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3. 1990s Mickey Mouse Club

1990s MMC

The Disney Channel debuted as a premium cable channel in 1983, and reruns of the original 1950s Mickey Mouse Club were in heavy rotation. The show was popular with kids, though it was definitely dated against the neon backdrop of the 1980s. In 1986, a syndicated show called Kids Incorporated made the move to the Disney Channel, and its ratings success proved there was a market for talented performing kids. Execs made the decision to create a brand-new version of the Mickey Mouse Club, despite the weak performance of the 1970s revival.

Filmed at the brand-new Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios) at Walt Disney World, the All-New Mickey Mouse Club, later dubbed simply MMC, struck the perfect balance for modern audiences. It debuted in April 1989 with a supremely talented cast that managed to be both Disney-wholesome and modern-edgy at the same time. The multilayered show retained the innocent charm of the original while creating a sophisticated believability for the more jaded pre-teens and teenagers of the late 80s and early 90s.

The 100th episode, which occurred during the third season, featured a stunning reunion with many of the original 1950s Mouseketeers including Annette Funicello. That episode’s content was sort of a passing of the torch, reflecting on the history and future of the Club and highlighting both the similarities and the differences between the two versions.

The show was broadcast every weekday for its first six seasons and, like its predecessors, each day was organized around a loose theme, such as Party Day or Anything Can Happen Day. Major departures from the previous formats included the heavy use of music videos starring the Club members that were mostly filmed around the Walt Disney World Resort, as well as the decision to lose the Mickey ears. Instead, Club members (who were only rarely referred to as Mouseketeers) wore high school letterman-style jackets emblazoned with their names.

The All-New Mickey Mouse Club was an instant success, although it underwent a number of changes over the years. The biggest retooling occurred in 1990, when Disney split off five of its oldest and most popular Club members to form a pop band called The Party. The group ultimately released five albums and toured as an opening act for such heavy hitters as Taylor Dayne and Vanilla Ice. Four of the band members reunited in 2013 and are working on a new album.

Following The Party’s departure, the Mickey Mouse Club added a new roster of younger Club members including such future superstars as JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling and Keri Russell. The show’s popularity continued unabated as it evolved to reflect the changing sensibilities of the early 1990s.

By 1994, however, the Mickey Mouse Club began to run out of steam. Few original 1989 Club members remained, and most of the original audience had grown up and moved on to other things. Party members and former Club members Chasen Hampton and Tiffini Hale, both age 19, returned to the Mickey Mouse Club as its adult hosts for the seventh and final season. The format was heavily revamped, but the ratings did not significantly improve. Season seven aired in 1995 at a rate of only one episode per week, and the show ended following reruns that aired into 1996.

Although the Mickey Mouse Club changed dramatically for each incarnation, few TV shows have its immense staying power. In 2015, the Mickey Mouse Club will turn 60 years old, and it will have been 20 years since the last episodes of the 90s version aired. If history is any indication, perhaps it is time for Disney to consider another revival?

 
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