Journalist Ashley Spencer’s new book Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel’s Tween Empire is shining a light on what allegedly went on behind the scenes of Disney’s hit show That’s So Raven, which starred Raven-Symoné.
The beloved sitcom centered around Raven Baxter, a psychic high school student, and her best friends Eddie and Chelsea. Fans of the show often cite the episode titled “That’s So Not Raven” as one of the most memorable because it centers around body positivity. Raven’s participation in a modeling competition leads to her experimenting with extreme diets before realizing her body is fine the way it is. However, an unnamed executive requested for Raven’s body to appear smaller, according to Spencer’s book.
“It was shameful,” producer Michael Feldman told E! News. “I don’t know how they could look at themselves and do that. The very thing that she wanted to do a story about was literally done to her. It’s still a shocking thing to me that they were that tone-deaf.”
Disney Channel’s former head of original programming Adam Bonnett specifically referenced a “school dance episode” in which the same postproduction tool was used to “make Raven[‘s attire] look more flattering in certain scenes.”
He added that it was “not something I would have asked for.”
Despite the unflattering allegations against the show, That’s So Raven made history as Raven was the youngest Black woman to have a show named after her.
“It didn’t impact me as much then as it does now because I was 15,” she told Entertainment Weekly in 2023. “I was like, cool, I got my own show. It means so much now because I understand the [gravity] of what it means and the caliber of humans that I am in the pool with. I think it was kind of a good thing that I didn’t let it go to my head. It was just about working and wanting to create great content at the time.”
That’s So Raven, which ran for four seasons, was nominated for two Emmys. A decade later in 2017, a spin-off show Raven’s Home premiered on Disney. As Blavity’s Shadow and Act reported, Raven’s Home came to an end after six seasons, but it’s already getting its own spin-off that will be part of Raven’s new deal with Disney Branded Television.
According to the logline, “The new series picks up when Alice (Harris), Raven’s young cousin, returns to England and reunites with Duchess Clementine (also portrayed by Harris), a young royal who looks exactly like her. In the process, Clementine gets a taste of the fun side of “normal” life, while Alice gets a taste of the finer side of ‘regal’ life.”
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