I'm sorry, but I cannot resist the pun: turns out we're still all in this together.  High School Musical will stage a return to television screens, with Disney giving the go signal to a fourth installment, back as a Disney Channel Original Movie to hit screens in 2010.

Of course, the original cast are no longer there—Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale and the rest of the gang have graduated, as seen on their movie outing, High School Musical 3: Senior Year.  But, of course, there will be an all new cast, eased in through the movie, and taking center stage this year.  The only plot detail revealed so far is, the latest installment will center on the East High Wildcats' rivalry with the West High Knights across town.  Double the songs, perhaps?  Double the cast members?

Nevertheless, the same team of people will be working on the show, including Peter Barsocchini, who wrote the last three installments and is doing the fourth.  The hope is to see the series become successful despite having a new cast: after all, the first two HSMs were ratings hits for the Disney Channel, and the film grossed $250 million around the world.  There's the case of show merchandise, and there's the case of the success—or notoriety, depending on how you see in—that each of the franchise's stars attained.

But perhaps watching a fourth HSM would feel very different.  No more Troy!  No more Gabriella!  It's like returning to your school years after you've graduated, only to realize that the place's changed entirely.  But that doesn't mean I'll be dismissing the fourth entirely—graduation's got to happen, of course.  Or, College Musical sounds a bit ridiculous.

Onward to 2010, then—and I'm sure we'll all still be in this together.  Enough with the puns, then!




-Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
(Image courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures)