Christy Carlson Romano on ‘‘The Even Stevens Movie’ ‘Cadet Kelly’ and “Kim Possible” + Working with Hillary Duff and Shia LaBeouf + The Best Disney Channel Original Movies

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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to movie Mike's Movie podcast. I am movie Mike on Twitter and Instagram at Mike destro and on this episode we're talking all about Disney Channel original movies and coming up, I am talking to Christy Carlson Romano, who you would know as Wren on Even Stevens. She was also in Cadet Kelly and the Voice of Kim Possible. I want to ask her all about her biggest Disney roles some of her famous co stars like Hilary Duff and Chila Buff Really excited to get to talk to her, and then after that we'll kind of just get into what I considered to be the top five greatest Disney Channel original movies of all time. If you're checking out the podcast for the very first time, first of all, I just want to say welcome, hope you stick around for a while. What this podcast is all about is I'm just the guy who loves movies, and every single week I bring a movie topic. I give the latest movie reviews, always spoiler free, and talk about movie news. If you're someone who loves movies or just wants to learn about what's new out what to watch, that's what this podcast is all about. So I hope you stick around subscribe wherever you're listening to this right now. But I am just a big fan of this era of Disney and I want to get all into it without any further ado. Let's get started. In a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast, one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like never before in a movie podcast. A man with so much movie knowledge. He's basically like a walking Audi MTV with glasses from the Nashville Podcast Network Movie Movie Podcast. All right, I'd like to welcome now to the podcast a very special guest, Christy Carlson Romano. How are you doing. I'm good? How are you? I am so good. It's so great to talk to you. And I posted online that you're coming on the podcast, and I haven't seen this bigger reaction from any of my listeners like so far. So it's really cool to have you on. That makes me really happy. It really does, thank you. So I kind of want to start at the beginning of that is I was like, reading through comment it just seems like people have such a connection with like these early two thousands Disney Channel original movies and That's what I want to talk to you about today, and just kind of why do you think that is that right now people are kind of going back and kind of reliving these movies. It's interesting. I do feel as though nostalgia is way more of something that is focused on with millennials and I, you know, our generation in general. I think that the shows that I was a part of kind of crystallized a point in time, uh that you know, we didn't have all the content that we have now. You kind of had to watch the things, watch the programs, and kind of attach yourself to the characters that you saw, and so people ended up with those you know, sort of limitations really still vibing with certain programs, even Stevens, Kim Possible, Kelly, Like, these things were watched in real time. They weren't streams, They didn't have huge budgets like they have to have now. Also that they're you know, these huge franchises like Descendants and stuff that you know, are are are really what what is catching any kid's eyes now, So there's something organic to it. There's something still very innocent, uh, And I'm really proud that that's the legacy that I'm a part of it is that kind of what inspired you to do the throwback kitchen of bringing on you know, your fellow Disney stars, like that kind of want of like that nostalgia feeling to have everybody kind of come back and reunite and talk about those movies. Absolutely, I do think so. And you know, now we're webbing into even further because for a while it was just the Disney Channel original movies, the d coms, like that's what that was really helping get my channel on the map. But now I'm looking at you know, Candice, Cameron, Beret and some of the older stars um from the earlier nineties, and uh, it is really kind of a fascinating thing to talk about these different waves of nostalgia, these different waves of I guess what ultimately becomes an influence over a generation. And how each celebrity handles that is interesting because each of their own journey. Yeah, and you embrace it like you're all in for it, right, You're I do feel like maybe some people would be kind of like straight away from those days, but you're like all for it. You know. I do find that it's a mixed bag. I think it's it's really funny to me how some people are so anti that, but then I do see them occasionally stepping into the you know it, leaning into it, And I get it that some people want to lean into it on their terms. But the show itself is really a celebration of of what was good and then talking about what's happening now. So it's a way of marrying the past, the president, and the you know future of what people are trying to do and and promote. Really. Yeah, so I kind of want to go, if it's cool with you, go through some of your your Disney Channel roles in the movies and just kind of talk about those that cool of course, so I am. I'm an open book. So let's start first in two thousand two with Cadet Kelly. How did you land as role? Because I'm like the other Disney Channel movies you were in, this didn't come from a series. No, that's true. That's a really good question. So basically I had been on even Stevens and Kim Possible had been um going on, and you know, I had been sort of webbing out and I think that when I was in let me see, I was sixteen. I take that back, Kim possible hadn't started until after Kittet Kelly, which I find interesting now that I think about it. Anyway, So Hillary Duff's show, which was Lizzie McGuire, it was very popular, and I believe that the term synergy was being thrown around at corporate where people were wanting to repurpose talent and put them together and see what that to do for ratings. So they took me from their you know, number two show and Hillary from the number one show, and they perspectively did that. She was the number one and then I was her you know, co star whatnot. So it worked really really well. Connect Kelly ended up being like a top viewed d com and also the wonderful World World Disney filmed for many many years. I think she two girls broke the record for Kitet Kelly, but even though it was like still in the top ten, and in my head when I was watching Disney Channel as a kid, I felt like all you guys were just friends hanging out on the time. But you didn't meet Hillary Duff until you made this movie, right correct, I mean she had her star had just risen with Disney, and because her show I think was after I was in my second season and she was in her first and so that's why I think right after that was when I thought approached for KP because I was in my third season of my last season of Even Stevens and she had really just come come to be. So yeah, that was interesting. So after this movie airs and you said, you know, was the highest rated, how did it affect your career afterward, like when you went out of public? What was it like? I do think that once I did Kelly, it kind of put me up a notch. Weirdly enough, Even Steven's had a cult following still has a cult following, and it wasn't the top rated because it wasn't a basic children's show. There was definitely dimensions to it that made it interesting and quirky, and like that was the whole thing, was that it was about Shaya and then my character was this type a character that kind of had her quirk, you know, A joke that if we did a reboot, it would be really interesting to see if you know, Ren Stevens didn't become a little miss perfect and that she kind of fell from grace in some ways and couldn't really make that much of herself. But and that would be, you know, probably something that would make sense for the show. But when we're looking at the other stuff, I think it was very much more the kids programming, um, you know, the Bully, the after school special stuff like stuff like that. We weren't really doing that. We were doing something different. So we'll talk about it now. Even Steven's the movie and I actually rewatched it last night. It's my favorite Disney Channel original movie. And I felt like at the core of this movie, it's kind of the coming age, coming of age story of Wren, and I feel like I was kind of inspired by the character again watching this again as an adult. But I wonder if you get messages from people saying that like Wren was a role model to them always always, I always always get that, you know, and that to me is so important and now more than anything having daughter, that is huge for me too, because knowing that that legacy is out there is all I could really hope for. And so when I find ironic is when people say, like, you know, oh, well, we're not gonna we don't necessarily want to come on the show because or this is a past, Like you know, the people that you think, wow, they're going to really want to be on the show, and then they just immediately pass on it. Um. I'm not sure why they pass on it, because it always seems like a really healthy, fun show to do. But it's one would think that maybe it's because they don't necessarily want to have to talk about stuff like in the past. And again, for me, legacy is something really special and if you don't kind of like nurture that legacy, then what are you? What have you really accomplished exactly? So I felt like you and Shia, like your relationship roughout the entire sharies of course, with you guys butting heads, but it really kind of all comes out in this movie. You guys worked so closely together. Do you did he ever feel like like a real life brother to you? Oh? I mean we didn't. We're not in touch anymore. And he's a very different person now than he was when he was a child. Um, and I never really knew him on the personal side, but when we were at were it was encouraged for us to be sort of relating to one another as if we were really brother and sister. And I think because we had such vastly different upbringing, uh, and vastly different world views. I really do think that that kind of helped our our on screen chemistry for sure. So you're saying, if they made like a Honeyboy style version of your life, who would be a lot different? Right? Oh right, totally? I mean yeah, Unfortunately, I actually really didn't know that all of that was going on. I didn't realize that sh I lived in a hotel like I had. I had no knowledge of any of that happening. And so that just shows you how different of a life teenagers can have. Like I just was kind of only concerned with myself and my my trying to get into college and trying to remember my lines, and like we all had our own struggle. So this served as the series finale of Even Stevens. And did you know about like the sixty five episode limit when you started the show, I did not really understand much. I started at sixteen, so syndication wasn't a word I learned until probably halfway through shooting. And then you know, at that point I was I was considering what my next move we're going to be. I think at a certain point you said yourself, Okay, this is great, but my agents and stuff want me to come off of this series and do something bigger. So there was pressures that started to hit right around the halfway points. So then two three, you've got the Kim Possible movie. How did you kind of make that jump from being in front of the camera to doing voice acting? So basically we again with the synergy, right. I think that they had seen that connec Kelly did really well, so I think that kind of put me in the forefront of everybody's mind to cast me in something Why vocal, I don't know. I don't I never saw myself as a voice actor. Prior to that, I really had only done musical theater where I sang. I think we had, you know, um, a musical episode on Even Stevens that was really popular. Um. But I'm pretty sure I had been doing Impossible before that. So I think that they just I was on a short list of actresses. You know, there was definitely some interesting actresses on that list, and the producers chose me. I think that the producers felt that not only was I synergistic internally to Disney in corporate, but I was the best fit because I was the age of the character and from what I was told by the producers and the creators, was that I was able to match the intent, the sarcasm and mix it also with the action that she needs to be able to do. So I'm I'm very happy that that worked out in my favorite And when you did the Kimpossible voice, like, was there other kind of like interpretations of it that you tried before landing on the final voice. I think that it was very much my voice. I think that Kimpossible is still very much for my voice. But now when I tried to do her voice for you know, people and voicemails and just fun things in general, for charity, I can put it on. Um, I can do it. Uh, It's not my voice anymore. But I definitely think when I was younger it was it was a version of my voice, and then I kind of just kind of had to tailor it to what she became. I think over time it became sort of this more, more and more iconic version of what a teenage girl sounded like. So if you had to pick your favorite Disney Channel movie, what would it be? Oh goodness, that's really hard. There's so so so many don't know My goodness, I mean, my girl Halloween Town, Tim Brown. I mean, I've I've always loved I mean, and I think some of their newer stuff good. You know. I think I think High School Musical did a lot for you know, kids being able to appreciate musical theater, and I think that's really great. You know. I think that High School Musical is I wouldn't say it's my favorite, but I do think that it was important and that it was good and they and I also really like there's another movie that came out a long time ago called The Color of Friendship that won a lot of awards for Disney Channel, and I think that was about inclusion, and it was about a South African girl who comes to America and um, she becomes friends with someone in her school who is African American. And there's just all these themes that are being talked about for young Queen they call him tweens, and these are conversations that were being had in like the early early two thousands. So I do think that Disney has made an effort to have some harder difficult conversations through their content. And I saw your family just moved to Austin, Texas, where I actually lived there for seven years, and I loved it. What kind of sold you on moving from California to Texas. I mean, pick a reason. I've lived in California my whole life, and this year is just destroyed my perspective on what's going on there. I mean, I can't. I can't condemn an entire state. That's not that's just ignorant um. There are so many beautiful and and as much as I'm frustrated with things, maybe I'm projecting a lot of my feelings of onto a state. And I'm not the only one. Right Like, there's so many people migrating from California right now and even New York and and it's like people are just meeting the move In the last year, there was like fires right outside of my house. There was earthquakes throughout living there in the past few years. Like I remember distinctly that there was an earthquake while i was holding my newborn and coaching my my other daughter up the stairs and I'm like literally watching this chandelier that we had like moving back and forth as I'm trying to walk up the stair, and I'm like, this is crazy. And so that I have I had some PTSD from that, so anytime I thought I felt something shake, I would have like ghost vibrations of earthquakes, even if we weren't having an earthquake. And then while I've been here, I have felt like little things like that, which could just be anything. I mean, it could just be in my mind really um and and it's and it's being a tired mom, like those things happened physically. Um. And so then I remind myself, I'm like, that's not it. We We're good here. There's nothing crazy here. There's you know, to my knowledge, nothing's gonna you know, come for us. It's kind of just like we can relax. We've got the space we need, you know, We've even got the space from the industry. And when we need to go, we're gonna go back to California and we're gonna figure out ways to film. And that's what we're doing right now. We're we're going back. We're gonna have a little cabin um with only family and you know, we're gonna get tests as soon as we land and uh, you know, be as quarantined as possible with family and then so ebrate the holiday together in a cabin and Big Bear and then in mid January, we're gonna start fielding again for the cooking show, and everything is socially distanced and everything is properly managed. So it's been an interesting year to make content in but we have nonetheless, we've done it. So where is your favorite place to make content right now? Because you have the YouTube series, you have your digital series on Hulu and Fox, Like, what's your favorite thing to do right now? Wow, that's a that's a good question too. I mean I I, my husband and I created a production company i'd say like a couple of years ago, and we like to see growth. I think we've been wanting to embrace YouTube and we haven't been collaborating with other YouTubers, and we haven't seen the growth that YouTubers used to see. I think YouTube and the subscribership and the viewership has kind of plateaued. I think that there's just so many places to watch stuff right now that you think YouTube would have had a huge spike. I really did think that when quarantine was happening, that a lot of my content, even past content, was gonna lie zoom up. But it did not. And so when I talked to a lot of other YouTuber friends that we have um. They talked about it all the time. They're like, this is just what's happening. This is changing. It's not the same as it used to be. They used to make so much money on ads, and that's great because then you're the network, You're you answer to yourself, you are empowered. You don't have to sit around and wait for sponsorship money. So that was an old, sort of outdated approach. But when it comes to doing something like the Taste of Fox, which is so great that they gave us an opportunity to do something different from the nostalgic, you know, kind of celebrity based guest format. It was something between me and my husband, like we came together and he and I totally collaborated, Like I came up with the idea, he came up with the name, which is very much important because it's the branding, and so we kind of came together perfectly to create something for Fox. It wasn't just YouTube, and so it was fun to see the growth of that as well. So I'm looking forward to growth and as a whole in the new year, and I don't know what that looks like, whether that's you know, becoming a host on like a Food Network show or doing something more interesting on our YouTube. You know. It's it's something that we're constantly talking about him and I and another place, I think you really shine his TikTok right now. That's kind of where I rediscovered all your stuff again, So I think you're doing that is really like I was, like, I saw your TikTok and know that there's so much great stuff here and that's kind of where I got on a wormhole on your YouTube show too, So I mean, I think that's a great place to be as well. That's kind of where everything is kind of Honestly, I can't believe I didn't even mention that, So that was definitely something that I was so ticktok wild West. It's what YouTube used to be in terms of being able to I might actually be able to get to a million followers on TikTok. If I I probably could have already hit that benchmark. And it's taken me five years to try to get a half a million Instagram followers. And that's just we're talking just like organic engagement, posting multiple times a week, like I'm not doing everything I need to be doing, but I am pretty consistent when it comes to the Graham saying, and then and I'm late to the game, by the way, the Ashley Kidsdales and and the you know, the stars of Disney Channel that came up with social media have a huge, huge numbers, and for me, I do not. But the relevancy is still there. Then the fan base, the knowledge of my name is still there, like you're saying, if you're putting it out there, people like, oh, I know her. So it's just it's just this kind of interesting bouncing app But you make a good point. Tikok is I think the future and its own thing and its own vibe, and I'm really looking forward to collaborating with people on TikTok. Yeah, why I highly encourage everybody listening right now go follow Christie on TikTok. He's at Christy Carlson Romano. And I just have one final question for you because I felt, yeah, you were the o g when it came to Disney Channel stars and I have and I gotta the weird thing about Disney Channel is all their commercials were just about Disney Channel. Like you would watch a TV show and then you'd get a promo for like three minutes promoting their other content, but the most iconic, of course, we're the you're watching Disney Channel with the Lae thing. And since you were kind of at the start of all that, did you even know what that was when you went to film those Yeah, I think I got a little jaded at a certain point because I was more like, yeah, yeah, this is working for me, but it's a Disney like. I don't think we didn't see the mania. We knew that kids like their shows, but kids us didn't even meet. I'm talking about like other Disney Channel stars. We didn't. We liked kids, and we wanted to be good role models, I think for the most parts, but it didn't matter to us that kids knew our names. It didn't seem like it was that important because they were younger than us, right. We all wanted to be like on CW or you know, have big agents calling us to do big movies and and crossover. I think all of us just wanted to cross over. But now these kids are huge. Like you go to Disney to become a star. We were not going to Disney to become a star. We were just actors, uh, And I think we were trying to create we didn't know that we were creating a brand name. We had no idea. Well, Christie, I appreciate the time. It's been really great to talk to you and everybody. Go check out all the things you're putting out right now. I appreciate it. Thank you. Please do please subscribe to my YouTube and check out all of my content. We we put a lot of work into it, and I love you guys, and I love engaging with everybody. So all right, thanks Christy, Yeah, thank you. That was awesome. Thanks so much. All Right, I'll talk to you to all right, have a good one, Okay, bye, all right. I gotta said that was super cool getting to talk to Christy Carlson Romano. And I was a really big fan of the show, even Stevens growing up, and a really big fan of Disney Channel original movies. And that's what we're talking about on this episode. So now that we kind of heard from a Disney Channel star, I just want to talk about Disney Channel movies and kind of what made them special. I'll give you my kind of top five movies of all time. And then I also asked you, guys one mine, what were some of your favorites, which I think everybody kind of has a different favorite movie depending on when you grew up. Now, I was born in the nineties. I'm twenty nine years old now, so the early two thousands for me, we're very formative of what I loved about the Disney Channel and what I loved about their movies. So first of all, let's just talk about what makes a Disney Channel movie great. And the thing that's different about Disney Channel movies is that they weren't really like or high budget productions like a normal movie would be. They're basically making a movie on a TV show budget. So I think that was a little bit of the charm of them too, because you're not watching anything super flashy. It was just about kids and about families, and I think that's what made them great in the end. That maybe they didn't have all the special effects or big name actors really, but there were just something about the way they were particgether and what they were about that really made them great. Aside from that, I felt more so like you know, normal box office movies, that they almost felt like they were movies made by kids for kids, and I know that wasn't the case. They were still adult writers writing on these shows, but they just had this kind of appeal to where it felt like they were making movies for me at the time. And I think that's why whenever you were a kid is the era that kind of you identify with when it comes to these movies. So for kids now, I mean it's all like about the Descendance movies, and other kids it's about high school musical but for me, it was really those early two thousands movies. So I think that's why my list is kind of geared where it is. And doing some research on these, I kind of found out that even before, like I thought, I was watching the original ones, but it turns out they started making these in nineteen eight three, but they didn't really call them, you know, their original movies. They were just kind of pushing out this content and being like, Okay, these are movies for us. But it was right around and the first real Disney Channel original movie was in called Whish Upon a Star that started yes a young Katherine Nigel and Daniel Harris and with one of my favorite ones didn't make my list, but that's kind of the very first one that started at all. And then you go throughout the late nineties, the Yearly, two thousands, the twenty tens, and even now they're still making them, so they're still around. So there's a kid out there now that ten years down the line will have their favorite. So if I don't mention yours in my list, it's nothing personal against you. This is just what I felt like had all encompassing what made a great Disney Channel with movies. So at number five, I am putting Cadet Kelly, which I talked with Christie Carlson Romano earlier, and I just felt like and I just felt like it was her and Hillary duff it kind of the height at their Disney career. And I remember being so excited for this movie because I did like Lizie McGuire, I loved even Stevens, and having them kind of crossed over together. It felt like a crossover movie. And I thought it was interesting that she said that it was Disney kind of trying to take their number one show and their number two show and put them together in a movie, and I think that actually ended up working for them really well. So I'm putting that at number five. At number four, I'm going with the Luck of the Irish Now Disney Channel was really big on making movies about sports, and I think they did every single sport known demand. They probably been made up some sports there in somewhere in these movies. But I felt like this one was a really great one. Was about basketball, there's an evil leopard, con there's a budding romance. It has all the things that make a great Disney Channel movie. So I'm putting this one at number four. At number three. It's tough when you get to number three because there's so many great movies, but I'm going with Brink again. They made every single sport into a movie. But around this time, I felt like extreme sports were very popular among you know, kids my age at the time. Myself, I was really big into skateboarding, although my par went let me skateboard because my cousin broke his ankle and then I was like, oh, you're not skateboarding, and I was upset about that, but I would watch it on TV. I would play video games, and this movie was about rollerblading, which I was terrible at. But what I loved about this movie was for the first time there was the character that I kind of related to, and in the movie, her name is Gabriella. And the problem I had with Disney Channel and Disney Channel movies was they always showed kids that had really nice houses, and that was a weird thing for me because I grew up in a trailer park and I never saw that represented in anything on TV. And you would see these kids and these really big two story houses and bonus rooms, and I was like, what kind of life are they living? And in this movie when they go to Gabriella's house, I was like, that's like the closest that ever looked to my house or anything in my life ever depicted on the Disney Channel. And for some reason that always stood out to me. But aside from that, I felt like this was always a great movie and one I even rewatched once I got Disney Plus. And yes, it's a little bit cheesy, but that's what what made these movies great. The action sequences where you know, you see them rollerblading and it's clearly a stunt double, and that's a classic underdog story of you know, the rollerbladers with no sponsors going up against the big corporate team and beating them in the end. You also have a story about a friendship here and him kind of going behind their back to work, Like there were just so many things going on in this movie. And it's a movie that always reminded me as a kid to go big or go home. So I'm putting it at number three. At number two is a movie that I felt easily could have been a theatrical release as far as these movies went, I felt like it had the most cinematic qualities and the best story and the most entertaining and it was very close to being my number one movie. And the movie I'm talking about is Johnny Tsunami, which is all about Johnny who was living in Hawaii as a surfer. His Grandpaa is a super cool, laid back guy who was also in Mortal Kombat. Not actually in the movie, but he actually did play schang Son in the Mortal Kombat movies, and I couldn't really see him as anybody else, but he was a super cool, laid back guy. Meanwhile, his actual dad in the movie is a really straight laced computer programmer guy. So it's all these kind of personalities clashing. He takes a job and moves him from the nice beaches of Hawaii to cold Vermont where there's nothing but snow and it's all about him trying to find his identity, being the weirdo for some reason in a new school, only because he likes Hawaiian things, like he asked for pineapple and they're just giving him a hard time calling him Hawaii. But he makes some friends and he learns how to snowboard, meets up with the girl, which was always a plotline in these movies. But overall, just a really great movie. One thing that doesn't make sense that I have to call him out for is how were they able to fly back to Hawaii, Because there's a whole scene where they run away from home, they get on a flight and then or back in Hawaii and their parents just kind of let him stay there and write it out like that would never happen. Now, that would be all over the news that they were able to pull that off. But I'll let it slide. It's a movie. And then at number one, a movie I rewatched just for this episode. My favorite Disney Channel show of all time and really formative of kind of my preteen years was Even Stevens and the Even Steamers movie was just my favorite because it served as the season finale of that show. And kind of rewatching it now as an adult, you kind of realize there's some more themes there that I didn't really pick up on as a kid, everything from you know, the parents kind of going back and forth battling of him being out of work and then his mom bringing home the money. Now you have Ran dealing with boy issues and kind of discovering how to be yourself, and also that her family is kind of the most important thing to her. And then you have Louis played by Shyla Buff just kind of being himself in this movie. I just think for me overall, it's the funniest movie. I like the characters the best, and I felt I just kind of grew with them the most, and kind of seeing it all come to an end in this movie was at the time kind of emotional. And it's hard to believe that these early shows only had three seasons each, and I just remember them being such a big part of my life for so long, it feels like, but they were only on for like three years. So it was just an easy favorite for me. So those are my top five. I stand by those, and I asked all of you guys as well online what your favorite Disney Channel vision of movies, because again, whenever you kind of grew up with the Disney Channel is what are going to be your favorite? So some honorable mentions. Halloween Town from is a great movie. I kind of classify it more as being a Halloween movie, but that's also very high up there on the list. Zenon Girl in the twenty first Century. I gotta admit I was really a big fan of Zenon, but there's some die hard fans out there, so I will recognize it as being a great movie, just not one of my favorites. My Date with the President's Utter, which I remember mostly from the theme song, Ma Day with the President's Daughter, Like that's still embedded in my head. And that's kind of what Disney Channel did a really great job of incorporating some kind of music into every single movie, which I guess what they kind of did, Like the mid two thousands was really where they were kind of focused on making everybody into a music star. So once the high school musical movies came out, that was where they were kind of gearing everything towards. So you have High School Musical one, High School Musical two, and what was so big about those movies is I almost didn't even classify those as Disney Channel movies. I just felt like those were just regular theatrical release movies. Just how much viewership they had and kind of how big of an impact they had on pop culture. It's crazy to think that those were just on Disney Channel. Kind of the same thing with the camp Rock movies and even with like The Cheetah Girls. All those kind of movies almost transcended the Disney Channel and just kind of made their way to pop culture as just being those actors kind of biggest movies. Again, for me, the heyday of it was kind of the early two thousands. So you gotta throw in rip Girls, Quints get a Clue with the very young Lindsay Lohan in two thousand two Edies Million Dollar Cookoff, which was a great one, almost also made the list. It's just a classic Disney movie. And that's what I loved about them is they were just so kind of like, why would they even make a movie about this? Well, here it is also stuck in the suburbs with a very young tar and kill Him from SNL Pixel Perfect, which was basically a Black Mirror episode before Black Mirror existed. And kind of a travesty here is they never made a Fill of the Future movie, which was a great show. Ricky Ollman is Feel of the Future. They should have had a movie on him. And then in the later years, once I was kind of checked out of Disney Channel, he had, you know, all the series kind of making their own movies. From Wizards the Way, really Place Phineas and ferb the movie, and really big right now where the Descendants movies. They've made three of those already, and then the Zombies movies are really big right now, which you're all music based. They have all the sing along so that's kind of now where they're gearing their movies towards. And then the final one I think I had the most tweets about was Smart House, which was basically a movie about personifying what we now know as Alexa. And most of these movies are now available on Disney So if you want to go back and relive some moments and feel that nostalgia, all you have to do is click on and search whichever one is your favorite. Maybe throw some bagel bites in the microwave and relive your days as a kid. And I just hope you enjoyed this exploration of Disney Channel original movies, a genre I just feel overall is underrated. And also just thanks again to Christy Carlson Romano for coming on and talking about these movies with me. All Right, so this is the part of the podcast where we just talking about movie news and I bring on my fiance and co host Kelsey. How's it going, Kelsey, I'm good, and you are currently back in Nashville and I am in Los Angeles and I can't wait to get back, and luckily it is very soon. I'm going crazy out here home. So did you see all the Disney announcements online? I did. I didn't like read in depth. I just saw that there was a lot of things aunt. So they had what's called their Investor Day, which is basically them kind of giving all their projects for the next few years. And the thing about it that I was a little bit let down by is a lot of it is TV shows, and I'm like, I don't really care about their TV shows. And there were some cool movie announcements, but I mean, they made like over seventy announcements and it was hard to keep track of all these. So I just don't want to give some of the highlights, and I think they're going really hard on Disney Plus right now. I think they're spending fourteen to sixteen billion dollars on new streaming content, which is a lot, So they're coming in hard a lot of money. It's a lot of money. And I think the coolest announcement they had is that Chris Evans is going to voice buzz light Year in a new movie. It's like a toy story spinoff, kind of like a prequel. So what I saw people online kind of debating is like, how are they going to make a young buzz Lightyear movie? And he had to tweet that. Basically, what it is is that they're saying that buzz Lightyear, the toy, was based on a real buzz light Year person, so this is kind of his story of how he became buzz Lightyear. So I guess that's where they're going with that. But I think out of everything they kind of announced, this one kind of has the most appeal to me because it kind of while it is a toy story movie, I think it's kind of cool to have an origin story like this, which I mean, Disney really hasn't done a whole lot of their kind of getting into that superhero genre of doing origin stories. Would you be excited to watch this movie? I would watch that. I will say, I feel like the only like plotlines that people who do not are either a remaker an origin story, like those are your two lanes. That's kind of what they do though. So that's supposed to come out on June two, And that was the other thing that kind of I mean, not bugged me about this announcement, but a lot of the stuff that they're getting people excited about aren't coming out for at least two years. So it's hard for me to look at something and be like, oh, yeah, that's that's great, but we're not gonna be able to see it for two years. Like I don't even know if I'll keep Disney Plus for that long? Does it kind of we will, We will keep Disney Plus for that long. Don't be dramatic, but my thing is like I could be dead by then, Like these movies could come out and I could be dead by then. Why would you say that? That is an incredibly morbid thing to say, Like I won't even go off on my damn jin about why you just said that. That's just how I feel like. I kind of like that's why I like surprise albums. When they announced it a couple of days out, like Taylor Swift just did it again, like hey, I got it now I'm coming out. It's coming out Friday. You're like, all right, you have that time to get excited, but then there it is right already ready for you, like you don't have to wait forever. And I think the way we are now consuming things so rapidly, and we can literally go on the Internet and find anything we want to be entertained, and just like that flick of a light switch, all the things that we were supposed to see this year we won't see until one So we already have plenty of content for next year. Is not that far away to get new things. Think about everything that was supposed to be released to this year and it's got got pushed back to next year, so we have things to see next year. So I don't think is that far off? You're right there. I could get behind that. The other thing I'm excited about is they announced the third ant Man film, which will be called ant Man in the Wasp Quantum Mania. I think aunt Man is a very underrated franchise in the Marvel universe, because while maybe the story of ant Man isn't as great as all the other superheroes, there's something that's just a little bit funnier about these movies, and I feel they kind of go under the radar. Are you a fan of the ant Man movies? Is this a good time to admit I don't think I've actually seen them? You've never seen I don't think I have. I don't remember it. I think you would like the first one. The second one isn't as great, But I just really like Paul Rudd. And while it's not like as funny as the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, it's a little more like Paul Rudd's humor I feel in it, and it's almost kind of like a I would almost say if Judd Apataw was making a Marvel movie. It kind of has that appeal to it. I mean, it's not my homework for the weekend. Sure, yeah, check it out. You can review it next time. Um. The other thing I'm interested about from this announcement is that they are developing a new Fantastic Four movie, which I feel like everybody has been let down by every single Fantastic Four movie, and I don't know why they can't get this movie right because twice they've done it twice, yes, and they've all been terrible. And you have these really great superheroes with all these cool I mean, it's four superheroes in one movie, and they can't quite get it down right. So I'm just kind of at the point to where like there has to be a little bit something more here that they're bringing bringing something back that has failed twice and now trying it again. So I'm going to give it one last chance and that's it. Then I'm done with Fantastic Four. So it's coming from the same guy who's made the New Spider Man movies, so maybe there's something there. The other things I'm kind of excited about is I mean, I don't know if I'm excited about them at this point, but they're doing more live action remakes. They're doing Pinocchio, Peter Pain and Wendy and then also Chippendale Rescue Rangers. But that has it's like, I guess it's a hybrid between live action and like real people because Andy Samberg and John mulaney are a part of it, which I'm big fans of so that could be good. But I just don't really love all the live action ones. I just they don't have the same kind of appeal or charm as the original animated ones. I feel like I'm over the live action they haven't. They just haven't been that great. Yeah, and they're all I mean, they're also doing now a Lion King prequel, so kind of, like we saidly or they're I think they're basically out of ideas and they're kind of banking on the fact that, all right, let's just do movies that people already know and love and do them in a different way. I feel they're a little bit of a cash grab at this point. In other movie news, the new Spider Man three, which there isn't a great track history with Spider Man three. They kind of fail on that one. But I guess what they're trying to do, and it's been the rumor now for a while, is bringing all the Spider Man into this one, so Toby maguire, Andrew Garfield and then Tom Holland. But they did announce that's not confirmed yet. There's kind of just rumors about that right now, but they did confirm that Alfred Molina is coming back as Doc Cock, which you would know from what movie? Nothing like The Holidays, that's right, one of your favorite Christmas movies, and we're watching that. I was like, I know, I recognized that guy from somewhere, but I couldn't quite put it together. And then I found out that he is Doc. I think there's enough hype around this and all these rumors that it's going to be all the Spider Man in this movie. I just don't know if they'll be able to get it right, because while the concept is cool, why the idea of having them all together on screen is cool? I think it could be more about the idea of making that happen than them actually thinking about making a good movie here. Would you think that would be cool to see them all together? I mean, I'm just trying to picture how they're gonna corporate everyone into that. I mean, I think it could be interesting. I feel like there's been other movies where they've brought in like original actors and like other parts. Well. I think where they got the inspiration from this was with the success of Spider Man into the Spider Verse, where he has those other Spider Men from all the other different dimensions, and I think that's kind of how they're gonna turn it into this movie. So I don't know how they're going to make that happen, but that seems like a really expensive movie to make, because I think Tobey maguire is asking for a minimum of like fifteen million dollars just to be in this movie, So gonna be a very expensive movie for them to make. And then finally, here in movie news, sadly Debot from Friday has passed away Tom Lister. He died he was sixty two years old, And I guess I was always holding on to the idea that maybe someday they would make a reboot of Friday or a Friday After After Next. And since John Witherspoon, who played Pops, has passed away, and now Debo has passed away, it's looking less and less like it'll ever happened. But Friday is one of my favorite movies of all time, a movie I can quote like no other, and not only that, my mom can quote it like NonStop, which is always cool to hear. But I thought that was pretty sad he was only sixty two, Not to end it on the downer, but yeah, I think that would hit me a little bit. It was just sad to see. I mean, that's not that old and everybody kind of knew him from that character. I would see him going out to conventions and you know, taking pictures of the fans. So that was a sad one to see. Any uplifting news that you have on your end, I did not come prepared with anything uplifting. Well, if I told you they were making a final and fifth Indiana Jones movie with Harrison Ford, does that do anything for you? Not really? You know, I was never really a big fan of Indiana Jones either, but Harrison Ford like pushing eighty doing this movie. I think for that reason alone, I would be interested to watch it. But that's gonna do it here for movie news. Thanks Kelsey for hanging out with me. You are welcome. I gotta give my shout out of the week. All you have to do to get a shout out and just send me your tweet or Instagram message or comment on my Facebook page, Facebook dot com slash Mike Destro I'm at Mike Destro on all the socials and just say you're listening to the episode, post a screenshot or a picture of your car Dash listening to an episode and I'll give you a shout out. And this week we're going to John G on Twitter. He is at John G five and he tweeted the link and said he was listening to the interview I did with Jonathan Lipniki, which I don't do a whole lot of interviews. I'm not great at them, and I usually only bring people on that i'm really kind of was a fan of as a kid or as a fan of something they're doing now. So if you guys are liking the interviews and are enjoying those, let me know and I'll try to book some more of those. So thanks John for listening, and thanks for that tweet. I will talk to you guys again next Monday here on the podcast. Be sure to subscribe, like follow wherever you're listening to this right now, and I will talk to you guys as Monday later