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  until the "Disney After Dark" block, with PG programming for adults (including Going Home, a series of concert specials featuring mostly baby boomer-era acts, and A Prairie Home Companion), was added. The channel also featured a colorful variety of family-oriented movies and series from other companies and countries, especially Canada. (The Anne of Green Gables films were popular enough that they led to the successful spinoff series Avonlea in The Nineties.) Many Eighties kids feel very nostalgic for these early days, which included Dot And The Kangaroo and its sequels, the Unico anime adaptations, the Tales For All films, and the later seasons of Kids Incorporated, all accompanied by colorful, often stop-motion Ad Bumpers (but without the ads). It also is remembered in that time for being a premium service, and for the ugly brown box on top of the cable box (and $7-a-month fee) which was was required to unscramble its signal.In the early '90's, when the company and the channel started getting treated with more respect, shows such as The New Mickey Mouse Club, the aforementioned Avonlea, Flash Forward (a launching pad for Ben Foster and Jewel Staite), In A Heartbeat and The Famous Jett Jackson helped the channel improve. However, it eternally lagged behind the wildly popular Nickelodeon, in part because it was a pay cable service like HBO. It subsequently moved to basic cable and developed a unique format — instead of commecial breaks, pauses in programming are filled with promotions for other shows, Disney films and other Disney products like CDs and their sister radio network, Radio Disney, which are often their own promotional mini-shows. In addition, the adult-oriented lineup was replaced with "Vault Disney", a programming block that featured the vintage Disney shows that had been the channel's lifeblood for so long.Then someone in the company had the idea for Lizzie McGuire. Its success led Disney to create more and more preteen sitcoms where the idealism is cranked Up to Eleven and the Laugh Track never stops. The channel has become more popular than it's ever been thanks to Hannah Montana, the High School Musical franchise, and other, similar live-action series.The channel is especially infamous for giving most of its show's stars a singing career. Whether it be singing Auto Tune heavy covers of Disney classics, or pop hits penned by several writers, essentially every member of Hannah Montana or That's So Raven was singing some random song. Today, most Disney Channel stars (especially main cast) are picked specifically because they at least show a lot of singing promise, and the show ends up being built around promoting that talent (see Austin & Ally, Ant Farm, Shake It Up). Consequently, expect a lot of Do It Yourself Theme Tunes.Toon Disney was a spinoff channel that focused on Disney animation, but as a result of Network Decay became Disney XD (Disney eXtreme Disney).The Playhouse Disney preschool-oriented morning block was a staple of the network for many years and underwent a number of shifts. On Valentine's Day, 2011 it was rebranded as Disney Junior (a website and a Youtube channel have been created) and in March 2012 it became a full 24-hour-network in the U.S., replacing SOAPNet — a very controversial move among Soap Opera fans. Some carriers are continued to provide an automated version of SOAPNet alongside Disney Junior until carriage agreements have been worked out. Playhouse Disney already existed as an independent network in many non-U.S. markets and have been rebranded as Disney Junior as well.See also DCLAU.Shows Originating on The Disney Channel:Animated:
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0 reviews alternative title(s): Disney Channel
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