Disney Television Animation + J.S. Scorecard

Note: J.S. = Jambalaya Studios

Happy 100th Anniversary Disney!

    With such a massive milestone, I've dedicated the last five months to watching a section of Disney content that the company doesn't usually like to publicize much: Their animated television shows. I've only watched the shows produced by Disney Television Animation (and, of course, not counting any preschool shows and Clerks: The Animated Series). I only care about the shows Disney themselves made, so acquired shows, such as the Marvel shows that aired on Disney XD, will not be here. After watching a select few episodes of each season of every show, I've decided to make a scorecard similar to TheReviewer20's Cartoon Network scorecard (with the obvious influence from Intracity; I do respect his way of rating and making scorecards a lot). I have to make this clear: Because I haven't seen every episode from most of these shows (although it's impossible with Marsupilami and Teamo Supremo), there is a possibility that my opinions on them will change in the future (and some opinions can change even if I don't watch or rewatch any episodes). And even if they don't, these are still my opinions, so please respect them. I'm also going to be talking about the shows made by Jambalaya Studios since Proud Family is very clearly an important show for Disney television history and it's just two shows.

Regarding Disney Television Animation:

    So, according to the statistics, it's safe to say that most of Disney's television animated lineup is pretty acceptable. Even when looking at the statistics for the individual decades, they all have the same rating of being above average. Disney has the reputation of (while not producing the most iconic shows) making the most solid shows, and after watching them, yeah, that seems to be the case. Most of them have fine enough writing, and even if the shows are close to being mid, they do at least have some redeemable quality/qualities that allow me to consider them above average.

    Saying this, however, there are a couple of things I've noticed while watching these shows. The first issue with Disney TVA is, well, I'll sum it up with one saying: STOP ENCORPORATING COOL AND HIP WRITING! For some reason, many fucking Disney shows need to incorporate some form of relevant writing, whether it be making lame observational jokes about adults doing uncool things, to having characters look and say overly edgy and hip nonsense. Sure, these moments are harmless for the most part (even in Goof Troop, the show people credit for starting this trend), but then you have stuff like Quack Pack's entire 90s image and American Dragon's terrible cringy dialogue, and then you're like, what is this studio doing with its life? Even in good shows like Kim Possible or Fillmore, the studio acts as if it needs to remind its audience that they're targeting them by having characters saying or doing stuff that will immediately become outdated the second before those episodes are ready to air. Now, I'm aware that this "trying to be cool" shit isn't just a DTVA problem but a Disney problem in general, but it's so lame and it makes me wish that these shows never even did this stuff in the first place.

    Another problem (which is the main issue) DTVA has with their shows is planning, meaning that many shows don't prepare things well when working with Disney. Once again, this isn't entirely the shows' fault, but possibly Disney's, but even if Disney's the blame for the situation of some shows, it doesn't change the fact that plenty of shows don't plan things well with what they're given, leading to the inconsistent tone between seasons and episodes. I think the Disney Afternoon and ABC periods of shows mostly plan things well. Even if the shows' sucked, like Teamo Supremo, they were mainly consistent in tone when looking at the seasons. But by the time we entered the mid-2000s, we started to enter a period where the studio became more relaxed. Many shows from this point onwards do not have everything sorted out throughout their entire run, which really hurts the overall quality for most of them and a lot of them feeling incomplete. In addition, many of these shows have seasons that completely contrast one another. All of this screams poor planning, but to Disney, as long as some section of the show is passable, it's enough for the studio to call them success stories. Now I do have to say that, except for Star vs' seasonal rot, most of these seasonal changes aren't drastic or anything, but it's still worth noting since it's so obvious that these shows are all over the place in terms of tone (and quality a lot of the times) instead of being just consistent and having things sorted out throughout the entire run. It really hurts the overall quality of many shows, such as those from the mid-2000s and a decent lot from the 2010s.

    Finally, a minor thing I'll mention is voice acting. In my opinion, most of the Disney shows have passable but non-noteworthy voice acting. However, my reasoning for this is not what you think. Objectively speaking, most of these shows have pretty decent voice acting: The voices fit the characters, and the actors do an acceptable job with the material that they're given. It becomes a problem when you compare most of these shows with top-tier voice-acted ones. You have S-tier masterpieces, such as Teacher Pet, where the actors give fantastic vocal ranges and go beyond just fitting the character's voice. It makes the voice acting for most shows look pretty mid in comparison. There are some shows that still have solid voice acting regardless, such as The Owl House, but the voice acting for most shows seems whatever since they don't have the actors go as far as to make the voices stand out, unlike in something like The Emperor's New School or Teacher's Pet. They may have one or a few stand-out performances, but the shows, in general, are nothing special when it comes to voice acting overall. It's even noticeable when some shows from the Disney animated canon also have this issue.

Overall, that's Disney TVA in general. It's a passable studio in terms of quality, with most shows being above average. If most of the shows planned things well, the overall rating for the studio would be far better, but even with this issue, it's still decent.

Regarding Jambalalya Studio:

    I've decided to include my thoughts on the whole studio in this template since Proud Family is quite a significant show for Disney. Like DTVA, where the overall quality wasn't that surprising, the general average of 5.5, also known as MEH (but really a MIX BAG), for Jambalaya Studios is pretty fitting; being a mixed bag is a perfect description to describe Jambalaya Studios. This studio is quite impressive yet aggravating at the same time. Plenty of it has to do with them making only two shows, but the quality difference between them is so different it's impressive that they're from the same creative mind. Since these shows are on a DTVA template, I'll use the same thought process I used for those shows (and it's honestly more interesting to talk about these aspects here than for DTVA shows).

    First, let's talk about the "coolness" factor. The Proud Family is one of the better Disney shows in terms of "trying to fit in with the kids." Sure, some of the dialogue is a bit dated, and it's not like a "cool" moment would lead to no cringy moments, but overall, the trendy factor never really was a compromise for making interesting plots or dialogue since the direction the show took with it made it seem relatable instead of just stereotypes doing what kids would think would appeal to them (with the great voice acting and some of the 'hip" moments actually enhancing some scenes in the show). Meanwhile, Da Boom Crew's attempts to be cool are worse than most Disney TVA shows. It's the show with the worst dialogue I've ever heard for an animated show (it makes American Dragon look like a timeless classic compared to this), with characters talking in slang that not even its target audience could comprehend. It also really has shitty music, where their main intention of being there is to pander to the lowest common denominator. The attempts this show makes to give it a "relevant and cool" style are offputting, as it makes the show seem desperate for attention rather than appealing.

    Second, let's talk about planning. Proud Family is one of the most well-organized Disney shows in existence. It knew what it wanted to do and delivered what it had to in 52 episodes and a movie (and it didn't have any bullshit improving at the second season or later sucking at the second season crap; consistent from beginning to end with a few duds). It feels complete and well planned out, which is something you can't say about most Disney TVA shows. It's quite a shock that it's the opposite for Da Boom Crew: It couldn't even communicate its premise efficiently without making its audience feel that they're watching a plot hole of a show, and it didn't end things off effectively. In addition, they didn't even address some of the issues people had with the show (which even some poorly planned Disney shows managed to do). It's just a mess of a show in terms of planning.

     Finally, let's talk about voice acting. Unlike Disney TVA, where I thought the voice acting for most of their shows was decent but nothing impressive, the voice acting in these two shows gave me something to feel about. The Proud Family has very impressive voice acting. The reason I think the voice acting for most Disney cartoons is so mediocre is because they were nowhere near as remarkable as this show's voice acting. Most of the voices they've chosen fit the characters incredibly well, and the show does an excellent job of giving these voice actors their A-game. Actually, a lot of the reasons I'm not that bothered about the slang talk in The Proud Family was because the voice acting was that impressive; the cast made the characters sound so believable, it feels like real-life people talking on screen, so I wasn't bothered with the slang talk most of the time. Da Boom Crew, surprisingly, has terrible voice acting: Not only do the actors feel like they need to insert a slang term every 5 seconds, but the voices don't even try to sound unique or intriguing; they're just really bland voices to hear that emotes no emotion on me (outside of whenever they talk in slang).

     Do you see why this studio is such a mixed bag? It's like everything one show does is the exact opposite of the other. Once again, I don't know how you went from an exceptionally great show to a dogshit one in a span of one show and have those two be the only shows made by the studio, but hey, anything is possible. At the very least, one thing Jambalaya Studio is consistent with is making interesting products. It saids a lot when Proud Family and Da Boom Crew are both present in my top and bottom ten rankings on this template; they do emote some emotion out of me and are unique to watch, which is more I could say about most Disney TVA shows.

Colorpad: www.deviantart.com/sam19326/ar…