Dear Disney

Dear Disney Channel,

Um, you know that there are demographics other than 8- 12 year-old girls, right?

Thanks,

Teri

Flipping through the channels the other night, I had a “those were the days” moment.  Feeling a little nostalgic for some Disney programming, I decided to see what was coming up on the Disney Channel.  Here’s what I found:

From 4:30 A.M. – 11:30 A.M. is the preschool programming, Handy Manny’s, Little Einsteins, Imagination Movers, etc.

From 12:00 P.M.  – 4:00 A.M. is a pre-teen girl’s heaven: Sonny With a Chance, Wizards of Waverly Place, Hannah Montana, and the like. 

First of all, who is letting their kids watch Suite Life on Deck at 2:30 in the morning?

More importantly however, I think it would be lovely if Disney would consider returning the Disney Channel to family programming, instead of using it as a marketing machine for whatever young “talent” they are hoping to promote.  I realize that I probably sound like a crotchety “get off my lawn” old man, but I remember when the Disney Channel appealed to adults as well as children. 

Do you recall when they used to do a featured artist of the month?  I personally lived for Hayley Mills month!  Or how about the series “Walt Disney World Inside Out”?  While I never really understood why George Foreman was a host, I still loved getting a regular peek at the parks.  And let’s not forget “Vault Disney”, an entire block of time dedicated each day to Disney classics.

What really kills me about the Disney Channel programming is that it just seems like a waste.  Disney has all of these fabulous properties sitting around unused, but instead of airing them, they’d rather show five episodes of Good Luck Charlie in a 24-hour period (I am not exaggerating).   I’m not saying Disney has to get rid of their current programs.  Just don’t show the same episodes of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody three times a day.  Use some of those blocks of time to insert the following:

The original Mickey Mouse Club – Baby Boomers are about the biggest demographic ever.  Re-airing the original MMC could bring you a huge viewing audience!

Classic Disney Films – It is a sin and a shame that I have a way better chance of catching these on the Hallmark Channel than the Disney Channel.  And Disney has an enormous cache of them, many all but forgotten.  Why not use your own channel as a vehicle to reintroduce these to the market?

Behind the scenes looks at the Disney Parks – Come on, Disney.  You know you have a huge base of theme park fans clamoring for this.  We order the vacation planning DVDs just for viewing entertainment.  We watch the specials on the Travel Channel dedicated to the Disney parks and hotels so often that we can quote them verbatim, all the while wishing that they would actually tell us something we don’t already know. Do you have any idea how insanely popular a show that gave us honest-to-goodness backstage information could be?

But enough about what I want.  What would you like to see aired on the Disney Channel?  Let me know over at http://www.facebook.com/disneygene!