Top 10 Darkest Disney Channel Moments

You might not remember, but one issue Disney Channel tackled fairly regularly was disordered eating. An episode midway through the run of “Lizzie McGuire” deals with Lizzie’s friend Miranda and her feelings about her weight. As she and Lizzie prepare to star in a music video that Gordo is directing, Miranda begins to skip meals in an effort to make herself thinner. The episode ends with Lizzie being able to help her friend to feel confident in her own skin, but not before Miranda passes out as a result of her diet.

Trish is one of the funniest and sweetest characters on the Disney Channel show “Austin & Ally.” Making fun of someone is never good, but watching it happen to Trish nearly broke our hearts in half. The episode starts with Trish winning the leading role in the school’s production of “Sleeping Beauty.” But after she learns that people have been making fun of her online, she drops out of the play. The comments that her classmates write about Trish are horrible and even lead to vandalism of her locker at school. The cast gave a PSA on the issues at the end of the episode to round out the theme.

Whether they’re being made to feel too large or too small, nobody should be teased about their looks or bodies. In an episode of “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” called “Health and Fitness,” London and Maddie suffer on opposite ends of the spectrum. When the girls enter a fashion show, a competitor named Francesca claims that Maddie is too skinny and London is too fat. Because of Francesca’s comments, London and Maddie start taking extreme measures to change their bodies. Luckily at the end of the day, the girls are able to learn that they should be proud of what they look like no matter what.

Racism still persists in our world today, but we think it’s safe to say we have it better than we did in the 1930s. In one episode of “A.N.T. Farm,” Chyna learns this too - luckily, while in a dream state. While working on a Black History Month project for school, Chyna has a dream of traveling back in time and living as some of the greatest singers in history. While it might be fun to live like Aretha Franklin or Ella Fitzgerald, it’s not all sunshine and roses. At one point, someone tells Chyna she can’t sit and watch a performance because she is Black, and the show is for white people. It’s a tough reminder of how terrible things used to be.

This series originally ran on ABC but had an afterlife on Disney Channel. Some people turn into someone different when they drink. This is what happens on “Boy Meets World” when Shawn takes his first sip of alcohol. After just one night of drinking, Shawn starts to drink heavily, even during the day. When his brother Jack notices, he tells Shawn to stop because alcohol use disorder runs in their family, but Shawn doesn’t listen. Things get worse and worse, progressing to the point of Shawn shoving his girlfriend Angela into the door in a drunken stupor. Thankfully, Shawn quits drinking and makes amends with everyone, but it’s still quite the shocking turn of events.

Here’s another show that appeared first on broadcast TV before Disney Channel. If the internet has taught us anything, it’s that people are not always who they claim to be. Unfortunately, Tia and Tamera had to learn this the hard way on “Sister, Sister.” When Tia is offered a photoshoot with a guy who claims to be a famous fashion photographer online, she gets nervous at the last minute and doesn’t go. Tamera decides to take her place, but once she gets there realizes that the so-called “photographer” is nothing more than a creep. Tia shows up to save her sister and luckily the girls’ parents get involved too. But it’s a really scary situation for Disney Channel.

Gun violence has become pervasive around schools in the United States, so it makes sense that TV shows might begin to tackle that issue. But we never expected a Disney Channel show to go all out. On an episode of “Andi Mack,” Cyrus starts to hang out with a kid named T.J. But while hanging out with T.J. and his friends, he discovers that T.J. 's friend Reed has a loaded gun. He brought it along to the hangout to shoot watermelons. The rest of the episode shows Cyrus as he struggles with what to do with this information.

Raven’s visions can reveal both great things and not so great things. This revelation definitely falls into the latter category. In an episode called “True Colors,” Raven and Chelsea apply for the same job at the mall. Chelsea thinks her interview goes poorly, but Raven feels confident about her chances. So she’s shocked when Chelsea gets the job over her. But then she has a vision of the manager of the store saying that she doesn’t hire Black people. Raven struggles with how to handle the situation, but ends up being able to expose the store and the manager for their discriminatory practices.

Much like its predecessor “Boy Meets World,” “Girl Meets World” took on a lot of sensitive subjects. In one episode, a character even talks deeply about his family’s connections with The Holocaust. But the episode “Girl Meets Rileytown” covers the subject of kids being mean to each other in a nuanced and careful way. When Maya makes an off-handed comment about Riley’s recent strange behavior, Riley starts to lash out. It becomes clear that someone at school is being cruel to Riley, and Maya’s innocent comment touched on that. The episode includes some sensitive conversations about the topic and ends with Riley overcoming the person being mean to her.

Here’s one more network series that reran on Disney Channel. We’ve seen that Disney will go pretty far into dark topics, but this one is on another level. In this episode of “Smart Guy,” TJ’s cousin Karen tells him that she met a kid in an online chatroom selling a copy of a video game called “Starship Doctor” for a cheap price. However, the kids realize that “Mark,” as he calls himself, is actually an adult. It becomes clear to the audience that this grown man has some nefarious ideas about what he actually wants from TJ and Karen. The kids come out unscathed, but it’s an incredibly dark place for a children’s television show to go.

If we missed any dark Disney moments, let us know in the comments below.