Once upon a time, Disney TV was the place for all the cool shows.
Whether it was the “Even Stevens”, going to Rome with “Lizzie McGuire” or living in a hotel with Zack and Cody; I was always laughing out loud with my siblings.
“It was really fun to watch and was pretty alright,” said sophomore Michael Chavez.
Maybe it’s the age difference or the increase in maturity (for the select few), but it seems that Disney Channel has gone downhill. Turning on Disney Channel will reveal talking dogs that own blogs and actors failing to play characters 10 years younger. While yes, slightly strange has worked for Disney in the past for shows like “Hannah Montana” and ones where summers never seem to end (“Phineas and Ferb”), it just doesn’t seem to be working anymore.
“Back then it wasn’t a sitcom, but it was more like one. Now they try to add too much,” said sophomore Fayzan Rauf.
The difference seems to be the plotlines. Disney started out with shows about regular teenagers who went to high school just like everybody else. We followed Lizzie McGuire and Louis Stevens through events that normal kids face everyday. Then those teenagers started to be half-popstar or happened to have secret wizard powers. Now, they own talking dogs and babysit millionaire’s children. This makes it a little bit harder for the average teen, like WS students, to empathize with the characters.
“All the crazy new things that they added make it hard [to relate],” said Rauf.
While some WS students are turned off by the stark differences between the new and the old Disney, others are embracing the changes.
“I think they got more hip to what kids are doing now,” said freshman Cate Hennessey, “I really like ‘Good Luck Charlie.’”
Fans of the new Disney argue that it is a great place to harbor creativity. The unusual stories in the shows help promote outside-of-the-box thinking in kids. They help viewers employ their imaginations and enter a world very different from their own.
Whether you think new Disney is a disgrace to name of television, or home to some great new shows, it’s here to stay and will always be the Mecca of kids TV shows.
“Disney TV is notorious for being kind of cheesy but it’s entertaining,” said sophomore Jake Williams.