The name change came as result of a new set and new format. "With the new season, we're not 'Mouseketeers' anymore, just 'cast members,'" says Marc Worden, 18, who's been with the show for five seasons.
"After seven years, we've all put in a lot of work," he says. "It seemed like a nice way to end the run - the cast has really grown up, and that's pretty much it. We wanted to end on a high note."
When it began in 1989, the Disney Channel's "The Mickey Mouse Club" followed in the footsteps of it's inspiration, the original show that aired from 1955-1959 on ABC. (Another incarnation, "The New Mickey Mouse Club," had a brief 1977-78 run in syndication.)
Like it's 50's predecessor, "We had 'Music Day' on Mondays, 'Guest Day' on Tuesday, 'Anything Can Happen Day' on Wednesdays, and that kind of thing," Worden says. "Eventually, we dropped that, and the format began to change.
"We weren't trying to reproduce the original show, just the feeling of it," he adds. Since the show's debut on the Disney cable channel in 1989, 35 Mouseketeers have graced the screen. The new season offers 21 cast members, including three who've been with the Disney show since the first season: Josh Ackerman, 17; Lindsey Alley, 16; and Jennifer McGill, 17.
Although there's been some turnover of Mouseketeers, "it wasn't intended that way," says Worden. "A bunch left to for (the musical group) The Party, and they went on to tour the world. Others went on to pursue other projects, leaving spaces to be filled." (Keri Russell starred opposite Dudley Moore in the failed CBS sitcom "Daddy's Girls," in a Bon Jovi video, and in an upcoming pilot. Former Mouseketeer Brandy Brown now appears on the NBC soap "Another World.")
Other "MMC" changes this season include the audience being placed in the center of the set in the Disney MGM Studios in Orlando, Fla. Their seats revolve so they can catch the action all around them. "We actually have enough episodes for two seasons," says a spokesperson of the 44 shows shot. Production, however, has stopped.
"We're doing a lot more comedy and a lot more musical numbers this season," says Worden, who moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career when "MMC" shooting ended last November. Worden attributes the show's popularity to "the updated feeling. We were just having a half hour of fun, something that after school kids can escape into their TV for some comedy and music and guest stars."
"MMC" airs Thursdays, with repeats of "The Mickey Mouse Club" beginning May 8 on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays on the Disney Channel. For ages 4 and up.