The New Disney Show From the Year You Were Born Might Make You Feel Old, Sry
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Picture this: You hop off the school bus, grab a Lunchable from the fridge, and curl up on the couch for a Disney Channel marathon. Gosh, sounds like pure bliss, doesn't it?
While my Disney shows of choice aired during what I hereby declare Disney's Golden Age (the days of Lizzie McGuire, That's So Raven, and Hannah Montana, tysm for asking!), the House of Mouse has made sure there's something for everyone through the years. From animated series and family-oriented game shows to reboots of beloved classics, it's the gift that keeps on giving!
Which one debuted when you debuted? (Twinsies!) Join us on this journey back to childhood to find out. (And if you're feeling super nostalgic, a ton of these are available to stream on Disney Plus. You're welcome.)
2023: Pretty Freekin Scary
Am I the only one who is SHOCKED that Disney used the word "freaking?" (Granted, it's spelled...rather curiously...but still!) Once I recovered from my shock, I learned that the premise of this show also seems very adventurous for Disney. After a young girl falls into a manhole and dies, she's given a second chance at life by the Grim Reaper, who allows her to return to Earth under one condition: She must be guarded by his henchman, named Pretty and Scary. Disney, u ok?
2022: The Villains of Valley View
Looks like Disney was feeling inspired by their Marvel success when they developed The Villains of Valley View! When two villains retaliate after being passed over for a promotion, they take their three (equally villainous) children and head to Valley View, Texas, where they must live peacefully among civilians.
2021: The Secrets of Sulphur Springs
In a departure from Disney's normal fare, The Secrets of Sulphur Springs took a moody approach to kids programming. Set in a fictional Louisiana town, a teen moves into a dilapidated hotel that was rumored to be haunted by a young girl who disappeared there decades before. spoOoOoOky.
2020: Disney Fam Jam
Ahhh, 2020. Did you spend most of that year cooped up with your family making sourdough bread and watching Tiger King? Same. While the exploits of Joe Exotic weren't appropriate for younger kids, the House of the Mouse came in clutch with Disney Fam Jam, a dance competition series that pitted families against each other to take home a $10,000 prize.
2019: Sydney To The Max
If there's one thing Disney does right, it's a classic coming-of-age series. Sydney To The Max truly embodied this formula with a nostalgic twist: Every episode featured a flashback to 1992, when Sydney's dad, Max, was her age. We're willing to bet he was probably watching...spoiler alert...The Secret of the Lost Creek in his spare time.
2018: Bug Juice: My Adventures At Camp
In 1998, Disney released the docuseries Bug Juice, which followed a group of kids at summer camp—and the show spawned a generation of reality TV lovers. (If you could see me right now, I'm raising my hand.) 20 years later, the network decided to recreate the summer camp magic with another reality series following youngsters in the wild, wild West, otherwise known as sleepaway camp.
2017: Raven's Home
Oh snap! 14 years after the original series made its Disney debut, the network premiered a retooled take on the show, reuniting longtime besties Raven and Chelsea as they navigated raising their children post-divorce. The show (which is impressively still on the air!) features Raven's signature psychic visions and has a ton of Easter eggs and character cameos from the original. If there's one thing Disney Channel loves we love, it's a reboot!
2016: Stuck In The Middle
Stuck In The Middle starred a pre-Wednesday Jenna Ortega as the engineering prodigy and (you guessed it!) middle child in a family of seven who is constantly being overlooked by her siblings, even as she creates inventions that get them out of sticky situations.
2015: K.C. Undercover
While this wasn't the show that gave us Zendaya (that would be Shake It Up, which debuted in 2010), it's special because it was the first time she got to be at the helm. In K.C. Undercover, she stars as a math genius who learns that her parents are spies after they recruit her. At the time, Zendaya said she hoped this show would "bring back the cool Disney Channel." Mission accomplished?
2014: Girl Meets World
Boy Meets World fans had been clamoring for a reboot for years, and they finally got their wish when Girl Meets World, a series focusing on Cory and Topanga's daughter, Riley, premiered in 2014. While fan favorites like the aforementioned couple starred in the series (and there are plenty of cameos and running gags from the OG show), the show also launched the careers of Rowan Blanchard and Sabrina Carpenter.
2013: Liv and Maddie
Dove Cameron put in WORK on this series, starring as both Liv and Maddie, twins who could not be any more different. Liv, a child actress who's been filming a series for the past four years, returns home and grapples with her ever-changing relationship with Maddie, as well as her return to high school life. Sibling rivalry at its finest.
2012: Dog With A Blog
Just when you thought Disney had done everything, they went ahead and gave a dog...a blog? In the show's pilot, two families come together after their parents fall in love. By the end of the episode, they learn that their dog can not only talk, but pens a blog about the wacky goings-on at home. Okay, sure!
2011: Jessie
After Debby Ryan graduated from her semester at sea on The Suite Life on Deck (we'll get there), she got a show of her own and headed to the Big Apple to star as Jessie Prescott, a nanny for a wealthy Upper West Side family. We didn't not watch.
2010: Good Luck Charlie
Okay, for the next decade, get ready for banger after banger. In Good Lucky Charlie, a group of teen siblings are thrown into flux when their mom announces she's pregnant...and what follows is a sweet depiction of family life as every member pitches in to raise Charlie. Every episode ended with footage of a video diary older sister Teddy is filming for her little sister. We're not crying, you are.
2009: Sonny With A Chance
I'm convinced that this show—in which a teen (Demi Lovato) gets the opportunity to move to Los Angeles to star in a variety show called So Random!—was developed for kids who longed to watch Saturday Night Live, but were deemed too young. There were some impressively produced sketches, tbh.
2008: The Suite Life on Deck
Just when you thought you had seen the last of these troublesome twins, they were BACK—but this time, aboard a ship. While this retooled series brought back familiar faces, it also looped Debby Ryan into the Disney fold. Be honest, did you dream of spending a semester out at sea after watching this show? I 100% did.
2007: Wizards of Waverly Place
Imagine being a teen growing up in New York City, balancing shifts at your family's sub shop with wizard lessons in your family's hidden magic lair. The show, starring Disney darling Selena Gomez, delivered hilarious magical mishaps, a surprisingly deep network of fantastical creatures (vampires, werewolves, angels, and goblins, oh my!), and Alex Russo's ~funky junky~ (had to) outfits.
2006: Hannah Montana
Disney hit the jackpot with Hannah Montana, a show that (literally) gave us the best of both worlds by focusing on a pop star who becomes an ordinary girl when she removes her blonde wig. Although we loved Hannah's musical prowess, the best parts were truly when Miley was, well, just being Miley.
2005: The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
2005 marked the dawn of the Disney-Sprouse twin dynasty. While the show revolved around the lives of Zack and Cody Martin, twins living at Boston's posh (but fictional!) Tipton Hotel, it was also full of colorful characters: a hilarious bellhop, the hotel's Paris Hilton-adjacent heiress, the candy shop worker, and Mr. Moseby, the curmudgeonly hotel manager. Who could forget "The Ghost of Suite 613" or Zac Efron's guest star stint that came complete with a shockingly steamy kiss? Not us. Never us.
2004: Phil of the Future
There's gotta be a correlation between sci-fi fans and people who loved this show. A time machine malfunction takes Phil and his family from the year 2100 into an early 2000s suburb, giving way to over-the-top antics as the family learns to navigate everyday life. I dare you to watch the series finale and not get a little choked up as Phil—spoiler alert!—heads back to the future after confessing his love for Keely, played by Aly Michalka.
2003: That's So Raven
If we "could gaze into" the past, we'd see our child selves glued to the TV screen, sucked into repeats of That's So Raven. Raven was endlessly cool (her season 4 room redo had young me in a chokehold) and her fashion prowess lent itself to impressive disguises. What's more, Raven broke barriers in the industry, becoming the youngest Black woman to helm her own show. YES QUEEN.
2002: Kim Possible
If loving Kim's black crop top and olive cargo pants is wrong, I don't want to be right. But Kim's sartorial choices were just the tip of the iceberg: Not only did she cruise through cheer practice while fighting crime on the side, she coined phrases that continue to exist in my vocabulary to this day. Call me, beep me, if you want to do a rewatch!
2001: Lizzie McGuire
From the way the "I want a bra!" scene flashed through my mind when I asked my mom for one of my own to my ever-present fear of being dubbed "an outfit-repeater," there's no way to minimize the profound effect this show had on my life. Forget Paolo, Lizzie was the voice of a generation. Her outfits, her friendships, the "will they or won't they?" tension between Lizzie and Gordo—you could say the show was what dreams were made of. Disney, I'll never forgive you for axing the reboot.
2000: Even Stevens
Phew, the 2000s were quite a ride, huh? Told you! The turn of the millennium truly ushered in a Disney renaissance, starting with Even Stevens, a family sitcom that zeroed in on the often-volatile, but always-hilarious, relationship between siblings Ren and Louis. The series is great, but I'm sorry, you haven't lived until you've seen The Even Stevens Movie.
1999: So Weird
There's nothing weird about loving this show, which was surprisingly edgy by Disney Channel standards. I mean, I don't see any modern Disney shows being compared to The X-Files, do you? While on tour with her rockstar mother, a young teen finds herself constantly embroiled in paranormal activity. We also deeply respect the House of Mouse for capitalizing on Erik Von Detten's post-Brink! popularity.
1998: The Famous Jett Jackson
No, your eyes do not deceive you. That is indeed our lord and savior Mrs. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter. The Famous Jett Jackson, which ran until 2001, followed the titular Jett Jackson, a teen actor who played a secret agent on a hit TV show. The show's celeb-focused premise meant that Disney was able to score a few big guest stars: In addition to Destiny's Child, Britney Spears had a cameo.
1997: Mad Libs
I low-key loved when my teacher would bust out a Mad Libs, and it looks like Disney capitalized on that phenomenon with this short-lived game show that brought clever word play to life through a series of physical challenges. The pure joy in this pic though!
1996: Mighty Ducks
You know, looking at the current frenzy around hockey romance, maybe this show was ahead of its time. The animated series came on the heels of the successful Mighty Ducks movie franchise, and it followed a group of hockey-playing ducks living on a planet called...Puckworld. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
1995: Flash Forward
Ah, here's a show that resembles something the network would probably still air today. Tuck and Becca, lifelong next-door neighbors and best friends, begin to wonder if there's something more between them as they start eighth grade. Ah, young love at its finest.
1994: Aladdin
We hate to say this, but you could probably skip this show and pencil in a rewatch of the classic film instead. The animation looks like a bootleg version of the original, and there's not a single rendition of "A Whole New World" in the entire thing. Blasphemy.
1993: Emerald Cove
Disney has long looked like a Young Hollywood's "Who's Who," and Emerald Cove, which originated as a skit on The Mickey Mouse Club, was no exception. We should have just given Keri Russell her Emmy early. Her portrayal of a teen living at the beach and caught in a love triangle was one for the ages, no further questions.
1992: The Secret of the Lost Creek
Disney finally began adding live-action programming to their slate in 1992, and for that, we're thankful. While it seems that this series, starring a young Shannen Doherty, only exists in blurry YouTube clips, we're petitioning for a reboot. The searching-for-buried-treasure plotline is giving Outer Banks, amirite?
1991: Adventures of the Gummi Bears
If you can believe it, Disney Channel kept this animated series about gummy bears living in medieval times on air for six whole seasons. Meanwhile, I'm still lamenting the fact that we only got two seasons of Lizzie McGuire. Puzzling, to say the least.
1990: TaleSpin
If any of these characters look familiar, it's because you've probably seen 'em in The Jungle Book. As if living in the jungle weren't enough, Disney felt compelled to teach Baloo the Bear, Louie the Orangutan, and Shere Khan the Tiger how to fly planes in this series. Give them a break!
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