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It’s certainly a time of change at Disney, and last week the latest took place: the switch from Playhouse Disney to Disney Jr. Thanks to Michele for pointing it out to me; I wasn’t sure if Disney Jr. was indeed the replacement for Playhouse Disney, or just an additional feature.
Despite discussing it, we’re not really sure of the motivation for the name change. The most likely candidate is that Disney’s trying to compete with Nick Jr., but having names so similar seems like it will just cause more confusion than competition.
I also thought that perhaps execs thought kids would better take to Disney Jr., a name that might sound more hip and forward-thinking, as opposed to Playhouse Disney, which implies a younger age. But are kids seven and under, the target audience for Disney Jr., really so concerned with feeling older? Are they really put off by the title “Playhouse Disney”? I assume some market research must have gone into the name change, so perhaps so.
As Disney isn’t one to do anything by halves, it’s hardly letting the re-branding of its children’s network—or rather, the children’s time block on the Disney Channel—go by without much pomp and circumstance. The official Disney parks blog announces that at the beginning of next month the Disney parks will host parties to hail the coming of Disney Jr.
The celebrations should be familiar to anyone who has seen or heard of “Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage!” Disney might love tweaking its properties of late, but sometimes it knows when not to mess with a formula that already works well.
In fact, those who’ve already seen the show won’t notice many changes. Predictably it has been re-titled “Disney Jr. – Live on Stage!” but the majority of the stories are the same. Audiences will watch previous and popular segments based on Playhouse, excuse me, Disney Jr. shows “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,” “Little Einsteins,” and “Handy Manny.”
The show will also include a portion based around one of the Disney Channel’s newest shows, made exclusively for Disney Jr.: “Jake and the Never Land Pirates.” It’s unclear if this is the only addition to the children’s network line-up, or if “Jake and the Pirates” is just the most promising of the lot.
For those unacquainted with the “Live on Stage” productions, they’re another in Disney’s stable of live performances for children. They revolve around shows from Disney Jr.; each performance features a handful of short plays that act as miniature episodes of the featured television programs.
“Disney Jr. – Live on Stage!” will begin its run at the Disney parks in March. It debuts at Disney Hollywood Studios in Disney World on March 4 and at California Adventure in Disneyland on March 25. The shows will feature daily performances until the end of their run, though when that might happen has not been announced.
Serious fans of Disney Jr. who might not be interested in full subscription to the Disney Channel should also look forward to 2012. At an unspecified point next year Disney Jr. will launch as its own basic cable and satellite channel. Stay tuned for more details on that as they become available.
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