Disney unveils two new projects

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It's something many parents probably concluded long ago: It's a Disney world; we just live in it.
No company is better at creating brands and leveraging and extending them across multiple media formats and platforms. Look no further than the "High School Musical" franchise. Or "Hannah Montana." Or the Jonas Brothers, who began as a music group, moved into acting with last summer's Disney Channel movie "Camp Rock" and will star in their own Disney Channel series, "JONAS," later this year.
Not a company to rest on its laurels, Disney embarks on two new projects this week: Debuting a new series for tweens with an established Disney Channel star and re-branding an entire network.

"Sonny with a Chance"

Demi Lovato, who starred in "Camp Rock" and released a solo album on a Disney-owned record label, stars as Sonny Munroe, a Midwestern teen who moves to Los Angeles to join the cast of a popular sketch-comedy show called "So Random!" Sketches are included in some "Sonny with a Chance" episodes, including "Dolphin Boy," about a half-dolphin boy who spouts water from his head.
Imagine "Sonny" (8 and 8:30 p.m. EST Sunday) as a broader, teen version of "30 Rock" with the potential for "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" relationship drama.
"So Random!" films on the soundstage next door to "MacKenzie Falls," a drama starring teen heartthrob Chad Dylan Cooper (Sterling Knight, the most talented young actor in the cast), who quickly becomes Sonny's crush/enemy. Actress Nancy McKeon, known to previous generations as Jo on "The Facts of Life," will appear in a handful of episodes as Sonny's mother.
"Sonny" is a fairly entertaining Disney series with above-average performances from its young cast. As for the show's title, which would make more sense if Sonny were a weathercaster, executive producer Brian Robbins said producers are still trying to figure it out.
"You always have a title that you start with, and you go, 'I wonder if this is really going to be the title of the show?' ... I always believed in that putting a character's name in front of a show is really important," Robbins said. "And the 'Chance' says a lot about what Demi's character is going to go through and the dreams of Hollywood and hopefully making it."

Disney XD

Later this week Disney will shutter one cable channel and launch another. As Friday dawns, Toon Disney will become Disney XD, a channel designed to skew more heavily toward boys as a counterpoint to the Disney Channel, which Disney Channels Worldwide entertainment president Gary March describes as "girl-driven and boy-inclusive."
Disney XD's first original series, "Aaron Stone" (7 p.m. Friday), follows the adventures of teen-ager Charlie Landers (Kelly Blatz), who has mastered the online game "Hero Rising." Charlie is enlisted by the game's creator to become a real-life crime fighter. He's assisted in his tasks by the android S.T.A.N. (J.P. Manoux), whose name stands for Sentient Tactical Assisting Neo-Human. Other characters include Charlie's brother, Jason (David Lambert), and his friend, Emma (Tania Gunadi).
"The notion that you could target boys particularly and give them a destination for themselves is something that seemed absolutely like virgin real estate in the cable community," Marsh said at a Disney XD press conference last month.
Unlike Toon Disney, which was driven by its cartoon genre, Disney XD will be driven more by themes to create a brand. "This notion of the boy who is evolving, who is achieving, who is leveling up to the next stage, this is a dynamic that boys really fundamentally understand. It's how they live their lives. It's how they approach their future."
Not that girls will be shut out of the Disney XD clubhouse.
"The real intent here is to have a certain proportion of the audience being female," Marsh said. "There are entry points for girls in ('Aaron Stone'). It may not be the action but what you'll see evolve ... in all of the shows are the relationships that are very meaningful, very real, very honest. And it's the kind of thing that girls do gravitate towards."
Some of the cartoons currently airing on Toon Disney that fit the new Disney XD brand will remain; others will return to the Disney vault. Upcoming Disney XD programs will include fall's animated series "Kid Knievel," about a 12-year-old boy who aspires to be the world's greatest daredevil ("Kaptain" Robbie Knievel serves as a stunt consultant to the show), and this summer's live-action show, "Zeke & Luther," about best friends who set out to become skateboarding pros.

(Contact TV editor Rob Owen at rowen(at)post-gazette.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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