Here is a general question regarding the current state of the Disney Channel. A few years ago Disney switched its format to obtain more viewership of the pre-teen girl market and has been very successful with Lissy and Raven and the such. My beef with this is that I miss the old programming at night. The old Zorro, older cartoons, WWOD, or even the older nature films Walt produceed. I know toon Disney plays some of the older cartoons but it is really hit or miss when I watch it. So the question is how hard would it be to switch programming after 9pm or so when the kids are in bed to include the old "Valt Disney" shows the classics that I miss and grew up with. Or is there enough interest out there to start a new channel sort of like TV Land. I just find it annoying that the sames shows are repeated at nausea in the later evenings when they could put more programs for adults on the channel.

The best way to try to get people for forget the past, is to remove all links to it...

Of course there is a market for Walt Disney's programs, but Eisner and his strategic planners have decided to phase it out - - so there it stays until management changes.

This makes me angry. I mean it is not like the programming is dictated by advertising dollars. The cable and satelite distributors pay a set fee per person that subscribes to their service (usually around $2 - $3 per customer for the right to include the channel on their basic service). So based on this ratings really don't effect all that much for programming. This is just pure lazziness.

I miss the Disney Channel the way it used to be in the 80s when it was first introduced and when we paid for it because we wanted it. Not only was the programming better, but the "in-between" program intros, etc., were better also -- i.e., Mickey popping out of a surprise box. Those minute mini-mercials were the best. Kept my children entertained for the time they were allowed to watch TV. Now that we don't pay for it as a "extra" is has gone downhill rapidly.

What I neglected to mention was that in the early days of the Disney Channel you knew you were watching Disney programming. Now, it seems like I'm watching any channel -- not one related to Disney. Very little magic.

This is exactly what I mean. Sister Sister? That show was cancelled on ABC or some other network because it stunk so we put it on Disney Channel. I thought the Disney channel was supposed to be "Disney". The why do we have ABC family? Shouldn't half the shows on the disney channel be there? It would make more sense to me.

Saying the Disney Channel needs help is like saying man needs food, clothes, and shelter.

They were a great channel in the 80s, one of the best cable outlets; like a TCM, but for DIsney stuff (they actually had other studios' old movies on them and promoted them wisely). Even classic concerts by great performers were showcased.

Now, none of Walt's stuff (or anything pre-Eisner); no classic cartoons, no old Disney movies (Toy Story is not "old" and was only distributed by Disney), none of the nearly 30 years worth of the anthology series episodes. No original series worth watching (but luckily Road To Avonlea is on DVD now).

The Sunday night Disney movie was something I and my whole family watched regularly. When they showed "The Happiest Millionaire" in 1991 they did a spiel at the end saying "In Loving Memory of Fred MacMurray," the film's star, who had recently died. Will they do it for other Disney stars when they pass on, or for any who have left us in the past couple of years? What did they do for Walt's centennial?

I think they also did a marathon of Annette's films for her 50th birthday, so even into the early 1990s they continued to mix old and new material. Hayley Mills' 60th in a few years will probably go completely ignored by TDC.

This channel was my first exposure to things Disney, and thank goodness they had a reverence for the older stuff then. I can't imagine what the next generation of kids will have to suffer through. Thankfully I have plenty of tapes of stuff from TDC from 1985 to about 1993. The old cartoons and movies were in masters that were inferior to today's DVDs, though, but those were the limitations of the times. I like watching the old promos, especially the animated ones from the mid-1980s which were very inventive. They even had some short ads of clips of people talking about Walt Disney himself from those who worked with him. Now we just get loud, garish junk mixed with dumb pop-psych slogans.

As late as November 1993, they interrupted half the day's regular shows to honor a certain rodent on his 65th birthday. They showed Steamboat Willie, and various B&W and color Mickeys, and interesting rarities like "Once Upon a Mouse," "Mickey Goes to Moscow," various Mickey tributes from days gone by, and if you could even hear the disco end theme to Disney's Wonderful World, used a few years before NBC axed the anthology series. I still have the tapes.

In February 2004? House of Mouse reruns.

It is now free with your cable and worth every penny. :fez: But should they even call it the Disney Channel when it bears as much resemblance to what it was as I bear a resemblance to a Greek god?