I was thinking about it, Nickelodeon seemed so much better back when I was young, as did the Disney Channel.
Now is it that we remember them being better because they were or because we were kids and that was the target audience?
(I personally think they were better, less dumbed down, I mean compare Pete and Pete to Sponge Bob or So Weird to Hanna Fontana)
Age is a factor but Disney Channel was definitely better back in the Zoog days. So Weird still remains the superior show - it had the strongest character development, it was intelligent, and most of its story arcs are more appealing to older audiences anyway.
But The Famous Jett Jackson is actually not bad, In a Heartbeat is really well done, I think, The Jersey...well, it's cornier than the others but it's entertaining. Even Stevens is fun but not as good as it was when I was younger.
Someone must have gotten fired. Notice how their first original series were dramas and aimed at teens?
Quality wise Disney has gone down the drain but one can't deny from a business standpoint it would seem their direction is best. But back when So Weird was on I believe Disney was not in the basic cable packages, and they were new to having original content.
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Someone must have gotten fired...lol, so true. You can be sure almost everytime there was controversy surrounding a movie (Don't Look Under The Bed) or series (In A Heartbeat) someone or something was let go.
I agree with most of what you're saying, you make good points. The Disney channel used to be about quality entertainment, but more and more it's about making dollars.
But Disney was definitely part of the major (if not most) basic cable packages by 1999, believe me. It was a big deal for me when my family got cable. Actually, it was pretty new then (Disney channel's popularity picked up in 1997) but to my knowledge by the time So Weird came around it had been a part of basic cable for a while. Though I heard some basic packages didn't get DC until 2002. But it probably wasn't very many.
I found that I had to reply, much of this post goes with what I believe. Well except for the show analysis. I always make the joke that if Season 3 of So Weird hadn't gone down the way it did it did, I would consider it the best show on Disney Channel. TFJJ wins it for me.
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I think a lot of it is due to the creation of the "tween" stage. Back then, there was no such thing as a tween, you were a teenager or you were a child. You were a child, you watched cartoons or educational shows. You were a teenager or a mature child, then you watched shows like SNICK or So Weird or TGIF.
Nowadays, there's the tween market, and they have realized that they can make a massive profit by targeting the tweens (and very stupid adults); has anyone gone to Wal-mart lately and seen the eyesores that are the MileyMax clothing line?
It's not just Disney Channel, it's Disney and tweens in general. Everything is made to create a profit. I don't remember it being this bad when I was a kid. All the Princess clothing lines, and every cartoon nowadays has a huge line of clothing and toys to go with it.
Everything is so saturated nowadays.
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No! It was deffinately much better! I'm almost 18 and I still like to watch all the old shows especialy Going Wild, Zorro, and So Weird! Back then Disney was for all age groups and all intrests! You had Going Wild (nature, animals, travel), Zorro (action/adventure), and So Weird (paranormal)! I remember a time when my TV was rarely on a channel other then Disney, but now it always is!
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Nowadays they're just generic and DUMBED DOWN!!!!!1111!!!
I almost LOL'd for real.... did you... seriously just compare a supernatural drama to a family sitcom about a popstar high school girl and a lame show about two brothers with the name to a talking sponge?
Ohhh, goodness. I'm embarrassed and annoyed that my generation (since culture snobs are so fond of that word) has the gall to call the newer generations unintelligent and lacking taste (maybe you personally didnt, but everyone else does) when I see willfully ignorant posts like on this board. Which, unfortunately, is all too common online. which is a shame because I love talking about these old shows without some whiney, heavily biased 19-year-olds crying about a show they can watch on Youtube anytime just because it's "cool" to hate the comfortable era you currently live in .....on your iPhone.
Good shows then. Good shows now. Let's take off the pretty little nostalgia goggles and stop pretending lots of crap back then didnt suck (cough Johnny Bravo, Ren and Stimpy, Goosebumps, etc.) just because we were very impressionable little kids.
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I do think the Disney Channel was better back in the late 90s/early 00s. I recently starting watching some of the current DC shows because I babysit my nephew quite a bit. I think Good Luck Charlie is probably best current show. I think Jessie is a tolerable show for the most part and Dog with a Blog is just plain awful.
I remember when I was really young in the early 90s, my parents had a cable provider that didn't include Disney in their basic package. When I was 11, my parents switched to Primestar satellite (which was bought out by DirecTV later on) and DC was apart of their basic package. I remember DC got added to my grandma's cable provider in 1999.
It was better.
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