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859 reviews for:
Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel's Tween Empire
Ashley Spencer
4.0 AVERAGE
859 reviews for:
Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel's Tween Empire
Ashley Spencer
4.0 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
A fantastic glimpse into the early 2000’s Disney Channel and a really nostalgic read for me.
slow-paced
This isn't exactly a recommend because I tend to judge non-fiction books on whether or not I truly feel like I learned something I didn't already know. What little was news to me in this book was not groundbreaking or significant enough that I think I'd find myself with a friend in a bookstore and say "yeah, pick this up". But as a library check out (like this was for me), go for it!
I found this a bit hard to keep interest in - hence the time it took me to finish it. It covers the early 1990s Mickey Mouse Club (with very little detail on the actual members of it) through to 2011 at the end of Sonny with a Chance... for some reason? I don't understand the intent of this book to be perfectly honest.
To be clear, this is about the Rise and Fall of the channel itself. It mentions some of the issues some of the stars went through, but the focus is about the channel's highs, and unfortunately, not enough detail about the lows I was the most interested in. The epilogue is the only part that details what happened to truly sink the super high ratings the network had to now where it's going dark in certain countries and it's nowhere near as popular with kids as it used to be. Yes, streaming contributed, but there was so much more to discuss about the shows that succeeded, the starts of careers that skyrocketed like Rodrigo and Zendaya, the decision to remove the channel overseas. Why was that not detailed?
This book reads like perhaps Lucas Gabreel of HSM fame was the only person willing to give the author direct quotes. Most (or all?) of the details on LaBouf's, Miley, and Demi's mental health issues seemed to be quoted pulled from interviews and documentaries they'd previously done. Unless you were living under a rock, I think all of these were things the average person saw in the tabloids.
The only things that were mildly new to me were that Gabreel and Tisdale didn't like each other, Brenda Song was a great student, and that Raven auditioned for the best friend first.
I wished there'd be WAY more mention of the DCOMs. It would've been nice to hear more about the apparent failure of Phil of the Future. I wish more had been made of the very few live actions starring characters of color. I wish it'd gone past 2011. I wish more had been detailed about how the channel became so irrelevant in today's time, despite my generation viewing it with nostalgic rose colored glasses.
So, as a library check out, it's a tentative recommend. It wasn't the most engaging book I've read this year, but if you grew up watching Disney Channel, you might find this interesting. I personally expected more from it.
I found this a bit hard to keep interest in - hence the time it took me to finish it. It covers the early 1990s Mickey Mouse Club (with very little detail on the actual members of it) through to 2011 at the end of Sonny with a Chance... for some reason? I don't understand the intent of this book to be perfectly honest.
To be clear, this is about the Rise and Fall of the channel itself. It mentions some of the issues some of the stars went through, but the focus is about the channel's highs, and unfortunately, not enough detail about the lows I was the most interested in. The epilogue is the only part that details what happened to truly sink the super high ratings the network had to now where it's going dark in certain countries and it's nowhere near as popular with kids as it used to be. Yes, streaming contributed, but there was so much more to discuss about the shows that succeeded, the starts of careers that skyrocketed like Rodrigo and Zendaya, the decision to remove the channel overseas. Why was that not detailed?
This book reads like perhaps Lucas Gabreel of HSM fame was the only person willing to give the author direct quotes. Most (or all?) of the details on LaBouf's, Miley, and Demi's mental health issues seemed to be quoted pulled from interviews and documentaries they'd previously done. Unless you were living under a rock, I think all of these were things the average person saw in the tabloids.
The only things that were mildly new to me were that Gabreel and Tisdale didn't like each other, Brenda Song was a great student, and that Raven auditioned for the best friend first.
I wished there'd be WAY more mention of the DCOMs. It would've been nice to hear more about the apparent failure of Phil of the Future. I wish more had been made of the very few live actions starring characters of color. I wish it'd gone past 2011. I wish more had been detailed about how the channel became so irrelevant in today's time, despite my generation viewing it with nostalgic rose colored glasses.
So, as a library check out, it's a tentative recommend. It wasn't the most engaging book I've read this year, but if you grew up watching Disney Channel, you might find this interesting. I personally expected more from it.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This nonfiction history of the Disney channel, how it began and through its hey day was fascinating. The author explored the business side things, the creative minds working to create something new, and the young actors that made it all come to life. This made me angry, made me laugh, and made think about the channel that was on so often when my kids were tweens. Highly recommend if you watched in the 2000s-2015s.
informative
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced