This new show from Disney Channel used to be named Welcome to Mollywood & Welcome to Holliwood. Now, its called Sonny With a Chance.

This will be Demi Lovato's first TV show on Disney Channel.

Sonny With a Chance is about a 15 yr old girl name Sonny Munroe (played by Demi Lovato) who used to live in Wisconsin & moved to LA because she got casted into a popular sketch comedy show, So Random. Basically, its about Sonny adjusting to her new fame, new friends, & her new life in LA. It will debut on Disney Channel in February 2009.

Here is the first promo of Sonny Has a Chance.

ONTD - Sonny With A Chance

And here is the official website on Disney Channel about Sonny With a Chance.

Disney Channel - Sonny With a Chance

I know nothing about this show (though not much could be worse than Cory In the House), but Sonny's got Jo Polniaczek for a mom so she's at least got that going for her.

The only thing good about Cory in the House is Madison Pettis.

Here are 2 more promos for Sonny With a Chance.

Sonny With a Chance promo #2

Sonny With a Chance #3


Even though I despise Demi Lovato with a passion, I will give this show a chance.

I've see the promos for this show & I know that I'm not going to like Nico (Brandon Smith) & Grady (Doug Brochu).


Here is the of the actress that will be on Sonny With a Chance. She will play Zora Lancaster on the show.

Allisyn Ashley Arm

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of seeing Nancy McKeon again, but does Lovato's schtick always have to be Ms. Innocent Fish out of Water?

ETA: They should have named this show after the sketch show within the show (So Random). I still think the title "Sonny with a Chance" sounds like it should be about a weathergirl.

That made me snicker, but I see your point. I saw bits and pieces of Camp Rock, and she seemed to be awkward/smiling hugely an awful lot, so I guess that's the rationale behind putting her in these kind of roles. Even given that these type of roles are being written for her as would-be-star-vehicles while she's still working on her acting prowess, it would be nice if the overall shows seem more appealing to a broad audience. I'd rather watch a re-make/re-write of Lizzie McGuire with Demi playing a Lizzie-like character (ordinary kid dealing with normal high school pressures, boys, family issues, etc. - not too much of an acting stretch) than watch this new show since the premise sounds incredibly contrived and unrealistic.

To be fair though, I think the days of the normal kid Disney series are over. For whatever reason the people behind these shows seem to think that kids only will be interested if their main characters are famous or if there is some other out there fantasy premise. The premise of this show, though I can't speak to the execution as yet, is no more hokey in theory that that of Hannah Montana, WOWP, Cory In the House and etc. Or even half of the Nick series these days since they too seem to focus on putting kids in fantasy scenarios (Girl as top fashion executive anyone?). Heck, even Lizzie tossed the normal girl premise when they turned her into an international popstar lookalike.

So in that sense, I don't have a problem with the premise of the show. It seems more plausible than kid living in the white house or even in some ways pop star living a dual life without anybody knowing scenario. I also think the idea of a true ensemble work place type comedy for the kid set is actually a good idea. That is what this mostly is advertised as being, especially as the parent role here is only on recurring. It seems the majority of the shenanigans are set based.

Demi's acting on the other hand seems to be cringeworthy at the moment, but I'll leave that alone until I see more than a promo for this thing.

Glad it's not just me. I saw a promo the other day where they're apparently trying to make the title "work" for the show, and they have Demi saying "they say you only get one big chance in life and this one's mine...I'm Sonny with a chance." And, well, it's still dumb. And she still comes across to me as so awkward and uncomfortable when she has to talk directly to a camera. It's the same thing as when she was doing promotional stuff for Camp Rock, and I noticed it when they ran that Camp Rock with the premiere "purple carpet" interview footage this past Friday, she just seems very uncomfortable when looking directly at a camera and talking. I don't know how someone that uncomfortable with going "one on one" with the camera hopes to make it in acting, especially as the lead in her own series. Given the premise of this show, I can easily see instances where she would have to be looking directly into a camera (playing an actress on a show).

I also fear this will just become a vehicle for her singing career, too, being a variety show within a show. We all know how Disney likes to find any excuse to have their stars sing in their shows. (Although, oddly, in HM, they don't have Miley, the character who actually is a singer, breaking into song much, her singing is mostly confined to the pretaped concert footage they (usually) insert into the begining of the show.)

And is she only going to have her mother (Nancy McKeon)? What is Disney's "thing" with single parent families?

It leaves the door open for "special celebrity guest star" dates for Mom or Dad.

And why would her name be spelled Sonny (like a boy's nickname) instead of Sunny? I suppose Sunny with a "u" might make you think of a blonde.

It's supposed to be a nickname for Allison.

Basically, this show is Hannah Montana on All That (and I'm thinking So Random is a reference to that show).

If IMDb and Wikipedia are correct, and Brian Robbins has an Exec. Producer credit on Sonny..., I think that's almost certainly the case.

Of course, "All That" did give us Amanda Bynes, and she didn't even sing, so maybe this is good for Demi.



I thought Robbins was more of a Nick guy as opposed to Disney. Its funny that a majority of Tween programming came from the Male cast members of "Head of the Class" (Dan Schneider, Robbins).

Am I the only one who thinks she didn't look ANYTHING like a popstar in the movie?

Sonny with a Shit seems pretty stupid. I thought Hannah Montana was unrealistic, but this is just ridiculous.

For those of you that don't know, Nancy McKeon a.k.a. Jo from "The Facts of Life", will play Sonny's mom on the show.

I didn't think Lizzie looked like a popstar when Antonio-or-whatever-his-name-was scouted her out. Or when she was prancing around Rome with him. She just looked like Lizzie - an awkward blond middle-schooler. But Hilary dressed as Isabella, with the dark brown hair and heavier make-up, looked about five years older than "Lizzie," and I suppose she was sufficiently popstar-like.

Sonny With a Chance will air its first episode on February 8th.

I just can't get past the title. Sonny is such a stupid name IMO -- it sounds so...old. Like something a grandfather would say ("What did you say, sonny?").

Apologies to anyone on the board who is actually named Sonny!

I think what makes Sonny weird is that I see it as more as a guy spelling. But I do know a guy who is 20 named Sonny.

I also graduated with a girl named Suni. (Pronounced the same as Sonny.)

All bets are off if they introduce a male love interest for her named "Cher."

The newer promos are supposed to make you want to watch this show, right?

DC aired one featuring the young Amanda Bynes type character on the show who's the on-set prankster, bleh! I haven't seen a full episode and she already seems like the most annoying character on the show. I hope her screen time is very limited.

Here is the official theme song for Sonny With A Chance.

Sonny With A Chance theme song - Demi Lovato (So Far So Great)

I thought Selena Gomez singing the theme song for Wizards of Waverly Place was bad. This one is even worse.

When Camp Rock first came out, I thought DL had a powerful (if kinda raw) voice. With experience and polish, I figured she'd soon be a great singer.

Well, she still has a powerful voice. But, if anything, she sounds worse now than she did then. She sounds so cutesy and fake and showy. And still unpolished. Instead of really developing as a singer, she seems to be all about singing as loudly as possible while staying on key. Which she can definitely do. But that doesn't necessarily make for good music.

Is there an instrumental version? Ugh!

The theme song certainly matches up with the snippets of the show we've seen so far...Hit you over the head, loud and annoying.

To me it sounds no worse than any of the other Disney Channel theme songs. Pretty standard issue fare. It's not like the other Disney stars are fab singers either, even Ms. Miley, so I guess I don't see how this is worse. If I didn't know who was singing ahead of time, it's not like I'd be cringing in my chair or running to change the channel--from the theme that is. Jury is still out on the actual show.

Then again I think Selena Gomez sounds perfectly fine on the WOWP theme song too.

This is the company that turned Hil Duff into a singer. Right now the aforementioned are doing just fine by comparison.

It just sounds like she's trying so hard to project and not really focusing on a good singing voice in that song. I think her voice sounds much better when she sings without trying to really belt it out. Like there are parts of the theme song that don't sound as bad, but then it gets to the really "big" parts of the song, and it's just not good.

Me too. I think it's catchy.

Here is a longer preview from Demi's official YouTube. It looks like the guy from the rival show is a love interest for Sonny - it's rare for the main character to have a love interest who's a regular, right? On HM and WOWP they always fall in love with guest stars, and they forget them next episode. I think the guy will be similar to Jake from HM, except maybe less over the top.

The first episode is available here. I...only made it about 6 minutes in. The sexual innuendos...just...why? But wow, Demi's big cheesy toothy smile is out full force. It's very distracting (much more so than the laugh track). The hilarious girls at Tweenage Wasteland
do a great job of describing my problem with Demi :

Really? You made it past Dolphin Boy? Wow, your a stronger person then I.

So I know this might sound mean, but when Demi sings during the theme song she sounds EXACTLY like Robot Chicken's Lindsey Lohan voice, it's uncanny.

I have recently developed a little thing for Demi, so I watched the episode, and it was pretty bad. I'll give it another chance because pilots tend to not be so great, but other than Demi and the black kid there wasn't much I could stand. And even Demi bordered on unbearable.

Is the blonde the same actress who played Brainless Becky on Hannah Montana?

As for Demi's singing, I really enjoy her music. Maybe I just have this thing for gravelly voiced brunette teen pop stars *cough*Miley*cough, but I think her album is great. I started really liking her after watching her La La Land video a few times, she just has this really cute attitude in the video, and her smile is more toned down and less forced. She just looks like she enjoys performing so much. The rest of her album is equally as catchy as La La Land, and I just cannot stop listening to it. Whoever writes her songs is really talented.

I realize I am probably in the minority on my opinion, but whatever. She's cute and totally my type, and I am so not ashamed of admitting it.

That video is actually part of what made me decide she's gotten worse since Camp Rock. During the song, I find myself trying to figure out how someone who has such a good voice, who could be so great, can sound so bad.

By comparison, I don't think Miley's voice is as strong, and she can't do the same kinds of vocal gymnastics. But I think here actual songs sound better overall.

So we have Brian Robbins, who executive produced "All That" executive producing a show about kids working on a comedy show.
Is it too much for me to hope this is a "Grosse Pointe" satire of the year when Amanda Bynes joined the original cast of "All That"?

Maybe I'll just pretend.

Bitterswete, I think Miley's voice sounds good in recordings. Live not so much.

The pilot episode is pretty awful. For their sake, I hope it gets better since pilot episodes are pretty notoriously awful. Main issue is somebody needs to tell the actors to tone it down. A lot. As much as people are on Demi, somebody needs to tell the Tawny actress the same. She is way over the top in a way that just comes off as annoying, not funny. As in I want to claw her eyes out not funny.

While Demi does need to majorly tone it down also, I do see some comic potential in her quieter moments. Somebody just needs to tell her that the over the top faces aren't cute. When she forces it, it doesn't work at all. Can't Selena give her some pointers? Or maybe even her onscreen mother?

Speaking of which, I thought Demi was at her most tolerable opposite Nancy. Poor Jo. I'd ask what she's doing here, but she's got small kids and I'm sure this is easy money for someone who doesn't want to work too much these days.

Weird sexual innuendos to start off a Disney show.

Meh. I'm not exactly their target audience, and I tend to only see things when my sisters are watching them, but this was really really bad even by DC standards, and I do have a soft spot for the "charms" of WOWP and HM. And I do think Selena Gomez could be a real talent. I was hoping this could be in the same vein. And I was quasi interested in watching a show where the main character is famous without having it be a secret.

Demi Lovato needs to tone it down several hundred notches and then she might be barable, but her acting needs serious work. I know acting is never a big priority with these things but it was so blatantly obvious they want to push DL and it doesn't matter how bad she actually is.



Yeah I think that's half my problem whenever I've seen stuff with her in it advertised.



According to IMDb, yes.

Still no doubt it will get great ratings and will step put Demi Lovato's play to become the biggest thing on DC since HM isn't doing so well lated.

Double post.

Wow.

I think that was the most awkward thing I have ever seen on TV in a very long time. At times, it was like the pilot was tailor made for the board's "TV's Most Embarrassing Moments" thread. Between "Dolphin Boy" and the 'Stinger in her butt' joke, I was in disbelief at how many innuendos the show was getting away with.

Demi kept smiling that damn wide smiles that got on my nerves. The blond chick screamed Sharpay Lite (and how lucky that a one-off HM character somehow got a leading spot on a new DC show?) The rest of the cast was nothing to write home about, either.

Hopefully, it would get better as the cast gets more experienced, like Hannah Montana. Otherwise, this will be a must skip on my TV watching.

And unless I'm wrong, the actor who played Lucas, Lilly's cheating boyfriend on Hannah Montana was the actor on the rival show in this episode.

You're right Paul. It is the same actor, but for whatever reason even though he's considered main cast he wasn't in the pilot episode at all.

Not all regulars are in all of the episodes. And this one was focused enough on getting Sonny into her new world and meeting her own cast without shoehorning the rivals into it as well.

If for some reason you don't feel right about watching a "leaked" episode, those of you who have Disney On Demand available through your cable or satellite systems, this episode is available there.

Anyway, I never saw that Jonas Brothers movie, so although I knew who she was and knew her story, I was still unfamiliar with Demi Lovato's prior work. I hope it was better than what I saw in the pilot episode. Granted, with kids shows, the acting is as much showing an ability to be comfortable in front of the camera as anything. And right now, neither she or the rest of the kids on the show showed that trait.

It doesn't help that none of the kids on the show play a likable character. Maybe Demi's character is supposed to be, but when your as far over the top as she is any chance of likability goes out the window. The worse of them is that annoying little twerp who kept hiding in cabinets.

Oh and a word of advice to the people running the show, you might want to avoid showing too much of the "show" within a show. That rarely works for even the best shows, and in this case what we saw in the "show" was painful, making it hard to understand how it could ever be a hit with anyone.

Well, at least Maury Levy from The Wire got himself a new gig. And this is probably the first time I've seen Nancy McKeon in something that wasn't one of those awful Lifetime movies since, well, since The Facts of Life ended.

Ah. That'd be the Jonas Brothers.

I hope the second episode is better too. I think the rival kid has potential. Demi seems to like him.

The second episode is also on YouTube. I will say it is definitely an improvement over the pilot. It does seem this show though is trying to go more of the Nick route in terms of the episodes being as adult-free as possible. I don't think you see one adult throughout the entire show, which is actually a rarity on DC.

You must have missed the Friends' ripoff sitcom she was in with Mariska Hargitay (Can't Hurry Love) in the mid '90s.

Oh good God yes. The skits from So Random are so awful. They should really just stop showing that stuff at all. They can vaguely allude to them, since the show is the whole premise of the series and all, but actually showing the skits? Just...no. Even 30 Rock, which is being handled by people who are good at this stuff, doesn't go to the well too often on actually showing the show within the show. Not that this could ever hope to compare with the perfection that is 30 Rock, but learn from it, it's funnier to allude to some wacky skit than actually show it and disappoint us all with how bad it actually turned out to be. (Or, in this case, should I say "turned out to bee"?)

Now, the cheesy scenes from the teen drama show? That stuff you can show, because it's ripping on the overwrought, bad acting on those types of shows, so it's not supposed to be good dramatic acting. So there's a big difference.

One thing that bugged me after watching the two episodes last night, actually especially after the second one, was: isn't the whole premise that Sonny was asked to come join the show because she's supposed to be so funny and apparently had some web show she was doing that was just so hilarious it got her noticed enough to get asked to move out to Hollywood and join the cast? In the second episode, other than when she finally pulls out the win for her show in the musical chairs thing, she seems so clueless and just like someone who wouldn't even be smart enough to be creative and funny. Not to mention, this is a cast of a comedy sketch show, who seemingly write at least some of their own material, and they can't come up with their own retaliatory practical jokes on the kids from the teen drama show? Instead they're sitting around moaning and whining over a picture of one of them in their boxer shorts online? They have to be the lamest group of "comedians" ever.

Yeah, the So Random sketches were god-awful. All That (at least old-school All That) did it much better. Dolphin Boy has nothing on Walter the Ear Boy!

I noticed that Demi's creepy perma-grin was in full force during the premiere. Can't somebody tell her to turn it off? Did her face freeze that way?

The second episode is definitely better. I thought Sonny and Chad were cute. It looks like they're making him her love interest, which is new for a DC show; don't they usually hire guest stars to play the main character's love interest?

I just realized who Demi Lovato reminded me of, at least in terms of looks. A younger looking version of Carly Pope who is a Canadian actress, she was recently in 24 and was also in the WB show Popular. Am I the only one who thinks so?

Except, you know, I love Carly and I think she's gorgeous and talented while Demi's acting bugs me and she gets on my nerves especially when she starts grinning. Seriously, it gives me nightmares. She needs to stop trying so hard because she's actually kind of pretty but her grin is so distracting.

I watched the third episode, available on Disney On Demand and if the second episode was a step forward (and I think it was), this was a definite step back. It was better than the pilot. But, not much.

And once again the So Random sketch they show us is awful.

I quite liked the third episode. They're cutting back on the sketches, so that's good!

Have you ever seen her perform? With her perfectly timed head tosses and her rock star posing (holding her legs at those awkward angles). You can watch her perform the same song 5 different times and every gesture will be exactly the same. I'm concerned that someone has coached all of the natural out of this girl.

The "fast" food sketch reminded me of something that would have been on All That back in the day.


Zora continues to grate.