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Disney Kidcom Screams Miley Ripoff

By Neal Colgrass, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 7, 2009 7:43 PM CST

(Newser) – Still enthralled with Miley Cyrus, Disney is rolling out a so-so show starring its latest "'Hannah'-mannered" glam-girl, Tom Shales writes in the Washington Post. Sonny With a Chance stars Demi Lovato as a comic on an SNL-ish sketch-comedy show. "Not a bad idea in theory," writes Shales, but it's too bad Disney didn't follow Nickelodeon's iCarly, a "sprightlier" comedy about a girl who is "clever, resourceful and super-brainy."

Other critics are more generous, if unimpressed. "Fluff, sweet and harmless," writes Joan Anderman in the Boston Globe. "Neither quirky nor witty, but rather pure tween archetype." In the LA Times, Robert Lloyd tips his hat to Lovato's pop music stardom—"enmeshed head to toe in the whole Disney star-making machinery"—and praises her "comically mobile face... to the extent that it even matters."

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ctress and singer Demi Lovato performs as she opens for the Jonas Brothers at the MGM Grand Garden Arena November 29, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Getty Images)

Actress Demi Lovato of the television show 'Sonny with a Chance' attends the Disney/ABC press tour at the Universal Hilton Hotel on January 16, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images)

Actress and singer Demi Lovato performs as she opens for the Jonas Brothers at the MGM Grand Garden Arena November 29, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Getty Images)

Actress Demi Lovato arrives at the European TV premiere of 'Camp Rock' at The Royal Festival Hall on September 10, 2008 in London, England. (Getty Images)

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Sonny tries to order fast food in this scene from "Sonny With a Chance." (YouTube)

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'Sonny' limits itself to showbiz references and showbiz values; it dangles fame and fortune in front of children as being the most desirable of life's possible goals, which is just what kids don't need. - Tom Shales, Washington Post

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