The Many Troubles of Disney Channel

I have been finding a few problems with Disney Channel. First off, the channel seems to be doing a lot better with the original series they’re making than what they were doing before, but there seems to be too many ongoing series that is currently airing on the channel. I feel like there should be another channel for the live action series since there are a lot of new episodes airing. Because of all of the ongoing series that is currently airing on the channel, the channel doesn’t seem to have enough room for older reruns, syndicated series, and/or tv blocks other than “Get Animated” on weekend mornings and Disney Junior on weekday mornings. The primary problem is the type of programming that airs on the channel’s scheduling.

The second problem I have are the original series. There are certain shows that many of the viewers don’t enjoy watching such as Bizaardvark (live action), Bunk’d (live action), and Star Wars Resistance. Bunk’d is a show that has been going onto such long hiatuses. It seems like the show would probably be cancelled by now and I don’t understand why they want to renew it for a fourth season without featuring the original cast, because it will just make the show worse. As for Bizaardvark, it is one of the worst live action series airing on the channel right now other than Bunk’d and I believe it’s doing pretty badly in the ratings, since no one wants to see it because of the quality. As for Star Wars Resistance, it’s not as good as Star Wars Rebels because of the lower animation quality and the lack of story. 

There are a few ongoing original series such as Bug Juice: Adventures at Camp, Andi Mack, Elena of Avalor, Tangled: the series, Milo Murphy’s Law, Ducktales (2017), Big Hero 6: the series, and Movie Surfers have achieved a lot better than the previous 2010’s series, but are often placed on multiple hiatuses. Other series such as Big City Greens, Sydney to the Max, Coop and Cami Ask the World, Raven’s Home, Go Away, Unicorn!, Jessie, and Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir are getting the right treatment on the channel, but are often airing more advertisements throughout the day that don’t allow other broadcast shows to do the same. 

Now, the thing about their original series is that they have good animation and camera quality for the live action series, although they’re not as astonishing as the older series. The reason why is that the animated series aren’t being produced in the same digital ink and paint animation as the ones from the 2000’s. As for the live action series, the camera quality was all it really matters because the older sitcom characters moved faster on video than in the newer sitcoms which is something all of today’s live action series have. Nowadays, the fast paced camera filming can only be used in game shows and certain reality series because of their live streaming and yet why can’t all of the other live action series use that like the previous decade, the 2000s? I can understand that the creators want to make it cheap so that they can produce more episodes for the current season, but the older camera scanning that was used in the 2000’s sitcoms,was what made the shows feel very motivated in the scenes and it looked like it was something interesting to watch. The camera quality is the one problem I have with live action shows and that’s that. As for the animated shows, they should use the older cartoons (2000’s and before) as an animation reference more often than before. It would make it more appealing to younger audiences and it could have a better balance of nostalgia and modern age. 

As for the scheduling, the only problems that they usually play during the day are mostly live action series such as Bunk’d, Raven’s Home, Coop and Cami Ask the World Sydney to the Max, and Just Roll With It. The channel does play animated series but the only ones that air on a daily basis on Big City Greens, Amphibia, and DuckTales (2017). The other animated series, which are Tangled:The Series, Milo Murphy’s Law, Big Hero 6: the series, Star Wars Resistance, and Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir, do get airtime throughout the week but air very little and are probably not very well advertised.

There aren't a lot of older reruns on the schedule other than Good Luck Charlie, Jessie, and Phineas and Ferb. One thing is that these reruns often come and go too soon and don’t end up with a permanent place for their televised broadcast, which may affect the channel’s scheduling quality. Back in April 18, 2013, which was the date of Disney Channel’s 30th anniversary, Disney Channel had an overnight block from 12-1am, before expanding to 6am. The block would broadcast content from 2000 to 2009 back to back every Thursday night in order to cater more variety to its 2013 to 2016 schedules. Since there seems to be a lot of room on the overnight schedule, they only play Andi Mack, Jessie, Bunk’d, Good Luck Charlie, Liv and Maddie, and Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir. There could still be a chance for a throwback 24/7 channel to be made, but there would still need to be a tv block to be aired at some time, somewhere on the weekly TV schedule.  With the new tv block, this can give fans a preview of the new channel that The Walt Disney Company is preparing to launch in the near future. Eventually, viewers would actually find an alternate tv channel to watch Lizzie McGuire, Kim Possible, Lilo and Stitch: the series, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Hannah Montana, The Wizards of Waverly Place, and The Suite Life on Deck. At that point, fans can observe the animation, camera quality, story, dialogue, acting, singing, and characters. Disney Channel isn’t the same without the older programming.

As for the rest of the channel’s scheduling, there has to be more programming on the daily schedule by adding on the original series cartoons that rarely air on weekdays more often. They don’t have to add more ongoing series onto the lineup, they just need to add more variety to their scheduling like how every other kids tv channel should.

As for the bumpers and promo animation, the ones from 2017 appear to be very bland compared to the past bumpers shown before that year. The background is often seen black, which also resembles nighttime too often and it can become boring every now and then. However, the black background is usually only seen on the end credit production logos and a few bumpers. The color background does tend to change a little bit but it only changes to blue most of the time, nothing else. The “up next” bumpers are usually seen with a screenshot of one of their series, which isn’t something that other kids tv channels had in the past or present time. The old Disney Channel Original Movie bumpers aren’t showing in the promos anymore when they’re advertising for upcoming film broadcasts for a certain date. Today, D.C. just uses the regular bumpers for their movies and nothing special. Disney Channel is not all that creative with their bumpers like before.

The last issue I would like to mention is the streaming advertisements. First of all, I know that mobile app streaming is supposedly an alternate use of entertainment but it can often take away the use of cable tv viewing especially when it comes to Nielsen ratings. If the tv episodes come too early on the app then the viewers aren’t going to want to watch it again on the linear channel. Streaming is the one thing that is constantly pulling viewers away from on air debuts that may be considered a lack of experience of cable TV by airing the newer content earlier than expected. They may eventually miss the on air debut of the new episode that can affect Nielsen ratings for the show’s broadcast and can also turn down the cable tv companies that helped broadcast the show. Streaming can lead viewers into too much catching up while on air broadcasts give them more time to rewatch the older episodes before the next one comes out. Viewers should learn how to be patient with things that they look forward to in seeing in the future. That’s all.