Once again, pictures of an almost dressed Miley Cyrus have been leaked to the public.  Angry parents are now refusing to buy their confused little girls "Hannah Montana" products as a way of showing their disapproval of its' star, a 15 year old girl they no longer consider a good role model.

Disney Channel has been setting itself up for disaster for years, but they don't seem to be getting the message.  It is generally a bad idea for a children's network to center a TV show entirely around one title character.  The show could be a huge hit, but any number of things could go wrong for its ONE star, and the whole show can fall apart.  If Nickelodeon hadn't already planned on this past season of Zoey 101 being its last, it would have been anyway.  Its title character's portrayer, Jamie-Lynn Spears, made sure of that when she got pregnant at the age of 15.  Disney and Nickelodeon should be learning lessons from this kind of thing.  

But Disney Channel has taken further steps in the wrong direction, with shows like "That's So Raven" and "Hannah Montana" - where the characters share a first name with the actresses that portray them.  (On the show, Hannah Montana is the pop star alter ego of a girl named Miley.)  Sharing a name with her character will forever tie Miley Cyrus' name to her show.  Granted, "Hannah Montana" is probably not in any real trouble, as the "worst" of the Miley Cyrus pictures (so far) has been a wet t-shirt picture - and there are certainly worse things.  Truthfully, if Miley were one member of an ensemble cast, rather than the one and only star of a show, a wet t-shirt photo probably wouldn't spark any controversy at all.

Nude photos of High School Musical star, Vanessa Hudgens surfaced a few months after the movie premiered.  This didn't seem to put any kind of damper on the success of HSM, prevent sequels from being made, or even cause Disney to feel the need to keep her out of said sequels.  In fact, Hudgens is heavily featured in the previews for the much anticipated third installment of High School Musical.  So, to recap... mothers are boycotting Hannah Montana products over wet t-shirt pictures and NOTHING happened after nude pictures of Vanessa Hudgens surfaced.  I have to think that reactions would have been different if Vanessa Hudgens played the title character of a show or movie rather than one part of an ensemble cast - how else can this discrepancy be explained?  The only other major difference is their ages - Vanessa Hudgens was a legal adult when her photos surfaced.  Some may argue this made her photos less objectionable, but on the other hand, as an adult, shouldn't Hudgens have known better?  Regardless of the reason, people did react differently - further proving it's always a better idea to have an ensemble cast than one title character.  

No single 15 year old should be as rich and famous as Miley Cyrus is.  No one should be able to dry themselves off with Miley Cyrus'  larger-than-life-size face on their Hannah Montana towels.  It's just wrong.  In an ensemble cast, any one actor is fairly replaceable if necessary - the success of the show does not rely on any one actor.  This is especially true of shows aimed at fickle kids and teens.  From "Beverly Hills, 90210" to "Degrassi: The Next Generation" (on for 10 seasons / 8 and counting, respectively) shows with a revolving door of characters/cast members that, if anything, thrived longer because of their ability to adapt without some of its original stars.  Even Mickey Mouse Club was like that in its day.

Meanwhile, if mothers want to boycott Hannah Montana products, that's certainly their right... but it shouldn't be because Miley Cyrus is a "bad role model."  She's a 15 year old girl, she's going to make mistakes, she'll hopefully learn from them... and she's going to grow up.  How old will she have to be before it's "okay" for her to stop acting like a squeaky clean, innocent little girl?  It's unrealistic to expect any teenager to behave perfectly all the time.  No, if parents want to boycott Hanah Montana products, it should be to get the message to Disney that they have put Miley in a terrible position.  She is so famous, and so sought after, that hackers are digging into her email to find her private pictures and anything else they can find that might be controversial.  Her whole life is looked at by millions of people, many of whom are just waiting for evidence of any wrong doing on her part for the sole purpose of squashing whatever is left of her once squeaky clean image.  There's a saying that goes "Good girls are bad girls who don't get caught."  Well, Miley is screwed, then, because it seems like the whole world knows her every move.