Jubenhimer
Member
Today, most people know the Disney Channel as the home for squeaky clean sitcoms and movies about singing teenagers and talking dogs with blogs. But in the late-90s, its identity was a bit different. Disney Channel launched in 1983 as a premium cable channel, similar in format to HBO or Showtime. Commercial free, and only available via a paywall separate from your basic cable package. Unlike those other two channels though, Disney Channel sold itself on its quality family-oriented content. Backed by the strength of the Walt Disney Company's extensive catalog. The channel's earliest years were nothing like it is now, heavily relying on established Disney characters, as well as off network acquisitions and concerts (Mostly from Canada), all aimed at Kids and Families. But with the rise in popularity of Viacom's Nickelodeon, and Launch of Turner's Cartoon Network in the 90s, Disney Channel knew there was more potential in the basic cable market, and to establish a more distinct identity other than just the home for Mickey and the gang.
Disney Channel began its transition to basic cable in the 90s, and completed its transition in 1997. The network celebrated the occasion with a complete revamp that year, with a new logo, pseudo-commercial breaks (the channel to this day, technically still isn't ad supported) and a restructured programming lineup that divided the content into three blocks. Pre-school shows would air in the mornings, followed by shows for Kids 6-11 in the afternoon, complete with new originals like Bug Juice and Flash Forward, and Movies and Retro Disney content for Families and Adults at night. Despite the revamped programming, Disney Channel still wasn't making the splash that it wanted. But Disney came to realize there was a market, a potentially huge one, for which programming wasn't really being mass produced for on the other networks. A strange Middle School-ish age group of 10 to 14 year olds, with one foot in NIckelodeon, and the other in MTV. There had been shows on Nickelodeon, and even the broadcast networks that attracted a young teen audience before, but Disney Channel decided to essentially build an entire network around it.
In 1998, Disney Channel launched "Zoog Disney" a brand of the channel that combined TV and the relatively new technology of the Internet that ran in the late afternoons and later prime-time, hoping to capture that niche middle school demographic. Disney Channel rolled out some new originals that were very different from what it offered before, all focusing on on the lives and issues of kids within the age of the network's new target audience.
The Famous Jett Jackson, a show about a teenager who tries to balance being a star of a hit TV show, with life as a normal Middle Schooler. The show was a nice slice-of-life series that dealt with normal issues, while warping them through the context of its show-within-a-show. It was also willing to dabble in some more serious issues like Bulimia and Racism that occasionally gave it a bit of an edge.
So Weird, a mystery/horror series very much in the style of The X-Files and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. It follows a teenager named Fi who travels with her Musician Mom, her older brother, his best friend, and their manager, as they encounter various strange phenomena and conspiracies. It was much darker than anything the network had aired before, regularly dealing with death, organ transplants, and other supernatural themes. It's somewhat of a pre-cursor to Gravity Falls.
The Jersey was another slice-of-life show with a fantasy element. Loosely based on the "Monday Night Football Club" book series, it follows a group of teenage sports fans who discover a magic Jersey which can transport them into the bodies of famous athletes. Each episode features a different sports star, and the kids learn that the issues they're facing as the athletes, can help them with their issues in their normal lives.
With a target audience as complex as 10-14, the older end of that audience is going to want something more akin to shows like Dawson's Creek, that's where In A Heartbeat comes in. A Teen medical drama based on real-life High School EMT volunteers, focuses on a group of Teenagers and both the life and death situations of their job, and the normal problems of being a teenager. The show dealt with subject matter such as drugs, violence, others.
There's other shows like Even Stevens, and various reality shows and music videos (mostly from Pop and boy bands at the time) that aired on the channel during this period as well. These shows, while generally family friendly, weren't afraid to tackle some harder subject matter or toss in some edgy, adult jokes. But in 2001, a new series launched on the network that essentially defined a brand new audience, one much broader than Disney Channel's core demo at the time. Lizzie McGuire, launched in January of 2001, and quickly became Disney Channel's most successful original at that point. Not only with teens, but also with another new demographic of 8 to 12 year old girls, which marketeers would later come to describe as the "Tweens", thanks to its mix of animation, and wacky humor.
It also marked the start of a new trend for Disney Channel. After Lizzie's Success, Disney signed its star, Hillary Duff, to Hollywood Records, and began producing various albums and singles in a similar fashion to other pop artists at the time. After Lizzie ended, reruns continued to air on the network, along with various merchandise and toys based on the series. From then on, Disney Channel would drop much of its original edgy, young teen focus, and went all in on its new core Preteen audience by making their shows double as marketing vehicles for new artists. As a result, Disney Channel shows became progressively more unrelatable and lighter in tone, no longer having the edge or subtlety of its original Zoog counterparts. Now, most of the network's shows revolved around musical teenagers, over-the-top acting, laugh-tracks, bright sets, and cartoony antics that attracted an increasingly younger demographic.
It's a bit of a shame Disney Channel didn't stick to the original Zoog format for very long. But hey, when the likes of Hanna Montana and Descendants are making you all these Mickey Bucks, I guess there's not much reason to complain.
Disney Channel began its transition to basic cable in the 90s, and completed its transition in 1997. The network celebrated the occasion with a complete revamp that year, with a new logo, pseudo-commercial breaks (the channel to this day, technically still isn't ad supported) and a restructured programming lineup that divided the content into three blocks. Pre-school shows would air in the mornings, followed by shows for Kids 6-11 in the afternoon, complete with new originals like Bug Juice and Flash Forward, and Movies and Retro Disney content for Families and Adults at night. Despite the revamped programming, Disney Channel still wasn't making the splash that it wanted. But Disney came to realize there was a market, a potentially huge one, for which programming wasn't really being mass produced for on the other networks. A strange Middle School-ish age group of 10 to 14 year olds, with one foot in NIckelodeon, and the other in MTV. There had been shows on Nickelodeon, and even the broadcast networks that attracted a young teen audience before, but Disney Channel decided to essentially build an entire network around it.
In 1998, Disney Channel launched "Zoog Disney" a brand of the channel that combined TV and the relatively new technology of the Internet that ran in the late afternoons and later prime-time, hoping to capture that niche middle school demographic. Disney Channel rolled out some new originals that were very different from what it offered before, all focusing on on the lives and issues of kids within the age of the network's new target audience.
The Famous Jett Jackson, a show about a teenager who tries to balance being a star of a hit TV show, with life as a normal Middle Schooler. The show was a nice slice-of-life series that dealt with normal issues, while warping them through the context of its show-within-a-show. It was also willing to dabble in some more serious issues like Bulimia and Racism that occasionally gave it a bit of an edge.
So Weird, a mystery/horror series very much in the style of The X-Files and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. It follows a teenager named Fi who travels with her Musician Mom, her older brother, his best friend, and their manager, as they encounter various strange phenomena and conspiracies. It was much darker than anything the network had aired before, regularly dealing with death, organ transplants, and other supernatural themes. It's somewhat of a pre-cursor to Gravity Falls.
The Jersey was another slice-of-life show with a fantasy element. Loosely based on the "Monday Night Football Club" book series, it follows a group of teenage sports fans who discover a magic Jersey which can transport them into the bodies of famous athletes. Each episode features a different sports star, and the kids learn that the issues they're facing as the athletes, can help them with their issues in their normal lives.
With a target audience as complex as 10-14, the older end of that audience is going to want something more akin to shows like Dawson's Creek, that's where In A Heartbeat comes in. A Teen medical drama based on real-life High School EMT volunteers, focuses on a group of Teenagers and both the life and death situations of their job, and the normal problems of being a teenager. The show dealt with subject matter such as drugs, violence, others.
There's other shows like Even Stevens, and various reality shows and music videos (mostly from Pop and boy bands at the time) that aired on the channel during this period as well. These shows, while generally family friendly, weren't afraid to tackle some harder subject matter or toss in some edgy, adult jokes. But in 2001, a new series launched on the network that essentially defined a brand new audience, one much broader than Disney Channel's core demo at the time. Lizzie McGuire, launched in January of 2001, and quickly became Disney Channel's most successful original at that point. Not only with teens, but also with another new demographic of 8 to 12 year old girls, which marketeers would later come to describe as the "Tweens", thanks to its mix of animation, and wacky humor.
It also marked the start of a new trend for Disney Channel. After Lizzie's Success, Disney signed its star, Hillary Duff, to Hollywood Records, and began producing various albums and singles in a similar fashion to other pop artists at the time. After Lizzie ended, reruns continued to air on the network, along with various merchandise and toys based on the series. From then on, Disney Channel would drop much of its original edgy, young teen focus, and went all in on its new core Preteen audience by making their shows double as marketing vehicles for new artists. As a result, Disney Channel shows became progressively more unrelatable and lighter in tone, no longer having the edge or subtlety of its original Zoog counterparts. Now, most of the network's shows revolved around musical teenagers, over-the-top acting, laugh-tracks, bright sets, and cartoony antics that attracted an increasingly younger demographic.
It's a bit of a shame Disney Channel didn't stick to the original Zoog format for very long. But hey, when the likes of Hanna Montana and Descendants are making you all these Mickey Bucks, I guess there's not much reason to complain.
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