As I lounge on my living room couch on a Friday night and flip aimlessly through the channels, the sudden sound of an annoying pop tune accompanied by high-pitched nasal singing stops me. I realize that this is the sound of Disney Channel’s Jessie theme song.

This is not the Disney Channel I remember. Disney, wake up and smell the cheese!

Once upon a time, Disney Channel featured witty shows with captivating plots, unique story lines, and good messages. They have been replaced by shows with overdone plots, terrible acting and singing, and annoying theme songs.

Disney critic and Academy freshman Laney Rodriguez dubs the new Disney as just plain bad. “All of the recent shows are poorly written and they’re really immature. ‘Dog with a Blog’? I mean, What is that?”

To answer Laney’s question, ‘Dog with a Blog’ is one of Disney Channel’s newest sitcoms that premiered for the first time in October 2012. This show is about three step-siblings who have nothing in common except for the love of their dog, Stan. They soon realize that Stan can not only talk to them, but also has a blog in which he discusses the daily happenings in their household. This show is hardly captivating to my eleven-year old brother, much less to a teenage audience. Who can relate to that? The Mouse has certainly lost his way.

The news only gets worse when it comes to the Disney Channel show Jessie. A Texas native Jessie moves to New York to take care of four children whose parents are not involved in their daily lives. The children are rambunctious and often get out of hand with their sassy comebacks. No original ideas here, just bad jokes and same old story lines.

Teen audiences, for which Disney Channel was truly intended for anyway, can only reminisce about the good old Disney days. Is it possible that we’re already reminiscing as young as fourteen? It was just a few short years ago that Disney featured shows like The Jersey, Boy Meets World, Even Stevens, That’s So Raven, and Phil of the Future.

These shows had stories with original plots and talented kids who were relatable. I remember watching the 2003 hit television series That’s So Raven everyday upon returning home from school.  The show takes place in San Francisco, where teenager Raven Baxter lives with her parents and younger brother, Cory.  Only her family and close friends know that she is psychic. This ability to see the future soon produces different unexpected situations which Raven must unravel with the help of her two best friends, Eddie and Chelsea.

This has been the only show other than Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place and Hannah Montana that has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Programs.

This was also among one of the few old Disney Channel shows that featured raw talent and hilarious episodes. Past Disney Channel fanatic Daniella Nutter wishes Disney would bring the originality and good lessons back into the shows. “The older shows taught us more. They taught us real-life lessons. These new shows are just ridiculous.”

Disney channel needs to reevaluate the types of shows that they presently air on television and compare them to the type of shows that were enjoyed by audiences of all ages only a few years ago. Then, it will be able to take steps in the right direction in order to bring it back to the top of its game. The Mouse has lost its way. Let’s remind Disney not to fall in the trap. We teenagers appreciate shows with purpose, humor and style. After all, isn’t that what the Mouse represents?