subverted when a direct reference is made. Robbie Ray puts on a mullet wig and claims to be Billy Ray - which couldn't happen if the celebrity did not exist. A double subversion occurs when the woman Robbie is talking to thinks he's crazy and quickly leaves.
  • Character Development:
    • Miley in the first season was a shy, timid, awkward girl. Somewhere along the line she managed to pick up large amounts of sass. She stayed clumsy though.
    • Lilly started out as a funny, quirky tomboy. By the time she got together with Oliver, she had turned into a giggling girly girl.
  • Child Prodigy: Rico starts out as one, eventually aging into a Teen Genius. He is in the same class as Miley and Lilly, despite being three years younger.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: Rico.
  • Clark Kenting: Miley as Hannah.
  • Comic Book Time: Averted. While there are some continuity errors, each season clearly shows the teenage cast progressing to a new school year. Dealing with the issues of growing up is a recurring theme in the series.
  • Commuting on a Bus: In Season 4, Mitchel Musso was removed from the billed cast, with Oliver only appearing in a couple of episodes.
  • Completely Missing the Point: When Hannah is signed up for a celebrity tennis game, Miley seems more concerned with having a signature grunt than you know...actually learning tennis.
  • Cool Loser: Lilly and Miley (and arguably, Oliver) qualify. Both girls are ranked at the very bottom of Amber and Ashley's 'Cool List', causing them to be shunned by the entire school. Matters improve somewhat in high school, though they're still pretty low in the pecking order. We're talking about two attractive, hip, trendy, charismatic girls who turn heads everywhere they go in Real Life.
  • Costume Porn
  • Crossover: Wizards of Waverly Place On Deck with Hannah Montana and That's So Raven Suite Life of Hannah Montana. Characters and settings from Cory in The House appear in the episode "Take This Job and Love It". Because Selena Gomez plays both Alex Russo and Hannah's rival, Mikayla, none of the Hannah Montana cast directly interact with any of the Wizards of Waverly Place cast.
  • Deadpan Snarker:
    • Miley/Hannah, in practically every episode—especially after the first season. She's cute, she's funny, she can be downright obnoxious. It's why the audience can comfortably laugh at her when the Zany Scheme invariably backfires.
    • Lilly also tends to fall into this role—she and Miley are best friends, after all. In some cases (such as the time where Miley and Jackson were thought to be dating) she basically spends the entire episode doing nothing but make snarky comments.
  • Deep South: Miley Cyrus hails from Franklin, Tennessee in Real Life, and her dad comes from Kentucky. The Stewarts, being Southerners, came from the fictional town of Crawley Corners, Tennessee, as The Movie makes quite clear. The show never lets you forget the Stewarts' Southern roots for too long, the strong accents Billy Ray and Miley have for starters. The episodes featuring Mammaw, Uncle Earl and/or and Aunt Dolly only reinforce the issue.
  • Disney Owns This Trope: Rico owns his evil laugh. And the North American rights to the "Hey-yo!" Furthermore, his company is called "Muah-hah-hah Industries."
  • Dumb Blonde: Lilly, especially in Season 1.
  • Easily Forgiven: Robbie Ray will forgive anything that Miley messes up, as long as he's convinced she's genuinely contrite.
    • Lampshaded in "De-Do-Do-Do, De-Don't-Don't-Don't-Don't Tell My Secret":

Hannah: ... but then I learn a valuable lesson and everything's okay!

    • In "Been There All Along", Jackson actually has to explain this to Miley to stop her from trying another Zany Scheme.

Jackson: Face it, you don't have my talent for anything but the truth. Every time you try, you wind up getting caught, sitting on a bench, or the couch, or the porch where Dad says, "Bud, if you'd just woulda told the truth in the beginning yadda yadda yadda I love you."... "I love you too."... you ride Blue Jeans, he writes a song, The End.

  • Empathic Environment: When Miley lost an anklet her mother gave her, the weather in Hawai'i promptly turned sour. When Robbie Ray gives a speech telling her how her mother is always with her, anklet or no, the weather promptly turns gorgeous again.
  • Escapist Character: Hannah. Invoked in some of her songs, such as "Just Like You", which lets the audience identify with her more readily.
  • Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: Many of Hannah's outfits from the earlier seasons were created by sticking thousands of rhinestones on perfectly ordinary clothes. Once the show's popularity took off, so did the budget, so her later costumes are mostly hand-made and fall into full Pimped-Out Dress territory—but still play this trope straight.

Miley: I never wear sparkles!

Lilly: But your fantasies always drive you to do the right thing, in an educational and entertaining way!

  • The Ghost: Uncle Earl and Aunt Pearl until Season 2, when Uncle Earl was finally portrayed in all his larger-than-life glory by David Koechner. Aunt Pearl remained The Ghost.
  • Good Feels Good: Sarah seems to really enjoy her goodie-two-shoes ways.
  • Gosh Dang It to Heck: "Sweet Niblets!"
    • "Dang Flabbit!"
  • Granola Girl: Sarah.
  • Groupie Brigade: Exaggerated in the first season, where just saying the name Hannah Montana too loudly can trigger a stampede of rabid fans trying to find her. Still played straight throughout the rest of the series, and is the justification behind Miley going to all the trouble of keeping a secret identity.
  • Happier Home Movie: In one episode, Miley watches a family Christmas from when her mom was still alive.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: Miley and Lilly.
  • Hidden Depths: Jackson will loudly proclaim at every opportunity how disappointed he is that Robbie Ray had a second child, or how much he resents Hannah Montana taking precedence over any of his own plans—especially because Miley never lets him forget it. However, when push comes to shove and Miley really needs his support, Jackson will sacrifice anything—even his own happiness—to protect his sister's hopes and dreams.
  • Hollywood Dateless: Jackson is portrayed as a uncouth, socially-awkward loser who couldn't get a date if his life depended on it. This in spite of the fact that he's played by the boyishly-handsome Jason Earles, takes a different girl out every third episode, and has even had a few random women come on to him (usually when he's not trying to be charming).
  • Honest John's Dealership: Rico charges exorbitant prices for mediocre food at his surf shop, has some questionably-legal business practices (e.g. charging for restrooms, in the home state of the Congresswoman who that practice abolished, no less), and has had more than one run-in with the Health Department.
  • Hormone-Addled Teenager: Most (if not all) of them. Considering the hectic double life Miley has, the show spends a disproportionate amount of time on hers and the others' various crushes.
  • Hot Dad: They don't call Robbie Ray the "Honky Tonk Hearthrob" for nuthin'!
  • Hot Mom:
  • "I Am" Song: The series loves this trope, as several songs qualify. It begins with "Just Like You" and "The Other Side Of Me" in Season 1, progresses to Season 3's "Supergirl" and "Just A Girl", then finishes with "Ordinary Girl" in the final season.
  • Idol Singer: Hannah in the show, Miley in Real Life.
    • Emily Osment and Mitchel Musso have followed suit.
  • I'm a Man, I Can't Help It: Gender inverted with Miley in Season 2 Episode 8 "Take This Job and Love It", where Miley gives this as the reason she didn't want to take Roxy, her overprotective bodyguard with her on a date.

Miley: I'm a girl. I have needs.
Robbie: Please tell me you just said you're a girl who has knees.

Miley: You know Lilly, you should really write a book.
Lilly: About what?
Miley: I don't care, as long as you stop talking.

  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Rico has been known to do right by people, but usually only when it serves his own interests.
  • Keeping Secrets Sucks: Oh, does it ever. To maintain her secret identity, Miley has to lie to her friends, endure bullying at school, and suffer through constant discrimination or embarrassment... all the time knowing she could make all of it go away so easily. It's no picnic for Miley's family and friends either. Robbie Ray and Jackson both give up their own happiness to protect her, torching their respective relationships with Lorelai and Siena (albeit temporarily, as Miley eventually shares the secret with both). The realization that the secret demands too much sacrifice from her loved ones is what finally pushes Miley into going on national TV and revealing that she's Hannah Montana.
  • Kid Com
  • Laugh Track
  • Line-of-Sight Name: Miley is doing a radio interview from her kitchen while eating spaghetti and claims to be speaking from a cafe in Italy. When she is asked where she is, her father passes her the pasta box. She reads the first words she sees and claims to be in the small village of "Sodium Free". She immediately amends this to "Sodium Freme" (said in an Italian accent).
  • Literary Allusion Title: Every episode title is a Shout-Out to a song. Many also end up becoming Pun Based Titles.
  • Loves Me Not: In the episode "Good Golly, Miss Dolly":

Miley Stewart: He loves me. He loves me not, and now I need more petals!

  • Love Triangle: Season 3 introduces Jesse, one of Hannah's band members, as a rival to Jake Ryan for her affections. An unusual situation when you realize that as far as the world knows, Jake is actually dating Hannah's alter-ego Miley Stewart, whom Jesse doesn't even know exists. The episode handles this by separating scenes between Miley/Jake and Hannah/Jesse - meaning Jesse is only aware that Hannah is dating somebody - but eventually the two guys end up confronting each other in front of Hannah. It is possible that Jesse just didn't know who Jake's girlfriend was supposed to be.
  • The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: A recurring trope throughout the series, with increasing significance each time. Early on, it's played for laughs, with Miley going on a date... to a Hannah Montana concert. Later on, she lets Jake in on her secret when the guilt of continually lying to him becomes too much to bear. In the movie, everything comes tumbling down when Miley tries to have a romantic dinner with Travis while simultaneously attending the mayor's banquet as Hannah. Finally, in Season 4, it's not even enough for Jesse to know that Miley is Hannah -- the burden of dealing with her dual identities puts a severe strain on their relationship.
  • Missing Mom: Miley and Jackson's mother died some time prior to the pilot. She does appear in a few episodes (played by Brooke Shields), in dream sequences.
  • Morality Chain: Often, Lilly is the only thing keeping a leash on Miley's diva-ness.
  • The Movie: Technically, two movies—the first was a Concert Film, while the second was based on the show.
  • My Hair Came Out Green: Miley tries to dye her hair blonde and it ends up green.
  • New Season, New Name: The fourth and final season is re-branded Hannah Montana Forever.
  • Officially Shortened Title: Inverted for the Japanese adaptation, which is marketed as Secret Idol Hannah Montana.
  • Oh My Gods: Robbie Ray uses "Lord" in a theological context.
  • Only Sane Man: Jesse was the only person to make the connection between Hannah and Miley
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Siena is played by Australian actress Tammin Sursok, whose accent lapses occasionally. In particular, she seems to struggle with saying "Hannah Montana". Fridge Logic kicks in when one realizes that Siena's nationality was never stated, and thus she has no need to affect an American accent.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: How the cast's Secret Identities are kept secret. Lampshaded when Jackson points out the obviousness of Superman's Paper-Thin Disguise, and Miley agrees with him as she and Robbie Ray don theirs.[2]
    • Robbie's Mustache is made even thinner as anyone could easily put 2 and 2 together that Robbie Ray and Robbie Ray Stewart are the same person especially when one considers that he never hides the fact that he is Robbie Ray even without the mustache. It very possible this is an attempt to Lampshade this trope as Robbie seems to be the same person with or without the mustache.
  • Picked Last: Happens to Miley whenever gym class involves teams, and is the setup for the episode "Cuffs Will Keep Us Together". As Hannah Montana, she has the coordination to dance onstage - sometimes in high heels and while also singing, no less - but when it comes to sports, she's unable to do things like catch a ball without using her face.
  • Platonic Life Partners: Miley and Oliver, Lilly and Oliver before their Relationship Upgrade in Season 3.
  • Porn Stache: Most of Robbie Ray's Paper-Thin Disguise consists of this. Lampshaded by Robbie repeatedly.
  • Promotion to Opening Titles: Moises Arias, as of Season 2.
  • Relationship Upgrade: Lilly and Oliver, friends since kindergarten, become an Official Couple in Season 3.
  • Rich Bitch: Traci Van Horn, who has the unmitigated gall to tell Lola, to her face, how uncool she thinks she is, despite being friends with Hannah, who publicly humiliates herself just as often.
  • Running Gag: Several.
    • Robbie Ray's obsession with his hair to the point where his kids very first go-to move when bad news comes their way is to compliment his hair.
    • The fact that Robbie Ray is always making awful puns and Miley reminding him that 'you ain't funny'. In fact, you could say this is one of Robbie Ray's main schticks in the series.
    • In Season 4, Lilly gets a new job running the ticket exchange booth at the amusement park. One of the top prizes is a big stuffed toy tiger that costs 50,000 tickets - a ludicrous amount that would fill a large container. Guess what every kid tries to exchange his or her measly handful of tickets for. Lilly easily handles the initial incident in the first episode, cheerily explaining the three cheapest prizes that all those tickets are good for. Fast-forward several episodes and many more kids later, and she's just about ready to crack.

Lilly: (close to tears) Look, you don't have enough for the big tiger, okay? It's the dragon stickers, the erasers, or the ice cube with the fly in it!

  • The Scrooge: Despite being filthy-stinkin'-rich from both his own and his daughter's record sales, Robbie Ray is notoriously, if a bit selectively, tight with a penny.
  • Secret Identity: Many episodes of the show revolve around Miley trying to keep people from learning she is Hannah Montana. Once, Miley tried to get a phone by taking a bad picture of her as Hannah but learned she was wearing a necklace labled "Miley". Lilly and Oliver adopted their own secret identities as well.
  • Selective Enforcement: Miley is Easily Forgiven, whereas Jackson Can't Get Away with Nuthin'.
  • Series Continuity Error: Oh so many! A few examples:
    • There are a number of instances where it seems the episode order (as aired on TV) had been changed from the intended order as they were written. Like when Miley mentions she will "be driving soon", in the episode after the one where she is driving by herself already. Or when Lilly says Hannah just starred in a movie, but the episode where she auditions for that movie hasn't happened yet.
    • Lilly's birthday, which was implied in The Movie to be in the summer, but came around again just seven months later in "Can't Get Home to You Girl". This could be related to the episode shuffling noted above.
    • In one episode, Lilly spectacularly butchers the pronunciation of "empanada" (so as to rhyme with "Canada, Eh?") but in another episode, is taking AP Spanish, and able to tutor another girl in exchange for her math tutoring services.
    • Lilly mentions a brother once, in Season 1 -- then never again. In Season 3, she says sometimes she wishes she had a brother.
  • Shallow Love Interest: Many, which is understandable given the main characters are all teenagers. Notable examples include Becca Weller and Gabe "Hottie Lamati with the Swimmer's Body" Lamati.
  • She's All Grown Up: Lilly. In the Tomboy and Girly Girl pairing of her and Miley, she started out as the former, with actress Emily Osment drawing unflattering comments about being her brother Haley Joel with a wig. Jump to Season 4 -- Lilly dresses straight from the Hannah Closet and Oliver is just smitten.
  • Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: Hannah has been known to be on tour for weeks at a time, and engages in activities and publicity stunts during school hours, such as reading to a group of preschoolers. Yet, as regular old Miley Stewart, she attends a public school, and her absences are never referenced, nor do they arouse the suspicion of anyone at school.
  • Shout-Out: Many. Notably, the episodes are named after songs.
    • At one point, Miley tells Lilly that her dad's nickname for her is in fact "Miley". In real life, "Miley" was a nickname Billy Ray bestowed on his daughter.
    • A very subtle one in "O Say, Can You Remember the Words" in which Jackson makes Jack Nicholson's "Here's Johnny!" face before attacking a pair of chocolate bunnies.
    • There's also one in an episode where Miley is trying to learn to climb a rope. After Lilly is distracted by Sarah coming in to tell her (falsely) that Oliver is back from his tour, Miley is at the ceiling in no time. Unable to figure out how Miley pulled it off (she used a hidden wire harness), Lilly asks "Are you a vampire?"
    • Jake Ryan probably takes his name from the ever-so-perfect male lead in Sixteen Candles.
    • When Jackson tries to get in to a college:

Jackson: There's only one thing that will get me into that college!
Robbie: Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility?

  • Sidekick: At one point, Lilly refers to herself as such saying that she's just a sidekick who needs to learn to say no. She almost never does.
  • Soapbox Sadie: The aforementioned "Saint" Sarah, crusading for such worthy causes as the California Low Flow Toilet Initiative.
  • Spiritual Successor: To Lizzie McGuire, particularly The Movie where Lizzie becomes a pop star and has a brunette double.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Oliver was one to Hannah until he found out who she really was. Lilly (in her Lola persona) was one to Orlando Bloom until she started dating Oliver.
  • Standardized Sitcom Housing: Almost to the point of an inversion of Friends Rent Control, considering it's supposed to be a Malibu beachfront house that two rock stars live in. Justified when you realize that it helps Miley pretend to be a normal girl.
  • Stylistic Suck: Sometimes, Hannah Montana gets an acting job. The character cannot act.
  • Three Amigos: Miley, Lilly and Oliver.[3]
  • Token Minority: Subverted with Rico. He may be the only Latino in an otherwise monochrome cast, but he subverts the TV stereotype of Latinos by being intelligent, wealthy, and motivated.[4]
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Played straight in the first two seasons with Lilly and Miley, respectively. Lilly eventually becomes more of a girly girl herself, though she remains much more athletic than Miley, who is terrible at sports.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: By Season 4, Lilly has turned into an opportunistic snob who spends most of her screen time whining and complaining.
  • Trailers Always Spoil: The official promo for "I'll Always Remember You" showed very few clips from the first half of the episode, and almost entirely put emphasis on Hannah taking off her blonde wig and exposing her identity as Miley Stewart to the world.
  • Tsundere: Miley towards Jake Ryan. When they first meet, she treats him with disdain, calling his antics "disgusting" and turning him down three times when he asks her to a dance. It isn't until Hannah guest stars on Jake's TV show and they almost kiss during a scene that she realizes - or admits to herself - that she actually likes him.[5] Lilly with her usual Genre Savvy is actually aware of Miley's true feelings from the start:

Lilly: Oh, come on! You so like Jake!
Miley: No, I don't! How can you say that?
Lilly: Because, every time his name comes up, you act like you can't stand him.

  • Unlimited Wardrobe: Miley calls it the Hannah Closet, but it's effectively a fashion boutique (that only stocks brightly-colored sparkly items for teenage girls) in her bedroom. Automated revolving carousels and remote-controlled sliding shelves filled with more clothes and accessories than the show has episodes ensure that Hannah never needs to wear the same thing twice.[6]
  • Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Miley ventures into this territory at times.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Jackson and Rico. It takes them until the series finale to admit it.
  • Wakeup Makeup: Miley and Lilly always seem to get out of bed with eye makeup, mascara, foundation and lip gloss perfectly in place. They also wear jewelry while sleeping. Averted with Robbie—although never shown, he has a strict routine of grooming to always keep his hair looking nice.
  • We Named the Monkey "Jack": One episode revealed that Miley once had a pig named Luann. The later episode, "Torn Between Two Hannahs" features her obnoxious cousin, Luann, whom she had named it after.
  • A Worldwide Punomenon:
    • Most of the episode titles are wordplay on the titles of popular songs.
    • Robbie Ray constantly makes puns.
  • Young Entrepreneur: Rico's dad gave him the business, but Rico knows how to keep it profitable.
  • Zany Scheme: A typical episode starts off with Miley doing something selfish or irresponsible, then instead of taking accountability for her actions, she comes up with some dubious, convoluted plan to cover her tracks. Said plan will often involve the use of a ridiculous animal costume.
    • Miley/Hannah herself lampshades this in "He Could Be the One":

Jesse: You are way too smart to come up with something this stupid.
Hannah: HEY! For your information, you are looking at a girl stupid enough to dress up as a chicken, a duck, a swan...
Lola: A pirate, a carrot...

Episodes of this series provide examples of

Jackson: Jackson Stewart, come on down! You are the proud owner of a brand new... USED CAR! Yes, over the last fifteen years this pre-owned beauty has been driven around by heavy smokers and sloppy eaters, and one Wilma McDermott whose cat popped out six kittens in the front seat! Yes, some stains just don't come out!

  • Asian Airhead: Ashley DeWitt...so pretty, so stupid.
  • Basement Dweller: Francis Corelli, Seaview High's Social Studies teacher.
  • Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults: Defied. Miley is Genre Savvy enough to check for feet under the doors before talking about being Hannah.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Do not, I repeat, do not call Lilly stupid within earshot of Oliver!
    • It's a NAZEL condition!
    • Never cheat on Miley. It'll lead to Hannah beating the crap out of you during a live Christmas special.
  • Non Sequitur Episode: The episode "Kiss It All Goodbye", where Miley is suddenly hated and accused of being a liar, was highly implausible given Hannah's universal popularity and the initial warm reception to her revelation of the secret.
  • Boxing Kangaroo: Boxing a kangaroo was among the demeaning jobs Jackson subjected himself to in "Wherever I Go".
  • Brainless Beauty: In addition to the aforementioned Ashley DeWitt, there's also Brainless Bodacious Becky, a Shallow Love Interest of Jackson's.
  • Captain Obvious: From the episode "You Never Give Me My Money", in which the three friends arrive at Rico's to find a large tent:

Lilly: Yeah, I meant what's going on at Rico's?
Oliver: Oh. There's a tent up.
Lilly: Thank you, Captain Duh!

  • Caustic Critic: Music critic Barney Bittman, played by the legendary Gilbert Gottfried.
  • Chained Heat: Oliver does this to Miley and Lilly in "Cuffs Will Keep Us Together".
  • Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: Inverted. It takes a double-length episode in Season 3 for Miley to realize that she loves Jake and not Jesse. The next time we see Jake, however, it's revealed that he has been cheating on Miley. This cuts him loose from the storyline and opens the way for Jesse's return in the next episode.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: In the episode "Ready, Set, Don't Drive", Miley gets arrested for driving with an invalid license. She got her license as Hannah Montana because she didn't want to wait two weeks for a retest. Why, you ask? She couldn't handle the embarrassment of showing up to Amber's big party when Amber had her license and she didn't. Does Robbie Ray ground her? Passe! Take away her allowance? Old hat! Instead, he drives her to the big party, and announces over a bullhorn that Miley didn't get her license.
  • Credit Card Plot:
    • In the episode "Debt it Be", Miley's dad gives her and Jackson credit cards. But Miley goes overboard with it and Jackson has to help come with a plan to keep her dad from finding out about it.
    • In a later episode, Miley gets her own bank account (with $5,000 in it) and - remembering what happened with the credit card - becomes obsessed with defying this trope by refusing to spend a single penny.
  • Crowd Song:
    • In "Get Down and Study-udy-udy", Miley leads her class in singing The Bone Dance to prove she hasn't been cheating, just learning differently. Notable for ignoring the otherwise ongoing plot point that Lilly can't sing by having her be the first one to join in and sing it well. Since Miley Stewart is not the kind of person her classmates would expect to put on a song and dance routine, it leads to Rico having a Master of Delusion moment.
    • Also played straight in The Movie, where Miley gets most of the town to join her in singing and dancing the "Hoedown Throwdown".
  • Disney Owns This Trope: Rico owns his Evil Laugh.
  • Disorganized Outline Speech: Lilly lists reasons not to be friends in "When You Wish You Were the Star".
  • The Ditz: Ashley.
  • Don't Explain the Joke: Oliver explains how Miley 'left her head at practice' in "Mascot Love".
  • Dug in Deeper: Lilly is Hollywood Tone Deaf and Miley Cannot Spit It Out.
  • Easy Amnesia: Given to Jackson by a bump on the head from a fight with Miley. Subverted when said amnesia turns out to be fake, a joke played on Miley by Jackson and Robbie Ray to teach her a lesson about fighting with her brother (Jackson is promised a car for playing along).

Jackson: Amnesia? What do you think this is, an episode of Gilligan's Island?

  • Egg Sitting: Oliver and Sarah do this in "My Boyfriend's Jackson and There's Gonna be Trouble".
  • Eighties Hair: Robbie Ray wants his mullet back!
  • Everybody Hates Mathematics: Lilly was desperate enough at one point to pretend to be Rico's girlfriend in order to get tutoring.
  • Feud Episode: Lilly and Miley get into a fight one episode prompting Oliver to lock them up with handcuffs so they will stop feuding. But by the end of episode Miley and Lilly make up so that they are friends again.[7]
  • Fictional Counterpart:
    • Miley once mentions her dad likes to go to Boscoe's House of Chicken and Pies.
    • A segment of one episode takes place inside a Make-A-Moose.
    • Hannah uses her zPhone to post messages on Flitter.
    • Oliver performs and Hannah is a guest judge on America's Top Talent.[8]
    • Lilly and Miley send in their college applications to Standford University.
  • Freudian Excuse: As a kid, Amber was teased because she was a nerd. This prompted her to become one of the mean girls herself once she moved on to middle school.
  • G-Rated Drug:

Jackson: Okay, big deal, so I had a few...dozen pieces of candy. I can stop anytime I want!

  • Girl Posse: Subverted with Ashley in that she's just one girl.
  • Goofy Print Underwear: A plumber.
  • Greek Chorus:
    • Early on in Season 4, Rico had a gospel choir following him around and singing about his actions.
    • In the Season 3 special hour-long episode "He Could Be the One", Jackson and Rico performed various skits providing narration between scenes. They do it again in the Season 4 special episode "I'll Always Remember You", this time with Siena joining in.
  • Hair-Raising Hare: When Jackson eats too much chocolate, he has nightmares about a Godzilla chocolate bunny.
  • Homage: A rather disturbing one for a Disney Channel show, in which Jackson's ventriloquist dummy Franklin, having apparently survived going through a wood chipper and taken on a life of his own, takes his revenge on Rico. Not to be intimidated, Rico delivers the following Lampshade Hanging before fighting back:

Rico: You're going down, Chucky!

Jake Ryan: Oh, and Natalie Portman, Britney Spears, and Jake Gyllenhaal? Name droppers!

  • "I Am Becoming" Song:
    • "The Climb" from Hannah Montana: The Movie, which neatly encapsulates Miley's emotions, the lessons she's learned in the movie, and the general message of the film.
    • Season 4 gives us "Wherever I Go", which Miley sings to say goodbye to Hannah, as she discards the secret identity and moves forward to face the world as her real self.
      • Another version of "Wherever I Go" was released, in which Miley and Lilly are saying goodbye to each other, giving a nod to the series finale when Lilly goes off to college but Miley doesn't, which proves ineffective as Miley ends up joining Lilly at college anyway.
  • It's All About Me: Inverted in the episode where Miley meets the Queen of England, with Jackson expressing the complaint that everything was always about Hannah Montana.
  • "Just Joking" Justification: Issued, then immediately revoked, by the Simon Cowell parody in "Judge Me Tender", after saying both Hannah and the judge for whom she filled in were boring.
  • Lampshade Hanging: In the episode where they go to Washington, Miley asks Lilly if they can't resolve their fight, at which point 'the audience in her head will go aww', when they do make up, the audience, both in show and on the track says 'aww'.
  • Master of Delusion: In "Get Down, Study-udy-udy", where for her biology test, Miley uses dance moves from Hannah's stage performance of "Nobody's Perfect" to memorize the names of the bones in the human body. Rico recognizes the moves and is reminded of Hannah Montana, but then dismisses the idea, saying that Miley isn't smart enough to pull a trick like that off.
  • The Mean Brit: The second of the two Simon Cowell parody characters was played by Charles Shaughnessy, an actual Brit.
  • Medium Awareness:
    • At the start of Season 3, Lilly not only predicts a daydream, but also points out to Miley where on screen it will be appearing.
    • In the Season 4 episode "California Screamin'", Miley returns the favor by showing Lilly a flashback.

Miley: Two years ago, Fourth of July, remember? (stares up into the sky)
Lilly: (looks around, confused) ... I don't see it, where...?
Miley: Here. (holds Lilly's chin and turns her head to the correct angle)
Lilly: Oh.

    • Further Lampshaded by Miley in "Been Here All Along", when she tells Lilly to "Hold on, I'm in a flashback moment."—right before said flashback takes over the screen.
  • Meet Cute: In "The Way We Almost Weren't", Miley and Jackson time-travel back to the diner where Robbie met their mother for the first time. When they accidentally interfere with the initial encounter, Jackson starts fading out of existence. They spend the rest of the episode trying to invoke this trope for their parents, to ensure that they are actually born.
  • Meganekko:
    • The episode "You're So Vain, You Probably Think This Zit Is About You" reveals that Lilly wears contacts, and when her dog eats them, she had to wear glasses. Even though she hates them, they place her nicely into this trope.
    • Also, Miley dons a pair of glasses while she's Lilly's "lawyer" in the episode "You Are So Sue-able To Me".
  • Mirror Monologue: In "I'll Always Remember You", a famished and exhausted Miley hallucinates a reflection of herself as Hannah in the mirror. It turns out that Mirror!Hannah is Miley's own guilty conscience, who proceeds to berate her for letting Jesse and Lilly make huge personal sacrifices to protect her secret. After years of Miley being obnoxious to other people, it's incredibly amusing to watch her try to out-sass herself.
  • Mistaken for An Imposter: At a Halloween party, Miley's evil identical cousin Luann is impersonating Hannah. Miley—as Hannah—arrives late to the party only to find herself immediately accosted by Lilly, who is trying to catch Luann.

Lilly: Ha! I've got you! I'm not gonna let you ruin my best friend's life!
Miley: But I am your best friend!
Lilly: You can't fool me with that fake Miley accent!

  • Motor Mouth: Miley can spit out some fast lines, most notably in the finale.
  • Near-Death Clairvoyance: When Miley was unconscious in the hospital, she leaves her body and observes what's happening around her.
  • Never Trust a Trailer: Perhaps the greatest fake-out in the history of television occurred when the promos for "Miley Says Goodbye, Part 2" edited footage from the episode to give the impression that Miley intended to follow through in her desire to return to Tennessee, when in fact the Stewarts were just getting a new pad.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed:
    • Hannah and her friends sometimes end up on morning talk shows. Early in the series, the show would be Wake Up, It's Wendy! hosted by an Oprah parody. Later on, Hannah appears several times on Mack and Mickey in the Morning, which closely mimics FOX's The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet.
    • The host on Singing with the Stars was a parody of Simon Cowell.
    • "Byron", another Simon Cowell parody, shows up in "Judge Me Tender", now teamed up with his American Idol co-judges Randy Jackson (well, a parody named "Andy") and Kara DioGuardi (the real deal).
  • No Matter How Much I Beg: Miley gives Lilly her checkbook so she doesn't spend, and Lilly being true to the request refuses to give it back, even when Miley has a 'Miley doesn't live here anymore' moment.
  • The Obi-Wannabe: In one episode, Hannah has found that kids will emulate just about everything she does, and is afraid to ever express her opinions or preferences on television. As such, Robbie Ray enlists Jackson to school her in the fine art of obfuscation. Miley learns the technique, only to find out later that it doesn't work on children, so Hannah ends up delivering the episode's Aesop about being yourself instead.
  • Oblivious Guilt Slinging: In "Wherever I Go", Miley seriously considers accepting a movie role, which would require her to go back on her promise to go to college with Lilly. When she tries to talk to Lilly about it, Lilly starts gushing about how happy she is that Miley is going to college with her instead of going on a world tour or accepting some movie offer.
  • Operation: Jealousy: In "People Who Use People", Miley attempts this on Jake to try and get him to break up with his girlfriend. She fails spectacularly... but then it turns out that Jake wasn't really in a relationship - it was just him successfully using Operation Jealousy on Miley.
  • Our Presidents Are Different:
    • Played straight in Season 1 with Richard Martinez, the President from fellow Disney Kid Com Cory in The House.
    • Subverted in Season 4. In "Hannah Montana to the Principal's Office", Barack Obama impressionist Reggie Brown makes an appearance. Miley Stewart mentions in one scene that Hannah Montana once sang for the President's kids. In real life, Miley Cyrus performed (though not as Hannah) at the Kid's Inaugural: We Are The Future concert where First Daughters Malia and Sasha Obama sat in the front row.
  • Overly Long Name:
    • Rico's Australian-Mexican cousin's name is Alejandro Núñez Gonzales Umberto Sifuentes. They call him Angus for short.
    • There was also a TV reporter in Season 1 named Bree Yang Shixian Takahashi Samuels.
  • Paparazzi: Including a recurring one that once followed Miley (as Hannah) home in order to find out where she lived. This set up the plot for "My Boyfriend's Jackson and There's Gonna Be Trouble".
  • Perfume Commercial: Hannah does one of these in the episode "Smells Like Teen Sellout", telling viewers that the fragrance "completes the circle", and it involves her standing in front of a picture frame with a pair of gymnasts rolling behind her.

Lilly: Who are those two?
Miley: I think they're the circle.

  • Playing Cyrano: When Lilly and Oliver's relationship is on the rocks, Rico finds that Oliver's moping is bad for business. In order to shut him up and bring the customers back, Rico helps mend their relationship by sending Lilly a love letter in Oliver's name.
  • Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: Hannah does this twice, while reading off a teleprompter in "People Who Use People".

Hannah: Oh Jake, I bet you say that to all your co-stars! Push Jake.

Revised Ending The original ending was a All Just a Dream scenario. The show was revealed to be the dream of a young Miley Cyrus. Thanks to Executive Meddling it was thought to be too confusing for children and the ending was changed to Miley giving up the movie in Paris to attend college with Lily.

  • Scout Out: The Sunshine Girls, who originally appeared on That's So Raven.
  • Secret Relationship:
    • In a nod to Star Wars, when Jake and Miley are secretly dating they use the code-names 'Anakin' and 'Queen Amidala'.
    • Subverted in the case of Lilly and Oliver. They decide to ease Miley into it, and manage to keep it from her for all of about five minutes.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Both played straight and subverted in the episode "You Are So Sue-able To Me". When Lilly's crush Matt asks her to the school dance, Miley convinces Lilly to get a Girliness Upgrade to impress him. When Lilly later shows up at school with her new look, she has quite a few guys drooling over her, but then she gets stood up by Matt. It turns out he preferred her Tomboy look.
  • Sickeningly Sweethearts: Lilly and Oliver, after being friends since kindergarten, suddenly turn into this, even calling each other "Lillypop" and "Olipop".
  • Special Guest: Quite a few.
  • Stepford Smiler:

Robbie Ray: Excuse me, we'd like to get off.
Flight Attendant: And I'd like to have a job where I don't have to smile all the time no matter how annoyed I am.

Miley (looking at a tabloid pic of Hannah): I look good in a mustache. Oh yeah. I'd definitely date me.
Lilly: ...me too.
(beat)
Miley and Lilly (in unison): Awkward!

  • Sure, Let's Go with That: In "Me and Rico Down by the Schoolyard", Rico blackmails Miley for most of the episode, claiming to know her secret. Thinking he knows about her double life as Hannah, she agrees to pretend to be his girlfriend. When it turns out the actual secret that Rico knows is that she carries a teddy bear around with her, Miley just runs with it.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial:
    • Hannah doth protest too much about not knowing Oliver in "Judge Me Tender".
    • From "California Screamin'":

Lilly: Oh hey, I thought you'd be uh, spying on your dad and his date.
Miley: ...It's not like I'm twelve anymore, not like I'm gonna follow them into some restaurant and hide behind a potted plant and then get underneath the dessert cart when I can't hear them anymore. Pfft! Please!

If we were a movie, you'd be the right guy
And I'd be the best friend that you fall in love with
In the end we'd be laughing, Watching the Sunset
Fade to Black, show the names, play the happy song

  • Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Played straight in "Killing Me Softly With His Height", where Miley goes on a date with the much-shorter Connor.
  • Toilet Humor: From the episode "Judge Me Tender":

Lilly: I brought a little BM for my BFF.
Miley: Please tell me that's a blueberry muffin.

Lilly: Miley, I know how he feels. I can tell by the way he looks at me! Even when I have a pimple. I never told you this, but...that's why he calls me "Lillypop".
Miley: I could've gone my whole life not knowing that.

Miley: It's "fo' shizzle"...fo' years ago.

  • Tradesnark™: Jackson and Oliver ended their (in)famous cheese jerky rap with "Sizzlin' Stewart & Smokin' Oken Enterprises. Patent pending." Also, Rico owns the North American rights to his catch phrases "Hey-O!" and "Muahahahaha!"
  • Twist Ending: In the finale, when Miley and Lilly are about to leave for Paris, Lilly doesn't want to go, and tells Miley that her own dream has always been college, no matter what Miley's is. So she stays at Standford while Miley takes off on her flight to Paris. But then, Miley comes back to Standford, admitting that she has to take the one chance to go to college with her BFF, as opposed to many chances for big movies and the like.
  • Two Girls and a Guy
  • Uncanny Family Resemblance:
    • Rico and his rival Australian cousin, Angus.
    • Miley's identical cousin, Luann.
    • Robbie Ray's brother and Luann's dad, Bobby Ray Stewart.
  • Upper Class Twit: Traci Van Horn.
  • Vacation Episode
  • Very Special Episode: "Been Here All Along" in Season 4 honors military families with a touching episode that includes cameo appearances by real families of the U.S. Armed Forces.
  • Well-Intentioned Replacement: In "Bye Bye Ball", Jackson accidentally dismembers Miley's childhood teddy bear. She retaliates by destroying his prized possession, a baseball signed by a retired and embittered player. When Jackson gives Miley back a repaired bear, she goes to insane lengths to replace his ball before he finds out that it's missing. She's eventually successful in obtaining a signed ball, but it turns out the original one was actually a forgery.
  • Wimp Fight: When Miley and Jackson were fighting over whether or not they were going to tell Siena the "Hannah" secret, it escalated to physical violence. And by physical violence, I mean the both of them slapping each others hands.

Jackson: You fight like a girl!
Miley: I am a girl, what's your excuse?

  • Wonderful Life: In the episode "When You Wish You Were the Star", Miley wishes upon a star that she could be all Hannah, all the time. In this Alternate Timeline, Jackson is a hermit, Robbie Ray is married to a Gold Digger, Lilly is the Alpha Bitch (with Ashley and Amber as her Girl Posse), and Rico and Oliver have gone into business together as sleazy paparazzi-wannabes.
  1. ↑ In "Killing Me Softly With His Height", she even realizes the plan Miley's about to come up with before Miley has thought of it herself.
  2. ↑ Hannah's disguise arguably qualifies for Wig, Dress, Accent, albeit on an inconsistent basis. Obviously she already has the wig and clothes, then composes herself in a far more confident, flashier manner than the shy, awkward and unpopular Miley Stewart. Also, if you pay attention, Hannah's voice is often a higher register and loses much of Miley's real-life Southern accent - even though the Hannah character is also from Tennessee. This speech convention was more prevalent in the first two seasons, but a recent good example was in "Ready, Set, Don't Go" where there is a marked contrast between how she talks to the DMV worker and how she speaks to Lilly.
  3. ↑ Oliver sometimes is included in a secondary Three Amigos group opposite Jackson and Rico.
  4. ↑ He's also greedy, conniving, and selfish.
  5. ↑ Eventually, Jake and Miley enter an on-again, off-again relationship. From then on, every time they are not a couple, Miley is generally nice to him, but her angry reactions to any perceived slight are well out of proportion to the Just Friends status they are supposedly at.
  6. ↑ She does end up reusing some outfits, but any repeat appearances are usually for one short Hannah scene in a Miley-focused episode.
  7. ↑ While still handcuffed.
  8. ↑ Despite the name, it's more a parody of American Idol, complete with thinly-disguised imitations of that show's judges and a cameo appearance by actual Idol judge Kara DioGuardi.
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