Zoog/Vault disney programs vs. more recent tween sitcoms

I remember watching Disney channel as a little kid when it was split into the Playhouse Disney, Zoog Disney and Vault Disney blocks. I've seen some people on the internet insist that the programs from the period I refer to (So Weird, The Famous Jett Jackson, Omba Mokomba, Bug Juice, etc.) were vastly superior to the more recent tween sitcoms (Thats So Raven, The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody, Hannah Montana, etc.). I don't mean to start an angry debate here, but I'm curious what you guys think and what you remember about the older stuff.

Personally, I didn't regularly watch any of the shows above, but I caught episodes occasionally because I frequently turned the TV on to Disney channel and watched whatever was playing. My own opinion is that while the older stuff wasn't always great, it felt more natural than the latter shows, which feel rather fake and manufactured.

I can't recall ever liking the tween sitcoms, so I'm not sure that's there's been any drop in quality so much as they were never all that great and people are louder about it now. But I do agree that the older ones seemed a little more natural.

I dont like it very much, but Im amazed of how a large % of chapters are about the protagonist trying to get some random guy/girl. Like in iCarly. She have been tried bring down half of the school, that greedy girl.

I mean, I dont remember my life like that in my 12.

edited 11th May '12 1:48:09 AM by Picheleiro

It's kind of amazing how much difference a laugh track makes(well I'm exaggerating a bit, but you get the idea). The earlier shows could be pretty zany, but they were still pretty fun to watch, if not perfect

Yeah my TV consuming palette was dominated by animation at the time so I can't say.

Hmm, I'm not sure. But it's interesting to think about. Some things off the top of my head: newer tween shows put a heavier emphasis on dating, romance, fame, singing and especially crazy plots and characters*

So Weird was about a family of musicians going on tour and facing down the paranormal every week. Seriously, there wasn't anywhere they went that didn't involve some kind of weirdness. (Granted, it's a TV show. They probably did go to sane and normal spots which were never shown on-screen since they weren't the purpose of the show.) So even the old ones could have crazy plots.

Still, I grew up during the Zoog/Vault days myself, and grew out of the tween shows about the time ones like So Raven were taking over. During the brief overlap when I was still interested, the newer shows still kept me entertained. -Shrugs- I think it's just a matter of taste and people getting louder these days.

Also, there were less of them back with Zoog Disney. I think now there's more on at one time now, so people are more vocal about how crappy they are. Truthfully, I don't think that the shows now are that bad. They're corny and cliche, but people go on like they're offensively bad.

Just because of sheer volume of them on tv right now.

Right, folks want variety. However, let's face it, TV studios are out to make money. If it's cheaper to make shows that don't require much in special effects, we'll keep getting spammed with easily-done tween shows and cheap-ass reality TV. That's just the way it is until the common viewer gets fed up and pushes the ratings higher for the cerebral stuff.

It's a generation thing. Young people don't recognize these plots as being done before or remember anything which aired before 2000, but they will eventually gt wise and standards will improve. Then they'll have babies and the cycle starts over.