USU students react to High School Musical TV series
Many Utah State University students are feeling less than fabulous after hearing about Disney’s new web TV series, “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.”
The series is based on the three original High School Musical films and will feature new main characters. It will broadcast on Disney’s new streaming platform, Disney+. Both the series and the streaming service are scheduled to be released in the United States on Nov. 12, but USU students are pining for the original movies.
“If it’s not Zac Efron I don’t want it,” said Mykel Hooley, a junior at USU who grew up with the High School Musical franchise, which included the actor as a small-town star athlete named Troy Bolton.
Lauren Vincent and Allison McMurry, two USU freshmen, feel the original High School Musical trilogy was a big part of their — and most university students’ — childhoods and have no desire to see the new series.
“I just feel like they can’t do it as good as it was, and all new Disney Channel shows are dumb,” Vincent said.
According to Vincent, the reason for the student body’s frustration was because they like the old movies.
“How could you take different characters and make them like the original? Why would you take something that’s already good and make it again?” she said.
“I see where they’re trying to go. They want to make High School Musical more for the kids now,” McMurry said. “But they should leave it alone unless it’s a reunion with the original actors.”
Hailey Hunt, another USU student who loved the original movies as a child, defended the new series by arguing that it’s giving the next generation of kids a chance to experience High School Musical.
Logan residents may have been particularly defensive about the series because the original movies were filmed at East High School, located an hour and a half from USU.