Does Disney Need More Boy Shows?

[GohanRice]

I pretty sure we've noticed Disney Channel has been in sorta a slump when it comes to targeting a male audience. I would like to say it feels like Disney is treating boys like second citizens. I mean just look:

Shows for Girls
Hannah Montana
Wizards of Waverly Place
Sonny with a Chance
Good Luck Charlie
Jonas(Fanservice pretty boys tv show girl audience big ratings)

Neutral
Phineas and Ferb
Kick Butowski(Special airing)
Shows for Boys
The Suite Life on Deck
Zeke and Luther(Special Airing)
Aaron Stone(Special Airing)


It's already sad pretty much all that stuff's live-action stuff and one cartoon I mean Disney began with Cartoons! But, Disney should at least be more Neutral when it comes to show balance. I think the last show ment for boys was "American Dragon Jake Long" they need to get better. Disney needs to work better on the Boy to Girl ratio they can't expect to generate money from Cars forever.

[Silverstar]

Disney XD was created to be the "boys' Disney Channel" in response to so many of TDC's tweencoms being girl-centric or heavily watched by girls. The irony there being that many of the shows that were originally meant to target boys (Phil of the Future, Zack and Cody, Zeke & Luther) have garnered a substantial female following.

Personally I think that Disney (and other networks too) need to stop being so gender-focused and just concentrate on making good shows. If a show is entertaining and well-written, then people will watch it, regardless of their sex or the sex of the lead character(s).

[Antiyonder]

Personally I think that Disney (and other networks too) need to stop being so gender-focused and just concentrate on making good shows. If a show is entertaining and well-written, then people will watch it, regardless of their sex or the sex of the lead character(s).

Agreed. Nick's tweencoms prove that shows can entertain both sides. Heck Spongebob Squarepants, the cartoon they've made a point of competing against is a success due to entertaining pretty much all demographs.

[GohanRice]

Disney XD was created to be the "boys' Disney Channel" in response to so many of TDC's tweencoms being girl-centric or heavily watched by girls. The irony there being that many of the shows that were originally meant to target boys (Phil of the Future, Zack and Cody, Zeke & Luther) have garnered a substantial female following.

Personally I think that Disney (and other networks too) need to stop being so gender-focused and just concentrate on making good shows. If a show is entertaining and well-written, then people will watch it, regardless of their sex or the sex of the lead character(s).

Yeah, I know but, not a load of people have Disney XD as they do Disney Channel. But, Disney has nothing pulling in the boy demograhics I read less boys have visited Disney World. Disney is made up of Princesses, Bishounen(Pretty Boys), and Girls. Zeke and Luther compared to Jonas. On Zeke and Luther there are no pretty boys aside from Zeke I guess and he doesn't act like one plus Zeke and Luther has I guess "Boy Toilet Humor?" cause in one episode Zeke used his toes to grab a set of keys which, is why I like it and no stupid Laugh Track there going for a 9-17 year-old Boy target audience with Zeke and Luther. Jonas on the other hand has bubble headed pretty boys trying to act cool and like typical teens every episode which, is bait for girls Zeke and Luther is centered around more concrete things then that typical Bishonen crap Aaron Stone has the awesomeness of fighting like Power Rangers a show ment for boys ages 6-15 years-old I actual heard Disney XD is cancelling this in favor of more comedy which is a shame. Nick's only neutral live-action is iCarly everything else except for Drake and Josh is pretty much ment for girls. Spongebob is neutral. Fanboy and Chumchum has the the boy toilet humor thing and Peiguins is comedy action.

[Kaveh77]

Disney doesn't have to make action shows when they have Marvel sending all of their new shows to XD.

[Blackstar]

I have to agree with Silverstar and Antiyonder on this one. Disney needs to stop being so preoccupied with the gender of it's audience and just make entertaining programs. Nickelodeon isn't so preoccupied with gender specifics--their current "it" show, SpongeBob Squarepants, is aimed at and appeals to all viewers, male and female--and Nick currently holds the title of #1 kids' network. What does that say?

Aaron Stone has the awesomeness of fighting like Power Rangers a show ment for boys ages 6-15 years-old I actual heard Disney XD is cancelling this in favor of more comedy which is a shame.

Disney pretty much has the action department covered with all it's Marvel shows. To me, it would only be a shame if the comedies aren't funny.

[dth1971]

What we need is besides the due in 2012 Disney Junior channel is:
Disney Girlz channel
Retro Disney channel

[Dr.Pepper]

They don't need any more boy shows, that's what Disney XD is for. What they need are gender neutral shows.

[Silverstar]

What we need is besides the due in 2012 Disney Junior channel is:
Disney Girlz channel

That's what Disney Channel proper is now, according to some. Disney doesn't need a girl-exclusive channel any more than they need a boy-exclusive channel. They just need entertaining channels with a variety of programming.

Retro Disney channel

That's basically what Toon Disney was before it went XD.

I don't know if Disney needs a whole retro channel, but a toon-centric Disney channel which shows the classic Disney shorts as well as the old Disney Afternoon shows would be nice.

[Alec]

They need to move Disney XD from Premium to Basic Cable to have a both Boys and Girls Channel so Boys like me can enjoy Disney XD. See how much more ratings Disney XD will receive if they moved to Basic, plus I'm sure Aaron Stone's ratings would be higher as well, and maybe Disney wouldn't have Cancelled it (in favor for comedy).

If Disney is going to continue down the same route it is now, they need to make the Channel more nutral and balance the Channel with both genders. Take out the Tinkerbell and the Faries promos and put those with Playhouse Disney (Disney Junior), have a more variety with the programs in Primetime instead of the 6 series on rotation, there's more to fix to please everyone.

[Ed Liu]

Nickelodeon isn't so preoccupied with gender specifics--their current "it" show, SpongeBob Squarepants, is aimed at and appeals to all viewers, male and female--and Nick currently holds the title of #1 kids' network. What does that say?

Would you change your mind about that if I pointed out that iCarly is at least as popular as SpongeBob right now, if not moreso, and another girl-themed teencom (Victorious) seems to be rocking Nickelodeon's world pretty hard right now, too? I'm also not entirely positive that they made shows like Dora the Explorer or Ni Hao, Kai-lan with the intent of appealing to boys, and Dora is a rockstar right now.

In any event, my answer to this is the same as it always is, which is that I care a lot less about whether Disney (or anyone) is making shows targeted at girls, boys, adults, kids, or Martians, or if they're making teencoms vs. cartoons. I care a lot more that the shows don't suck. To my mind, one show that doesn't suck aimed at a specific audience is preferable to five mediocre-to-sucky shows that are "made for everyone." To address the question asked originally, I think Disney needs more shows that don't suck regardless of who they're aimed at, but that's true of just about every network in my mind.

[Rick Jones]

The only thing I wish the Disney channels did right now was produce more original animated series. Maybe it's just me but it seems like Disney's tv animation is at a record low right now (quantity wise) with only two ongoing series on the air (not counting the Playhouse shows).

[Rho]

Drake and Josh is pretty much ment for girls.

Uhh, how?


Also, if you don't only include original series, there's plenty of boy-oriented series airing on Disney XD (i.e Naruto Shippuden). There's also I'm in the Band, which seems to be neutral.

[GohanRice]

The only thing I wish the Disney channels did right now was produce more original animated series. Maybe it's just me but it seems like Disney's tv animation is at a record low right now (quantity wise) with only two ongoing series on the air (not counting the Playhouse shows).

Disney 2006:

Neutral
Brandy and Mr. Whiskers
The Buzz on Maggie(It did have a few girl episodes)
The Replacements
The Emperor's New School
Kim Possible
Phil of the Future
Lilo and Stitch
Boys
American Dragon Jake Long
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
Girls
That's so Raven(Though it did have it's Neutral Episodes)
Hannah Montana

I'd like to see something like that in terms of balance.



Quote:
Drake and Josh is pretty much ment for girls.
Uhh, how?
Rho's comment


Also, if you don't only include original series, there's plenty of boy-oriented series airing on Disney XD (i.e Naruto Shippuden). There's also I'm in the Band, which seems to be neutral.





Yes, but we're talking more about Disney then XD.

[Alec]

The only thing I wish the Disney channels did right now was produce more original animated series. Maybe it's just me but it seems like Disney's tv animation is at a record low right now (quantity wise) with only two ongoing series on the air (not counting the Playhouse shows).

There's a new one premiering this Fall called "Fish Hooks." Disney does admit that they haven't had a new Animated Series in 3 years, so they do care.

[Rho]

What we need is besides the due in 2012 Disney Junior channel is:
Disney Girlz channel
Retro Disney channel

"Disney Girlz Channel" is pretty much most of regular Disney Channel right now. That's why they launched Disney XD - to have a channel aimed at boys, since a majority of Disney Channel was aimed at the female audience.

As for Retro Disney, that'd be nice, but I just can't see it happening. Including Disney Junior, there'll be 3 Disney-brand channels. (One could argue that ABC Family could be included)

[Lavenderpaw]

Disney used to be for the family. Now it's just... "It's on!" Pixar is basically the new family package nowadays.

I think the shows on are cute and spunky, but they wear on my nerves with their excess perkiness.

[Jeff Harris]

Had to move the thread from the Disney/Pixar Animation Board to the Entertainment Board because it didn't entirely cover Disney and Pixar-made animation, but mostly the live-action fare on Disney Channel.

Not really a fan of the vanilla-flavored Disney Channel programming nor the doppelgangers on Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Nickelodeon. But yeah, Disney Channel needs to balance out their programming with more programs that individuals with a Y chromosome could watch without prejudice.

Then again, I'm not a fan of gender-segregated channels. There's a reason Fox bChannel and gChannel failed.

[GohanRice]

Had to move the thread from the Disney/Pixar Animation Board to the Entertainment Board because it didn't entirely cover Disney and Pixar-made animation, but mostly the live-action fare on Disney Channel.

Not really a fan of the vanilla-flavored Disney Channel programming nor the doppelgangers on Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Nickelodeon. But yeah, Disney Channel needs to balance out their programming with more programs that individuals with a Y chromosome could watch without prejudice.

Then again, I'm not a fan of gender-segregated channels. There's a reason Fox bChannel and gChannel failed.

Not really segragated but, giving the youth more choices do boys really want to watch Hannah Montana and Tinker Bell movies all-day?

[TMC1982]

Without going too much into specifics, my personal biggest gripes with the Disney Channel at the moment include:
*The lack of animation other than I suppose, Phineas & Ferb.

*Live-action shows that seem to follow the same type of formula (in other words, most of them come from It's a Laugh Productions).

*Having too many shows that feature a female lead (e.g. Hannah Montana, Sonny with a Chance, Wizards of Waverly Place, Good Luck Charlie, etc.). I sort of place the blame on the success of Lizzie Maguire (kind of like how the success of Saved by the Bell helped kill animated shows on NBC's Saturday morning line-up back in 1992) almost a decade ago for setting things in motion.

*Basically abandoning the "general audience" mentality post-2002 (i.e. the elimination of "Vault Disney") in favor of strictly tween targeted fare.