Toon channel coming
United Press International - January 01, 1998 15:11
%ENTERTAINMENT %SCOTT V%UPI P%UPI
UPI Arts & Entertainment Scott's World
(800)
By VERNON SCOTT
UPI Hollywood Reporter
HOLLYWOOD (UPI) - How about a cartoon channel?
A cable outfit that delivers nothing but cartoons 24-hours a day?
Toon Disney becomes a reality this April, providing Americans with
the perfect baby-sitter for years to come. Parents can tune in Toon
Disney, sit the kids in front of the tube and head for a Caribbean
cruise.
But mothers and fathers are forewarned they are liable to become as
mesmerized by the all-cartoon channel as their offspring.
The basic cable network will feature Disney's vast library of
animated television programming.
Target date for Toon Disney's debut is April 18, the 15th anniversary
of the company's Disney Channel, among the most successful of all cable
channels in the country.
Anne Sweeney, president of Disney Channel and executive vice
president of Disney/ABC Cable Networks, says Toon Disney won't be
another cartoon ghetto like some Saturday morning programming.
''Toon Disney is the next step towards expanding the cable presence
of the Disney brand,'' Sweeney said the other day.
''Having addressed the broad needs of kids and families through
Disney Channel, Toon Disney will provide our audience an additional
source of trusted and valued entertainment.''
Yes, but some church groups have taken issue with Disney's wholesome
image. The company's Buena Vista distribution arm and its Hollywood
Pictures have been attacked and boycotted by some religious sects for
depicting violence, drugs and nudity.
Most recently one particular Protestant group announced it was
offended by the company's policy of offering health insurance to the
partners of homosexual employees.
Perhaps Toon Disney will help restore a measure of Disney's squeaky
clean image, which, of course, is pervasive in the company's animation
projects from ''Snow White'' to ''The Lion King.''
There will be no shortage of product on the new channel, considering
the fact that it will draw from the Walt Disney Company library, which
boasts 2,200 episodes of exclusive animation as well as titles shared
with the Disney Channel.
Viewers will not be faced with repetitious re-runs, as they are with
''Road Runner'' cartoons in syndicated programming on hundreds of
independent and network stations.
Among the highlights scheduled for Toon Disney are ''Little Mermaid,''
''Gummie Bears,'' ''New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'' and ''Darkwing
Duck.''
Said Geraldine Laybourne, president of Disney/ABC Cable Networks,
''Toon Disney meets the needs and opportunities resulting from digital
roll-out, which further enables us to target niche audiences.''
Children's programming is a very large niche indeed. One might even
describe kid TV as a chasm or perhaps an abyss.
Effective arguments have been made that young children prefer
animation to live action entertainment. And fantasy cartoon violence is
more palatable to parents than the hard core stuff in, say, ''Aliens''
or ''Men in Black.''
Cartoons are free of automatic weapons fire, nudity, provocative
sexual scenarios and drug culture niceties.
Toon music, too, is more agreeable to tiny tots.
All the same, Toon Disney is not aimed strictly at toddlers. Sweeney
said the new channel's target audience will be youngsters ages 2-11.
Animation fans of all ages, however, will find themselves tuning in,
even those without children.
Slack-jawed addicts of ''Beavis and Butthead'' and ''The Simpsons''
probably won't spend much time with Toon Disney. The assumption being
the target audience for those shows are 12-year-olds and other
sophisticates.
Toon Disney is but the latest contribution to the company's
burgeoning holdings.
In addition to booming theme parks in the United States and abroad
and the most profitable year for its motion picture division, Disney is
becoming the most powerful corporate entity in television.
Disney/ABC Cable Networks comprises five cable programming services
and oversees the development of future cable channels for the company.
It owns 100 percent of the Disney Channel, 50 percent of Lifetime
Television, 37.5 percent of A&E Network, 37.5 of The History Channel and
34 percent of E! Entertainment Television.
Disney probably wields more influence on young minds than any source
other than parents and family members.
Hardly a day goes by in a child's life without exposure to ubiquitous
logos and other Disney labels on corporate franchises for clothes, toys,
books, lunch boxes and the like.
Mickey Mouse has been named the most identifiable likeness in the
known universe.
Who better then than Disney to influence the nation's young people?
Quentin Tarantino?
vs
--
Copyright 1998 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
--
|
