July 14, 2007

Blogging TCA: It's a Gig

Seth Arenstein, at the TV Critics Association summer press tour, ponders the critics' face time with Disney Channel

We understand that Disney Channel chief Gary Marsh and the rest of the folks at Disney take television for tweens seriously, but we wonder, when he was in college did Marsh ever think he’d have to wake up early on a Saturday morning, put on a suit and tie and face TCA critics while using words like “gi-normous zit”?

He used that scientific vernacular to describe part of an episode of the upcoming Wizards of Waverly Place (Oct.), a Disney Channel sitcom about a family that possesses magical powers. And what about Curtis Armstrong, the actor who plays the career-making role of a magical zit?

On the other hand, you have to wonder about TCA critics. Are they serious about the questions they ask of the young stars of these shows?

“I have to ask, what was it like to work with Barney?” one scribe asks of 15-year-old Selena Gomez. (You have to ask that?)

“Will you be celebrating your birthday on the set?” another critic wonders.

Do they really care or is this a way to kill a few minutes until it’s time to follow up their questions about HBO’s sexually explicit series Tell Me You Love Me with queries to Disney's panel?

But, later Selena Gomez (one of the young stars on the series) lets drop a piece of the holy grail: a few years back, she confides, she filmed an (unsuccessful) pilot spun off from Lizzie McGuire. Now that’s gi-normous.

• EARLIER: Blogging TCA: A More Edible Lunch?