For those who may have missed the news, Disney PR released information about two new animated
series: Amphibia and Owl House - both set to premiere sometime in 2019.
However, buried in this release was further evidence of something I've been suspecting
for quite a while.
The fate of Disney XD.
Before we get into that, let's take a look at the good news first.
Two insanely talented Gravity Falls alums have finally been given their own series.
The first is from Matt Braly, the storyboard artist of nearly half of Gravity Falls first
season and the director of half of the second - including Northwest Mansion Mystery and
Weirdmageddon Part 2: Escape From Reality.
From the press release: Amphibia chronicles the adventures of Anne Boonchuy, a self-centered
13-year-old who is magically transported to the fictitious world of Amphibia, a rural
marshland full of frog-people.
With the help of an excitable young frog named Sprig, Anne will transform into a hero and
discover the first true friendship of her life.
The second comes from artistic powerhouse and friend of the show, Dana Terrace.
She's best known as the storyboard artist and storyboard revisionist of basically all
of Season 2 of Gravity Falls notably taking on the boarding credit on both Not What He
Seems and A Tale Of Two Stans.
And as if that wasn't enough, she is also one of the directors of the first season of
the smash hit DuckTales 2017.
From the press release: The Owl House is a horror-comedy series that follows Luz, a self-assured
teenage human girl who accidentally stumbles upon a portal to the Demon Realm.
There she befriends a rebellious witch, Eda, and an adorably tiny warrior, King.
Despite not having magical abilities, Luz pursues her dream of becoming a witch by serving
as Eda's apprentice at the Owl House and ultimately finds a new family in an unlikely
setting.
So as you can see, we're getting a spiritual successor to both Wander Over Yonder and Gravity
Falls sometime next year.
Both feature a girl POC in its lead role, and that's refreshing and exciting.
I'm really looking forward to watching these shows develop and reporting on them as they
progress - but as you can tell by the title of this video, that's not the only reason
I'm here to talk to you today.
That same press release also quickly makes mention of Star Vs The Forces Of Evil Season
four.
Not earth shattering news by itself, per se.
It's a well watched show with a pretty dedicated fandom.
Season 4 was expected.
What wasn't expected, was the switch to The Disney Channel.
You see, the press release confirms that Star's new episodes will premiere on the Disney Channel
and then roll out to Disney XD.
A pretty big change from their push in years past to showcase Disney's original first
party animated series, and eventually re-airing them later on The Disney Channel.
It's a move that really began with Gravity Falls season 2, and continued thereafter for
all of their series both old and new.
Everything showcased the Disney XD logo loud and proud.
It was a bold choice likely done to help frame the bombing cable channel in a new light.
The the true and only home for Disney TV animation.
This freed up The Disney Channel proper to invest more heavily in cheaper to produce
live action series and showcasing their recent Pixar and Marvel films.
But it was always a rocky half-measure.
Disney XD wasn't always included in every cable package, or worse, it had to be specially
requested.
At its peak it reached just over seventy seven million American homes.
That sounds good until you realize that around two hundred million american homes have paid
cable TV.
So even at its best, Disney XD only has two thirds of the reach of The Disney Channel
that reaches over one hundred million American Homes.
Putting first run highly popular series like Gravity Falls on Disney XD was a lure.
They needed more viewers.
They needed to be added to more homes.
But as Gravity Falls abruptly ended, and many of the other series failed to attract the
same kind of critical acclaim and buzz, ratings fell.
Disney XD was quickly becoming a money pit.
Even with the smash success of DuckTales 2017, Disney was pulling better ratings for the
same episodes re-aired on The Disney Channel.
And with the end of Star Wars Rebels in sight, the move of Star and likely Milo Murphy's
Law over to Disney Channel premieres, and the recent super quiet closure of the the
Disney XD app - which was taken off line to push users to the far more successful and
consolidated Disney Now app - It looks more and more like Disney is pulling up stakes
on Disney XD and planning to move out.
And it makes sense.
Current reports are saying that more and more homes are choosing to cut the cable cord because
of rising costs pared with the viability of internet based streaming services like Netflix
and Hulu.
One article I read estimated that cable access will shrink by thirty percent over the next
three to four years, and true or not, that's likely why Disney is scrambling to make its
own streaming service and why they're banking on nostalgic properties like a new Muppet
Show to bring in new subscribers.
Couple that with other interests monopolizing Disney's attention.
Like the fifty four billion deal to buy FOX just for their Marvel Superheroes, or the
two billion Euros they're pouring into just Disneyland Paris for new Marvel and Star Wars
and Frozen rides.
It's clear where Disney's focus is, and it's not TV animation.
Thankfully, Disney's doing very well right now.
And while they are enterprising a bit with this FOX deal, they have more than enough
to keep their first party 2D animation department going.
Owl House and Amphibia alone prove that.
However, it's looking like Disney is starting to bet less on the fringes of cable TV as
it puts most of its eggs in the Disney Channel and Disney Jr baskets.
And who knows?
Maybe I'm wrong.
Maybe Disney will breath new life into Disney XD with a flight of new exclusive non-Marvel
non-Star Wars animated series.
But I doubt it.
Likely, Disney XD will slowly become the place where Disney cartoons go to die alongside
non stop Pokemon repeats, because they paid an arm and a leg to steal those episodes away
from Cartoon Network who really didn't care because they were too busy repeating episodes
Teen Titans Go.
Personally, I'm kinda bummed that Disney XD is slowly dying.
I, like you probably, was originally upset by Gravity Falls move to the smaller channel,
but the XD grew on me.
I liked its scrappy underdog feel and bodaciously green and purple color branding.
It was trying way too hard to be cool, but we all knew - deep down - its heart was in
the right place.
Losing it is sad, because it means one less home for new 2D animated TV shows.
Back in the day, Disney had a section of its website for video called Disney Xtreme Digital.
It was short lived, but when Disney XD launched, they firmy stated that the XD didn't stand
for Xtreme Digital.
It stood for nothing.
And in the end, that's always been Disney XD's problem.
It stands for nothing.
It's always been a hodgepodge.
A holding place for everything from Marvel and Star Wars shows to Wander Over Yonder
and Future Worm.
It was never truly a place of new ideas and experimentation, it was recycling can they
were gussying up to get people to buy.
I may not know exactly what the future holds, but I do want to know what you think.
Do you care that Disney XD is not showcasing the premiere new episodes of Star Vs The Forces
of Evil and likely all of its new series in production?
Are you still upset that Disney originally forced the change to Disney XD for its original
series, and are you glad to see it go?
Sound off in the comments below, because I feel like people's feelings on Disney XD
are all over the map.
I know mine are.
Thanks for watching.
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who also care about the fate of Disney XD and 2D animation.
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