It is no secret that kids love watching TV! Back in the day, kids had to deal with whatever was on television at the time. Saturday morning cartoons were what all the kids were watching. However, today with all of our technological advancements, parents and children can decide together what they want to watch and when they want to watch it. There are multiple streaming platforms out there to choose from, but in this article, we will be focusing on the best kid shows to watch on Disney+.
Smart Guy (1997-1999)
Creator: Danny Kallis
Cast: Tahj Mowry, John Marshall Jones, Jason Weaver, Omar Gooding, Essence Atkins
Even though this show debuted in the late 90s, we still remember the catchy theme song! We also remember the insanely cute Tahj Mowry playing T.J. Henderson, a boy genius. We meet T.J. after he has just skipped six grades, going from a 4th grader to a 10th grader. He attends the same school as his two older siblings, Marcus (Jason Weaver) and Yvette (Essence Atkins), which causes some drama in the family. We follow along as T.J. attempts to fit in with his new peers but struggles because of his lack of maturity.
Liv and Maddie (2013-2017)
Creators: John D. Beck & Ron Hart
Cast: Dove Cameron, Joey Bragg, Tenzing Norgay Trainor, Kali Rocha, Benjamin King
What happens when you have a set of identical twins and one is a celebrity and the other is a normal girl? Find out with the show Liv and Maddie. The creators chose to cast Dove Cameron, who is not a twin, however, she pulls the acting off well. Liv returns home to Wisconsin after four years on a popular TV series that was filmed in Hollywood. The show deals with her adjusting to her normal life at home with her siblings and parents.
Bizaardvark (2016-2019)
Creators: Kyle Stegina and Josh Lehrman
Cast: Madison Hu, Olivia Rodrigo, Jake Paul, DeVore Ledridge, Ethan Wacker
Take the words "bizarre" and "aardvark" and you have Bizaardvark. This is the name of the Vuuugle channel of Frankie Wong and Paige Olvera, who are teen best friends. They post comedic videos and become very popular on the internet. They join Vuuugle studios and create and share with other "Vuuuglers". This is the series that propelled pop star and actress Olivia Rodrigo to fame. She went on to star in another Disney Channel Series on this list, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
Stuck in the Middle (2016-2018)
Creator: Alison Brown
Cast: Jenna Ortega, Ronni Hawk, Isaak Presley, Ariana Greenblatt, Kayla Maisonet
Imagine being in the middle of seven children! That household has got to be a hectic one, and Harley Diaz (Jenna Ortega) deals with it by inventing technology. Harley is part of the Diaz family, who live in the fictional town of Marshport, Massachusetts. It is so nice to have a representation of a girl who is into gadgets, rather than a more "traditional" interest for girls.
Best Friends Whenever (2015-2016)
Creators: Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas
Cast: Landry Bender, Lauren Taylor, Gus Kamp, Ricky Garcia, Benjamin Cole Royer
Bringing some science fiction/fantasy to this list, we have Best Friends Whenever. The premise is that teens Cyd (Landry Bender) and Shelby (Lauren Taylor) live in the same house in Portland, Oregon due to Cyd's parents working in Peru on an archeological dig. Things get interesting when an incident occurs in their neighbor's science lab, and they suddenly can travel through time. To do this they have to be touching and thinking of when they want to go to. When they go to the future, they find themselves in a mysterious lab, and they must discover what it all means.
Evermoor (2014-2017)
Creators: Tim Kompton and Diane Whitley
Cast: Naomi Sequiera, Finney Cassidy, Jordan Loughran, George Sear, Georgie Farmer, Georgia Lock
For kids into something a little darker, we recommend watching the miniseries Evermoor. It is a miniseries that follows a family from America who move to Evermoor Village in England, a place that is cursed. It is uncovered that their house, Evermoor Manor, contains magic. It was picked up for a full series in 2015 and the name was changed to The Evermoor Chronicles.
Girl Meets World (2014-2017)
Creators: Michael Jacobs and April Kelly
Cast: Rowan Blanchard, Ben Savage, Sabrina Carpenter, Peyton Meyer, August Maturo
A spinoff of the classic 90s series Boy Meets World, Girl Meets World shows what happens in the next generation. The original main characters of the show were Cory (Ben Savage) and Topanga (Danielle Fishel) Matthews, who started as kids, but eventually got married and moved to New York. We meet their children, Riley (Rowan Blanchard) and Auggie (August Maturo), in addition to Riley's friends Maya (Sabrina Carpenter), Lucas (Peyton Meyer), and Farkle (Corey Fogelmanis). Similar to the original show, we see their different issues growing up. Anyone who watched the original series will be happy to hear that a number of the original actors reprised their roles.
The Villains of Valley View (2022-)
Creators: Chris Peterson and Bryan Moore
Cast: Isabella Pappas, Malachi Barton, Reed Horstmann, Kayden Muller-Janssen, James Patrick Stuart
The Villains of Valley View focuses on a family of supervillains who go undercover in Valley View, Texas. They move there to escape Onyx (Steve Blum), who is the head of the supervillain group called the League of Villains. The family was once a part of the group in the city of Centropolis, but they had a fight over power dynamics. Now they must hide from superheroes, Onyx, and the authorities as they try to lead a normal life.
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019)
Creator: Tim Federle
Cast: Olivia Rodrigo, Joshua Bassett, Matt Cornett, Sofia Wylie
Based on the hit High School Musical movies, this show follows a group of teenagers at East High as they navigate issues of adolescence. The show is filmed in mockumentary style with characters being interviewed and revealing their inner feelings and thoughts to the audience. It is a light-hearted musical drama with plenty of amazing songs and dances. The series stars Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett, who both have careers in the pop industry and even contributed to some of the songs on the show.
The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (2022-)
Creators: Bruce W. Smith and Ralph Farquhar
Cast: Kyla Pratt, Tommy Davidson, Jo Marie Payton, Paula Jai Parker
The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder premiered on Disney+ in 2022 and is a revival and soft reboot of The Proud Family, an animated TV series that aired between 2001 and 2005 on Disney Channel. The show features a family of colorful characters, centered around a teenage girl, Penny Proud (Kyla Pratt). Like many teens, Penny clashes with her parents as she wants to establish her independence.
Raven's Home (2017-)
Creators: Michael Poryes and Susan Sherman
Cast: Raven-Symoné, Issac Ryan Brown, Navia Robinson, Jason Maybaum, Anneliese van der Pol
Another spinoff, Raven's Home is based on the sitcom That's So Raven, which originally premiered on Disney Channel in 2003. Childhood best friends Raven (Raven-Symoné) and Chelsea (Anneliese van der Pol) are living in an apartment together. They are divorced, and their children live with them in Chicago. Raven's psychic ability has passed on to her son, Booker (Issac Ryan Brown), who throws a curveball at everyone. This is the second spinoff of That's So Raven, with the first being Cory in the House.
Pepper Ann (1997-2000)
Creator: Sue Rose
Cast: Kathleen Wilhoite, Clea Lewis, Danny Cooksey, Pamela Adlon
This cartoon originally aired in the late 90s and early 2000s on ABC. The character of Pepper Ann (Kathleen Wilhoite) was introduced to audiences in a comic strip published in YM magazine. She is a 12-year-old Jewish girl whose emotions are portrayed through fantasy. We follow her and her friends at Hazelnut Middle School as they face different issues of adolescence.
Sydney to the Max (2019-2021)
Creator: Mark Reisman
Cast: Ruth Righi, Ava Kolker, Jackson Dollinger, Christian J. Simon, Ian Reed Kesler
Another series based on a middle-schooler, Sydney to the Max centers on father-daughter pair Sydney (Ruth Righi) and Max (Ian Reed Kessler). This show switches it up, involving two different timelines. One is the present where Sydney and her best friend Olive (Ava Kolker) get into different situations. The second is in 1992, where we see a young Max and his friend Leo (Christian J. Simon), who also go through similar experiences to the girls.
Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. (2021-)
Developed By: Kourtney Kang
Cast: Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, Jason Scott Lee, Ronny Chieng
Based on the television show Doogie Howser by Steven Bochco and David. E. Kelley, this show follows another prodigy. Lahela "Doogie" Kameāloha (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) was given her nickname by people who watched the original show because she is also a young doctor. She is only 16 but has already earned her medical degree from the University of Hawaii. We watch as Doogie learns to juggle her career and her family life, which makes her experience quite a bit more complicated than the normal teenager.
The Muppets Mayhem (2023-)
Developed By: Adam F. Goldberg, Bill Barretta, and Jeff Yorkes
Cast: Lilly Singh, Tahj Mowry, Saara Chaudry, Anders Holm, Dave Goelz
The Muppets Mayhem is a comedy-musical series based on Jim Henson's The Muppets. We see junior record executive Nora (Lilly Singh) as she does business with the band Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. However, making a best-selling record has its challenges, and we see the hilarity that ensues as The Muppets work with Nora to follow their dreams.