The 12 Greatest Disney Channel Reveals Of The 2000s, Ranked

Though Disney Channel has existed since 1983, its slate of authentic programming solely dates again so far as the late ’90s, when the idea of Disney Channel Originals began to rise — step by step overtaking the syndicated reveals that initially took up many of the programming grid. In different phrases, the story of Disney Channel within the 2000s is the very story of how Disney’s official TV hub got here into its personal as a model.

If you happen to have a look at the community’s authentic reveals from this era, there’s a captivating trajectory from tentative experiments on the flip of the century to extra well-known, extra consolidated hits within the late 2000s, with each the Disney Channel sitcom and the Disney Channel authentic cartoon taking form in actual time because the establishments they now are. Although it is typically held in decrease crucial esteem than rivals like Cartoon Community and Nickelodeon, Disney Channel put out loads of nice TV within the first decade of the twenty first century. That is why we have compiled a rating of the very best Disney Channel reveals of the 2000s. So buckle up, and prepare for some nostalgia. 

“Lilo & Sew” was the most effective Disney movies of the 2000s. Its stability of caprice, creativity, native coloration, and genuinely affecting small-scale storytelling made for a completely distinctive mix inside the Disney catalog — one thing nearly Ghibli-like. It was no surprise that it captured the imaginations of youngsters, nor that it was developed into a correct, full-fledged franchise (this being nonetheless, in fact, Disney, and never Ghibli).

Bookended by two feature-length movies that served as a pilot and a finale, “Lilo & Sew: The Sequence” follows Lilo (Daveigh Chase) and Sew (Chris Sanders) as they observe down Jumba’s (David Ogden Stiers) experiments throughout Hawaii and battle to each maintain them from wreaking havoc and discover a strategy to combine them into human society. Plots are assorted and interesting, Gantu’s (Kevin Michael Richardson) grumpy villain-and-sidekick dynamic with X-625 (Rob Paulsen) is successful, and the animation is significantly better than it wanted to be. Largely, although, the present simply works irreproachably as an excuse to dive again into the movie’s cozy world.

One of many earliest authentic live-action reveals to bear the Disney brand was “Even Stevens,” a single-camera household sitcom that ran for 3 seasons between 2000 and 2003 — a extremely profitable bow for a Disney Channel manufacturing, particularly then. The present, whereas removed from revolutionary, was a stable and reliably entertaining slice of family-friendly storytelling, doused in a heat Sacramento haze that made it pleasantly actual, grounded, and particular even because the characters obtained as much as sometimes goofy children’-sitcom antics.

Arguably best-remembered because the present that launched the world to Shia LaBeouf — and gained him a Daytime Emmy, the one letter to this point in his potential EGOT — “Even Stevens” had a robust solid throughout the board, who managed to make the tales of Louis (LaBeouf) and Ren Stevens’ (Christy Carlson Romano) residence and college lives alike really feel constantly plausible. The present can also be notable for serving to codify the “traditional” early-2000s household sitcom aesthetic, full with colourful units and costumes, fisheye lenses, and sped-up pictures.

Maybe probably the most offbeat animated collection ever produced by Disney Channel, “The Buzz on Maggie” was not precisely an viewers hit, neither is it significantly well-remembered, even among the many channel’s most fervently nostalgic previous followers. However let the report present that it was a sensible, amusingly cranky little present that deserved extra consideration.

Following Maggie (Jessica DiCicco) — a teenage fly experiencing the pitfalls of rising up in a society of flies intently mirroring, naturally, American on a regular basis life — “The Buzz on Maggie” was surprisingly satirical for a Disney present. Maggie, whereas not precisely a beacon of sympathy, was a extra engagingly abrasive protagonist than children’ reveals can normally afford, and the present’s sociological snark and proclivity for gross-out humor made it an controversial predecessor to the wave of experimental cartoons of the 2010s. In actual fact, perhaps “The Buzz on Maggie” would have thrived on Cartoon Community; within the Disney secure, it appears like a captivating outlier.

Generally, it would not have to be extra difficult than “placing premise, clear comedic setup, diligent execution.” The premise: A canine and a rabbit are dropped from a cargo airplane and land on an uninhabited island, the place they should study to outlive within the wild. The comedic setup: Brandy (Kaley Cuoco, years earlier than enjoying “The Massive Bang Principle’s” Penny) the canine, is a spoiled Palm Seaside golden retriever; the rabbit Mr. Whiskers (Charlie Adler) is a dimwitted derelict who was on his strategy to a zoo the place he’d be bought for 39 cents.

You’d assume all indicators would level to Brandy being the fish out of water among the many wild beasts and day by day trials of the jungle, whereas Mr. Whiskers can be the malleable wildcard who can adapt to any loopy scenario. However that is the place the execution is available in: “Brandy & Mr. Whiskers” retains springing for expectation-twisting farcical eventualities and discovering hilarious riffs on the established personalities of its two antiheroes. Add a solid of charismatic jungle animals, a “Spongebob”-esque style for surrealism, and a genuinely affecting budding-friendship story, and you have got a winner.

On paper, “a ‘That is So Raven’ spin-off about Cory Baxter dwelling within the White Home whereas his father will get a job as the non-public chef to the President” reads like a type of determined spin-off concepts that reek of stretching issues too skinny. In observe, “Cory within the Home” turned out to be one of the purely enjoyable and hilarious live-action reveals ever produced by Disney Channel.

Along with the grounding central efficiency of Kyle Massey, himself as a lot of a celebrity as Raven-Symoné, “Cory within the Home” boasted a vibrant, sport solid of teenagers and adults who all appeared completely keyed in on the proper tone for its “politics-as-slapstick” premise. Every part on the present all the time appeared simply shy of really severe, from C.I.A. secrets and techniques to run-ins with diplomats, but the hovering joke was the concept Washington D.C. political life might be become a circus of goofy kid-friendly humor. Not till “Veep” would one other present deal with American politics with such replenishing disrespect.

For a channel that was actually meant as a house for the Disney model, the Disney Channel did not really dabble in fantasy journey as a lot as you’d assume it could — that being the bread-and-butter of its guardian studio and all. One occasion of a Disney Channel present that did go for that style as a substitute of sticking to the sitcom-adjacent buildings of most of its friends was “American Dragon: Jake Lengthy.”

As its title suggests, the present tells of an American teenage boy (Dante Basco) who belongs to a lineage of half-dragon people and learns to wield his dragon powers with proficiency with a purpose to grow to be a guardian to an entire undercover inhabitants of legendary creatures in New York Metropolis. A excessive watermark of Asian illustration in American children’ TV of the 2000s, the present synthesized Chinese language and American tradition right into a seamlessly-constructed inside world. Filled with vitality, pleasure, and compelling kid-oriented longform storytelling, it evoked the spirit of the very best journey cartoons of the mid-to-late twentieth century — however with a considerably extra fascinating aesthetic body of inspiration.

Lengthy earlier than Selena Gomez was garnering Primetime Emmy nominations and Oscar buzz for her performing work and changing into the richest Disney Channel star by a mile, she was already proving herself as an unusually sly and clever Disney Channel teen actor on “Wizards of Waverely Place” — a present that may by no means have labored with out Gomez bringing the precise proper mixture of refined deadpan and affable appeal to it.

Structured like a household sitcom however suffused with a wholesome diploma of storytelling abandon, the present used the idea of wizarding and magic as an efficient strategy to concoct elaborate farcical plots and impart persuasive classes week after week. It was probably the most adult-friendly live-action sitcom ever launched by Disney, with an emphasis on good writing and considerate plotting that nabbed it constant acclaim outgrew it.

In 2001, the Bruce W. Smith-created “The Proud Household” was twice a trailblazer: Not solely was it the primary authentic Disney Channel animated collection ever, nevertheless it was one of many first American animated collection to be wholly centered round a Black household.

Given the momentousness of what it represented, “The Proud Household” may have settled for being a broad, straight-down-the-middle present a couple of typical suburban household that “simply occurred to be Black,” and it could nonetheless have been revolutionary. As an alternative, the present made a degree of rendering Black American life with specificity, witty humor, and real-world seriousness; though it often tripped over comedic stereotypes that now really feel dated, it was the primary TV reflection of culturally relatable experiences for tens of millions of Black children throughout the U.S.

Not that the present’s worth got here all the way down to mere illustration, thoughts you. Straight out the gate, it was already a excessive watermark for Disney Channel when it comes to writing and animation, with one of the compelling and lived-in household dynamics ever seen on the channel, and a pointy view of suburban life that few of its successors have matched.

If there was one factor of Disney Channel live-action sitcoms that hindered their enchantment amongst older audiences, it was their tendency to depend on zany, absurdist, pratfall-based humor and cartoony characterizations. However then there was “The Suite Lifetime of Zack & Cody” — a present that knew precisely what it was, dedicated to it wholeheartedly, and located methods to raise dumb humor to an artwork type.

The atmosphere of the Tipton Lodge, for one factor, was the kind of playful, anarchic, Jacques Tati-like setting that allowed for limitless comedic variation inside acquainted parameters. On high of that, the present’s older solid — headed by Brenda Music, Ashley Tisdale, Kim Rhodes, and Phill Lewis — was uniformly wonderful, and counterbalanced the sugar-rush mischief of the titular twins themselves (Cole and Dylan Sprouse) with a hefty quantity of adult-friendly wit. When these two strengths mixed to their fullest, “The Suite Life” was the funniest live-action Disney present, bar none.

Probably the most distinctive of all Disney Channel sitcoms, “Lizzie McGuire” is a relic of a time when the community had but to determine its TV manufacturing line, and thus even the largest monetary bets had extra room to strive issues out. It wasn’t as constantly laugh-out-loud hilarious as the very best exemplars of the post-“That is So Raven” multi-camera increase, nor was it as involved with interesting to toddlers. However for the older children and tweens taking their first steps into adolescence, it was nothing in need of a godsend.

“Lizzie McGuire” had a easy however undeniably efficient premise: Diving deep into the ideas, emotions, and worries of a 13-year-old woman rising into herself. The mission to precise Lizzie’s inside life was facilitated not solely by Hilary Duff herself in a photo voltaic, star-making efficiency, however by the distinctive framing machine of getting the character’s cartoon self give monologues on to the viewers. Humorous, contemporary, and relatable, it was the uncommon Disney present with sufficient real substance to maintain a theatrical movie adaptation — and one at that.

“The Emperor’s New Groove” was Disney’s largest fluke ever: a hail-mary effort to rescue a catastrophic epic musical manufacturing by revamping it into an inexpensive Looney Tunes-esque comedy, someway leading to probably the most underrated Disney film ever, a brand new landmark of the studio’s canon, and arguably the funniest animated movie of all time. It was a bet that had no proper to work, not to mention twice. And but, six years later, the TV spin-off “The Emperor’s New Faculty” was launched — and proved to be practically as daring, hilarious, and off-kilter because the movie.

Centered on the weird premise of Kuzco having to graduate highschool with a purpose to grow to be emperor, the collection primarily makes use of that plot and its numerous ramifications as a clothesline on which to hold gags on high of gags, pushing the meta abandon to even larger extremes whereas gleefully repeating every thing enjoyable about “Groove” — after which making the repetition a part of the joke. David Spade is changed by J. P. Manoux, however Eartha Kitt, Patrick Warburton, and John Goodman (in season 2, following a one-season alternative by Fred Tatasciore) all come again as sharp as ever. Highschool plots apart, it is all extra of the identical, however when the formulation is so successful, that is hardly a detriment.

A number of children’ tv all through the twentieth century lived by the dictum that motion and journey had been a boys’ realm. It speaks to the cultural impression of “Kim Attainable” that it now makes that stereotype look so historic. Arguably the only most iconic motion animated collection of the 2000s, it was the present that actually established the Disney model in tv animation and made Disney Channel a power to be reckoned with.

The important thing to the present’s success, to place it succinctly, was taking issues severely. Created by Disney Channel veterans Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle, who needed to navigate their share of unhelpful studio notes, “Kim Attainable” struck a cautious, considerate stability between partaking spy fiction, adult-friendly dry humor, and genuinely partaking highschool storytelling steeped in relatable private stakes. Kim Attainable (Christy Carlson Romano) herself was the proper tween heroine, directly aspirationally badass and relatably weak, and the present’s sprawling retrofuturist world was the best factor within the 2000s Disney oeuvre this aspect of “Atlantis.”

The clear better of all the teenager sitcoms launched by Disney within the 2000s was “That is So Raven.” It was the present that began all of it, actually, consolidating the zany multi-camera sitcom mannequin for a brand new era of youngsters. The present’s secret, in three phrases: Being completely hilarious. Or, to place it much more briefly, in only one phrase: Raven-Symoné.

Though “That is So Raven” was a high-concept fantasy collection that employed its clairvoyant hook for max chaos week after week, at its coronary heart, it was primarily a excessive school-meets-family sitcom constructed on slapstick and misunderstanding — and the tireless, prodigious dedication of its star made it what it’s. Raven-Symoné was the entire package deal, a beacon of charisma who may pull off any feat of bodily comedy thrown her method, whereas additionally elevating every of the present’s trademark forays into disguise- and impersonation-based humor.

Because of her and to a equally proficient ensemble, “That is So Raven” was capable of push itself to delirious heights of comedy that also benefit hearty laughs twenty years later; no surprise it turned such a large hit as to completely remodel Disney Channel and teenage sitcoms total.

Though Disney Channel had its share of hits within the early 2000s, it struggled for a while to launch an epic, iconic, inexhaustible freeform cartoon that would maintain scores and merchandising gross sales flowing for years and years and years, as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Community managed a number of occasions all through the ’90s and 2000s. The community lastly discovered its goldmine in 2007, in a sure animated comedy about two attempting to have time throughout summer season trip.

With episodes constructed on the form of mounted, repetitive construction that Golden Age cartoons used to thrive in — Phineas (Vincent Martella) and Ferb (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) discover one thing loopy to do; they convey their associates into the fold; Candace (Ashley Tisdale) tries to foil them however fails on the nick of time; Perry the Platypus (Dee Bradley Baker) handles some ridiculous altercation with Dr. Doofenshmirtz (Dan Povenmire) within the B-plot — the present channeled most of its artistic vitality in the direction of the animation, the gags, the huge world-building, and naturally, the songs.

For all of the requisite checkboxes, any given episode of “Phineas and Ferb” was its personal energetic, exuberant factor, with its personal no-reason-to-be-this-good tunes to worm their method into children’ and adults’ ears alike. Much more extraordinary was the present’s dedication to being heat, good-natured, and completely non-cynical in its tonal method, with out as soon as compromising its nimble postmodern wit.

If we advised you that the closest factor to a Monty Python film within the twenty first century was a Disney Channel present, would you consider it? Sadly, there is a non-negligible probability that you simply would not, if solely as a result of so few individuals noticed “Dave the Barbarian” that enormous swaths of the general public are nonetheless blind to its existence. However sure, there you’ve it: This forgotten, commercially nonexistent little Disney present was TV’s best work of medieval satire in a minute.

The premise is easy: Within the Center Ages, the King (Kevin Michael Richardson) and Queen of Udrogoth (Erica Luttrell) have left their publish to combat evil around the globe, leaving their three bumbling children (Danny Cooksey, Luttrell, and Tress MacNeille) to handle the dominion of their absence. Aided by their incompetent sorcerer uncle (Richardson) and a sassy speaking sword (Estelle Harris), the youngsters get into each inventory medieval journey within the ebook whereas dealing with off towards Chuckles the Foolish Piggy (Paul Rugg), the world’s grumpiest but least menacing arch-villain.

Every of the 21 episodes ramps up the goofy, subtle, anything-goes humor an increasing number of; that is the form of present the place the narrator routinely argues with the characters — after which, simply as you’ve got gotten used to that degree of madness, the villain goes and kidnaps the narrator. It was the neatest, funniest, most unimaginable factor to return out of Disney Channel in its first 25 years of existence — even when just about no one watched it.