Disney Channel shows then and now
As teenagers, we routinely look back on those golden childhood years of nap times, recesses and weekends with no homework.
But with this new crop of kid’s shows filling the prime Saturday morning time slots, it makes it difficult for us to reminisce.
Disney Channel – Then
“Hannah Montana”
This juggernaut premiered in 2006 and garnered a lot of attention and many loyal fans.
It was about a teen, Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus), who wanted to be a pop star but didn’t want to leave her normal life behind.
She created a new personality to act as her pop star self, Hannah Montana, while keeping her Miley Stewart-self a secret so she could lead a normal life. But then Miley Stewart became bratty. In the last leg of the show, Stewart yelled at everyone around her, acted incredibly selfish, and lied to get her way.
Maybe Disney had run out of ideas and the only way they could make the show funny was to make the main character a terror.
This show had a good run, lasting until 2011. It was entertaining and is forever ingrained in our memories as an integral part of our childhood.
“That’s So Raven”
This comedy aired in 2003 and is perhaps the funniest and most creative show to ever come out of the brains of Disney Channel writers.
The show followed Raven Baxter (Raven Simone) as she tried to navigate through high school as a psychic.
Sometimes she interpreted her vision wrong and other times her intervention caused the vision.
But no matter what, the viewers could count on the visions happening.
This show never got old and continued to thrill its viewers until it ended in 2007.
But then “Cory in the House” aired that same year, following Raven’s younger brother when he moved to Washington, D.C.
This spin off was so poorly done that it’s what ruined the original series for me.
Luckily, it only lasted a year.
“Kim Possible”
This show aired in 2002 and was one of the very few animated series on Disney Channel.
It followed the adventures of Kim Possible (Christie Carlson Romano) and her best friend Ron Stoppable (Will Friedle) as they defeated evil villains and juggled their high school schedule.
This show was amazing. It never failed to entertain and had a unique premise. It was one of the only original shows Disney ever came up with and was genuinely funny. This show was my entire childhood.
Disney Channel – Now
“Dog With a Blog”
This show is literally about a dog with a blog.
It aired in 2012 and we can only pray that its end will come very, very soon.
It’s about the Jennings family and their talking dog, Stan. Only the kids know the dog can talk, so they come to the most logical conclusion: they should set him up with a blog.
Stan writes it, but one of the three children, Avery (G. Hannelius), pretends to be the actual writer of the blog.
This is the stupidest show ever.
It has that typical Disney brightness. The characters’ clothing is uber vibrant and their home is quirky and unrealistically decorated.
The parents are also really stupid (probably so the kids and their creepy dog can get away with a bunch of shenanigans) and barely watch the kids at all.
Point blank, this show is really weird and creepy.
“Austin and Ally”
This show aired in 2011 and will probably continue until it’s hanging on by its last breath, just like “Hannah Montana.”
The show is about music-making duo Austin Moon (Ross Lynch) and Ally Dawson (Laura Marano). Moon sings and performs the songs while Dawson writes them.
This show is complete with outlandishly colorful outfits and kids with ridiculous amounts of free time.
Disney writers decided to bypass the idiot parents entirely, because there don’t appear to be any in this show.
This is the exact show I would expect from Disney: lovable characters, dumb jokes, and a completely unrealistic plot line.
But I do enjoy the fact that the cast of characters use the Internet to make Moon famous, which is a realistic twist on the show.
This show isn’t that awful. I can tolerate the automated laughing and blindingly-bright set for a total of five minutes, which is more than I can say for any other live-action Disney show out there.
“Gravity Falls”
This is yet another animated Disney show, airing since 2012. It follows the lives of twins Mable (Kristen Schaal) and Dipper (Jason Ritter) Pines when they go to live in the middle of the woods with their Great Uncle Stan (Alex Hirsch).
They live in the run down mystery shack their “Gruncle” Stan owns.
Some supernatural stuff goes down, but it’s all pretty funny and entertaining.
I actually really like this show. It has just the right level of stupidity and obnoxiousness to make it thoroughly entertaining. The characters are really lovable and don’t ruin the show.
I think this is the first animated series that Disney has put out that proves cartoons aren’t just for Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon.
Too bad they will probably run this show into the ground.
Disney has run out of ideas and is poisoning the minds of our youth with all these horrific TV shows.