TJ
12-07-2002, 08:26 AM
http://tv.zap2it.com/news/tvnewsdaily.html?29249
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - The Disney Channel has
halted production on one of its most popular series,
"Lizzie McGuire." The decision has more to do with
biology than economics.
The show follows the lives of Lizzie (Hilary Duff), a
middle-school student, her family and friends. But as
Duff, 15, gets older, the show would move farther away
from the Disney Channel's core audience of elementary-
and middle-school kids.
"The wheelhouse for us is in junior high and elementary
school," Rich Ross, the channel's president of
entertainment, tells the Los Angeles Times. "High
school is a whole different set of issues."
Most kids' shows, because they repeat so often, have a
life span of about 65 episodes. That's how many
installments of "Lizzie" Disney shot, stepping up
production so that Duff would still look like a
middle-schooler by series' end.
New episodes will continue to air periodically through
2003. The show also airs Saturday mornings on sister
channel ABC.
Disney executives are also considering developing a
prime-time series for Duff that would continue Lizzie's
adventures into high school. Duff could follow the
footsteps of Amanda Bynes and Melissa Joan Hart,
who successfully moved from kids TV -- they both
appeared on Nickelodeon series -- to prime-time.
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - The Disney Channel has
halted production on one of its most popular series,
"Lizzie McGuire." The decision has more to do with
biology than economics.
The show follows the lives of Lizzie (Hilary Duff), a
middle-school student, her family and friends. But as
Duff, 15, gets older, the show would move farther away
from the Disney Channel's core audience of elementary-
and middle-school kids.
"The wheelhouse for us is in junior high and elementary
school," Rich Ross, the channel's president of
entertainment, tells the Los Angeles Times. "High
school is a whole different set of issues."
Most kids' shows, because they repeat so often, have a
life span of about 65 episodes. That's how many
installments of "Lizzie" Disney shot, stepping up
production so that Duff would still look like a
middle-schooler by series' end.
New episodes will continue to air periodically through
2003. The show also airs Saturday mornings on sister
channel ABC.
Disney executives are also considering developing a
prime-time series for Duff that would continue Lizzie's
adventures into high school. Duff could follow the
footsteps of Amanda Bynes and Melissa Joan Hart,
who successfully moved from kids TV -- they both
appeared on Nickelodeon series -- to prime-time.