History of the Disney Channel Original Movie: An Introduction

Part one of a new series looking at every Disney TV Movie from 1983 to today.

The Made for TV Movie

There are notable phrases in the film lexicon that can instantly bring one to their knees in laughter, and one of the big ones is “Made for TV Movie”. While the gap in quality between film and television has slowly vanished in the modern day, feature films made for TV still suffer. Premium Cable Channels and Netflix can fund a quality movie, but the average budget and quality of a basic cable TV feature is laughable at best. A lower budget doesn’t necessarily mean a film is bad, Steven Spielberg made Duel for television and the low budget nature allowed him to flex his artistic abilities. Yet much in the way big budget theatrical releases often tend to be more bad than good, the same applies to television, only the low quality makes the difference much more identifiable. Basic cable can’t hide behind extravagant effects since they can’t afford WETA Digital to come in and produce Avatar levels of photo realistic effects. With smaller crews, equipment and star power; TV movies face an uphill battle for even being watchable in the first place. So just imagine what that means for the ones made specifically for children.

Is there anything funnier than a Lifetime Original Movie?

Media aimed at children has almost as bad a reputation as films made for television. I love children’s entertainment; I find it can often be both entertaining an informative for kids. This is clear in shows such as Adventure Time and Steven Universe, which supply great stories and can even be enjoyed by adults. Yet for every Adventure Time there’s a Paw Patrol, something that is near unwatchable and one just leaves it on so there’s something to keep the kiddies occupied. This is why children’s media gets a bad reputation, it’s also why one gets funny looks as an adult when you say you like something that airs on a children’s network.

There’s the social belief that if a show airs on a channel like Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon, then it’s explicitly “made for kids”, which means it has little to no value and is only made to appeal to children. Yet the reason films made by companies such as Disney hold up well in our culture is that they’re made for everyone, you can enjoy it just as much as an adult as you would if you were a child, if not more so in some cases. This is why the most successful kid’s shows often get referred to as “Family Entertainment” rather than “Children’s Entertainment”, because good media made for a primarily young audience can be enjoyed by the whole family. As mentioned before, Disney is probably the best when it comes to family entertainment, and the family unit was a key focus when Disney created its first premium cable network in 1983 under the name The Disney Channel.

Mr. Boogedy, proving 80’s Disney was not only weirder, but also had much more awesome sounding titles.

The Disney Channel and Premiere Films

Eventually dropping the “The” from the moniker in 1997 (a move I imagine played out similarly to the naming situation in The Social Network), Disney Channel was designed to bring Disney’s brand of family entertainment to the TV world. This was not Disney’s first foray into TV, in fact Disney had been a staple of primetime for quite a while, but this allowed Disney to find extra revenue by airing its back catalogue. Much in the way Cartoon Network began by simply airing Time Warner owned shorts, The Disney Channel primarily began by airing old Disney shorts and movies. Original content existed to be sure as and they had a few original series, but for the most part there was nothing huge to keep viewers coming back for more, so most of what aired either was already Disney owned or foreign imports such as Paddington Bear. You wouldn’t know it today, but The Disney Channel once aired documentaries and concerts, it was a pretty diverse in terms of content. But reruns and old material can only sustain a channel for so long (unless it’s a channel dedicated to reruns that is). Disney Channel quickly got to work on original content, most of which were shows. By the end of its first year, Disney put together a new series titled Disney Channel Premiere Films and aired it’s first original film, Tiger Town. Disney had officially joined the Made for TV movie business.

Under the Premier label, Disney released 53 original films from 1983 until 1997. As the channel was a Premium station, the budgets were obviously a bit more expansive than a modern Disney TV Movie, but the stigma around them is in line with most made for TV movies. One today might be surprised however by some of the films in the initial line-up and the stars Disney got to star in them. I myself was shocked when I noticed Roy “Star of Jaws” Scheider was the lead of the very first Disney Channel movie, that’s more star power than any Children’s TV movie I’ve ever seen.

*High School Musical*, arguably the first film that comes to mind when you bring up DCOMs and perhaps the weirdest cultural obsession of the 2000's.

Rebranding and the Modern Era

The current understanding of what a Disney Channel Film is comes from the studio’s shift from premium to basic cable in 1997. This is when the channel underwent a complete overhaul, aiming its media at a younger audience rather than the family while migrating away from old content and becoming an outlet solely for original material. The Premiere Films banner was dropped in favor of the now well known Disney Channel Original Movies or DCOM. The banner change strikes me for its implication. Films know for their quality are usually referred to as “films” and ones designed for general entertainment usually get labeled as “movies”. It’s a small but noticeable habit amongst the populace, and Disney changing their TV Feature Films banner is pretty suggestive in terms of the shift in focus. The current era of Disney TV Movies is the one I grew up with and Disney itself seemingly only re-airs movies from this time period.

The Zenon Franchise, arguably the funniest way Disney has stretched a low budget in order to make a big budget concept.

It’s this shift that led to the modern influx of made for TV movies aimed solely at children and its general popularity. In 2007, High School Musical 2 became the most viewed basic cable made for TV feature in history, with 17.2 million viewers. The only stock left in made for TV movies is on Disney Channel and Lifetime. TV movies are still a laughingstock and you better believe the DCOM ones generate some of the most laughter and scrutiny as a result of their popularity (outside of Lifetime that is). Their budgets are comparatively smaller than they once were and considering that each year Disney Channel produces at least three times as many movies as they did when it was a Premium Channel, they have to be rushing them out faster than ever. They’re as much a staple of modern ridicule as they are nostalgia.

However, with the first High School Musical celebrating it’s 10th Anniversary this past week, I can’t help but feel my own personal sense of nostalgia over the whole affair. I never thought the film was anything special on its own, but I can’t deny there was a distinct charm to it as with most films under the DCOM banner. I still remember the tunes and I can’t deny it was a big part of the culture of my generation. I’ve always thought about the DCOM in terms of their history and it’s a topic that fascinates me to no end. Both good and bad, I’ve often wondered if the genre had anything to offer other than a few laughs and conversations with friends about what you all remember from your childhood. What were the films like in the 80’s and 90’s like? They never aired when I was young, so their quality or lack therefore of has always had a shroud of mystery to it.

So I’ve decided to watch them all, or at least all the ones I can get my hands on. A lot of the Premiere Films have never been released on home video, it may be somewhat of a challenge to find some of them at all. But with well over 100 features if you include the Premiere Films (which I do), then it’s certainly worth some sort of look at. So starting next week with 1983’s Tiger Town, I hope to explore the ups and downs…though I’m predicting mostly downs, of the DCOM.

Fingers crossed I don’t go completely insane.

DCOM Checklist and Links to Final Reviews (Updated and linked as they are reviewed):

Tiger Town
Just Like Mr. Sunny
Gone Are the Dayes
Snow White
Love Leads the Way
Lots of Luck
The Undergrads
The Caldercott
The Blue Yonder
Help Wanted: Kids
Mr. Boogedy
The Parent Trap II
Spot Marks the X
Down the Long Hills
Fluppy Dogs
Strange Companions
Anne of Avonlea
Not Quite Human
The Christmas Visitor
Rock N Roll Mom
Save the Dog
Night Train to Kathmandu
Ollie Hopnoodle’s Haven of Bliss
A Friendship in Vienna
Good Old Boy
Goodbye, Miss 4th of July
The Parent Trap III
Not Quite Human II
The Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon
Lantern Hill
Chips, the War Dog
Mother Goose Rock ’n’ Rhyme
Back Home
The Little Kidnappers
Back to Hannibal: The Return of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
Bejewelled
Perfect Harmony
Mark Twain and Me
Still Not Quite Human
The Ernest Green Story
Spies
Heidi
Airborne
On Promises Land
The Whipping Boy
The Old Curiosity Shop
Escape to With Mountain
The Four Diamonds
The Little Riders
Nightjohn
Susie Q
Wish Upon A Star
The Paper Brigade
Northern Lights
Under Wraps
You Lucky Dog
Brink!
Halloweentown
Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century
Can of Worms
The Thirteenth Year
Smart House
Johnny Tsunami
Genius
Don’t Look Under the Bed
Horse Sense
Up, Up, and Away
The Color of Friendship
Alley Cats Strike
Rip Girls
Miracle in Lane 2
Stepsister from Planet Weird
Ready to Run
Quints
The Other Me
Mom’s Got a Date with a Vampire
Phantom of the Megaplex
The Ultimate Christmas Present
Zenon: The Zequel
Motocrossed
The Luck of the Irish
Hounded
Jett Jackson: The Movie
The Jennie Project
Jumping Ship
The Poof Point
Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge
’Twas the Night
Double Teamed
Cadet Kelly
Tru Confessions
Get a Clue
Gotta Kick It Up!
A Ring of Endless Light
The Scream Team
You Wish!
Right on Track
The Even Stevens Movie
Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off
The Cheetah Girls
Full-Court Miracle
Pixel Perfect
Going to the Mat
Zenon: Z3
Stuck in the Suburbs
Tiger Cruise
Halloweentown High
Now You See It…
Buffalo Dreams
Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama
Go Figure
Life Is Ruff
The Proud Family Movie
Twitches
High School Musical
Cow Belles
Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior
Read It and Weep
The Cheetah Girls 2
Return to Halloweentown
Jump In!
Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board
High School Musical 2
Twitches Too
Minutemen
Camp Rock
The Cheetah Girls: One World
Dadnapped
Hatching Pete
Princess Protection Program
Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie
Starstruck
Den Brother
Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam
Avalon High
The Suite Life Movie
Lemonade Mouth
Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension
Geek Charming
Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas
Frenemies
Radio Rebel
Let It Shine
Girl vs. Monster
Teen Beach Movie
Cloud 9
Zapped
How to Build a Better Boy
Bad Hair Day
Teen Beach 2
Descendants
Invisible Sister