Disney Channel Fans

Remember the Feb highlights post? It looks like Disney’s gonna start giving us monthly highlights.

March is gonna be a big month for DC Fans, starting with a special Suite Life on Deck.

“Once Upon a Suite Life” – During Ms. Tutweiler’s history lesson, Zack, Cody and London fall asleep and dream of themselves in classic fairy tales. London dreams that she is the evil witch trying to poison Snow White (Bailey), so she can be the fairest in the land; Cody imagines he and Zack are Hansel and Gretel as they get lost in the forest and find a candy cottage and Ms. Tutweiler, a witch; and Zack dreams of Jack and the Beanstalk, in which he trades the family cow for magic beans, in a new episode of “The Suite Life on Deck,” premiering FRIDAY, MARCH 5 (8:30 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel.

Then March 14th is a huge day, with the previously announced Hannah Montana S3 finale, and the Premiere of Sonny with a Chance Season two

“Walk A Mile In My Pants” – Sonny rallies everyone together for a “Walk-A-Thon For Books” and gets Tawni to donate her “Tawni Hart’s Extreme Skinny Jeans” for all of the participants to wear. Eventually everyone starts dropping out as a result of SPS – Skinny Pants Syndrome, in a new episode of “Sonny With A Chance,” SUNDAY, MARCH 14 (8:00-8:30 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel.

It will be followed by a new JONAS, which is surprising. I thought they already used up all the S1 episodes. And there’s no way they could be done with a S2 episode already.

“Exam Jam” – As the JONAS World Concert Tour draws closer, Joe and Stella come to terms with being apart from one another over the summer. Meanwhile Kevin and Joe devise a plan to help Nick ace his geometry test after their dad threatens not to send the brothers on tour unless they pass all their school exams, in “JONAS,” premiering SUNDAY, MARCH 14 (8:30-9:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel.

After that epic weekend, we get a new Wizards of Waverly Place.

“Detention Election” – Justin’s chances at becoming Student Body President are put in jeopardy after someone wallpapers Principal Laritate’s office with posters from Justin’s campaign and he is accused of masterminding the prank. Meanwhile, Alex befriends Stevie, a rebellious new girl in school, and Jerry, Max and Harper get stuck on a Ferris wheel during their trip to Coney Island in “Wizards of Waverly Place,” premiering FRIDAY, MARCH 19 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel.

And a new On Deck. This series must be nearing the end of the season, although I haven’t checked exactly how many more remain.

“Marriage 101″ – Ms. Tutweiler assigns her students a project where they must act like married couples and manage a household. Cody and Bailey are the quintessential perfect couple, and Zack and London make a surprisingly good couple too. When Woody and Addison have a child – Marcus – they learn how difficult adult life can be, in a new episode of “The Suite Life on Deck,” premiering FRIDAY, MARCH 19 (8:30 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel.

And then we’ll wrap up the month with two more new Sonny with a Chance episodes.

“Sonny Get Your Goat” – When Sonny and Tawni learn the “Check It Out Girls” sketch is popular in Glendovia, Marshall arranges for an exchange program, not realizing that the Glendovians think the girls are real check-out girls and want them to be cashiers for a store’s grand opening. Meanwhile, Nico and Grady wear mustaches to fit in with their Glendovian exchange student, in a new episode of “Sonny With A Chance,” SUNDAY, MARCH 21 (8:00-8:30 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel.

And

“Gassie Passes” – When the cast of “So Random!” finds out they are starring in a new movie based on their “Gassie” sketches, Demi showers the pup with affection by giving him too many dog treats. When Gassie passes out, the cast fears the worst, only to discover that Sonny’s treats caused Gassie to fall ill. Meanwhile, Nico and Grady receive money from a secret investor, who turns out to be Dakota Condor, to mass produce the Gassie lunch boxes that Zora invented, in a new episode of “Sonny With A Chance,” SUNDAY, MARCH 28 (8:00-8:30 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel.

Of course, Jennifer Stone’s new movie “Harriet the Spy: The Blog Wars” also premieres this month on the 26th. But no one cares about that.

In all honesty, I wasn’t sure if they where going to renew the show or not. I expected runaway ratings when the show premiered, and instead ratings have been flat. That plus the fact that they’ve aired nearly the entire first season without announcing the renewal (until now) made me wonder if disney was second guessing themselves.

Anyway, now we know that Disney has in fact renewed JONAS for a second season. I wonder if Rich Ross leaving DC and moving over to Features had any impact on this decision.

Anyway, what follows is the official Disney Press Release. Take note of how little they actually talk about the show and instead talk about the JoBros music. they barely even mention Chelsea and Nicole.

“JONAS,” THE HIT COMEDY SERIES STARRING
THE MULTI-PLATINUM AND MULTI-PLATFORM JONAS BROTHERS,
PICKED UP FOR SEASON TWO ON DISNEY CHANNEL

– “Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream,” a Popular Short-form Series,
Also Picked Up for Season Two, Begins Production in Europe –

Disney Channel has picked up Season Two of the hit comedy series “JONAS,” starring the multi-platinum recording artists Jonas Brothers plus popular actresses Chelsea Staub and Nicole Anderson. Two new and notable producers, Lester Lewis (“The Office,” “The Larry Sanders Show”) and Paul Hoen (director and co-producer of “Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam,” DGA Award-winning director of “Jump In!,” and “The Cheetah Girls One World,” among others), have been named executive producers of the series. Season two of “JONAS” is scheduled to begin production in Hollywood in February for debut in mid-2010 on Disney Channel, DisneyChannel.com, mobile and VOD platforms. The announcement was made today by Gary Marsh, president, entertainment, Disney Channels Worldwide.

(Click here for images from “JONAS” or visit www.disneychannelmedianet.com. Registration required.)

This month, while on the European leg of their hugely successful Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009 (produced by Live Nation), Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas also began production on Season Two of their popular short-form reality series, “Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream,” for premiere in early 2010. It will be followed by the highly anticipated Disney Channel Original Movie “Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam” in summer.

Marsh said, “We couldn’t ask for a more collaborative or creative partnership than we have with the Jonas Brothers – and the success of our first season of ‘JONAS’ speaks for itself. As we build on that success in a second season, we are thrilled to add the extraordinary creative talents of Lester Lewis and Paul Hoen to the producing team.”

Regarding the appeal of a second season of “Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream,” Marsh continued, “We can deliver something to our viewers that no one else can – exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to the real life adventures of one of the superstar bands of our time. That’s exactly the kind of unique experience our viewers have come to expect from Disney Channel.”

Michael Rapino, President and Chief Executive Officer of Live Nation, the band’s global touring partner, said, “Two years ago we joined forces with the Jonas Brothers’ team when the band was performing small concerts in our House of Blues clubs. Over the last two years they have developed into the superstars they are today, playing in sold out arenas and stadiums throughout the world.” He continued, “Today they are a true global touring powerhouse, just won Billboard Magazine’s Choice Tour Award for 2009, and stand among the top grossing artists of the year.”

In its primary timeslot (Sunday, 8:30 p.m.), “JONAS” ranks as TV’s #1 program among Kids 6-11 and Tweens 9-14 and cable TV’s #1 program in Total Viewers (averaging 3.4 million viewers). For all of 2009, “JONAS” is #8 among all TV series in Kids 6-11 and on cable TV among Tweens. In its first season, the series also won a Teen Choice Award in the Choice TV Breakout Series category. In 2008 “Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream” reached over 85 million unique Total Viewers, and 17 million Kids 6-11 and Tweens 9-14.

The success of their TV ventures is among a notable list of Jonas Brothers milestones over the past year including:

• A three-continent concert tour, “Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009,” that sold 1.5 million arena tickets and ranks among the year’s top grossing tours. Last week at the Billboard Touring Awards, Jonas Brothers won the 2009 Eventful Fans’ Choice Award for the best concert tour of the year
• A #1 album debut, “Lines, Vines and Trying Times,” one of 2009′s top album debuts
• Three #1 hit singles and five Top 10 songs on Radio Disney’s listener-generated Top 30
• #3 highest-grossing 3D concert film of all time, “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience”
• The launch of a joint venture record label with Disney Music Group
• A Grammy Award nomination
• New York Times best-selling book, “Burning Up: On Tour with the Jonas Brothers”

In addition, Jonas Brothers have amassed nearly four million fans on Facebook, MySpace and Say Now and are the #1 most-subscribed music channel and the #5 channel overall on YouTube.

The new season of “JONAS” follows the three hardest working brothers in show business, Kevin, Joe and Nick Lucas, as they set out on a summer adventure they will never forget. Along with their friend and chief of security Big Rob (played by Jonas Brothers’ real-life chief of security Rob Feggans, a familiar face to Jonas Brothers fans) the brothers pack up from their converted New Jersey firehouse home and head to Los Angeles. What starts out as a relaxing vacation turns into three life-changing opportunities for the boys: Joe pursues a prized role in a big Hollywood film, Kevin gets to indulge his newfound passion for the movie business by shadowing a famous director, and Nick partners with an eccentric record producer to work on the next JONAS album (when he isn’t busy with his latest passion…surfing). Their best friend, Stella Malone, is along for the ride, staying with her aunt and interning in the wardrobe department on the set of Joe’s movie. Documenting the experience is their friend and uber-Jonas fan, Macy Misa, who keeps all the fans up to date with her Jonas blog.

Source: The LA Times

Are the Jonas Brothers poised to take the place of the Disney Channel’s “Hannah Montana”? It’s too soon to tell.

A solid 4 million viewers watched the 8 p.m. premiere of the network’s new series, “Jonas,” which topped kids and tween rankings Saturday, but didn’t come close to delivering the audience watching new episodes of “Hannah Montana.”

A Disney Channel news release boasted that the “Monkees”-style comedy starring the pop trio edged out the competition — Nickelodeon’s “Fairly OddParents: Wishology, Part 2,” the second night of Nick’s three-part original movie — in the kids 6 to 11 and tweens 9 to 14 categories.

“Jonas” drew 1.6 million in both kids and tweens, giving the network its best numbers in the time period in the last eight months, according to figures from Nielsen Media Research.

So the Jonas Brothers are big. But can they be Miley Cyrus big, dominating the realms of music, film and TV? It doesn’t look good so far:

“Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience” did not cross the $20-million mark at the box office, while “Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour” grossed $65 million. (“The Hannah Montana Movie,” currently in theaters, has already grossed more than $70 million.)

And here’s a sobering fact: “Jonas” is Disney Channel’s lowest-rated live-action series premiere among kids 6 to 11 since 2005′s “Life With Derek.”

The show’s debut numbers fall far behind those for a recent new episode of “Hannah Montana,” which scored 4.8 million viewers on April 19, and “Jonas” drew fewer overall viewers (4 million versus 4.1 million) and kids (1.6 million versus 1.8 million) than the February premiere of Disney’s other new series, “Sonny With a Chance.”

“Jonas” was the Disney Channel’s first-ever Saturday premiere for a series, part of a strategy to open up the night to original programming.

Given all the hype, I expected that the show would explode, and it still could, but I’m really quite shocked.