#im a disney fan but seriously i want to murder them
Over the last couple of days, I’ve seen a lot of talk (mostly on “TV news” sites) about how DuckTales ratings were down and not living up to what Disney expected and a whole lot of nonsense like that. Now, I’m not saying it’s not true; I honestly don’t know (and I’ve literally spent the past half hour trying to find the ratings). I’m saying that if it is true, it’s Disney’s fault.
It’s so hard for me to write all this because I practically worshipped Disney most of my life. I grew up watching Disney movies and then Disney Channel shows; most of what I remember from the first 12+ years of my life (in terms of TV and film) is Disney. I think I’ve watched most of the Disney films and shows that came out anytime between 1990 and 2010. Seriously. Disney is more or less ingrained into my DNA.
But the truth needs to be said. Disney failed DuckTales.
I’m not talking about season 3, because I understand that was intentional (although that still says something about lack of proper organisation). I’m talking about the first two seasons. And to be more specific, I’m talking about how inconsistently those two seasons aired.
I’ve said it quite a bit after season 1 started, because it made no sense and it infuriated me. Disney spent a lot of time and money promoting the show, particularly before the opening two-parter. The couple of weeks before it aired, there were so many interviews and events and takeovers, it looked like they’re preparing their new lead animated show. Then we had a break we knew was coming (they announced in advance it’s going to start a few weeks after the special), and then for a few weeks we got an episode every week, just as you’d expect it.
And that’s roughly when Disney’s programming stopped making sense, at least as far as DuckTales goes.
To be honest, I thought waiting for your show to return from a hiatus following a cliffhanger was the second worst thing in the realm of TV (having your show cancelledon a cliffhanger being the worst thing, of course). In 2017, Disney taught me there was worsethan that. Because you could be waiting for your show to return from a hiatus, not knowing how long it’ll take for it to return, how many episodes you’re going to get when it does, and how long a hiatus you’ll have after the few episodes you’ll get then.
When it happened the first time, after 1x08 (The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra), it made little sense, but it was near holiday hiatus (I will never understand American programming), so it could be argued it had something to do with that. Then in December we got an episode after about a month without any news, and again, Disney went silent. It took five very long months for DuckTales to come back. Five months without a word. Not a clue about when it returns or how long for. It was then that it moved from Disney XD to Disney Channel.
For basically the second half of season 1, it seemed like they’ve finally decided about what to do with DuckTales. The Disney Channel move was doing DuckTales good: the ratings were up, season 3 was announced before season 2 had even premiered, it aired more-or-less regularly and the fans were thrilled. Obviously, so was Disney.
Naturally, when season 2 started, about a month after that announcement, the mood was still high. Why wouldn’t it be? The season one arc was amazing, the finale was done spectacularly well, the show was finally in its rightful place on Disney Channel and we had a season 3 announcement already. Seriously, what’s not to be happy about?
And then they started playing the same game they did with season 1. Six episodes in, a supposedly-holidays-break. I say supposedly because holidays breaks tend to start in December and end in January. Not in March. Then an episode in March. Then two more months of waiting, not knowing when it’ll be back. Then suddenly it’s a daily show for a week and a half, and just as you start to think you’re finally getting to see the rest of the season, they take another 3.5 months break. The final 8 episodes get aired over two weeks in September, nearly a year after the season premiere aired.
Now, let me ask you something. Can you really be surprised if the ratings are down after this sort of programming?
I’m not a TV expert, not by a long shot. But it doesn’t take expertise to know this is really bad programming. All it takes is common sense. The whole American half-season-hiatus-half-season model is already frustrating enough as it is, but I get that that’s how it is. But what happened with DuckTales wasn’t even it. It looked more like Disney execs were throwing darts at a board with shows’ names on it than an actual, pre-built schedule. Seriously.
And all of this? Just true for the States. The rest of the world got it even more erratically than that nightmare. Disney+ hasn’t been up to date with anything either; as of May 2020, Disney+ UK (since that’s where I am) only had season 1 on (apparently they’ve got two now; nice to see they finally caught up with Disney+ US). And season 3? Well, so far it seems it’s been basically impossible to follow it legally in quite a few countries. US probably included.
So if the ratings aredown, I think the only people to blame here are Disney. There’s only so much you can do as a fan when your gets pushed around and you haven’t a clue when you might get to see it again. I suspect ratings would be significantly higher if you included the people who watch it only when the season ends because they’re sick of this game, but… what do I know?
*I’ve seen a lot of talk online (in fan areas) saying it’s not really a ratings issue, but it’s because Disney doesn’t want to pay for more than 3 seasons of a show. They make up a ratings issue, but the real reason. IMO it’s more than likely, but I honestly don’t know. But if that’s the truth and it’s their pattern… well, I absolutely agree with this comment in that respect; it’s a real issue. You can’t expect people to get invested knowing a show will be taken away from them two or three years later. It might work with kids, but in shows meant for adults as well… it just doesn’t work. And the DuckTales team said they’re appealing to viewers of the original show and to younger viewers alike from day one. That was literally half their promotion. So if that’s the case, this is something they should’v considered. Because… really, Disney, you’re only damaging yourself when you’re doing that.
