Family TV Round-Up: 2010 Ratings for Disney Channels, More SpongeBob for Nickelodeon and More

Welcome to the Family TV Round-Up, a recap of all kid-friendly programming across the television universe. We'll sum up all the news related to children's programming, as well as profile the people and shows that your kids, tweens and teens are talking about.

We start this week with some year-end ratings news from the Disney family of cable channels. According to a recent press release, the company reported that ABC Family, Disney Channel and DisneyXD had the most watched years across many of their age brackets.

For ABC Family, rankings were up for women and adults 18-49. Last year also marked the highest fourth quarter and December ratings in the network's history thanks to the annual '25 Days of Christmas' and original movies like 'Christmas Cupid.'
2010 marked the most watched year across all dayparts in the history of the Disney Channel with a average viewership of 2 million viewers. The year also marked a highpoint for DisneyXD, which featured its highest viewership ever -- including its time at ToonDisney. It reached a total of 270,000 viewers for Total Day watching and 325,000 for Primetime viewing.

Whether or not these outlets can continue their ratings success is unknown at this point. For ABC Family the chances of success are better since the recent renewal and continued strength of female-oriented shows like 'Secret Life of the American Teenager' and 'Pretty Little Liars.' DisneyXD also has a chance of continued success with shows like 'I'm in the Band' and the new 'Kickin It,' starring Jason Earles, as well as their partnership with Marvel Studios, which is helping produce shows like 'Ultimate Spider-Man.'

Disney Channel, on the other hand, may have some trouble maintaining their presence. With both 'Hannah Montana Forever' and 'Wizards of Waverly Place' ending their runs this year and Demi Lovato's future uncertain on 'Sonny With a Chance,' the network will no longer have such a high profile in primetime. Throw in the 'Playhouse Disney' metamorphosis to 'Disney Junior,' which will take some favorite preschool shows off the schedule, and there is an edge of uncertainty. Needless to say, 2011 will be an interesting year for the Disney flagship.

In other news...

-- It's another year of SpongePants greatness at Nickelodeon. Earlier in the month the network renewed 'SpongeBob SquarePants' for a ninth season -- a rarity for a animated program not airing in primetime. The season will be comprised of 26 episodes that will air in 2012. Among those will be the show's 200th episode. Look for some corresponding special events as that installment of the series airs.

-- Fans of the early days of television animation should rejoice at the news of the latest 'Rocky & Bullwinkle' DVD release. 'Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: The Complete Series' was released early this year by Classic Media and Bullwinkle Studios. The 18-disc set contains all 163 episodes of the series, which ran from 1959 to 1961. In addition to Rocky & Bullwinkle's adventures the set also features segments featuring Boris & Natasha, Peabody's Improbable History and Dudley Do-Right. The cost of the total package: about $100.

-- DisneyXD will premiere the second season premiere of 'I'm in the Band' on Monday, January 17 with an hour-long episode starting at 7PM.

-- This Sunday marks the series finale of 'Hannah Montana Forever' on Disney Channel. The program will air at 8PM.

-- 'Power Rangers: Samurai' will premiere on Nickelodeon at 8PM on Mon., Feb. 7. After that, the show will air regularly at noon on Sundays with reruns on Saturdays at noon. It will also air on NickToons from 8 to 9AM on Fridays.