The Disney Channel has announced that it will renew Raven’s Home, a spinoff of That’s So Raven, for the second season. Now for anyone who understands the business side of the equation in television, or Hollywood in general, should not be surprised by this. Raven Samone has proven to be a proverbial cash cow for Disney since the day she walked into their offices at the age of 15. That’s So Raven literally stabilized Disney as it reinvented its identity in children’s programming. The model that produced Brittney, Justin, and so many others was no longer working, and they needed to reevaluate their approach.
During this period, the That’s So Raven show held steady, making Raven a very wealthy young woman and allowing Disney to still reign supreme in children’s programming. The re-signing of Raven’s Home is integral to Disney’s approach to battling the rising juggernaut that is Netflix.
While Raven has obviously grown older, she has maintained her appeal, even to a younger audience, but what stands out to me is the bold move by Disney to venture away from its presentation of the ideal American family. In Raven’s Home, an older Raven returns a divorced mother of two. This is definitely a risk because the dominant demographic for Disney’s audiences is mid to upper-middle class Whites, which are not affected by the rise in single-parent households with intensity other demographics are experiencing This means that the core audience may not be able to relate with that schematic.
Personally, I like the fact that Disney is attempting to appeal to a more diverse audience while highlighting the challenges of being a single parent in a culture and economy that has no appreciation for said challenge.
The adult Raven still has the ability to take glimpses into the future, which she uses over the course of the show to help others become more successful in different areas of life, including business, relationships, parenting and more. The show sort of answers the question,
“if you had a crystal ball and you can look into your future, what would you change?
In this new show, Raven’s son, Booker, has also inherited her gift to see into the future, and Raven helps him learn how to use his gift to make sense of his life and the changing world around him. Now, Booker has a no-nonsense twin sister that keeps everything tight around the house. She is the one that holds everyone accountable to a certain standard of decorum and performance.
The production for the second season will begin in November, and while it should not be any surprise that Disney is committing to another season for the show, the fact that Raven is also doubling as the show’s star and as the executive producer for the show has many wondering what her long-term plans are. Right now, the sky is the limit for Raven, and while this sounds cliche-ish, there is no other way to lucidly express the leverage and resources that this young entertainer has at her disposal right now. This is likely the new presentation of the classic American family moving forward.
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