Having watched my teenage years pass in a wash of Commodore 64 games, I am confounded by the popularity of certain television shows. I barely understood MASH and cringed at All in the Family. And I have to admit that the entire High School Movie, Disney Channel thing managed to sneak past me while I was hold up, trying to comprehend HTML and CSS. But as my cable surfing threatened to veer towards the Chinese opera station, I managed to stumble upon a rerun of High School Musical.

Did I think I was too good for this film? You bet I did. At the time, as my mouth contorted into a sneer, I thought I was superior to anything the Disney Channel had to offer. I think it was precisely because of this superiority that I allowed my thumb to rest and my eyes to watch. Soon, despite my college education and post-graduate work, I found myself chuckling. Like an intellectual hare, I dallied and was soon taken over by the tortoise of campy, dancing fun.

Few made-for-TV movies have enjoyed the success of High School Musical. Of course, there was the Shogun mini-series, and the Wings of Eagles, but those were events — High School Musical was a phenomenon. In fact, when the DVD boxed set, interestingly called High School Musical: Remix was released, it sold 1.2 million copies in just six days. This made it the fastest selling television movie in history.

If nothing else, Disney does deliver entertainment. Without fail, they always manage to produce some film or television series that strikes a chord. So much so that the High School franchise went on to spawn three sequels! It was one of a handful of television shows that made the leap from the small screen to the big screen, rather than the other way around.

Yes, this is a middle-aged man getting excited about a new High School Movie installment. Let’s just say I wish I could have enjoyed my high school days the way the characters do. You don’t learn HTML and CSS if you’re busy dancing and singing. The success of the franchise has prompted Disney to begin pre-production on a new installment. The new film is slated for a 2010 releases and has been tentatively entitled High School Musical: east Meets West. It should be fun — like all the others.

Quit judging me! Order your High School Movie: Remix box set and see for yourself. Then we’ll see who gets the last laugh.