Today’s guest clacker is Bill White, a freelance cartoonist & animator who watches way too much television. For more of his ramblings, visit his blog.
When the Disney Channel first made its debut on cable in the early ’80s as a premium channel, it was a treasure trove of classic Disney fare. Of course, it was geared towards children, but late-night Disney programming was a delight for nostalgic losers like me.
After you tucked your wee, wee ones into bed, you could watch re-runs of classic Disney shows like Wonderful World of Color, hosted by Uncle Walt himself, as well as the original Mickey Mouse Club, Zorro, and classic cartoons. They even showed classic feature films like The Shaggy Dog and Old Yeller (If you don’t cry at the end of this film, stop reading this column right now.).
Things have changed over the years, and now the Disney Channel programmers are going after the profitable “tween” market. Thus, on a sleepless night, if you click on to the channel after midnight, you’ll see shows like That’s So Raven and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. Who is watching shows like that at this hour?! Is Disney trying to tap into the lucrative 12 year-old insomniac market? Or are there a bunch of all-night workers with televisions at their desks who enjoy the shrieking performances and community theatre-quality production values of these programs?
Of course, the rants of a crusty old critic like me aren’t going to change anything. And, really, I would hate to deny my kids the chance to enjoy High School Musical 2 or The Cheetah Girls 24/7, but still…
Walt must be rolling in his cryogenic chamber.
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Nov 24, 2008 @ 09:05 EST5EDT
The link to Bill’s blog isn’t working.
There is so much good stuff in the Disney vault. It is a shame our kids don’t get to see it. I used to look forward to Sunday night and the Wonderful World of Disney. You never knew what you were going to get. Sometimes it featured a humorous documentary about penguins or an animated flick like my personal favorite, the bears and the forest ranger. Who could ever forget the musical number “Pick it up and put it in the bag, boom boom.” after you heard it?
I’m with you, Bill. I just can’t see my kids waxing nostalgic in 20 years about The Suite Life. ug
*POST AUTHOR*
Thanks for letting me know the link was broken. Fixed now. Sorry Bill!
I have to agree and it’s not just Disney. Where are all the classic cartoons that we grew up with? When was the last time Disney actually showed a mickey mouse cartoon? You know the little mouse that made them all their zillions. You don’t see other classics like the jetsons, flintstones and all the other good stuff. All kids get today is Hannah Montana and the other garbage. Pfffft.
Well, The Jetsons and The Flintstones aren’t Disney properties, so that’s why you wouldn’t see them on the Disney Channel. Try clicking over to Boomerang, the Cartoon Network’s channel for classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons like The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear and more!
I agree wholeheartedly Bill. It’s too bad kids aren’t subjected to the great old Disney favorites, but I guess the corporate big wigs are just looking at the bottom line. Competing with the other networks aimed at kids and showing cartoons has them believing that mindless shows with big names are more marketable. Oh well… thank goodness for my video library. :-)
I’m pretty sure that it was the Disney Channel that showed Dobie Gillis and Ozzie and Harriet reruns in the late evening back then — I would watch those when i got home from my job. Those were good, solid pre-Nick at Nite counter-programming.
Nick at Nite showed Dobie, Disney showed Ozzie & Harriet (Loved that guy, Thorny!). Those were good times. Cable TV was experimenting with different programming, and there weren;t 4,000 re-runs of “Law & Order” to watch…