Smallscreen News

Halloween-themed Movie and Talking Dog Sitcom Both Score for Disney Channel

By April MacIntyre Oct 14, 2012, 4:07 GMT

Olivia Holt - © Tina Gill / PR Photos

The premiere of Disney Channel's "Girl Vs. Monster," part of the Disney Channel Original Movie franchise, ranked as Friday’s #1 TV telecast across target kid demographics.

from Disney

“Girl Vs. Monster” built each half-hour, peaking with 5.6 million Total Viewers and 3.2 million Kids 2-11. The movie led into the strong debut of the sitcom "Dog With a Blog" (9:40 p.m.), which delivered 4.5 million Total Viewers, 2.6 million Kids 2-11, 2.1 million Kids 6-11 and 1.7 million Tweens. Its regular timeslot premiere is Sunday, November 4 (8:00 p.m.).

Along with the series finale of “Wizards of Waverly Place” (1/6/12), “Jessie’s” #1 telecast of all time (1/6/12), event ‘Special Delivery’ episode for “Good Luck Charlie” (6/24/12) and June DCOM “Let It Shine” (6/15/12), plus additional highly rated series telecasts, Disney Channel owns the year’s Top 8 scripted TV telecasts in Kids 2-11 (Top 8 across all cable TV). Furthermore, “Dog With a Blog” ranks as one of Disney Channel’s stronger series launches in recent history.

"Girl Vs. Monster" stars Olivia Holt (Disney XD’s “Kickin It’”), Kerris Dorsey (“Moneyball”), Brendan Meyer (Disney XD’s “Mr. Young”), Like Benward (Disney Channel's “Minutemen”), Katherine McNamara (“New Year’s Eve”), Adam Chambers (Disney Channel's “Good Luck Charlie”), Tracy Dawson (“Call Me Fritz”), Brian Palermo (Disney XD’s “Zeke and Luther”) and Jennifer Aspen (“GCB”) -- and follows the spook-tacular adventure of Skylar, a fearless 15-year-old singer who on Halloween discovers that she’s a fifth generation monster hunter.

Olivia Holt performed three of the movie’s pop songs which are available on Walt Disney Records compilation ‘Make Your Mark: Ultimate Playlist.’

Disney Channel Original Movies dominate ratings, accounting for the #1 cable TV movie in Total Viewers for six consecutive years (2006-11) and the #1 TV movie telecast among Tweens for 11 consecutive years. They are "Cadet Kelly," "The Cheetah Girls," "Halloweentown High," "Twitches," "The Cheetah Girls 2," "High School Musical 2," "Camp Rock," "Wizards of Waverly Place The Movie," "Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam," "Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension" and “Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas,” respectively. "Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension" is also cable television's #1 animated telecast of all time among Kids 2-11.

"Girl Vs. Monster" was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The story was written by Annie Young (“Princess Protection Program”) and the teleplay by DeYoung and Ron McGee (“The Nine Lives of Chloe King”). The movie was directed by DGA winner and Emmy Award nominee Stuart Gillard (“Avalon High”) and executive-produced by Sheri Singer (“Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas”), with Tracey Jeffrey (“The Suite Life Movie”) as producer. “Girl vs. Monster” is a production of Bad Angel Productions, Ltd. 

"Dog With a Blog" stars G Hannelius ("Den Brother," "Good Luck Charlie") as Avery, Blake Michael ("Lemonade Mouth") as Tyler, Francesca Capaldi ("A.N.T. Farm") as Chloe, Beth Littleford ("Crazy, Stupid Love," "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart") as Ellen and Regan Burns ("Wizards of Waverly Place") as Bennett. Stephen Full ("I'm in the Band") voices Stan who is played by two talented canine performers, Kuma and Mick.