Hannah Montana is an
Emmy Award-nominated, 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
[Disney Channel MediaNet] and production started on August 4, 2008.
[Orlando Sentinel - Disney Channel offers updates on "Hannah Montana," "Camp Rock," Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato, "High School Musical," Disney Channel Games] Season 3 premiered on November 2, 2008, and is still filming.
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.
[Jacques Steinburg, "A Tale of Two Tweens: One Real and One Disney", The New York Times, April 20, 2006.]
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),
The Popstar Life!, and
Alexis Texas. Former
American Juniors finalist
Jordan McCoy and pop and R&B singer
JoJo (who rejected the role)
were considered for the role of Zoe Stewart. Miley Cyrus originally auditioned for the role of the "best friend"
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.
[Disney Launches Hannah Montana Products URL accessed December 26, 2006] 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.
[www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2007/11/19/2007-11-19_bite_me_barbie_disneys_hannah_montana_ta-2.html Hannah Montana dolls overtake Barbie] 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.
[Season 2 episodes]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."
[Karl Taro Greenfeld, "How Mickey Got His Groove Back," Condé Nast Portfolio, May 2008, 126-131 & 150.] All Disney business segments were represented at the meeting.
Popularity
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.
The shows attract much attention, with an example being the attendance of
Illinois governor
Rod Blagojevich who later admitted to having watched every episode.
Opening sequence
The theme song for
Hannah Montana is "
The Best of Both Worlds" written by
Matthew Gerrard and
Robbie Nevil, produced by Gerrard and performed by Miley Cyrus (as Hannah Montana). John Carta, who also composes the music cues to signify scene changes and commercial breaks, composed the music for the song. The song's lyrics describe the basic premise of the television series.
The full-length version, which is 2 minutes, 54 seconds in length, was included on the show's soundtrack, released in October 2006. For the TV version of the theme, which lasts only 50 seconds, only the first two stanzas and the last two were used.
"Just Like You" and "The Other Side of Me" were originally tested for the opening theme song, before "Best of Both Worlds" was chosen as the theme. Stage and features episode clips of each cast member when each cast member's name appears. Each cast member's name is "wiped" on the screen in a marquee-light-style. The sequence then switches to full-screen episode clips (most of the clips used in the Season One version of the sequence were of the early produced episodes) with the creator's names appearing in the second-to-last clip. The show's title logo design appears at the beginning, and again at the end, of the sequence (the latter portion as with most other portions of the sequence on the "concert stage" feature Cyrus as her character Hannah Montana).
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.
Cast
Main
Recurring
Minor
Guest appearances
- Corbin Bleu: Johnny Collins (2: "Lilly, Do You Want to Know a Secret", "We're All on This Date Together")
- Paul Vogt: Dontzig (4: "Miley Get Your Gum", "Torn Between Two Hannahs", "Bad Moose Rising", and "The Idol Side of Me")
- Ashley Tisdale: Maddie Fitzpatrick (1, "On the Road Again")
- Lisa Arch: Liza (2: "You're So Vain, You Probably Think This Zit is About You" and "Smells Like Teen Sellout")
- Brooke Shields: Susan Stewart (2: "I Am Hannah, Hear Me Croak" and "The Way We Almost Weren't")
- Larry David: Himself (1: "My Best Friend's Boyfriend")
- Madison Pettis: Sophie Martinez (1, "Take This Job and Love It!")
- John D'Aquino: President Richard Martinez (1, "Take This Job and Love It!")
- Jesse McCartney: Himself (1: "When You Wish You Were the Star")
- Donny Osmond: Himself (1: "We're All on This Date Together")
- Ray Romano: Himself (1: "We're All on This Date Together")
- Jonas Brothers: Themselves (1: "Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas")
- Dwayne Johnson: Himself (1: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get the Phone")
- Heather Locklear: Heather Truscott (1: "Lilly's Mom Has Got It Going On")
- Joey Fatone: Joey Vitolo (1: "Bye Bye Ball")
- Juliette Goglia: Angela Vitolo (1: "Bye Bye Ball")
- Karina Smirnoff: Madame Escajeda (1: "Everybody Was Best-Friend Fighting")
- David Koechner: Uncle Earl (1: We're So Sorry (Uncle Earl))
- Vicki Lawrence: Mamaw Ruthie Stewart (2: "Grandmas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Play Favorites", "I Will Always Loathe You")
- Anita Finlay: Jeanette Harris (1: "Test of My Love")
- Gregory Itzin: Mr. Harris (1: "Test of My Love")
- Michael McShae: Trey Harris (1: "Test of My Love")
Episodes
| Season | Ep # | First Airdate | Last Airdate
|
|
| Season 1
| 26
| March 24, 2006
| March 30, 2007
|
|
| Season 2
| 30
| April 23, 2007
| October 12, 2008
|
|
| Season 3
| 24
| November 2, 2008
| 2009
|
Films
Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert
Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert is a
musical documentary film from
Walt Disney Pictures presented in
Disney Digital 3-D. The
limited release was intended to be for one week, February 1-7, 2008 in the US and Canada with release in other countries later on, but was extended for viewing as long as theaters wanted.
Disney recently announced the concert was filmed in several cities to be theatrically released upon the US in February and internationally throughout the month. The film uses
3-D glasses.
The opening weekend, February 1-3, 2008, the movie had gross revenue of $29 million. Ticket prices were as high as $15, at least 50% higher than most regular movie tickets in 2008. It was the number one movie of the weekend, more than doubling the receipts of the number two movie, "The Eye". Opening in only 638 theaters, it set a record of over $42,000 per theater. It also set a record for the highest revenue for a 3-D movie for one weekend. Finally, it set a record for gross revenue for a Super Bowl weekend.
Hannah Montana: The Movie
Hannah Montana: The Movie has been confirmed by many of the stars from the show. It will not be a
Disney Channel Original Movie, but will instead follow in the steps of the
Lizzie McGuire series, which is a feature-length film released in cinemas. Filming was scheduled to take place May 2008, and should be released on April 10, 2009.
Oprah Winfrey also confirmed on her show on November 21, 2007 that a film was in the works.
Songs
Soundtracks
Nominations and awards
- 2007 Creative Arts Emmy - Outstanding Children's Program (Nominated)
- 2007 Winner of the "Choice TV Show: Comedy" for the Teen Choice Awards
- Winner of the 2006-2007 Golden Icon Award (presented by Travolta Family Entertainment) for "Best New Comedy".
DVD releases
Series Novelizations
- Keeping Secrets - Miley Get Your Gum & It's My Party And I'll Lie If I Want To
- Face-Off - You're So Vain, You Probably Think This Zit Is About You & Oooh, Oooh, Itchy Woman
- Super Sneak - She's A Super Sneak & I Can't Make You Love Hannah If You Don't
- Truth Or Dare - Oops! I Meddled Again & It's A Mannequin's World
- Hold On Tight - O Say, Can You Remember The Words? & On The Road Again
- Crush-Tastic! - Good Golly, Miss Dolly & Mascot Love
- Nightmare On Hannah Street - Torn Between Two Hannahs & Grandma Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Favorites
- Seeing Green - More Than A Zombie To Me & People Who Use People
- Face The Music - Smells Like Teen Sellout & We Are Family: Now Get Me Some Water!
- Don't Bet On It - Bad Moose Rising & My Boyfriend's Jackson And There's Gonna Be Trouble
- Sweet Revenge - The Idol Side Of Me & Schooly Bully
- Win Or Lose - Money For Nothing, Guilt For Free & Debt It Be
- True Blue - Cuffs Will Keep Us Together & Me And Rico Down By The School Yard
- On The Road - Get Down And Study-udy-udy & I Want You To Want Me...To Go To Florida
- Game Of Hearts - My Best Friend's Boyfriend & You Are So Sue-able To Me
- Wishful Thinking - When You Wish You Were The Star & Take This Job And Love It!
- One Of A Kind - I Am Hannah, Hear Me Croak & You Gotta Not Fight For Your Right To Party
Other Novelizations
- Hannah Montana: The Movie
- Rock The Waves
- In The Loop
International release
Hannah Montana is broadcast on the following stations around the world:
Disney Channel Asia
| September 23, 2006
|
| South Asia
| Disney Channel India
| September 23, 2006
|
| Australia
| Disney Channel Australia
| August 7, 2006
|
| Seven Network
| April 7, 2007
|
| Belgium
| VT4
| September 3, 2007
|
| Brazil
| Disney Channel
| November 26, 2006
|
| Rede Globo
| April 5, 2008
|
| SBT
| 2009
|
| Bulgaria
| Jetix
| August 15, 2008 (initially English only)
|
| Canada
| Family
| August 4, 2006
|
| French Canada
| VRAK.TV
| June 18, 2007
|
| Chile
| Latin American Disney Channel
| November 11, 2006
|
| Mainland China
| SMG International Channel Shanghai | June 30, 2008
|
| Colombia
| Latin American Disney Channel
| November 12, 2006
|
| Czech Republic
| Jetix
| 2008
|
| Denmark
| Disney Channel Denmark
| September 29, 2006
|
| DR 1
| January 2007
|
| Dominican Republic
| Latin American Disney Channel
| November 12, 2006
|
| Finland
| Finnish version of Disney Channel Scandinavia
| February 29, 2008
|
| France
| Disney Channel France
| October 3, 2006
|
| Germany
| Disney Channel Germany
|
Super RTL
September 23, 2006
|
| Iceland
| Sjónvarpið
| 2007
|
| Ireland
| RTÉ Two, Disney Channel
| July 13, 2007
|
| Israel
| Arutz Ayladim (Kids Channel)
| June 6, 2007
|
| Italy
| Disney Channel (Italy)
| September 21, 2006
|
| Japan
| Disney Channel Japan[ Credited as: Secret Idol: Hannah Montana]
| October 14, 2006
|
| TV Tokyo
| October 5, 2007
|
| Macedonia
| A1 television
| September 29, 2008
|
| Mexico
| Latin American Disney Channel
| November 12, 2006
|
| Azteca 7 TV Azteca
| July 6, 2007
|
| New Zealand
| Disney Channel New Zealand
TV 3 Sticky TV
| 2006
|
| Norway
| Disney Channel Norway
| September 29, 2006
|
| Panama
| Latin American Disney Channel
| November 12, 2006
|
| Tele 7
| January 2, 2008
|
| Peru
| Latin American version of the Disney Channel
| November 11, 2006
|
| Poland
| Disney Channel Poland
| December 2, 2006
|
| Portugal
| Disney Channel Portugal
| 2006
|
| Romania
| TVR 1
| July 3, 2007
|
| Jetix
| August 15, 2008
|
| Russia
| STS
| September 1, 2008
|
| South Africa
| Disney Channel South Africa
| September 29, 2006
|
| Spain
| Disney Channel Spain
|
| Slovakia
| STV 1
| 2007
|
| Sweden
| Disney Channel Scandinavia
| September 29, 2006
|
| Taiwan
| Disney Channel Taiwan
| November 4, 2006
|
| Turkey
| Digiturk, Disney Channel
| April 29, 2007
|
| United Kingdom
| Disney Channel UK
| May 6, 2006
|
Video games
Hannah Montana in pop culture
- The show itself references the show. In the episode "We're So Sorry, Uncle Earl", Jackson changes the channel from Are You Dumber Than a Dog? to a show where we hear "The Best of Both Worlds", complaining "Oh, when is this show not on?!"
- The Simpsons have made a reference to Hannah Montana. In a December 16, 2007 episode entitled "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind", Bart writes (on the blackboard) "The capital of Montana is not Hannah."
- Miley Cyrus has performed on Good Morning America, Larry King Live, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ,The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Live With Regis and Kelly as Hannah Montana.
- On the December 26, 2007 episode of Wheel of Fortune, one of the puzzles was "BUTTE & HANNAH MONTANA".
- During the episode of Drake & Josh, "Battle of Panthatar", Josh watches a TV program called "Suzannah Louisiana" which is a spoof of Hannah Montana. The theme tune, "The Best of Both Worlds", is heard.
- During the episode "Dare Devil" of Gossip Girl in Blair Waldorf's penthouse while Jenny is changing Blair tells her "Too Hannah Montana".
- During an episode of True Life "I have Tourette's", in Alyssa's house an episode of Hannah Montana is being shown.
- During The Game Plan Joe Kingman accidentally turns to Disney Channel and "The Best of Both Worlds" is heard.
- During the film Bridge to Terabithia, when Jess goes into his house, his sisters are watching Hannah Montana in the background, the episode of which is "She's a Super Sneak"
- During MADtv's 13th Season in Episode #1310, a spoof was made about the Hannah Montana Show. However, since MADtv did not have the right to copy anything under Disney's name the banner of Disney Channel was renamed into Kids channel and no songs from any of the Hannah Montana Soundtracks were parodied.
- On the May 1, 2008 episode of the Philippine version of Wheel of Fortune, one of the toss-up puzzles was "HANNAH MONTANA"
- The South Park episode "Britney's New Look" makes a reference to Hannah Montana by declaring her the next victim to be sacrificed at Harvest after Britney Spears.
- In 2008's Disaster Movie, Hannah Montana was made fun of.
- In an episode of South Park, Hannah Montana was shown as a toy doll.
- In an episode of Gossip Girl, Jenny Humpfrey confronts Dan by saying "What were you thinking of bringing Little Miss Hannah Montana?"
- On the popular game show Who Wants to Be a Millionare?, A category named "Hannah Montana" is used. It references not only Hannah Montana, but also Miley Cyrus.
See also
