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‘Aladdin’ Buzzing Over to Saturdays

Jan 8, 2007  •  Post A Comment

(Corrects Demographic)

Buzz Lightyear and Aladdin are moving to the weekend on Disney-owned kids net Toon Disney.

Coming off Toon Disney’s most-watched year, executives at the network noticed that the classic cartoons based on theatrical film characters were drawing strong ratings, said Scott Garner, senior VP of programming for Disney Channel and Toon Disney.

“So what we’ve done is we’ve taken a strong programming idea and put it into a packaged environment on Saturday afternoons,” Mr. Garner said.

Starting Jan. 27, The “Great Toon Weekend Getaway” will air from noon until 7 p.m. ET/PT, a time when competition from network kids’ shows vanishes. Toon Disney is also launching the block in the winter, when children are more likely to be in front of the TV than outdoors playing.

The block starts with a two-hour movie followed by two episodes each of “Aladdin,” “Timon & Pumbaa,” “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command,” “The Emperor’s New School” and “Lilo & Stitch.” The block will also air at the same time on Sundays.

The shows replace older Walt Disney Animation TV shows such as “Recess” and some shows shared by Toon and Disney Channel.

Mr. Garner expects the new weekend block to be more gender neutral than the channel’s prime time fare, which skews male.