Disney XD

Disney XD’s Aaron Stone stars (from left) David Lambert, Kelly Blatz and Tania Gunadi.

© DISNEY XD/BOB D’AMICO

No matter how we try to limit their use of it, most kids love TV. During the preschool years, they all watch the same programs—Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer. Then they get older and start to make gender-driven choices. The little ladies ditch Abby Cadabby in favor of Miley Cyrus. But where do the boys go after they’ve said good-bye to Diego? While all kids can enjoy the Disney Channel, there are an awful lot of pretty pink princesses in residence at the Mouse House.

That’s why this month, Mickey & Co. will transform ToonDisney into Disney XD, a new network targeted to boys ages six to 14. (For the uninitiated, ToonDisney aired animated series like Kim Possible and older cartoons—think 1994’s Iron Man—on a program block known as Jetix.)

Adam Bonnett, senior vice president of original programming for the Disney Channel, believes there isn’t enough entertainment out there for boys in this age range. Young men, he says, want to watch shows that feature a male protagonist and lots of action, adventure and comedy.

On XD that vision appears most clearly in its flagship show: the new live-action series Aaron Stone. It stars Disney newcomer Kelly Blatz as a 17-year-old video-game whiz who uses high-tech gadgets to protect the world from evil. Zeke & Luther, a comedy series about two friends who long to become famous skateboarders, is also new. Classic cartoons (Batman, Fantastic Four), ESPN segments, and ToonDisney’s Phineas and Ferb and The Suite Life on Deck round out the lineup. ToonDisney programs with neither boys nor action—like The Proud Family—are, says Bonnett, “too female-driven” and will need new homes.

If talk like that sets off your feminist alarm bells, you’re not alone. Here in NYC, parental reaction to Disney’s gender isolation is mixed. Lower East Side mom Joanna Smith Rakoff (who has a four-year-old son) says she doesn’t buy that “girls are like this, but boys are like that” and worries that XD will just aim for the lowest common denominator. Others are less wary. Mary Beth Harvey, an Upper East Side mother of four (three of whom are boys ages eight to 16), thinks that XD could be compelling, and says “there isn’t that much out there that’s interesting for boys.”

Psychologist Michael Thompson, author of the book It’s A Boy! Understanding Your Son’s Development from Birth to Age 18, puts the fears to rest. He says that Disney isn’t manufacturing a gender divide. Studies show that boys do prefer “their own kind of toys, books and stories, while girls are a bit more flexible. Girls will try Pokémon, but very few boys will try Barbies or My Little Pony,” he says.

In fact, as long as the Disney Channel doesn’t rebrand itself a “girls only” network, male fans of Hannah Montana can continue to watch without harming their budding manly egos. Boys will watch girl-oriented programs, says Thompson, but put a pink label on a show, and it’s like a cooties injection.