Disney Channel

[TSG]

The Disney Channel, ran by Walt Disney, is a TV channel that specializes in teenage programs. It has had such successful shows with both adults and teens as That's So Raven, Hannah Montana, and Wizards of Waverly Place. It also shows the animated Disney classic shows of it's past, original movies called DCOMS, and other Walt Disney produced movies. It features family entertainment. It has also produced Disney XD, for teen skater's and gamers, and blocks on ABC and ABC Family.

So what're your thoughts on this channel? Do you enjoy any of it's programs and/or movies? Do you think it has it's place on TV? Discuss.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The Disney Channel used to be awesome. It had shows like Even Stevens and Kim Possible that were very enjoyable. Some of the channel's movies were good too. I used to watch them every now and then. Then things changed though. Much like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network before it, The Disney Channel started showing a lot of things that I did not care for because it was too childish. It's a result of growing up and becoming an adult. The channel still has a place on tv due to it providing entertainment to a whole new generation of people, who will end up missing the current lineup of shows just as I do the shows that were on it more than a decade ago.

 

[Mac Attack]

Disney Channel will always be good. I haven't watched it on a regular basis for a while now however occasionly I do tune into it, to see what the youth is vieiwing. However I feel that this channel has been and always will be a channel that the youth loves and parents will not mind letting thier children watch. My personal favorite T.V that I willl watch on Disney Channel is Wizards of Waverly Place, because of the cleverness and because Selena Gomez is hot. I think that if anything I would want Disney Channel to do more of those low budget Disney movies, and I would also add more cartoons. All in all it is a channel that will live in all our hearts.

 

[Cookie]

The Disney Channel is a business, and a very lucrative one. It's not about sending out good messages to kids or creating good quality programming - it's about creating new "stars" from adolescence and having them take over every facet of popular culture: movies, TV, and music. It doesn't matter if they're actually talented. As long as they look perfect, they're good to go. Selena Gomez can't sing for shit and that didn't stop them - they needed her to have a singing career. Demi Lovato cannot act her way out of a paper bag - irrelevant, she needs to have her own show on the Disney Channel. Miley... well, Miley isn't good at much of anything but that hasn't stopped her from being the star of one of the most successful shows in Disney's history. These shows and stars glamorize teen life (the same way something like The Bachelor glamorizes relationships) and give all the kids watching the idea that this is how some teens live and dress and it sells everything from clothing to concert tickets to any kind of merchandise you can imagine. Is it necessary to have a pool float with an image of the Jonas Brothers pasted on it? Nope, but kids will get their parents to buy it.

Every show they create is a spin on the successful formula - ordinary, perfect-looking tween in extraordinary and/or awesome circumstances. Hannah Montana - normal girl who moonlights as a successful pop star, Wizards of Waverly Place - normal girl who happens to have magic powers, Suite Life - two normal boys living in an amazing hotel because their mother is a celebrity, That's So Raven - normal girl with the ability to look into the future, and it goes on and on. Add on their family and/or their two best friends (the boy best friend who inevitably becomes the main character's love interest) and you're set. That's a Disney Channel original program. Nickelodeon tried to avoid using this formula at first by creating more unique programming like The Amanda Show and All That where they really focused on the strengths of the talents they picked up. But that doesn't sell. Now all of their new original shows are exactly like this too - iCarly and Victorious are prime examples of that.

My personal thoughts? When I was growing up, I absolutely adored the Disney Channel. I don't blame kids for loving it now... it's made just for them. I was their target audience and I ate up everything they did. Lizzie McGuire was one of my favourite things when I was a tween. The shows aren't terrible and especially at a young age when you actually love the formulaic and obvious writing of each one, you come to expect every show to be like that and that's why you like it. And I do think when I was at the right age to enjoy the Disney channel, they focused a little less on how "perfect" their stars were. They were always beautiful but they weren't rocking 5 inch heels and skinny jeans. It was a good time to be a fan. The early 2000s were a great time to be a tween. Oh and old school Disney channel movies for the WIN. I loved that one about the two twin sisters who ended up playing professional basketball. And Zenon and Cadet Kelly? That was my shit.

 

[Serious Mozzarella]

I feel like a lot of what's on The Disney Channel right now is just recycled, formulaic garbage. They take concepts that got people like Miley Cyrus famous, completely rip it off, and roll in the ad revenue with little to no work. They pump out music "sensations" like pez dispensers, and I've pretty much had it up to here with the explosion of feminine color and sound every time a commercial for The Disney Channel appears on my screen.

Plus, the rumors I hear about how they treat their talent is, to say the least, unsettling. I've heard of people under contract with Disney, go absolutely fucking insane, right down to clinical depression, tunneling right into a life of hard drugs.

Nickelodeon isn't faring too much better right now, but they seem a little less sketchy about everything.

 

[ugotpwned999]

ummmmm. Disney channel used to be the shit. I just seems though that these days anyone can make a shit-ass show and get a contract with disney channel. Alot of the shows are absolute bullshit because of it. (Sorry for using 'shit' alot, lol)

Its seems though that its changed from a child friendly product to like a tween- early teen product. Also why is it that most of the women like miley Cyrus etc... that starred in hit shows on disney channel turn into ****s? lol

The only things I'll even watch on it anymore are Phineus and Ferb cause its just AWESOME or Selena Gomez cause ya know, she's hot.

 

[Nate DaMac]

I didn't have the Disney Channel for the majority of my childhood. It wasn't offered on the basic cable package in the are I was living in. When I moved to Independence when I was 12, I got it for the first time. I hated some of the shows at first, but I used to love shows like The Famous Jett Jackson, Even Stevens, and Lizzie McGuire. I used to have the hugest crush on the chick who played Miranda on that show. But of course, I got older and got into more adult themed shows which in retrospect, were pretty fucking terrible.

I have no idea what kind of programming they have now. My son is more into the shows on Nickelodeon and Sprouts, so I never have that channel on. However, I suspect that as my daughter gets older, she'll be into it so I'll have to sit through some of that shit.

 

[ABMorales787]

Never really liked it. I preferred CN's action cartoons back in the day. Toonami consumed most of my childhood along Fox Kids. The only time I watched Disney was when they had the Jetix block that featured most of Fox Kids' programming. Now that it's gone (to my eternal sadness) all I watch from Disney is The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

 

[Dave]

It's been said but The Disney Channel has really fallen down in my estimation. Perhaps it is because I am not a teenager any more but moreover, it is because they have completely switched the way they operate and the type of show that is coming from their network.

When I was growing up, shows like Even Stevens and That's So Raven used to be pretty entertaining. Even Stevens, in particular, was epic and is still one of my all-time favourite shows. However, over the last few years, they have tried to craft an audience for themselves and have did that pretty successfully, to be fair. The created the High School Musical franchise which has basically brought them back to the forefront of the market. Then they did Camp Rock and all the other all singing-all dancing movies that got people talking about Disney all over again.

They can't be blamed for trying to make it better for themselves but I have not appreciated the way that they have just switched their focus. Perhaps it was necessary for them to do that but I have never watched since High School Musical 2 was released and I likely wont ever watch it again. I appreciate that it is not geared towards me any more but it bugs because of how much I used to love it.

Oh well, C'est La Vie.

 

[The Rob]

I've always been more interested in Nickelodeon than the Disney Channel. That didn't stop the Disney Channel sometimes putting something on that I couldn't help but watch, record and watch over and over again. The one thing I remember loving on the Disney Channel was Halloweentown. That film captured my imagination like nothing had before. It became a tradition every Halloween to watch that, and it's numerous sequels. But that was once a year really, or for one period of the year. Nick was a channel I could watch all the time which is why my childhood memories are filled more with shows like Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Keenan and Kel. Infact I can't remember too many Disney programmes that well.

 

[wrestlingfan]

At age 13 I watch both more teen-orienteated shows but still watch Disney Channel and Nick, I do say Disney Channel is still good but is ripping off Nick and vice versa, and have not been putitng effort into their shows and just using the same formula over and over and now trying to make every teen actress into a musician.

 

[MrHashasheen]

I still watch Disney Shows. As an eighteen year old, I find several of the actresses to be attractive, plus I'm somewhat drawn into the true and tried formula they present in their live shows. XD is a lot better, though. The cartoon line-up they have there reminds me of the previous era of Disney cartoons and they're decent to great.

 

[jmt225]

The Disney Channel was good when they aired countless reruns of Boy Meets World and Smart Guy, and had original shows like The Jersey, Jett Jackson, etc. They also aired decent movies back then as well such as Brink!, Airborne, Wish Upon a Star, etc.

I'm pretty sure I stopped watching the channel all together during one of the later seasons of Even Stevens. I could tolerate Even Stevens and even Lizzie McGuire to a certain extent, but neither were shows I went out of my way to watch. When the shows and movies above stopped airing, I stopped watching the channel all together, and haven't tuned into a single show since. In fact, the only show I have any knowledge of is Hanna Montana, and I'm pretty sure if it weren't for Miley Cyrus' phone pictures controversy being all over the news, I wouldn't even know what that show was either.

So, yeah... fuck Disney Channel. They show nothing of quality. I have Direct Tv and it comes with two Disney Channels, and I never see anything worth a damn on either one. Nickelodeon is pretty much the same way, though I did get stuck having to watch the show Victorious a couple of weeks ago and that actually wasn't completely terrible. The main girl on that show is fucking hot as hell, which I guess is what made the show watchable. But outside of that one exception... kids shows today suck ass, and I feel bad that kids get raised on this crap, when us raised in the nineties were given the luxury of great original kids programming on these channels, plus being able to watch countless reruns of past great shows before our time.

 

[Pole Smoker]

The Disney channel is a disgrace. What are the stupid shows about. Hannah Montana? Nonsense. I've saw these shows through younger family members and they leave me think what did i just watch every time. They act like idiots. Seriously what are they doing. They act like freaks. The particular bad one is On Deck. What the hell is that show on TV for. They act like idiots. Disney presents the worst shows I've ever seen.

 

[Mac Attack]

At age 13 I watch both more teen-orienteated shows but still watch Disney Channel and Nick, I do say Disney Channel is still good but is ripping off Nick and vice versa, and have not been putitng effort into their shows and just using the same formula over and over and now trying to make every teen actress into a musician.

For the record Disney Channel came first so I don't know how logical it is to say Disney is ripping off Nick. As for the part where you mention that the Disney formula is all the same Have you ever thought for a moment that maybe it is a criteria to become a Disney star. And realize this is only for the the female stars as there are not many males Disney singers except for the Jonas Brothers.

 

[Notorious718]

As a child, Disney Channel was a pretty big part of my television watching experience growing up (besides the shows on Cartoon Network). Disney Channel used to be awesome for me. I loved watching shows like Even Stevens, Boy Meets World (anyone know if they still play that show on television?), and The Famous Jett Jackson (anyone remember that one?). The movies back then were also very good and inspirational. Movies like Tru Confessions and The Color Of Friendship to name a couple were some of my all time favorite Disney Channel Original Movies. They just don't make them like they used to anymore. I don't know if it's a result of me growing up or a result of Disney Channel becoming more childish (I'll go with the former) but I don't really enjoy it as much as I used to. I'll tune in every now and then though. Probably my favorite Disney Channel show at the moment is Good Luck, Charlie. The baby who plays Charlie is pretty damn adorable. Wizards of Waverly Place starring Selena Gomez is also pretty decent. But nothing else of today's Disney Channel really sticks out to me.