Strollerderby : disney channel

UPDATE: Jamie Foxx Apologizes To Miley Cyrus

Brett Singer — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:30:00 GMT

Jamie Foxx issued a mea culpa on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. EOnline.com reports that Foxx responded with a "Yeah" when Jay Leno asked him "Did you say something inappropriate?" Here's the rest of it from EOnline:

"I so apologize to [Cyrus], and this is sincere...I am a comedian, and you guys know that whatever I say, I don't mean any of it. And sometimes, as comedians, as we do, we go a little bit too far. I have a radio show...We're really the black Howard Stern. We go at everybody. There was a situation with Miley Cyrus, and I just want to say, I apologize for what I said. I didn't mean it maliciously. You know I'm a comedian."

Then, looking at the camera, "Miley, I apologize, so I'll call you. I got a daughter too, so I completely understand."

So there you go. Good enough? I think so. Do you agree?

Original post follows below.

*-*-*-*-*

So, like, hey now.

A little background. Jamie Foxx has a channel on SiriusXM Satellite Radio where he does a show called The Foxxhole. He said some... things about Miley Cyrus (aka Miley Ray Cyrus Hannah Montana Stewart Lipschutz). Someone called in and mentioned Miley's little dustup with Radiohead (she wanted to meet them, they said no, she got pissy and yakked about it on some radio show). The Oscar-winning Mr. Foxx then went off a bit. Here's the audio, which is not safe for work. At all. Seriously. You have been warned.

So yeah. He said it. There are a few other people in the mix, and I'm not sure who said what. I'm fairly certain it was Jamie Foxx who said that Miley should make a "sex tape", and then a female voice added "with your dad." "White bitch" was in there. Also something about doing heroin "like Britney" (I must have missed that headline about Brit nodding out), as well as a suggestion that Miley catch VD from a bicycle seat. (I didn't think that was possible, but hey, what do I know?)

A few things to say here. First, Foxx said this on his radio show this past Sunday. It appears to only be coming out now. That doesn't diminish it, but it does mean that not a lot of people heard the comments. Second, he was trying to be funny. That doesn't excuse the comments at all, of course. But in theory performers get more latitude when it comes to humor.

As for what was said: it was completely inappropriate and in incredibly poor taste. I'm not a fan of Miley's; I think her music is horrible, and the message of her entire persona seems to be that fame is a goal worth trying for, which is something I don't agree with. (That's the short version of a longer thought that I'll share one of these days.) In my opinion you can make fun of anything and talk about whatever you want. But when its an underage person, boy or girl, and you start saying "white bitch" and suggest that she make a sex tape with her dad, that seems unnecessary. He has the right to say it. But why would he? (A commenter at LATimes.com says that the Foxx clip is somewhat out of context, but, like the Rodney King video, I'm not sure that context matters in this case. Maybe it does, but I doubt it.)

There's also plenty to make fun of when it comes to Miley. The Radiohead thing. The fact that she sleeps in her parents bed sometimes, despite being sixteen years old. Her music. Her TV show. Lots of material to work with before you go to "white bitch" who should do heroin and make a sex tape.

What do you think? Should underage famous people be off-limits, at least in some ways? Or did Miley deserve it?

Source: EOnline

Image: Amazon

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Disney, Nickelodeon At War Behind the Scenes

Amy Kuras — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:01:00 GMT

It’s unpopular to say so, but I honestly don’t know how parents got anything done before the advent of not one, but two, little-kid oriented channels on cable TV (not to mention to glory that is PBS). Before I had kids, they were not going to watch TV at all. Then, well, there was the unfortunate confluence of a big deadline with a sick babysitter and yeah, out came the Elmo and it’s been a slippery slope ever since.

What we may not realize, though, is there is a cutthroat business behind those cuddly animated characters and exuberant singing movers. Disney Channel and Nickelodeon have been in a pitched battle for years, stealing executives, ideas, and inspiration from each other and battling it out for the eyeballs of our kids.

This NYT article outlines some of that fierce rivalry, although the shows they mention skew a little older than the Babble dynamic for the most part (I am sorry, but a five year old should not be watching High School Musical or Hanah Montana –and seriously, George Lopez outperformed almost anything else? Really?). But a little look at the cutthroat competition is really interesting., not to mention how they try to keep tweens and teens interested in the channels once they graduate from Dora and Mickey.

Is Miley Cyrus' First Photo Shoot Creepy?

Brett Singer — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:15:00 GMT

Miley Ray Cyrus Hannah Montana Stewart Lipschutz's first photo shoot has surfaced. The shots were taken back in 2002, and some of them are way creepy. At least that's my opinion. You may feel differently. Let's take a look, shall we?

Some of the images are fairly tame, even for kiddie modeling shots.

Then comes the belly shirt. And the quasi-pouty face.

Actually, I can't decide if this last one is a pout or a "Why am I doing this?" expression.

I'm not a big fan of putting your kids into the entertainment industry. There are obviously cases where the kid wants to do it, and sometimes the kid wants to do it and actually has some talent. But how does a parent participate in a photo shoot where their daughter is wearing a midriff-bearing t-shirt? I feel a bit creepy just writing about this.

Here's a shot with, I think, Miley's mommy.

Not sure if this was candid or staged. I’m thinking staged. She appears to be primping Miley Ray Whatever for the next shot. Either way it's… well, I can't come up with a better word than creepy. And I'm not sure I need to.

One thing for sure – the next time Miley Ray Cyrus Hannah Montana Stewart Lipschutz and her crew complain that Annie Leibovitz or some other celebrity photog somehow tricked them into a racy photo spread, we need not take that seriously for even a second.

As little girl role models go, Miley is certainly better than Tila Tequila or Britney Spears. But would you want your daughter dressing like this? And would you take pictures of it? This isn't JonBenet Ramsey creepy, but it's close. What exactly are you going for when you dress a ten-year-old girl (the age she was in the shoot) like this?

I know I’m getting all moral majority butthead on you. But what do you think of these pics? (Links to the full gallery, which is enormous, are below if you really want to see them all.) Creepy? Not creepy? Would you let your daughter do a photo spread like this at age 10?

Source: MileyWorld via OceanUp via Buzzfeed

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Cheetah Girls Banned From Macys Thanksgiving Parade

Brett Singer — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Fans of Disney Channel girl group The Cheetah Girls will be disappointed to learn that the trio will not be appearing at the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade this year.

The reason? Semi-nude photos of Adrienne Bailon, who plays Chanel Simmons in the band/movies about the band/TV show about the band/something or other (I don't fully understand all of the identities involved here so forgive me) that have appeared all over the Interwebs.

Particularly weird is the possibility that Adrienne had a publicist leak the pics and then claimed that her laptop had been stolen. Jonathan Jaxson, a publicist and/or blogger, claims that he was hired by Bailon to release the steamy snaps (sorry, dropped into gossip-language there for a moment) so that Bailon could "distance herself" from Disney and start developing a more "adult" image. This story doesn't appear to have been confirmed by Adrienne or her people, but that doesn't mean it isn't true.

Many news outlets are comparing this to what happened with Miley Ray Hannah Montana Stewart Cyrus Lipschitz and Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical), two more Mouse House mamacitas (ouch! Gossip talk! Stop that!) that had nude (Hudgens) or semi-nude (Cyrus) photos appear in the wild. But there are a couple of differences. First, Miley Ray Hannah Montana Stewart Cyrus Lipschitz was under 18, and some of the "controversial" photos appeared in Vanity Fair, and the ones that didn't certainly looked like they were candid cell phone snaps. Hudgens was just 18 when her nekkid self showed up on the web. Also, HSM's Hudgens (ah, I give up, gossip speak will happen on occasion) immediately apologized for the racy pics. So if it was a nefarious plot to let the entire world see what she looks like in her birthday suit, it was a well-hatched one.

Why does their ages matter? Because teenagers do dopey things sometimes. So do people in their mid-20's, but if Bailon, who is 25, actually did have someone release these pictures on purpose, she's a huge dummy.

I know this is becoming a trend, but I have mixed feelings about this story. On the one hand, who cares? On the other hand, I would have preferred not to have to explain to a 7 year old what a DUI was when Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain got pulled over a couple of months ago.

Today on the Howard Stern Show on Sirius XM Radio, Robin Quivers theorized that some of the young actresses on the Disney Channel are so desperate to be uber-famous that they'll do anything to get there. If it turns out the photo thing was a leak and not an accident, I'd say she's right.

Should Macys keep the Cheetahs out of the parade? After all, one of their members may be have contributed to the downfall of civilization by putting out pictures of herself in a bra. (Or maybe not. Like I said, I'm conflicted.) More importantly, are they as popular as the amount of news stories about them would indicate? My kids don't want a lot of Disney Channel, but Hannah Montana I know about. The Cheetah Girls, not so much. Any fans, or parents of fans, out there in Internet land want to set me straight? Or even just explain the whole dual-identity thing?

Source/Image: Fox News

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Disney Pulls Hannah Montana Diabetes Episode

Brett Singer — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:15:00 GMT

Hannah Montana has managed to piss off a bunch of parents. But it wasn't with her music.

Apparently the Disney Channel pulled what was going to be the first episode of the new season because some parents who saw it early complained. "The episode, titled 'No Sugar, Sugar,' finds Hannah’s friend Oliver learning he has diabetes and was intended to teach audiences that the disease is one that can be managed." Some parents, "had concerns about how the disease was portrayed," although the New York Times article I saw doesn't mention any specifics. The title does sound a little bit jokey. (Maybe they were trying to revive Miley's dad's series "Doc".) But come on -- what did they do? Put a Snickers on a fishing pole and dangle it in front of a diabetic character?

One thing that "Seinfeld" was supposed to have taught us is that the "very special episode" is usually a bad idea. I'm not saying that it's not a nice thing for a show watched by zillions of tweens to actually try to teach a lesson now and then. But usually it comes across as forced. (David Spade, before he was famous, used to do a funny stand-up routine about "a very special episode of 'Family Ties'" where Alex is caught masturbating. "Aw Mal, can't you knock?") I've never seen Hannah Montana, but my guess is that people don't usually watch the show looking for issues-oriented television.

For that, everybody knows you should watch the new "90210". I mean, really.

Interesting twist: Apparently Nick Jonas is diabetic, and Miley Ray Hannah Montana Stewart Cyrus Lipschitz used to wear some sort of "diabetic dog tag" in support of the Jonas Brother that she either was or wasn't dating. (I can't remember and don't care enough to look it up.)

I do think it’s a little weird when a network yanks a show – in this case before it even officially aired – based on the complaints of a few people. How bad could it have been? I remember an episode of "The Brady Bunch" where Mike says to Carol, "If I ever caught one of my sons playing with dolls, I'd send him to a psychiatrist." (Cue laugh track.) My mother heard the line and asked me if I thought that was an OK thing to say, especially since I played with action figures, which are very doll-like. So maybe a better move is to watch the show with your kids and talk to them about anything you find objectionable.

Or just shut the TV off. But let's not get too crazy.

Source: NYTimes, EntertainmentWise

Image: EntertainmentWise

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Fall TV Preview: Monster Buster Club on ToonDisney

Brett Singer — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:30:00 GMT

This animated series, airing in the U.S. on ToonDisney, is about a club. That busts monsters. Yawn.

Here are the basics: a group of four vaguely ethnically diverse kids are part of a "secret society" that protects Earth from alien intruders. Of course, no one can know that these normal (if a bit annoying) middle school kids are in fact keeping their planet safe. So they live in fear of being discovered… well, that's giving them too much credit. They mention every now and then that no one can know who they are. Of course, they could try wearing masks that actually hide their identities, and not bust monsters while the school play is being performed. In front of everyone they know. But hey, why quibble?

The episode I watched, "Acting Out," explains very little of the background; poking around the interwebs I found out the names of the four main characters, the fact that their leader is an old man who is an alien and the grandfather of one of the members, and also that it is never really explained just where this secret society came from. It doesn't really matter, because the show is a mish-mash of elements from other animated series: think "Men in Black" meets "Power Rangers" meets "Little Einsteins". I'm not going to bother giving you the specifics; if you're interested, check out this page on Wikipedia or the official web site.

The plot of "Acting Out" has the same weird obsession with fame that you find on many Disney shows ("Hannah Montana", "High School Musical"). After the club saves an eight-armed talent agent from a lizard-creature (who turns out to be a rival agent – oh, did I spoil the surprise ending? Good, now you don't have to watch the show) he offers to make them "superstars." They get excited until the old man in charge tells them, "Monster Buster Club is a top secret operation, so you can't be superstars." The kids are, of course, bummed out. One of them decides to make commercials that only air on other planets. Of course, now he thinks he's a big star and he's ignoring his Monster Busting duties. Then the granddaughter of the old man in charge, who is not from Earth, ends up playing Juliet in the school play, and the lizard guy comes after her because he can't get to the kid doing commercials… It's a little bit hard to follow, less because it's complicated and more because it's not remotely interesting.

The animation is all computer-generated; think "Jimmy Neutron" but with a smaller budget. (A review on about.com claims that Disney says the budget for the show is $21 million, but, to paraphrase Chris Rock, somebody must be walking around with $20 million in their pocket.) The voices are either just poorly synced or the show was originally recorded in a language other than English (I think it’s the latter, which is foolish.) In general, everyonetalkseallyfast, which is probably because the characters are spouting some of the lamest lines on television. When the lizard-like alien who shows up in the first four seconds escapes: "He's getting away… and even worse, he squished my fruit." When they encounter said lizard-like alien again: "Don’t stick out your tongue, it's not polite…I've seen faster tongues on an old pair of sneakers."

The show claims to be targeted at ages 6-11, but with so many better entertainment options out there, "Monster Buster Club" will only catch on because the Disney Marketing Machine will cram it down everyone's throats. Not recommended.

image: about.com

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Disney Knows Middle Aged Women and Tweens.

Melissa Summers — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:04:00 GMT

This might come as a shock but Disney finds a "powerful market" and targets it. The latest target is the 9 to 14-year-old 'Tweens' who are driving an estimated $400 million market, all driven by the power of rolling eyes and whining. Miley Cyrus, star of "Hannah Montana" and daughter of Achy Breaky One Hit Wonder Billy Ray is the latest Tween star to join the force.

Because Tweens think parents are sort of lame, but still need their wallets to fund their personal style, the newest Disney look is designed to appeal to Tweens but toes the line between "fashionable and trendy" but doesn't cross the line to slutty.

According to Disney's Donna Sheridan, "We have to strike a balance between what the girl wants and what the mother wants." Which is funny because I sort of don't want my daughter to wear any merchandise licensed by Disney and sold at Walmart, rhinestones or not.

Color me Anti-American!

NJ Kids Accidentally Get Porn

Kelly Mills — Sat, 05 May 2007 20:38:00 GMT

Some New Jersey parents got a nasty surprise when they found the Disney show "Handy Manny" was accidentally switched with some hardcore pornography. Comcast says it is investigating what happened, and claims it was an "isolated issue in a local New Jersey facility." Disney has asked for reassurances that it won't happen again.

"Handy Manny" is a show about a handyman and his talking tools. Ahem. Some porn producer out there is probably developing the concept into an actual porn film right now. You get how some technician or whatever just reading show synopses could have made a mistake. "Let's see, I'm looking for that show about the handyman, the one where his tools get into all kinds of trouble and have lots of adventures... Oh, this must be it!"

I do feel badly for the kids and parents who tuned into this one. I don't think I'd like to have "the talk" with my daughter because her favorite show was pre-empted by a blue movie. However, I suppose it's better than opening that conversation because you forgot to lock your bedroom door.

Disney More than Frozen Body; Now with More Racism!

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:28:00 GMT

Hope you didn't already book those travel plans to Disney World this summer! Because this video is an eye opener. The Media Education Foundation explores the darker side of the Disney Empire -- the all trusted, all innocent, all knowing media conglomeration.

From highly sexualized female cartoon leads that haven't changed much in appearance since the 1940s to entire movies about Africa without any black people in them to the idea that it's a woman's job to overlook a violent, brooding beast to find a true prince, the video uncovers a not-so flattering side of the happiest mega-corporation in the world.

It's definitely worth a look if you're not afraid of being locked away in the Disney Vault ....

"High School Musical" Franchise is Unstoppable

Stefania Pomponi Butler (CityMama) — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:03:00 GMT

I'd admit it. I haven't paid a lick of attention to the whole High School Musical frenzy. A quick Googling pulls up a description about a high school girl who meets a high school boy while on vacation. Romance ensues, then they part ways. Then she gets transferred to a new school which—surprise!—is high school boy's school. But she's a geek and doesn't fit in with his jock-ly world and...hmmmm...something sounds not-so-vaguely familiar.

Ooh! And, it's directed by Kenny Ortega, better known as the man behind the sexxxy dance moves in both Dirty Dancing and Xanadu.

Anyway, apparently this musical thing is is a huge phenomenon, and with the release of two new movies, it shows no signs of stopping. Disney has announced plans for not one, but two sequels. Haunted High School Musical, "an all-new musical adventure," is set to be released in theaters next year. But Haunted High School Musical will actually be the third installment in the saga (stay with me now), as High School Musical 2 (with cameo appearances by Michelle Pfeiffer and Maxwell Caulfield...I kid!) is scheduled to air on the Disney Channel this summer.

I can't keep it all straight but your tweens probably can.

Kim Possible Returns to Disney Channel in February

thezeroboss — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 23:39:00 GMT

Last year, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle, the creators of the Disney Channel animated series Kim Possible, about the show's upcoming fourth season. This year, I have the pleasure of waiting just a few more weeks for the long-awaited, never-supposed-to-exist fourth season of KP to hit the air.

Yes, I know. I'm too old to be addicted to my kids' cartoons. Sorry, Charlie, but you can't take the animation geek out of me just because I'm a dad. Just the opposite: having children has re-kindled my love affair with this underrated art form. With all the cartoons my kids watch, I've developed an intimate knowledge of which shows are enjoyable for the married-with-children crowd, and which ones are so crappy that I won't even let the toddler watch them. Kim Possible falls into the former category. Kids shows have vastly improved in quality since I watched Saturday morning cartoons. And in everything from voice talent to dialog to animation quality, KP shows it.

The story of a teen super-spy who balances cheerleading with saving the world, KP has build a hardcore fan base of all ages. Disney faced such an uproar over the its scheduled cancellation (Disney regards most series as played out by the end of the third season) that it brought the show back for at least one more year.

And that produced an interesting dilemma for series creators Schooley and McCorkle. The series had always hinted at a possible romance between KP and her sidekick, Ron Stoppable. Wary of the Sam-and-Diane Syndrome, however, the writers wisely steered away from hooking the two up. That is, until the final Kim Possible movie, So The Drama. When the fourth season was green-lighted, Schooley and McCorkle had to find a way to get out of the narrative corner they had painted themselves into.

How do they do it? I have no freaking clue. Neither man would spill details of the fourth season when I quizzed them back in late 2005. (Bastards.) You'll have to watch the February premiere, just like everyone else. And you should - even if your kids aren't old enough to appreciate it. There's something about being a parent that makes watching TV feel like being a kid again...