I don’t know what I would do without technology at a time like this. These days, all I’m doing to watching TV. I’ve watched and rewatched shows across Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+. So with the extra time I have to watch things, and having already blogged about older Nickelodeon shows (Drake and Josh and Victorious), I decided that now would be a great time watch some of the most well-known Disney Channel shows that I never watched growing up.
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody premiered on Disney Channel in early 2005 and ended in 2007. I was only around the ages 2-4, so I never watched it while it was on TV. In fact, I don’t think I even started watching Disney Channel until about halfway through The Suite Life on Deck (2008-2011), which I actually did watch occasionally.
Season 2, Episode 13 – Bowling
I know the basic premise of these show. It’s about twins living in a hotel. Other than that, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. I’m more familiar with the Sprouse twins as they are now as opposed to them during their Disney days, but I can safely say that young Cole and Dylan were great child actors. The cold open for the episode is just the twins arguing with each other, and then Zack pushes Cody out into the hallway wearing nothing but a towel and locks him out of their room. It’s great! Honestly, the best points in the episode were when the twins were interacting with each other. And the theme song was pretty good too!
I also enjoyed their mother, Carey. She was one of the only other characters in the show that didn’t seem to be overexaggerated just for the sake of comedy. I might just be being overly critical (it is a show for kids, after all), but it really wasn’t that funny. A lot of the jokes don’t exactly make sense and a lot of the show’s comedy comes from it’s overly exaggerated characters, such as London and Esteban. London is supposed to be extremely dumb and Esteban is supposed to be extremely Peruvian, I think. And they’re supposed to be funny, according to the show’s laugh track. But I found them more annoying than anything.
Mr. Moseby and Ashely Tisdale’s characters were just okay. I could have sworn, before this episode, that Arwin was Zack and Cody’s dad. Turns out that he just has a weird thing for their mom, but everyone in the show seems to be okay with that once Arwin wins a bowling tournament for them.
The episode revolves around a bowling tournament between the rival hotels. For some reason, the rival hotel team is aggressively German. I don’t know exactly what it was supposed to add, but it was kind of funny at times. Zack is the hotel team’s star player until his mother grounds him for locking his brother in the hallway while he is naked. Zack then recruits Arwin to take his place, as Arwin is a champion bowler. He leads the team to victory.
Overally, it wasn’t bad. I can definitely see the appeal and understand why it was so popular.
3/5
That’s So Raven
I barely had any idea what this show was about. It was on Disney Channel from 2003 to 2007, which is way before I even started watching Disney Channel, so I never saw any of it. It wasn’t until sometime in the past year or two that somebody told me that Raven could see the future. I had no idea!
Season 3, Episode 5 – Five Finger Discount
Okay… so it was really good. It was genuinely funny with fun characters and a great message. I’m a little surprised with how much I liked it.
In the episode, Raven’s younger brother, Cory, is pressured into shoplifting. After facing the intense guilt of his actions, Cory decides to return what he stole and stands up the kids who peer pressured him. I don’t know if all of the episodes of this series carry important messages, but from what I’ve seen and heard on social media, That’s So Raven has dabbled in the topics of body positivity and racism. Maybe its just the particular episodes I’ve watched, but I have seen much along these lines in any other kids show that came out around the same time. It’s a nice change of pace.
The comedy was genuinely really good. Raven and Cory’s interactions were amazing. I laughed out loud at several points. Raven is a really fun main character. I love the sweet and supportive relationships in her family. Cory is adorable. Her friends, Eddie and Chelsea, were barely in the episode, but they were still okay. I didn’t like the kids that pressured Cory into stealing. I know I wasn’t supposed to like them, but their lines and dialogue in general was just genuinely annoying. I also didn’t like the theme song as much as I thought I might.
Overall, I really liked it. It’s a fun premise and I definitely would watch more of it.
5/5
Oh my goodness, Addison!! These shows were my absolute childhood and it’s amazing seeing your opinions on them!! Sometimes it’s amazing to take a look into the past and giving history it’s 5 minutes of fame. Thank you for bringing about a chronic case of nostalgia for me!! Ugh, amazing!!
That’s So Raven was my show! This brought back so many memories!! I miss being a kid and waking up to watch these shows and going to sleep with them. They don’t make them like this anymore!
As a kid, these shows were the greatest. I remember growing up and wanting to be just like them. It’s crazy how tv shows play an important role in how we are shaped at such a young age. I have Disney+ now, and I’ve been rewatching these shows and, to be honest, they aren’t as good as I remember. I guess because, as a kid, you aren’t so much concerned with the quality of acting or plot, so I understand your ratings completely, but if you had told 6-year-old me that, I probably would’ve said you crazy.