“Disney Junior” Replaces SOAPnet in 2012

[All My Shadows]

Speaking of cable nets that have supposedly sold-out...

I don't quite understand why people hate on MTV for not showing music videos most of the day. A person can go to YouTube and find just about any music video they want and virtually all current Top 40 videos, and watch them whenever and wherever they want to. Sitting around, wading through Gaga videos when all you want is Lil Wayne doesn't sound so tempting.

Same with The Weather Channel. Why sit and watch a weatherman in front of a green screen talking about the weather in Oregon when you live in Florida if you can go to their site and get all you need to know.

I know that there are still many, many people with no internet skills or no internet at all, but there's definitely a migration going on, and I can't really fault some of these people for trying to stay relevant any way they can. If that means Music Television has to be dominated by Snooki and The Situation, then so be it.

LOL! I don't even know who they're trying to reach. Anyone still interested in watching Carly isn't ready for Degrassi, and anybody who's watching Degrassi probably couldn't GAS about Carly.

[DRW50]

There's a certain level of comfort with getting the weather on a channel that is supposed to be about weather, as there is with getting this information from a local weatherman, but they are only on certain times in a day. I know people who are frequently online and who look at weather forecasts online but also want to see the Weather Channel. Yet when you turn on the channel you get these horrible things like how a rainstorm in 1923 shocked the residents of Topeka. Or you get a "true life" interview with Bob about the time that he heard it was going to flood, and not to leave the house, but he really needed to get something, so he went out in a flood, and someone had to come save him, and boy was he scared.

I just don't understand why a channel about weather needs to run away from their image, and I really wonder whether they have had any significant ratings gain. Are there really any people who would not watch the Weather Channel but do because they need to hear about how Jolene prayed when a tornado buzzed her treetops?

As for MTV, I care less about the lack of music as I do about how desperate they seem to be. They're at the point where they get press attention because their shows have men punching women in the face. That's about it.

[All My Shadows]

I'm offended, Carl. Some of my friends and I will watch Storm Stories for however long they keep it on. I think the general public couldn't care less about The Weather Channel except for the Local on the 8's (and it's superb soundtrack) or when severe weather is on the way. Even still, you can't count on TWC to give you info that is relevant to you. I remember when in the days immediately before Katrina's landfall, TWC and all of the 24 hour news nets were obsessed with Galveston, Texas. Such is the problem of one channel trying to give a report of the weather for the entire country. IDK anything about their ratings, but I figure the second you air something that is a story with "characters" and "plot" more people are gonna watch. They do run the weather updates at the bottom of the screen throughout all the other programming, so it's not like they've completely done away with it.

[bellcurve]

I'd rather hear about a tornado coming to my house via the local news and weather channel anyday over randomly seeing a popup from weather.com saying, "Tornado Warning."

HAAAAAAAAAATE NBC/UNI's acquisition of The Weather Channel. More and more NBC personalities and stories are being recycled onto TWC. But OTOH, maybe they can sack Al eventually and replace him with Jim Cantore?

[DRW50]

I guess that's one of those things I convince myself everyone must dislike because I do. Thanks for reminding me that it does have a following.

I'm still in the days when I'd sit there in the morning and watch the forecast screen with all the different pictures of cities and hear them play Rhapsody in Blue. I miss it

[JackPeyton]

Me too. I think they were trying to go in that direction, and as much as it worked ratings wise for them from a company standpoint they also pretty much hit a peak and with too many

Sort of. No zack cody or miley.

ICarly, Victorious, Zoey 101, Degrassi... Nick shows.

ITA!

[SFK]

+1! SO true, I ask my nieces about Degrassi and they're like, "I don't watch that" which is fine by me actually because I agree that they aren't ready for it (which is so hypocritical because I knew so much about sex when I was way younger than they are... I'm sure they know, just probably playing innocent for the fam which is, *DING*, what me and my friends did).

I don't mind the reality stuff on MTV and VH1, as a matter of fact, I was pretty much addicted to it for a time, but for instance, when they launched the first Real World (oh God, how many of you were old enough to remember that? ), I ass-umed that the angle was that the seven strangers were all involved in music. Some of them were actually, which is where I got that impression, but by season two I think it was only Tami ("It WASN'T! NOT! FUNNY!") and John... maybe Dominic? I don't know, it doesn't really matter because that's not what they were going for. It's been more about generations, people who've come up in the MTV generation(s), and who we are and what we're all about is often reflected in the music of our times so it all relates if you cast that wide net.

[SFK]

Oh my God, I had forgotten about that! But wait, was that the The Weather Channel or ABC? I used to switch back and forth so who knows. There and the airline commercials is where I fell for that piece of music. It's funny, I can still hear the FOX morning news music, usually the first thing I heard after, "SFK, get up!" from when I had to wake up at that ungodly hour and flip on the tube before I got dressed for school.

One thing I remember about TWC is that the forecasters always seemed to be pregnant.

[Khan]

Hey, I watched an episode of "Degrassi" once, and even I wasn't ready for it, lol!

[Khan]

Picture it...

COMING SOON TO THE WEATHER CHANNEL (TWC): "Trackers," TWC's first foray into scripted television, a new one-hour drama series about professional storm trackers, whose lives and emotions are often as turbulent as the weather they confront during "tornado season" in America's Heartland.

DeeeDee: "Watch."

[quartermainefan]

From a Disney standpoint I can see why they want to protect and expand their brand. Disney has been rocked this decade, its stock collapsed and it is trying to regroup. There can be no Disney without trying to get the next wave of kids, and something like SoapNet, while profitable, just may not be helping them do what it is they want to do and reach who they have to reach. Earlier this year they spent like a billion to buy Marvel. That is a good fit because all those properties may eventually mean cartoons for the kids while they make billion dollar box office movies. The Muppets was another Disney acquisition, and again Disney knows who they want to reach. You can see how a new Disney channel could facilitate turning some of these properties into a new goldmine.

I guess this is the downside to these conglomerates owning everything because a small company might have been satisfied merely turning a profit, but Disney needs to turn a profit off the right demo so the toddlers today will be watching Pixar tomorrow.

[Sylph]

If someone finds more about TWC viewership, let me know.

[DaytimeFan]

I'd just like to chime in and say that morphing SOAPNet into Disney Junior will sever all ties between Disney and ABC Daytime network programming.

Disney severs those ties, resulting in no more cross network connection and $ equals an easy sale of ABC to someone else.

[Rakesh]

Agreed 100%. Get over yourself already!

[Rakesh]

Couldn't they try something like this - kids channel from 6 AM - 6 PM and Soaps from 7PM - 5AM? Like a ton of you, I don't see the point in a 24 hr kids channel.