A lot of Disney Channel shows many of us grew up watching actually handled serious topics pretty well. In fact, some even addressed issues that weren't as openly discussed in the '00s and '10s as they are now, such as mental health and gender norms.
On the other hand, however, some of the jokes and storylines from these shows aged, well, like milk left out in the sun.
Here are 11 Disney Channel moments that were progressive for their time:
Warning: Some entries mention eating disorders.
1. On That's So Raven, when a store manager refused to hire Raven because she was Black, Raven and Chelsea worked together to expose her racist hiring practices.
2. On the original run of The Proud Family, Penny did a local student exchange with a Pakistani Muslim family and learned about their cultural and religious practices.
3. On Recess, Ms. Grotke taught her history class students about the importance of recognizing whose perspective their textbooks were written from.
4. Good Luck Charlie featured the first same-sex couple on Disney Channel when Amy invited Charlie's friend and her parents over for a playdate.
5. When a magazine digitally edited Raven's picture to make her look thinner on That's So Raven, a fellow fashion designer inspired her to not let unfair beauty standards hold her back from pursuing her dreams.
6. On The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, both London and Maddie dealt with eating disorders, but after realizing how harmful their behaviors were, they agreed to look out for each other.
7. On an episode of Lizzie McGuire, Miranda dealt with an eating disorder to the point of fainting. As Lizzie and Gordo helped her work through her negative thought patterns, she opened up about how there were other contributing factors beyond a desire to lose weight.
8. On Shake It Up, Cece got real about the insecurity she faced because of her dyslexia — but Rocky helped her through it.
9. On The Suite Life on Deck, London visited her grandmother in Thailand. After trying to get her grandmother to adopt a Western style of living, she learned about the importance of accepting cultural differences.
10. On an episode of Lloyd in Space, Lloyd met Zoit, an alien whose species choose their gender for themselves on their 13th birthdays. When their birthday arrived, Zoit informed their friends that their decision was no one's business.
11. And on Liv and Maddie, the girls and their friends protested against a rating system a boy created for them based on their physical appearances.
And now, here are 11 Disney Channel moments that never should've aired:
12. On Girl Meets World, Josh (who was already in college) told Maya (who was barely in high school) that he liked her and wanted to wait for her — while he was chaperoning her school trip.
13. Then, on a later episode, Zay (who was Maya's age) basically asked Josh for permission to date her during high school.
14. On Jessie, the Ross kids bullied a kid with a gluten allergy by throwing bread at him. The episode was pulled after backlash.
15. Also on Jessie, Luke had a crush on his family's live-in nanny and set up a camera in her bedroom.
16. On The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Zack and Cody accidentally busted a hole in the wall of the hotel, but when they realized they could see into the room of the girls' soccer team staying on the other side, they made more holes so their friends could spy with them.
17. On Jessie, Ravi's characterization was often based on stereotypes of Indian culture — which led to awful jokes like this.
18. On Hannah Montana, Jackson constantly sexualized his love interest, Siena, because she was a bikini model.
19. On Wizards of Waverly Place, Zeke seemed to experience a panic attack when he found out Alex's boyfriend was a werewolf — and their only solution to help him calm down was for Harper to kiss him.
20. On The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Arwin kept a cardboard cutout of the boys' mom in his office and used it to practice asking her out.
21. A So Random sketch about a model included an eating disorder joke. The network pulled the episode after Demi Lovato — who'd exited the show in part to seek treatment for an eating disorder — called them out on it.
22. And finally, around the same time that episode aired, an episode of Shake It Up included a model making an eating disorder joke. It was also pulled after Demi's callout.
