Hannah Montana Episode Pulled Over Diabetes Depiction

Centering the plot of a comedy show on a medical malady can be a risky proposition. Go for accuracy, and the show becomes a 30-minute PSA. Go for laughs, and advocates will complain that you've created dangerous misperceptions.

That seems to be the hang-up that got the intended season starter of Disney's Hannah Montana pulled from the line-up. The episode, "No Sugar, Sugar," focused on the repercussions of a diabetes diagnosis for Miley's pal Oliver (played by Mitchel Musso, pictured with Miley Cyrus, who, in case you've managed to block out all things Disney Channel, plays Miley Stewart and her alter ego, pop star Hannah Montana).

According to a report in the New York Daily News, diabetes experts and the network's Standards and Practices people were involved at the script stage in making sure the disease was depicted accurately. But parents who viewed the episode early through Disney's on-demand service gave the finished product a big thumbs-down.

Examiner.com quotes a comment by one of those viewers detailing the problems parents had with the episode, including this list of inaccuracies:

1) Misinformation about Type 1 Diabetes. The entire show focused on Miley stopping Oliver from eating sugar. Children and adults with type 1 diabetes CAN eat candy -- they simply take insulin to match what they eat. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, MS. Children with type 1 have done nothing to cause this -- their bodies have simply attacked themselves.

2) Eating a lot of sugar does not cause type 1 diabetes. Oliver, the character with diabetes, was portrayed as a sugar loving fiend -- at one point falling into a garbage barrel to get a half eaten and discarded candy bar.

3) Miley called Oliver "sugar boy." Imagine a character in a wheelchair being called "wheelie boy" or 'cripple boy." It just isn't funny, is it?

4) The show never mentioned Oliver checking blood sugar (children with type 1 typically check blood sugar by finger stick up to 10 times per day) or injecting insulin (children usually need 4 or more shots a day -- every time they eat -- or wear insulin pumps which continuously give them insulin throughout the day).

Frankly, from what I've seen of the show, dumpster candy-bar diving and manic efforts to stop sugar consumption fit more comfortably with its slapsticky, exagerrated style than blood-sugar checks and insulin shots. According to an item in the Detroit Free Press, Cyrus -- who's friends with Nick Jonas, another Disney star, who's been discussing his diabetes on the channel and the Web -- wanted to give "a feel-good message to the audience that the disease can be dealt with." And that's admirable, but it's hard to do that seriously on a show that so stubbornly embraces the silly.

It's also hard to introduce a disability for a major character. Depict diabetes accurately, and it has to be an ongoing plotline, with Oliver doing those blood checks and needle sticks every time the gang gathers at the beach-side snack bar or the backstage buffet table. To be responsible, you'd have to introduce it and keep it going and put that expert on staff. Seems like the idea was maybe not-so-well-conceived from the start.

Over on grown-up TV, the ABC show Brothers & Sisters gave diabetes to a sister's daughter, and did a decent job of showing what was involved with that. But Paige is a fairly marginal character, so it's easy to mention the diabetes when it's useful for dramatic purposes and then forget about it when she's offscreen. The problem I see for the Hannah Montana team is that Oliver has full Goofy Sidekick status, and is pretty frequently around. Even if they do manage to do a respectful story on diabetes, it's hard to imagine they're not going to just chuck it after that Very Special Episode.

Share your thoughts in the comments on the Hannah episode in particular, and the use of disabilities as TV plot points in general. And while we're at it: If your kids are also forcing Hannah Montana exposure on you, does it seem to anyone else like those actors got way older all of a sudden? Kinda creeping me out.

UPDATE: A revised version of the episode is scheduled to air September 20, 2009.

Read more: Special Needs News | Site of the Day | Before You Look for Information on Diabetes

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