It's not often that I can impress my almost-8-year-old daughter and my husband at the same time.

Getting us tickets to Miley Cyrus' private 16th birthday party at Disneyland on Sunday, however, qualified as extremely cool in both of their books.

"Miley's Sweet 16" was a party of epic proportions that took over most of Frontierland and New Orleans square. It also marked an invasion of pre-teen, tween and teenage girls hopped up on adrenaline, Beatlemania-level fandemonium (based on the decibel-level of screaming our ears absorbed tonight) and the cupcakes with two inches of lavender icing on the cupcakes that were handed out to each guest in honor of the occasion.

The event included all kinds of Miley-themed special installations for the night, of course. The Golden Horseshoe was transformed into the site of the "Hannah Montana Dance Party." The courtyard adjacent to the Haunted Mansion (which has just lifted the veil on its annual "Nightmare Before Christmas" holiday-themed makeover as Haunted Mansion Holiday) turned into the "Miley Game Zone" full of vidgame installations, plus there were other crowd-pleasing amusements like a photo booth and "Hannah Montana Makeover Zone" offering girls the rock-star hair and makeup treatment.

Miley and her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, performed a mini-concert on a stage set up on Tom Sawyer Island, which made for great visuals (projecting over the Rivers of America) for the crowd that gathered in New Orleans Square for the show. The event also doubled as a promotional booster for non-profit org Youth Service America, which aims to encourage volunteerism among the "Hannah Montana" demo. Disney head honcho Robert Iger came out between Miley tunes to deliver a $1 million donation from Disney to Youth Service America. ("Isn't this something," Iger said of the scene when we ran into him later.)

Hmmm, maybe Disney is finally getting serious about mounting a Muppets revival. I hope so.

Mouse House will inject a big dose of Disney Channel star power -- Miley Cyrus level star power -- into our favorite fuzzy puppet troupe next month with the spesh "Studio DC: Almost Live."

It's described as "a music-filled sketch comedy show with classic Muppets backstage antics." Sounds like a trial balloon for a new spin on "The Muppet Show."

Miley is set to jam with Muppet house band the Electric Mayhem (Maybe she'll do "Piece of My Heart"? Maybe not). Ashley Tisdale duets with Kermit on "High School Musical" number "Bop to the Top," and Miss Piggy tries to nose her way in to the epicenter of teen pop stardom by casting herself as the Jonas "sister" and performing with the red-hot Jonas Brothers.

Sounds like this could be a lot of fun if written and directed in the tradition of the "Muppet Show's" cheeky-spoofy-silly tone. (Which is a high standard to meet.)

"Studio DC" is hosted by Dylan and Cole Sprouse of "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody." Seems a little funny that Fozzie Bear, Kermit or Gonzo the Great wouldn't be at least a co-host...but I'll reserve judgment until I see the spesh, which bows Aug. 3.

It is exec produced by Mouse's appointed Muppet master, Martin Baker.

That low rumble you're hearing across the land on Friday is the sound of tween and pre-tween girls camping out in front of their TV sets and getting ready to swoon and shout for the latest Disney Channel's musical telepic franchise, "Camp Rock."

"Camp Rock" has an virtually impossible act to follow in "High School Musical 2," the telepic that set a basic cable viewing record last August with 17 million-plus tuning in. But "Camp Rock" has a fighting chance in that it is fortified with the Jonas Brothers, the red-hot cute-brothers band that has been raking it in the past few months on tour in the U.S. and Europe, and with hit records released, of course, by Disney's Hollywood Records.

The aptly timed movie set in a summer camp revolves around the leader of a boy rock band who is sent to camp by his band mates for a dose of "bratty boy rehab," explains Disney Channel entertainment prexy Gary Marsh.

"Camp Rock" is different from "High School Musical" in that the tunes are more directly embedded into the storytelling to enhance the plot and characters, as opposed to the more song-and-dance number approach of Troy and his crew, Marsh says.

Project was in development for some time before the Jonas Brothers became attached. Disney brass initially sought to cast the mega-heartthrob Jonas sibling Joe in the lead role. But in a scene right out of, well, a Disney Channel telepic, Joe told the Mouse House execs that he'd only do it if they crafted parts for his siblings Nick and Kevin as well. That wasn't hard to accommodate, Marsh says.

Wonder why the Internet seems to be moving slower and slower these days? Maybe it's because of all the  18-34-year-olds out there hogging all the bandwidth.

Internet ratings provider has comScore let loose some eye-opening stats about Internet vid consumption. For starters, comScore estimates that U.S. consumers watched 11 billion Internet vids in April, running an average of 2.8 minutes a pop. The average Web surfer watched 228 minutes of video online during the month, with 18-34-year-olds being the heaviest-viewing demo at an average of 287 minutes. More than 70% of U.S. online users watched some online vid during the month. YouTube alone accounted for 4.1 billion, or 38%, of those 11 billion vids viewed, which breaks down to 49.8 vids for each of its 82.1 million viewers. MySpace ranked No. 2 with 481 million vids served up to 46 million viewers...

... The Disney Channel may help pull some of those people away from their computer screens next month with the smallscreen debut of its 3-D theatrical sensation "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds" concert pic. Mouse House will hand out free 3-D glasses at Wal-Mart Stores (while supplies last, which probably won't be long) starting July 5 in preparation for the pic's July 26 premiere on Disney Channel. There's also a brand-new "Hannah Montana" seg set to bow July 20 to whip up more enthusiasm for the concert pic. I'm thinking the "Best of Both Worlds" telecast is gonna be huge for Disney Channel -- maybe not "High School Musical 2" 17 million-plus viewers big, but I wouldn't be surprised if it comes close. Ask anyone who's done a blog post on "Hannah Montana" -- it's the gift that keeps on giving, traffic-wise....

If you dream of becoming a television writer, buff up the resume and click here because applications are now being accepted for the 2009 Writing Fellowship Program run by the Disney-ABC Television Group, Walt Disney Studios and Writers Guild of America West.

The fellowship is an intense year-long paid program that gives a handful of promising scribes the chance to jumpstart their careers through seminars and workshop, one-on-one mentor assignments with Disney and ABC creative execs and the ability to observe first hand how the sausage is made on ABC, Disney Channel or ABC Family shows, among others.

Alumni of this program, heading into its 19th year, have famously done well for themselves. Success stories from this year's program, which isn't even over yet, include Erika Johnson, who landed on "Ugly Betty"; Leyani Diaz, who joined the staff of "Brothers and Sisters"; and Matthew Whitney, who can now be found in the writers' room on ABC Family's "Greek."

I've spoken with a number of fellowship alums over the years, and there is no doubt that it is an incredible experience for those who are lucky enough to land a slot. Disney deserves a tip of the pen for its commitment to the Writing Fellowship and similar program for helmers that the Mouse House runs with the Directors Guild of America.

Applications for the Writing Fellowship will be accepted via this website through Aug. 8. So get out that spec script you've been harboring on your hard drive and get cracking.

Call it pay TV, only in a theater. The much-loved Showtime/public radio skein "This American Life," hosted by Ira Glass, will mount a live show on May 1 at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts that will be beamed out via high-def satcast to more than 300 theaters that are part of National CineMedia Fathom digital network. Event promises to show behind-the-scenes clips, outtakes, and a live audience Q&A with Glass, and it will help tubthump the sophomore season bow of the TV rendition on May 4. For tix or more info click here....

Good news today for Aardman Animations nuts. Disney Channel has licensed a preschooler skein from Aardman, "Timmy," about a cuddly 3-year-old lamb "with a lot to learn." He's based on designs by the great Aardman animator Nick Park, and a character already known to fans of Aardman's "Shaun the Sheep" series. Disney calls "Timmy" to be Aardman's first foray into wee kidvid territory (which seems surprising), but I'm guessing it'll still have those subtle-wacky touches that we love so much in Aardman's "Wallace and Gromit" (Timmy first appeared in the "Wallace and Gromit" short "Wallace and Gromit" in a Close Shave") and "Creature Comforts" et al ....

Speaking of kidvid, those of us who were raised on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" will be wishing we could be in Pittsburgh on Thursday for the preem of "Speedy Delivery," a docu on the long-running PBS series by helmer-producer Paul Germain. Pic is described as a retrospective on the show through the eyes of David "Mr. McFeely" Newell (pictured left), who played the 'hood's Speedy Delivery postman from the show's inception in 1968. Hard to believe that Fred Rogers, the Presbyterian minister who saw television as his pulpit to spread the gospel of healthy child-rearing (never forget that "Mister Rogers'" is as much designed to teach moms and dads how to cope as it is to entertain kids) has been gone for more than five years. Thankfully, his gentle soul lives on in those 900 segs that should run forever. For more info on "Speedy Delivery," check out the doc's website right here. (Just thinking about "Mister Rogers'" makes me want to put on a sweater and change my shoes.)

How hot is Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana" and its sweet-faced star Miley Cyrus? So smokin' that Disney Channel execs have been inundated with celeb requests to bring their children to tonight's (Friday) taping of the show's last episode before it goes on a hiatus while Cyrus hits the road for a concert tour. (The "Hannah Montana 2 Soundtrack/Meet Miley Cyrus" disc was among this summer's chart toppers). I'm told that Sylvester Stallone brought some of his yungins to the show's set at Tribune Studios in Hollywood on Thursday to watch "Hannah" in action.

Among those expected to be in the bleachers at the show's live taping tonight (Friday) evening are actress Leslie Mann and her daughters, Iris and Maude Apatow, who memorably made their film debuts this summer alongside mom in dad Judd Apatow's hit comedy "Knocked Up."

"The VIP requests for this show have been piling up all year," sez a Disney exec.

(Pictured above: Miley Cyrus and her dad and "Hannah" co-star, Billy Ray Cyrus, get cuddly with Minnie Mouse at last month's "High School Musical 2" preem at Disneyland. Pic by Gregg DeGuire/WireImage.com)

We knew going in that Disney Channel's "High School Musical 2" was going to be the Super Bowl for kids this year. And in landing as the most-watched single telecast in the history of the medium among kids 6-11, it's fair to say that Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay and the rest of the East High gang didn't disappoint.

This time around, there were were nearly 10% more boys and a whole lot more adults tuning in to the tuner. Among the 6.1 million kids in the 6-11 age range, the gender breakdown for the Friday premiere airing was 62% girls, 38% boys, compared to a 70-30 split for "High School Musical," which became a not-so-sleeper hit early last year. This past Friday night, two out of three kids who were watching TV were tuned to "HSM2." In the girls 6-11, the audience share was an astounding 80, translating to four out of five girls in the vicinity of a TV set, as Variety's Rick Kissell reports in his detailed look at "HSM2's" perf. (And just wait until the Live-Plus-7 numbers accounting for a week's worth of DVR playback viewing roll in next week...)

But of all the impressive stats generated by the sequel, the sweetest number for Disney Channel stewards may be the fact that one-third of the telepic's aud was comprised of adults 18 and over. The number of young adults (18-34s) and older-younger adults (18-49s) who watched stand as empirical evidence for Disney Channel programming execs that their master plan is working. For a network oriented around grade-schoolers, engaging the attention of voting-age viewers is a coup. Getting kids and moms and dads to all sit still at the same time and gather round the electronic hearth as in the days of yesteryear and three networks (NBC, CBS and DuMont) is an absolute slam dunk in our frantically fragmented age, even even for a commercial-free cabler that isn't worried about selling soap.

Humongous. Gi-normous. Cable record-setting. The Friday preem of Disney Channel's "High School Musical 2" brought in an astounding 17.24 million viewers (17,240,884 to be exact) in its Friday 8-10:05 p.m. ET/PT preem. Take a bow, Disney Channel entertainment prexy Gary Marsh (pictured below), Rich Ross and the rest of the exec team that backed the notion of a kid-friendly tuner last year when most of us were going, huh?For the kids of today -- singing and dancing, Mickey and Judy style? Just goes to prove the industry cliche about zigging when others are zagging....and finding talent, good-looking comers a la Zac Efron to showcase.

"HSM2" tuner now ranks as the most-watched TV movie ever with kids 6-11, drawing 6.1 million viewers in that demo, and the most-watched ever with tweeners 9-14, drawing 5.9 million viewers in that demo, according to Disney Channel. In total households, pic drew a massive 9.4 million cable homes, putting the telecast behind only a handful of sports and news telecasts in cable history in total households deliver. The high total viewer tally also indicates that pic was a family viewing event in most of those 9.4 million households. And as Disney Channel's hard-working PR maven Patti McTeague observed this a.m., who knows how many were really watching given all the viewing parties set around "HSM2" last night.

Disney Channel followed "HSM2" with a sneak peek of the upcoming animated series "Phineas and Ferb," which held onto a healthy 10.8 million viewers from its windfall lead-in. And at 10:20 p.m., a fresh seg of Disney Channel hit "Hannah Montana" was socko enough to rank as Disney Channel's second most-watched telecast ever, with an average of 10.7 million viewers. "Hannah" also set all kinds of series records for Disney Channel and the basic cable biz in general, including most-watched seg with kids 6-11 (4.1 million), and most-watched seg with the 9-14 crowd (4.2 million).

Can't you just feel the anticipation? As of this posting it's about 20 minutes and counting to the East Coast preem of "High School Musical 2" on Disney Channel. As any parent of a kid in the 6-16 demo range knows, the return of Troy, Sharpay, Gabriella, Chad and the rest of the East High gang is a big freakin' deal. I for one was begged for a "HMS" shoulder bag emblazoned with "Troy Rocks!" and Zac Efron's smiling face this past weekend during back-to-school shopping with my 6 1/2-year-old. (Her plaintive cry of "PLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEAAAAAAAASSSSSEEEE!!" echoed through the Target on La Cienega).

Disney Channel is promising to tabulate ratings for the premiere 8 p.m. ET/PT airing of the Super Bowl of tween-dom, so check back here tomorrow for what will undoubtedly be some wildly impressive stats.

You gotta give Disney credit. Mouse House is leaving no synergy stone unturned in its pre-launch tub-thumping for "High School Musical 2." Telepic's soundtrack will debut on Saturday on its Radio Disney service, a week before the really big shew bows on Disney Channel, to the orgasmic delight of teen and tween girls across this great land. Tunesmiths from the first "HSM" have delivered a bunch of new songs for Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale (pictured left), Corbin Bleu and Co. to warble in the hopes that they'll become as synonymous with the sequel as "We're All in This Together" and "Start of Something New" are to the first tuner.

The hits-in-waiting in the sequel, which preems Aug. 17 are expected to include the opening anthem, "What Time is It," a love-letter to summer vacation penned by Matthew Gerrard Robbie Nevil; and "Fabulous," a Sharpay tune by David Lawrence and Faye Greenberg that is set to what's described as a Busby Berkeley-esque production number.

Thanks to the magic of digital distribution, Radio Disney is now widely available via the Web, at RadioDisney.com, on XM and Sirius satellite radio services as well as iTunes. And it's even available in a buncha big cities the old-fashioned way on more than terrestrial radio outlets in the U.S. and South America. A decade ago, when Disney transformed some of the radio stations it acquired in its Capital Cities/ABC purchase, I was sure the concept of "Radio Disney" was going to be a huge flop, given that kids don't grow up hugging transistor radios anymore. Shows how much I know.

Disneyland is prepping for an invasion of Zac Efron groupies. Disney Channel has set Aug. 14 as the premiere party for "High School Musical 2," to be held at the AMC theater in the Downtown Disney complex that abuts the happiest place on earth. (No matter how many times I go to the park I still choke up a bit at the plaque with the quote from Walt: "Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America.") It'll be followed by an invitation-only party by the pool at the complex's Grand Californian hotel. All the hoopla for "HSM2" marks the first-ever telepic premiere for Disney Channel at Disneyland, which is still recovering from the buccaneers bacchanal it hosted in May for the "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" preem. (Don't forget, details of Disney Channel's plans for "HSM2" bow on Aug. 17 appeared here two long TCA-filled weeks ago, thanks to Variety's hard-working Steven Zeitchik.) And of course, a new live "HSM2: School's Out!" stage show "springs to life," according to Disney's PR missive, at the California Adventure park starting Aug. 18.

POSTED BY STEVEN ZEITCHIK

Disney Channel took the wraps off the sequel to its money-minting--er, extraordinarily monetizable-- "High School Musical" at TCA Saturday morning.

The franchise has become a machine for the Mouse, between the various television/album/homevideo/legit/flamethrower extensions. How the net will position and promote the August 17 sequel--with cozy star-studded backyard barbecue (telecast, of course), pre-debut debuts of music videos online, and even a parent-aimed docu from Barbara Kopple (!) centering on a high-school stage production of the original--is the more fundamental question.

After all, the phenom was one of the biggest factors on Disney's bottom line in 2005 and 2006. And a sequel--especially for a television movie--is a notoriously tricky thing. Will the tens of millions of teens from Tuscon to Tuscaloosa (not to mention Brazil and Australia) go for a whole new set of numbers and storylines when they're so attached to the old ones? (Writer Peter Barsocchini said in an interview that he and other creators were especially careful not to "remake a single one of the elements" from HSM1.)

But most journos at the session were interested in the stars, lobbing fungo balls to the group about its projects and personal lives. The post-session chitchat offered the odd specter of dozens of, um, out-of-the-demo critics mobbing the cast; at least twenty crushed in on lead Zac Efron (pictured with HSM2 costar Vanessa Hudgens), shoving their tape recorders in his face the way a teenage girl might her camera-phone.

Execs, for their part, were coy about a potential theatrical, saying that a script was being written and that there was negotiation with the stars and...they couldn't say anything else. A movie based on a blockbuster property owned by the company? From Disney? The HSM cast wouldn't even need to say duh.

--Steven Zeitchik