Talk about great timing! SDS Webmaster Greg was able to attend the February 2nd 2010 WOWP live audience filming at the Hollywood Center Studios in Los Angeles.

“I got to meet Selena, Jake, and David. No not David Henrie, David DeLuise. He’s a really cool guy. Jake was fun to talk with as well. But of course, I was there to see Selena. And not only did I speak with her without making a fool of myself, I got a picture with her and an awesome autograph to frame and hang on the wall.“(more)

More importantly, he also spoke with one of the executive producers about the fourth season, and our movement to make sure the show is renewed.

“The problem is Disney dragging their feet. Not Selena or any of the cast. So we’re gonna let Disney have it. They know they should renew this show, but we’re gonna make sure they do it.”

And that’s exactly what we’re going to do starting Friday with our first Save Wizards event…

Un-official Email Disney Day #1

This Friday February 5th, lets kick off this campaign with an barrage of emails. You can use our new WOWP Email Program modeled after the tool we used for KP & PotF, with updated disney contacts and complete with a customizable template letter. You can also use your own email client to send emails, instructions for both can be found at www.SDSmail.org.

Our first “real” Save Wizards Day is coming up later this month. So start writing your paper letters, start thinking about what you’re going to say when you call, and start spreading the word! Friday’s just a warm up, the 26th is when we stand up and be noticed.

To learn more, visit our new save Wizards website: WizardsOfWaverlyPlace.org Thank you!

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“Wizards of Waverly Place” hit a new series high with 6.2 million viewers. If that isn’t enough of a reason to renew the show, then I don’t know what is!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Friday’s all new one-hour “Wizards of Waverly Place” (8:00 – 9:00 p.m.) ranked as the series’ No. 1 telecast of all time in Total Viewers (6.2 million) and Kids 6-11 (2.6 million/10.8 rating), and performed at near record-setting levels in Tweens 9-14 (2.4 million/9.8 rating – No. 3 telecast ever).

At 9 o’clock, an original “The Suite Life on Deck” posted the show’s best numbers in nearly 4 months (since 10/2/09), standing as its 3rd-most-watched telecast on record in Total Viewers (5.2 million) and Tweens 9-14 (2.1 million/8.6 rating), and 4th-most-watched to date in Kids 6-11 (2.4 million/9.6 rating).

• “Wizards of Waverly Place” (6.2 million) and “The Suite Life on Deck” (5.2 million) ranked
  No. 1 in their time slots versus all TV in Total Viewers, standing as Friday’s Top 2 scripted TV telecasts overall.
• Led by “Wizards of Waverly Place” and “The Suite Life on Deck,” Disney Channel aired the Top 6 TV telecasts on Friday in both Kids 6-11 and Tweens 9-14.

Source: TVbyTheNumbers

From what I gather, Nikki Reed will be in charge of finding new shows, so as a site dedicated to saving existing show, she will have little relevance to us. However, it’s still important to know who she is, and what she does. Which is why I’m posting this press release:

NIKKI REED NAMED VICE PRESIDENT,
ORIGINAL SERIES, DISNEY CHANNEL AND DISNEY XD

Nikki Reed has been named Vice President, Original Series, overseeing live-action development for Disney Channel and Disney XD, it was announced today by Adam Bonnett, Senior Vice President, Original Programming, Disney Channel, to whom she will report.

Reed, who has more than 13 years’ experience overseeing feature films and television series development, will be responsible for developing new live-action series geared towards kids, tweens and families on Disney Channel, Disney XD, as well as numerous platforms around the world.

Bonnett said, “Disney Channel is a home for outstanding comedy writers. Nikki’s breadth of experience in both film and television makes her the perfect executive to help us maintain our dominance in kids programming and grow Disney XD into a top destination for live action comedies.”

In her new role, Reed will oversee the development and execution of Disney Channel and Disney XD Original Series pilots, recruit series creators, executive producers, writers and directors and collaborate with the Casting department to identify new talent.

Reed most recently served as Vice President of Current and Development at Universal Cable Productions. From 2003-08 she was a development executive for executive producer Barry Kemp’s Bungalow 78 Productions while it was based at Disney’s Touchstone Television. Previously she served as Vice President of Development for Director Jon Turtletaub’s Junction Entertainment for Disney Studios. There she spearheaded the development of the feature films “National Treasure” starring Nicholas Cage and “The Kid” starring Bruce Willis.

In 2005 Reed served as an executive producer on the feature film “Invincible” starring Mark Wahlberg. Reed was part of the team responsible for negotiating the rights for Vince Papale, overseeing the screenplay script development and was involved in all aspects of the film.

The Los Angeles native is a graduate of the University of Arizona where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.

As you no doubt remember, the outgoing president of Disney Channel Worldwide, Rich Ross, was recently promoted to Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios.

Today, Disney has named Carolina Lightcap as the new president of Disney Channel Worldwide. As such, she becomes the most important person that SDS members contact going forward. We don’t know that much about her yet, but it’s important our supporters make a good, strong, and untited impression on her.

We’re working on putting together a special “Welcome to DC” event for her. Please check back for more on that as we work out the details.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) named Carolina Lightcap as the new president of Disney Channels Worldwide, according to an AP report. She is replacing Rich Ross, who will now be the movie studios chairman. Lightcap joined Disney in 2000 and was most recently vice president of programming and creative affairs and CMO of the Latin American operations. According to the company, Lightcap spearheaded the Latin American launch of “High School Musical” and led the creative transition of the Disney Channel from a premium service to a basic service in the region and she will relocate to Burbank, California.

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Looks like the Wizards movie was a hit!

Source: Zap2It

The Disney Channel’s newest movie/exercise in franchise building put up magical ratings numbers on Friday night.

“Wizards of Waverly Place the Movie” premiered to 11.4 million viewers on Friday, making it the most-watched cable telecast of 2009. It’s also the No. 2 Disney Channel movie ever in terms of total viewers, behind only 2007’s “High School Musical 2.”

The movie could very well also end up as the most-watched show on television this week — broadcast or cable. The Tuesday edition of “America’s Got Talent,” which has been leading the broadcast rankings for much of the summer, averaged 11.2 million viewers in the overnight ratings this week. There’s typically a small change in the numbers when the final ratings are calculated, but at worst “Wizards” should end up second on all of TV for the week.

“Wizards of Waverly Place the Movie” follows the Russo family on a vacation to the Caribbean resort where parents Jerry (David DeLuise) and Theresa (Maria Canals-Barrera) first met. Daughter Alex (Selena Gomez), however, inadvertently casts a spell that undoes that meeting, and she and her brothers (David Henrie and Jake T. Austin) have to reverse the spell before it’s too late.

The movie also drew predictably strong numbers among Disney’s core kid and tween audiences, bringing in 4.5 million viewers ages 6-11 and 4 million in the 9-14 set.

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Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana was a ratings blockbuster scoring a 9.3 making it the highest rated cable program of the year, and besting everything else the channel has premiered since HSM2!

I’d like to site two articles. The first is from Reuters.

Disney Channel’s crossover special “Wizards on Deck With Hannah Montana” was the most-watched scripted telecast on cable so far this year.

The 90-minute Friday night event, which featured episodes of “Hannah Montana,” “The Suite Life on Deck” and “Wizards of Waverly Place,” was seen by a massive 9.3 million viewers. It also marked TV’s top scripted telecast this year among kids 6-11 and tweens 9-14. Disney Channel out delivered second-place CBS for the evening by than 4 million viewers.

The program marked the best time-period numbers for Disney Channel since the 2007 premiere of “High School Musical 2.” It also topped previous network crossover events, drawing 82% more viewers than 2007’s “Cory in the House,” “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” and “Hannah Montana” mash-up, and 41% more than 2006’s “That’s So Raven,” “Zack & Cody” and “Hannah Montana” combo.

And the second is from is from TV Guide.

Disney Channel’s Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana Friday-night crossover event drew 9.3 million viewers, claiming a variety of ratings records.

First and foremost, the 90-minute intermingling of the channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place, The Suite Life on Deck and Hannah Montana established itself as cable’s most-watched scripted program of the year to date, edging out Disney’s own Princess Protection Program (which premiered last month).

Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana’s strong showing also gave Disney Channel the honor of being TV’s most-watched network during its 90-minute run.

Disney also notes that in head-to-head competition during the 8 o’clock hour, WoDwHM more than doubled the audience for the opening night of Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants 10th anniversary celebration.

Compared to Disney’s past multi-show mergers, Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana improved upon 2007’s Cory in the House-Suite Life of Zack & Cody-Hannah mash-up by 82 percent, and bested 2006’s That’s So Raven-Suite Life-Hannah crossover by 41 percent.

It looks like Debby Ryan got the best of SpongBob this time!

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Once again, it’s time for us to turn to our members for help with fund raising.

We need to raise $150 over the next six weeks in order to renew the following domain names:

SAVEWITCH.COM
MISSIONKIMPOSSIBLE.COM
KIM-POSSIBLE.ORG
SDSFORUM.ORG
SAVEKP.COM
SAVEKP.ORG
SAVELILOANDSTITCH.ORG
SAVEOURSTITCH.ORG
S-D-S.US
SAVEDISNEYSHO.WS
LEROYANDSTITCH.COM
SAVELS.COM
FIXDISNEY.ORG
ROBERTIGER.ORG
SAVELS.ORG

One of the members of the PotF Island forum one suggested: “For kids it might be easier just to send in small amounts of cash to you, then you could report how much money you’re getting. Then you could use the money for ad space, the website or anything else that would help the movement.”And that’s exactly what we plan to do.

If you’re old enough to have a PayPal account, you can make a donation directly to paypal@savedisneyshows.org. If you want to ensure that your donation helps a specific show, you can add a comment like “donation for KP ” so we know your intent. (You can use the paypal donate button on SDS Main to donate from a Credit Card without a paypal account.)

Or, you can mail a check, money order, or cash to me at this address:

SDS Fundraising
C/O Gregory Isaac
PO Box 893211
Temecula, CA 92589-3211

If you also include your email address in your letter, I’ll let you know when I’ve received it.

We know times are tough, but please give what you can, we can’t make this work without all of you.

D23, launched earlier this year, is the Official Community for Disney Fans.

The name “D23″ pays homage to the wonder and excitement that began in 1923 when Walt Disney opened his fledgling studio in Hollywood. D23 is the first official community for fans in Disney’s 85-year history. D23 gives its members a greater connection to the entire world of Disney by placing them in the middle of the magic through its quarterly publication Disney twenty-three; a rich website at www.disney.com/D23; a new collectibles line, The Walt Disney Archives Collection; and special events for D23 members throughout the year, highlighted by the D23 EXPO in Anaheim, California, September 10-13, 2009.

The D23 EXPO will give Disney fan unprecedented access to never-before-seen movies, TV shows, park experiences, collectibles and more from Sept. 10 to Sept. 13 at the Anaheim Convention Center. Tickets to the Expo are now available at http://www.D23Expo.com. Admission includes access to all experiences and entertainment at the D23 EXPO and can be purchased for single days or for the full four days of festivities. Admission is discounted for members of D23.

The D23 EXPO spotlight will also shine on Disney Channel’s brightest stars in a can’t miss-special event.

If you are a D23 member, or are planning to attend the expo, please let us know by completing this form.

SDS Webmaster Greg will be in Anaheim and will be coordinating possible meetings for those involved in our movements!

It’s interesting to see the continued assent of power and influance that disney channel shows and Executives have both within and outside of the Walt Disney Company.

Source: Reuters

Disney Channel executives will make their first-ever full programing presentation to retailers on Monday at the International Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, in a nod of the cable network’s growing earnings power within the Walt Disney Co.

Disney Channel shows produced a greater share of global merchandise sales for the company in 2008 than any single franchise produced by its movie studios, which also presents its slate at the annual licensing show.

Merchandise inspired by Disney Channel TV programs, led by ‘tween phenoms “Hannah Montana” and “High School Musical” and preschooler hits “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” and “Handy Manny,” reached $3.6 billion in merchandise retail sales in 2008.

“Cars,” the best-selling line inspired by the Disney-Pixar film, peaked at annual sales of $2.5 billion last year and is expected to decline this year, Disney officials said.

Global sales of “Hannah Montana” and “High School Musical” merchandise grew faster in 2008 than any other Disney franchise and outstripped growth for the super-popular Disney Princess line, Disney Consumer Products spokesman Gary Foster said.

The cable network also has promising new franchises in “Sonny With a Chance” and “Wizards of Waverly Place”, which is why the company chose to showcase them “in a greater way”, Foster said.

Growth at the 94 Disney channels worldwide last quarter helped Disney’s cable business to 5 percent growth in operating income in the depths of the global recession.

At the same time, Studio Entertainment, whose upcoming slate of family movies usually dominates Disney’s presentation to the show’s 25,000 international retailers, will take a supporting role this year.

Disney’s studios have performed poorly in recent quarters as hits like “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Cars” gave way to duds like “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” “Prince Caspian” and “Bedtime Stories.” The studios’ operating profit plunged 97 percent last quarter.

Disney Channel’s presentation on Monday night focuses plans to support established hits, build up-and-comers and launch new properties, Disney Channel Worldwide President Rich Ross said.

“Our job is …to show people what we are excited about and … the commitment the company has … to tell stories that are popular,” Ross said. “TV has never done what TV is doing.”

Disney Channel plans to announce a fourth season for “Hannah Montana” and to report on the progress of casting for a fourth film in the “High School Musical” franchise, company officials said.

“Sonny With A Chance”, the top TV series among kids 6-11 and tweens, has been picked up for a second season, Disney said.

Yay! Selena!

Article source: The Hollywood Reporter

The Disney Channel is grooming “Wizards of Waverly Place” as its next blockbuster tween franchise in the mold of “High School Musical” and “Hannah Montana.”

The cable channel has picked up a third season of the hit comedy series starring Selena Gomez and has unveiled an original telefilm, “Wizards of Waverly Place The Movie,” to premiere in August.

Since the cable channel discovered Gomez during an open casting call in Dallas five years ago, it placed her in three pilots before getting her on the air with “Wizards.”

“We knew we wanted her as a star in the Disney Channel universe,” said Gary Marsh, president of entertainment for Disney Channels Worldwide.

“Wizards,” which co-stars David Henrie, Jake T. Austin, Jennifer Stone, Maria Canals-Barrera and David DeLuise and centers on the three Russo siblings who have wizard powers, ranked in April as the No. 2 scripted series across all cable and broadcast TV among tweens 9-14.

And now, the show is getting exposure in Disney Channel’s ultimate showcase, its original movie franchise that launched “HSM.”

“This is a great example of how we can groom our stars across different genres on different platforms,” Marsh said.

Set to premiere in August, the “Wizards” movie follows the Russo kids as they embark on a vacation to the Caribbean resort where their parents met.

It is shaping up to be a summer of Selena Gomez on Disney; the channel on June 26 will premiere another original movie toplined by the actress, “Princess Protection Program.” Gomez stars alongside Demi Lovato in that one.

As for “Montana,” which recently jumped to the big screen, talks are going on for a fourth season.

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