Disney Channel

Here’s what Disney+ subscribers should look out for in September. Hint: the latest Mulan film.

Here’s what Disney+ subscribers should look out for in July. Hint: Hamilton the musical.

Here’s what Disney+ subscribers should look out for in June

Here’s what Disney+ subscribers and those in self-isolation should look out for in May

Here’s what Disney+ subscribers and those in self-isolation should look out for on the streaming service in April

Here’s what Disney+ subscribers should look out for on the streaming service in March

The first roundup of Disney+ newly released content in 2020, which features the finale of a Toy Story spin-off involving a piece of cutlery

The first roundup of Disney+ newly released content, which are mostly spinoffs of Disney franchise films

The interesting thing about the Disney Channel is that its shows and its methods of promotion and production are all throwbacks — sometimes to the ’90s, sometimes to the ’80s, sometimes earlier than that. There is plenty of children’s programming that is more intelligent and contemporary than the Disney Channel stuff, but there’s none more popular, and part of the reason for that is that Disney figured something out (something they haven’t always understood throughout their corporate history): when everybody else is rejecting certain things as too old-fashioned, that’s your opportunity to fill the gap. All you have to do is not be ashamed of being out of date, and you’ll become the only outlet for types of programming that are still popular but otherwise unavailable. So Disney’s shows are a mish-mash of throwbacks to ABC’s TGIF, NBC’s Saturday morning sitcoms, and old Disney teen movies like The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, while their star-making strategy is right out of the old Hollywood studio system.

More than that, it’s been pointed out that Disney shows re-use all kinds of tropes that haven’t been in wide use for over a decade, from the backdoor spinoff pilot starring previously-unknown characters, to the desperation re-tool accomplished by taking the main cast to a new set (The Suite Life of Zack and Cody became The Suite Life On Deck). And they recently returned once again to that old staple of kids’ programming blocks, from back when networks had kids’ programming blocks, the multi-show, one-night crossover (the dates here are for the airing of these episodes on the Family Channel):

Toronto, July 6, 2009 – Astral Media’s Family Channel presents Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana, the crossover event of summer. The 90-minute telecast stars the casts of Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place and The Suite Life on Deck including stars Miley Cyrus, Emily Osment, Selena Gomez, David Henrie, Jake T. Austin, Jennifer Stone, Dylan Sprouse, Cole Sprouse, Brenda Song and Debby Ryan. The crossover fun kicks off Friday, July 24 beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT. Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana will be available on Family OnDemand beginning Tuesday, July 21 and can be sampled at Family.ca immediately following its July 24 premiere on Family Channel.

Friday, July 24 at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT

No sooner do I write a post about Disney’s increasingly heavy emphasis on wish-fulfilment fantasies in their kids’ shows, than Disney announces that they’re rebranding the low-rated Toon Disney Channel into Disney XD, a wish-fulfilment fantasy channel for boys. They’re clearly hanging on my every word.

I don’t pretend to understand why some kids’ shows succeed and others fail. The Disney Channel/Family Channel has had a lot of shows that were better and smarter than The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, with more appealing stars than the Sprouse Twins. (It’s not just that they’re not very likable performers; they can’t, or at least don’t, convey different personalities even when the scripts call for them to be different — they are twins who project exactly the same character, which was probably useful back when they were actually taking turns playing the same characters.) But The Suite Life became one of the Disney Channel’s signature hits, and they’re continuing it this fall with a new location and a new title: The Suite Life On Deck, the same show except on a boat. And without the mother, bringing the kids’ fantasy element up another notch. (The appeal of the show was that it allowed two kids to run around a fancy hotel. Now they’re running around a fancy ship and they have an additional element that viewers will envy: no parents at all.) Basically this is just a way for the producers to continue the show even though they’ve passed the 65-episode mark, at which point Disney usually discontinues its kids’ shows. (The theory is that once you have enough episodes to “strip” the show and run it every day, you don’t need any more, because kids have an insatiable appetite for reruns.) But the only good thing about the original show was the odd-couple interplay of Maddie (Ashley Tisdale) and London (Brenda Song), and since Tisdale is no longer available to the producers — except for one guest-star episode — it’s all kind of pointless.