Reviews - Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel's Tween Empire

850 reviews for:

Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel's Tween Empire

Ashley Spencer

4.0 AVERAGE

ann1sa's review

3.0

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

3.5.

Disney High is a nonfiction book that discusses the launch of the Disney Channel and its most popular shows/DCOMs (Disney Channel Original Movie) including Lizzy McGuire, That's So Raven, Hannah Montana, High School Musical and Wizards of Waverly Place.

Originally a kiddie channel that drove traffic to its theme parks and feature films, Disney Channel changed direction in the 90's and soon made Nickelodeon run for its money and tween market cap. Each chapter summarizes a show/DCOM from its conception to casting and costar drama, and the book concludes by declaring that the Disney Channel empire was over by the end of the Camp Rock in the early 2010s.

I was really excited to get in on the tea on my favorite shows growing up, but was disappointed to read through rather sanitized and disjointed summaries of the same story. There is a lot of focus on the production teams and Disney corporate, rather than the stars.

The concluding chapter briefly covers the most interesting topics, but leaves a lot of the juicy bits on the table including: the fall of Disney Channel amidst streaming platforms, the ethics of employing child entertainers, and what happened to all of the stars afterwards.

christhereader8's review against another edition

4.25

emotional informative medium-paced

nikbookdragon's review against another edition

4.0

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

mchung's review against another edition

3.0

It's an interesting and fairly light compilation of the evolution of Disney Channel programming through its heyday, framed around its notable child actors. It provides an overview of questionable work practices and pay scales and how they lined up with other networks, and plays with a number of the anecdotes most people either remember living through the media coverage of, or have heard on various podcasts from past Disney child stars. It's interesting, not a hard hitting expose, nor an over-exposed re-release of shocking stories, but a fairly balanced timelapse of Hilary Duff to Demi Lovato.