DISNEY - FEW CHEERS FROM FAMILY GROUPS FOR DISNEY'S MUSICAL

FEW CHEERS FROM FAMILY GROUPS FOR DISNEY'S MUSICAL

The expected chorus of cheers for Friday's record ratings for Disney Channel's High School Musical 2 from conservative family and religious activists failed to materialize Monday. The Parents Television Council (PTC), which reviewed the TV movie favorably (it did warn of "some midriff-baring swimsuits and clothing"), had nothing to say about the film's overwhelming ratings success. (It attracted 17.24 million viewers, the largest audience ever for a basic cable program.) The PTC's parent organization, the Media Research Center (MRC), appeared to be the only prominent national conservative group to salute the ratings outcome. MRC Chairman Brent Bozell declared: "Hollywood likes to tell us there isn't a market for family-friendly television shows. Those smut and violence peddlers don't have a clue. The phenomenal, record-breaking success of 'High School Musical 2' proves it, in spades." Chicago Sun-Times TV columnist Richard Roeper wrote today (Tuesday) that he had to turn down an invitation to appear on Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor where, he said, producers had told him he would be asked to discuss whether the TV movie got negative reviews because of its wholesomeness. Roeper said that he had other commitments but that if he had been able to go on the show he would have told host Bill O'Reilly that he "saw mostly positive notices for HSM2, but I don't believe most critics, even the liberal ones, would give the movie a negative rating solely because of its wholesome content. Especially a movie on the Disney Channel. ... Given the billions the company has made off wholesome fare, they might not be totally clueless about the family-friendly market."

21/08/2007