Hannah Montana

Published on: 12th April, 2009

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This article is about the Disney Channel series. For the show’s title character, see Miley Stewart. For other uses, see Hannah Montana (disambiguation)
Hannah Montana is an Emmy Award-nominated[1] American television series, which debuted on March 24, 2006 on Disney Channel. The series focuses on a girl who lives a double life as an average teenage school girl named Miley Stewart (played by Miley Cyrus) by day and a famous pop singer named Hannah Montana by night, concealing her real identity from the public, other than her close friends and family.

On April 9, 2008, it was announced that Hannah Montana would return for a third season in 2008[2] and production started on August 4, 2008.[3] Season 3 premiered on November 2, 2008, and is still filming. Hannah Montana: The Movie was released in theaters on April 10, 2009.

Production

Michael Poryes, who is credited as co-creator, also co-created the hit Disney Channel Original Series That’s So Raven. The show is produced by It’s a Laugh Productions, Inc., in association with Disney. It is filmed at Tribune Studios in Hollywood, California. The series premiere scored record ratings for Disney Channel: 5.4 million viewers, a response “beyond our wildest expectations,” according to the president of Disney Channel Entertainment.[4]

The original idea for this show was based on the That’s So Raven episode “Goin’ Hollywood”, which was supposed to be the pilot episode for a sitcom called Better Days, in which a child star of a popular TV show of the same name was to try her hand at going to a normal school. The episode “New Kid in School” has the basic premise as that aforementioned episode. Other names considered for the title were The Secret Life of Zoe Stewart (discarded as too similar to Zoey 101 on Nickelodeon)[citation needed], The Popstar Life!, and Alexis Texas. Former American Juniors finalist Jordan McCoy and pop and R&B singer JoJo (who rejected the role)[5] were considered for the role of Zoe Stewart. Miley Cyrus originally auditioned for the role of the “best friend”[6] Lilly Romero, later changed to Lilly Truscott, but they thought she would be better for the main character, so she tried out for Zoe Stewart/Hannah Montana. Zoe Stewart was later changed to Chloe Stewart, which was eventually changed to Miley when she got the part. The names of Hannah Montana were changed a few times. Three of the previous names were Anna Cabana, Samantha York, and Alexis Texas.

In December 2006, Disney announced plans to release Hannah Montana products, including: clothing, jewellery, apparel, and dolls, at select stores.[7] Play Along Toys released the Hannah Montana fashion dolls, singing dolls and Miley Stewart doll, and other merchandise in August 2007. More Hannah dolls were released in November, along with Oliver, Lilly, and later Jake Ryan dolls. They became one of the most popular Christmas toys in 2007.[8] Hannah Montana is signed for at least one more season according to Disney Channel. Filming for the second season started in December. The new season started in April, 2007, in which she is in high school.[9]As stated by Jason Earles at the launch of the High School Musical 2 Extended Edition DVD, filming of the second season has finished.

By February 2008, the Hannah Montana franchise had become so important that Disney convened an “80-person, all-platform international meeting to discuss Hannah Montana’s future.”[10] All Disney business segments were represented at the meeting.

Popularity
Main article: Best of Both Worlds Tour

In addition to the high ratings of the TV series, concerts for Hannah Montana have also been exceedingly popular. Tickets for every concert sell out, with some later being scalped for thousands of dollars.[11] The shows attract much attention, with an example being the attendance of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich who later admitted to having watched every episode.[12]

Lawsuit

On August 23, 2007, Buddy Sheffield, a comedy writer who wrote for The Smothers Brothers Show, The Dolly Parton Show, and In Living Color, sued Disney over Hannah Montana alleging that he originally came up with the idea for Hannah Montana but was never compensated by Disney. The lawsuit claims breach of contract, breach of confidence, unfair competition and unjust enrichment. In the lawsuit, Sheffield claims that he pitched an idea for a TV series with the name of “Rock and Roland” to Disney Channel in 2001 with the plot of a junior high student who lived a secret double life as a rock star. The lawsuit claims that Disney Channel executives at first liked the idea but passed on the series. Sheffield claims that he deserves a share of the revenue generated by Hannah Montana.[13]

Hannah Montana

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