Cowbell-A-Rooney

"I am the milkmaid, hear me pour!"

- Maddie

Cowbell-A-Rooney is the fifth episode in season 3 of Liv and Maddie. It aired on October 18, 2015. It was watched by 1.820 million viewers on its premiere night.

Overview
Liv tries to help her new co-star Josh feel more comfortable in Stevens Point while the rest of the school prepares for Cowbell Week, a Stevens Point tradition.

Episode Summary
Maddie is walking through the halls of Ridgewood High, when she spots Josh being thrown against some lockers. As it turns out, the cast and crew of "Voltage" were shooting some scenes at the school, which is interrupted by a confession by Karen informing us that the use of the school as a setting is part of an attempt to raise money for the computer lab and some upgrades to the bathrooms. Maddie apologizes to him and offers to allow him to interrupt one of her basketball games, which Josh says he'll do, only to turn around and threaten him for considering doing so, causing Josh to smirk and to instantly fall in love with her. Maddie starts walking away from Josh, looking at him and he tells her it's not gonna be too hard to tell Liv and Maddie apart, smiling to himself afterwards.



After the opening theme, Pete and Karen announce the beginning of Cowbell Week at Ridgewood High. Cowbell Week is an activity where students run around with cowbells tied to straps that they throw around random students. Once a student gets a cowbell around his or her neck, he or she is required to imitate cattle and wear that cowbell for the duration of the game. Andie is "belled" by Willow instantly. Joey is "belled" by Parker during one of the confessionals. Maddie bells a random female student, and while she and Parker taunt each other over who will bell the other first, Dump Truck sneaks up behind her, only for Maddie to throw Parker in her place. In response, both Maddie and Dump Truck vow to bell each other, despite the fact that Maddie has been a two-time Cowbell Week champ, who has resorted to declaring herself "the milkmaid." At the studio where "Voltage" is normally shot, Liv invites Willow and Andie on a tour. Willow thanks her for the tour, partially because she believe that she can't be cowbelled by Maddie, but Liv warns her not to be so certain of this because she was actually cowbelled by her sister while in the middle of a bathroom break. As her two friends wander further around the set, Josh picks up his bookbag and returns to his hotel to read, uncertain of what he can do in Stevens Point. Later the girls are playing with other parts of the set, and Liv asks them to help her to get Josh adjusted to life in Stevens Point. Since he normally has a routine of a combination of boxing and Pilates, Andie offers to build a boxing ring for him in her backyard. When she finally gets the ring set up, they announce that they even got a sparring partner. That partner turned out to be Dump Truck who Andie has grown fond of, something that Willow teases her about. Though Josh thinks he's going to get a workout with Dump Truck, the "Shady American" punches him in the stomach too quickly. Before the unfortunate attempt to make Josh feel at home, Joey approaches Parker while he's playing a video game, and ask for his help in donating much of his cat-related clothes to charity. Later on, Joey comes downstairs in a new non-Kitty wardrobe, and Parker made him realize he has more cat-related clothes than he thought. Later on in a scene from an episode of Voltage, Liv and Josh are performing a scene where SkyVolt (Liv) begins to suspect that Garrison (Josh) is as unearthly as her powers. The scene is cut onto a tablet of Liv's showing that very scene. After the scene is finished, Josh makes it clear that he didn't want to bring Hollywood activities to Stevens Point, and instead wanted to get into the activities within Stevens Point. Just then, she decides to introduce him to Cowbell Week and explains the rules (what few there are) to him. He eagerly wants to get involved in the tournament.



A montage begins where Josh disguises himself as a janitor and bells two random girls. Maddie tempts four boys and one girl to try to bell her, only to wind up tricking them into belling each other. Dump Truck spots an unbelled boy trying to hide behind a boy who was already belled, and intimidates him into taking the bell and put it around his own neck. Willow is about to bell somebody else when Maddie sneaks up behind the Paulie Porcupine statue and tries to bell her, but Willow catches her before she can do so. Maddie and Willow are in a cowbell Mexican Standoff when suddenly Willow gets belled by Dump Truck who does so on roller skates and a ridiculous helmet. Later, Liv tells Josh that he, Maddie and Dump Truck are the only three players left, and if one is eliminated they will compete in the "Night of the Cowbell." Dump Truck tries to sneak up and bell Josh, but he has a device in his backpack that blocks it, and the actor turns around and bells him instead. Liv reveals that Andie built the device in his backpack, and he's impressed with her handiwork. As he tries to flirt with her, Josh informally reminds him that he is required to moo. Parker brings Joey out to the back yard and shows him all his old kitty clothes that he couldn't sell, and offers to put some of them in a shredder. Joey finally caves in and admits he can't part with his wardrobe, and his younger brother admits he knew this all along. "Night of the Cowbell" turns out to be a ceremony where players have to jump on a springboard and place a bell around a basketball hoop with a felt cow head over the basket. Maddie wins the first round, and so does Josh. Between the rounds, Dump Truck offers Andie a date to the racetrack, and a catalytic converter for an undetermined big-block V-8 engine as a present (with flowers), and she easily accepts his date. In the second round, the cow head is raised, and Maddie taunts Josh for the second time before succeeding to bell the cow once again. Josh tries to do the same, but misses the cow and lands on the same row of lockers he landed on when he was shooting that episode of Voltage. Maddie runs over to see if Josh is injured, but after finding out he's alright, she gloats over her victory. The Rooney's and their friends celebrate Maddie's victory at their house. Josh tells the Rooney twins that he was just happy to play their game, which Maddie interprets as loser talk. She then decides to run around the house and taunt all the losers/guests. Despite his loss, Josh asks Liv about whether or not Maddie has a boyfriend, and she is thrilled to no end when she realizes he has a crush on her twin sister, a fact he doesn't deny. The episode ends with Willow trying to sneak off with some of Joey's cat-wear, and getting caught by Parker. Willow tries to deny her actions, but Parker refuses to buy her story. When she offers $5 to pretend that he didn't know she was doing this, and he raises the price to $10 for touching them. She caves in and offers him $20 because she claimed to have done something else to them which she refuses to reveal. She then passionately sniffs the pile of kitty clothes in her arms and skips away.

Main Cast

 * Dove Cameron as Liv and Maddie Rooney
 * Joey Bragg as Joey Rooney
 * Tenzing Norgay Trainor as Parker Rooney
 * Kali Rocha as Karen Rooney
 * Benjamin King as Pete Rooney

Recurring Cast

 * Jessica Marie Garcia  as  Willow Cruz
 * Lucas Adams as Josh Willcox
 * Shak Ghacha as Dump Truck
 * Victoria Moroles as Andie Bustamante

Trivia

 * This is Andie's first appearance in season 3.
 * Josh starts liking Maddie.
 * Josh is the main character in this episode.
 * Dump Truck asked Andie out.
 * Joey's middle name was revealed to be "Gilligan."
 * Andie's last name was revealed to be Bustamante.
 * Josh's last name was revealed to be Wilcox.
 * This is part 1 of the Mosh Arc.
 * Maddie won Cowbell Week 3 years in a row as of this episode.
 * This episode was watched by 1.820 million viewers, currently being the highest-rated episode of the season.
 * Although this was the fifth episode to air, it was the fourth shot.
 * In the UK plot, Josh's name is known as Kyle.
 * This episode is similar to the I Didn't Do It episode, Lindy Nose Best, because Josh (Jasmine) likes Maddie (Logan) after spending time with them, but does not tell her (him). The episode also aired two days after the series finale of I Didn't Do It.
 * Liv does a scene with Josh for Voltage when Liv says Roswell, New Mexico, which is the setting of a show from the late '90s, "Roswell".
 * The writers had to explain to the cast what "pugilist" meant.
 * The shirt Lucas Adams wore in a Voltage scene was one that writer, David Tolentino wore in the '90s. This could be a clue on Garrison's character, possibly hinting he is older than he is, especially because he says, "There's something about me, you don't know".
 * The scene where Dump Truck belled Willow took several takes.
 * Lucas Adams actually did hit the lockers, without it being a body double, and did it several times.
 * Dove Cameron did the dance sequence at the end of the episode all on her own.
 * Josh tells Maddie in this episode that it's not going to be hard to tell her and Liv apart, yet ironically in Ex-A-Rooney, Josh can't tell Liv and Maddie apart when Liv is disguised as Maddie.

Goofs

 * In reality, the section of the school used to shoot Voltage would have been closed off, for the express purposes of preventing someone like Maddie from walking on set and messing up the shot. And more than likely, it would also have been a stunt double thrown, and not Josh.
 * When Liv is talking to Andie and Willow on the Voltage set, her Skyvolt jerkin keeps alternating between unfastened and closed. Probably because Dove shot the scene with the jerkin open and then did another take with it fastened.
 * When Willow comes around the corner with two cowbells, she has an orange one in her right hand and a green one in her left hand. After the camera angle switch, the cowbells have swapped to the other hand.
 * The girl that Maddie claimed to have belled in her sleep was actually walking down the hall and was the first person she belled that year.
 * Just before Willow cowbells Mackenzie, she compliments her dress, but Mackenzie is obviously wearing a cropped top and skirt, not a dress.
 * If you listen carefully when Liv says "You like Maddie!" to Josh, she actually says Mayddie, not Maddie.