I just caught the Disney Channel's Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana, having never seen a full episode of The Wizards of Waverly Place, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, or Hannah Montana. Friday's premiere was a 90-minute "crossover event" with all of the characters interacting! It was like the shows were braided together. Or fishtailed! But no, because fishtails only require two pieces of hair and there were three elements of this important television event. Below, an appropriately Tiger Beat-sponsored sample. Justin "blue-ing himself" in the hot tub: a latent Arrested Development reference? Ha, as if.
Honestly, it was kind of fun and endlessly enlightening, on a professional level, to zone out to this tripe for 90 minutes as I lazily trolled the Internet for weird pictures of food. I finally got to hear "Pwned" used in a sentence. I began to understand the appeal of Selena Gomez. I took in about 17 long-ass promos for what will surely be the greatest 3-D movie about gerbils, G-Force, during which Tracy Morgan impersonated the most sedated mad scientist in history. The viewing experience reminded me of when I used to eagerly sit through the full lineup of ABC's "TGIF" in the early '90s — I didn't (couldn't!) realize at the time how mediocre the canned-laughter comedy was, because it truly did seem fun. Like our moms and aunts with their soap operas, these were "our stories"; I loved the routine of it all. Who would host the cool-girl sleepover at her house that Friday so that we could belt out the Six Flags-set opening credits to Step By Step in not-exactly unison? (Usually me: I knew how to make smoothies!) So I don't begrudge die-hard fans of Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana. I get it. I mean, the adult in me wants to say what Hannah apparently says every 10 seconds…"Come on!" [Exaggerated eye roll! Seriously, does she need to make an "I'm so zany" face after every utterance?] But at the same time, I can see a younger version of myself TOTALLY LOVING THIS.
So listen up, kids and parents. I see you on Twitter, flipping out about how you missed the show. You didn't! Wizards on Deck airs again tonight at 7 ET and Sunday at 5, and a lot more times after that. You don't have to miss out on a Paris Hilton knockoff named London Tipton, or the visual feast of Billy Ray Cyurs splayed out on a cruise ship bed looking like three miles of bad road. (I know he was supposed to be seasick, but the guy looked and sounded wasted the entire time and I just wanted him to grab a lukewarm cheeseburger, wave it around, and complete the transition to David Hasselhoff already.)
Are you on board, or are you on bored? If you can tolerate that sentence, I believe it is the former. Ahoy.
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I watched it too – and it was good. Some of these kids are actually sort of talented. Selena Gomez and David Henrie stand out. Not great, but good.
There’s only one legitimate place I’ve found to watch it, the rest seem like scams :-/ You can see it over here though: http://jjpeg.com/watch28015.html
It takes a minute to load but after that it’s good to go
Annie, you amaze me and remind me of the joy of Friday night line ups! (Although mine were in the 70′s starting with All in the Family – but the same idea without the smoothies!) So sure – let’s salute this TV fun and let the children enjoy. ) My daughter is just a tad past HM but I see her remote control drift over to the Disney Channel when she thinks no one is looking! Go Annie!
I am ashamed to say that I have watched a full episode of each of those shows and I am even more ashamed to say that I’m quite tempted to watch this now.
Not regular fare, but I’ve caught Hannah Montana on occasion and I think it’s cute for kids. Don’t know about the other shows, but this type of stuff is what Disney is for and its generally appropriate fare.
i’ll be honest i have watched suite life on deck/suite life of zack and cody
)
occasionally but that is the ONLY show i can tolerate (along with that’s so raven that show was a gem
I’m 26 and I watch Disney regularly (yes, I am aware of how lame I am and am OK with it) so I of course tuned in for this event. I found myself distracted, disturbingly, by a shirtless David Henrie and then decided I should seek therapy. However, upon further research I discovered that he’s 20. Innapprpriate crush? Probably. But at least it’s legal.
As a mother of kids 4,7 and 9 we had all the DVR’s set for Friday night. I actually enjoyed it. I love Selena Gomez on Wizards. I think Disney does a great job entertaining kids with these shows and characters.
“What were Tobias’ last words?”
“I just blue myself.”
Oh how I wish Disney Channel would reference Arrested Development.
I often fly from LAX to SFO on Virgin America (free live tv), and I always watch one of these shows because they are comforting – totally goofy fun. Perfect 45 minute plane ride viewing. I will definitely track down this specific crossover insanity for viewing.
Thanks for the TGIF memories, Annie. Ditto!
Who’s Billy Ray Cyurs?
My cousin’s daughter had a mini meltdown at dinner last night because we weren’t going to get home in time to see it…it was like her puppy died..if she weren’t afraid of puppies…but still, very sad moment for her.
I’ve watched them all–I have a young teenaged daughter–and even though she left for a sleepover partway through this show last night, I kept watching until it was over. I actually don’t mind watching these shows (the first time, that is; my daughter seems to think that she should watch them until she’s got the dialogue memorized.) Anyway, I think that many of the Disney Channel/Nick shows are pretty good, and definitely no worse than any of the TGIF shows. The same goes for most of the kid actors. I did ban That’s So Raven and Cory in the House from our TV, because we couldn’t handle Raven’s screeching (although Annaliese van der Pol’s Chelsea was hilarious) and everything on CitH is massively stupid.
Ah, Annie, you’re always awesome.
I’ve had several flashbacks so far this weekend around this topic… a) My little cousin was so excited for this all week, and then like 30 minutes before it premiered she voluntarily left the house to watch her brother’s football practice. That so wouldn’t have been me. I remember being pissed and nearly getting spanked when my mama decided we’d go grocery shopping and she KNEW I wanted to watch some “Goosebumps” premiere, haha.
b) The crossover event also made me think of TGIF days – remember when Sabrina, Boy Meets World, You Wish and Teen Angel all went back in time ’cause of Salem the cat?
I’m sure there’ll be more, seeing as the TV’s still on Disney Channel right now… kids…
My kids made me watch this. Selena Gomez is a good little actress. Cute kiddie fare overall.