Not to Be Dramatic, But This Disney Show Rule May Have RUINED Our Childhoods

If you grew up watching Disney Channel sitcom shows in the 90s and 2000s, chances are you were glued to the TV for hours at a time.

©Disney

While we look back fondly over those nostalgic years and even dedicate whole after-hours events at Disneyland themed to them, there is just one thing that frustrates us — a strict cancellation rule marking the end of the show from its very beginning.

If you grew up with either One Saturday Morning cartoons on ABC or Disney Channel sitcoms, you most likely participated in a calculated exercise from Disney. You see, during this decade of TV show time slots, there was a roughly 4-hour window of shows that ran almost back to back of each other. This is where shows like Pepper Ann, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Even Stevens, House of Mouse, and Lizzie McGuire would typically show up (and conveniently just after we all got home from school).

©Disney

What y0u probably didn’t realize unless you were keeping very good count on them (and who had time for that when we were all suckered into the plots of the shows), is that each of these shows had a particular number in common — 65. According to Entertainment Weekly, this number signaled the end of the series and an almost unspoken cancellation once it was hit.

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The specific math behind the reason for the magical number has to do with a seasonal rotation of shows. If Disney Channel kept four of these shows in a seasonal rotation for around 13 weeks at a time the number they would eventually all reach was 65. This meant that the main story of the show was expected to be wrapped up by the the time the show reached this number (whether we as an audience liked it or not). Unfortunately, all of the shows we previously mentioned fell victim to this magical number even when faced with immense popularity.

©Cast of ‘Even Stevens’. EVERETT COLLECTION

However, there were a few that were able to escape this fate like Lizzie McGuire and Even Stevens who’s true ending were wrapped up in either made-for-TV or theatrical releases giving us a more definitive ending to their respective runs. Sing to us, Paolo, sigh!

Hilary Duff and Adam Lamberg ©Disney

Now that we’ve laid that hard fact on you super thick and probably just jolted your entire childhood after-school memories making you question everything, you’re probably left wondering if the 65 episode rule is still in effect today. The short answer to that is no, thanks to one groundbreaking show — That’s So Raven!

©Raven-Symone, Anneliese Van Der Pol, Orlando Brown. TONY RIVETTI/DISNEY CHANNEL/EVERETT COLLECTION

Yep, our future-seeing teenage friend “just trying to stay outta trouble but somehow always getting herself deeper in the process” was the one to break the mold. As popular as the other shows were, they just simple didn’t hold a candle to Raven Baxter played by Raven-Symoné and her two best friends. Eventually, Disney couldn’t deny the huge outpouring of support the show had backing it and when the 65 episode mark was reached, That’ So Raven said ‘watch this’ and Disney Channel’s hand was force to renew them for a 4th season.

©Anneliese van der Pol, Orlando Brown, and Raven-Symoné on ‘That’s So Raven’. ABC PHOTO ARCHIVES/DISNEY GENERAL ENTERTAINMENT CONTENT VIA GETTY

That’s So Raven’s popularity couldn’t have come at a better time thought because its run helped merge the gap between shows like Lizzie McGuire ending and usher in the beginning of what felt like the dawn of the next generation with shows like The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody and the rise of Hannah Montana. After all was said and done, That’s So Raven completed a whopping 100 episodes making it the first in Disney Channel history. The first cartoon series to break past the 65 episode threshold was unsurprisingly Kim Possible.

Kim Possible and Rob Stoppable

These historic shows paved the way for future generations to enjoy their shows longer than the 65 episode rule that reigned before. Since then, Disney fans and generations have enjoyed shows like Wizards of Waverly Place and Phineas and Ferb which both ran well past 100 episode each and are already working on revival series respectively. Today, Disney Channel shows and cartoons are allowed to order more seasons for shows as the demand for them warrants and just because a show is granted a feature-length film, that doesn’t necessarily mark its demise on the showfront!

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