Disney Channel
Disney Channel is a
cable television network in the
United States run by
The Walt Disney Company. Disney Channel features family-oriented programming, much of it aimed at children of all ages. There is a morning programming block for younger viewers called
Playhouse Disney.
Launched as a
commercial-free premium channel (with the exception of advertisements for Disney entertainment products, see
Mike's Super Short Show), the Disney Channel began with basic family programming of shows and movies. (It was then co-owned by The Walt Disney Company and
Westinghouse through
Group W.) The channel received a special
citation from U.S. President
Ronald Reagan in
1984.
The channel's first programming day began on
April 18,
1983 at 7:00 A. M. Eastern, with an episode of
Good Morning, Mickey!, which featured classic Disney short cartoons. Early programs shown on the network included
Good Morning, Mickey!,
Donald Duck Presents,
Contraption,
Dumbo's Circus,
You and Me Kid,
Welcome to Pooh Corner, and
Mickey's Mouse Tracks. The late night had
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and other programming. Disney also published a complementary magazine,
The Disney Channel Magazine, which featured program information. The Disney Channel programmed from 7AM to 1AM (18 hours) from its inception until December of 1986, at which time it began 24 hour a day programming.
In
1998, Disney Channel took on a revamped look and dropped the "The" in the network's name, and split the network into three programming blocks—
Playhouse Disney, a block of shows aimed at preschoolers;
Vault Disney, an overnight block that featured classic Disney shows that aired on the network since its inception and movies such as
Zorro,
The Mickey Mouse Club, and
The Love Bug ; and the most distinct block, running from afternoon to late evening, called
Zoog Disney, which was a programming block aimed at
preteens —
Even Stevens,
Lizzie McGuire,
Smart Guy,
The Famous Jett Jackson, So Weird'', etc. Zoog Disney also connected Disney Channel viewers and the computer, by allowing kids to interact with games and see their screen names on television. The programming block also featured
anthropomorphic characters called Zoogs. They began to carry break interruptions (not
advertising commercials, but
promos from the network).
While Disney Channel moved from premium cable to basic cable on
January 1997, most of the design elements have changed three years later. The Zoogs were redesigned, and the channel's logo (which featured a
1930s-era
Mickey Mouse on a black Mickey ear-shaped TV), introduced in
1997, was changed to reflect the Zoog Disney image.
From
2000 through
2002, ratings grew higher with such shows as
Even Stevens,
Kim Possible and others.
Lizzie McGuire became the network's banner show, and was the highest-rating program on the network. Reruns of Lizzie continued to outrate competing shows, including those from Disney Channel itself. This led to the termination of
Vault Disney and all other classic Disney programming in
September 2002. To complement the change, Disney Channel changed their logo at that time.
The channel has become well known in recent years for its
Disney Channel Original Series. Today's Disney Channel runs original programming such as
That's So Raven which is the network's highest rated original series of all time, beating former ratings champion
Lizzie McGuire[
1].
That's So Raven made history as the first Disney Channel series to beat the 65 episode mark and get 100 episodes. Other hit shows on Disney are
Phil of the Future,
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody , and
Kim Possible (which have been shown on
ABC after debuting on Disney Channel), along with former
ABC sitcoms such as
Boy Meets World and
Sister, Sister. Other shows aired by Disney Channel include:
The Emperor's New School,
The Proud Family,
Brandy & Mr. Whiskers,
American Dragon: Jake Long,
The Buzz on Maggie,
Lilo & Stitch: The Series,
Naturally, Sadie,
Life With Derek, and
Hannah Montana. The Hannah Montana premiere brought Disney Channel 5.4 million viewers on premiere night alone, a record-setter for the network.
Most of Disney Channel's programming today, surprisingly, does not heavily feature the "classic" Disney characters such as
Mickey Mouse,
Donald Duck,
Pluto, and
Goofy. The characters appear on occasion, especially during the holidays on movies such as
Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, and were also featured on the show
House of Mouse, which used to air every weekday afternoon on the channel. This was after Disney Channel realized that reruns of Lizzie McGuire were beating classic Disney shows, and the September 2002 termination of classic programming grew out of that fact.The network is based in
Burbank, California, a short distance from Disney headquarters.
Disney Channel now also airs commercials for
Danimals (
Dylan and Cole Sprouse sweepstakes) and
McDonald's (
Playhouse Disney)
Series produced by Walt Disney Television or production companies unrelated to the Walt Disney Company used to make up most of the schedule, but with the explosion of Disney Channel Original Series, less of these series air on the channel. The only non-original productions airing on Disney (not including the Playhouse Disney lineup) as of February 2006 are Sister, Sister and Boy Meets World.
Playhouse Disney still airs in the mornings from 6am until noon.
Disney Channel is known and occasionally criticized for its sometimes poor and/or obvious censoring and editing of some live action series and movies not produced by the channel.
Disney also has compeletely refused to air certain episodes of some non-Original Series, especially Boy Meets World, for adult content. Boy Meets World has had at least five episodes omitted from Disney Channel broadcasts. "If You Can't Be With the One You Love..." from the fifth season is one of the best examples of this. The involvement of alcohol abuse is the likely reason.
Disney will syndicate its second and third series in the fall with Even Stevens and Lizzie McGuire in September 2006. Both series will be distributed by Buena Vista Television which distributes all series produced by Walt Disney or Touchstone Television. September 2006 and Summer 2007 there will be
spin-offs of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and That's So Raven, the new shows are
Housebroken and
Cory In the House.
Campaign to save Disney shows
With all the success that Disney Channel has experienced in the last ten years, it has come with its share of costs. Many of its most-watched shows are forced into cancellation once they reach the maximum of 65 episodes (e.g. Lizzie McGuire stopped production at 65 episodes even though it remained its highest rated show at the time). There has been a movement, mostly through online message boards and forums, to save cancelled shows that were stopped in their prime. The most recent example is the "Save Phil" or "Save POTF" campaigns that are helping to bring back Phil of the Future, one of Disney Channel's highest-rated shows that was canceled after 43 episodes/2 seasons were produced (the show has been cancelled), though they wraped up filming last year, they still air new episodes every once in awhile. Campaigns like this were responsible for a fourth season of Kim Possible.
Additionally, a movie is broadcast almost every night, but not necessarily a theatrically released feature film. Disney Channel airs new
made-for-TV movies, called
Disney Channel Original Movies (or DCOMs), about 8 to 10 a year, and those are frequently broadcast during that timeslot. Circa
2000, Disney Channel claimed to produce a new movie each month, but this only lasted throughout the year 2000. One of the most successful DCOMs was
High School Musical, released in 2006,
High School Musical received 6
Emmy Award nominations and the soundtrack reached the number one on the
Billboard 200 twice (on March 1 and March 22, 2006) and had shipped 3.5 million copies. Out of those copies, more than 2.5 million copies have been sold by June 2006; it was certified triple platinum by the RIAA. Occasionally, Disney will secure the rights to air a picture released by a non-Disney studio, such as
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,
Bob the Butler and
Little Secrets.
During the 1980s and '90s, movies made up most Disney's evening and overnight schedule. Disney now only airs usually around 12 hours of movies per week, occasionally 14 or 15 hours. A Disney Channel Original Movie will used to air twice in the same night on the Friday it premieres, this tradition ended with the premiere of
High School Musical. Most movies airing on Disney Channel usually run around 1 hour, 35 minutes to 1 hour, 45 minutes.
Because of this, Disney airs filler programming following the movie:
*If the movie lasts 1:25 to 1:35, an Original Series will air (Disney used to air syndicated series that aired on the channel).
*If the movie lasts 1:40 to 1:45, an Original Animated Series will air.
*If the movie lasts 1:50 to 1:55, one or two music videos along with Disney Channel promos will air.
The Disney Channel Circle of Stars is a musical group formed by Disney Channel actors and actresses. They have performed their versions of the classic Disney songs "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" "Circle of Life" and "Route 66
for music videos that have aired on Disney Channel and also shown on the "Cinderella" Cars'' and "The Lion King" 2-disc Special Edition DVDs, respectively. The Circle of Stars consists of
Raven-Symoné,
Hilary Duff,
Kyla Pratt,
Orlando Brown,
Christy Carlson Romano,
Anneliese van der Pol,
Ashley Tisdale,
Dylan and Cole Sprouse,
Brenda Song,
A.J. Trauth,
Ricky Ullman,
Amy Bruckner,
Alyson Michalka,
Tahj Mowry among others. The list of singers for "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" can be found
here.
Image:Disney Channel 1983.PNG|The original Disney Channel logo from 1983 to 1986.Image:Disney channel logo.PNG|A later version of The Disney Channel logo used in the United States from 1986 to 1997. The "Mickey Mouse Screen" logo would be dropped sometime in the early-1990s.Image:Disney Channel 1997.PNG|The Disney Channel logo used from 1997 to 2000.Image:Disney Channel 2000.PNG|A secondary-alternate version of the Disney Channel logo used from 2000 to 2002.Image:DC logo2002.jpg|The Disney Channel logo now: used from 2003 to the present.*
Disney Channel Official USA Site*
Official UK Site*
Disney Channel Online (Fansite)*
Inside Disney (Fan Site)
