TVSquad

If Disney was still not sure what their next super-series was going to be once Hannah Montana goes to bed after next season, they know now. The Wizards of Waverly Place movie just nailed down the highest cable ratings of the year. This in a summer full of ratings records on cable. Only High School Musical 2 has bested it on Disney, and we know what a phenomenon that franchise became.

Even more outstanding, the movie stands a decent chance of being the highest rated show on television this past week, including the broadcast networks. Tuesday's America's Got Talent, the summer leader, had 11.2 million viewers per the overnight ratings. Wizards of Waverly Place got 11.4 million.

Maybe it's time to combine the viewership numbers for cable shows and the broadcast networks. I think the cable channels have proven they can compete with select shows, so why not show it? While there are comprehensive, albeit flawed, ratings numbers from Nielsen for the broadcast networks, the consumer gets far less information about cable ratings. It's all television, right?

Disney is doing everything they can to make sure that their target demo of 9-14 year olds can't breathe without choking on the Russos of Wizards of Waverly Place. Other than that, And with Miley Cyrus talking publicly about life after Hannah Montana, whenever that might be, it's time to look to Wizards of Waverly Place's Selena Gomez. As such, Disney has renewed Wizards for a third season and even greenlit a telefilm for the property.

What they really need to do is stream it on Hulu to ensure it is. The kids are online, you know.

Give Justine Bateman credit: She could have been typecast after playing the dippy, fashion-obsessed Mallory Keaton on Family Ties, but she's been able to build a nice career for herself over the last twenty years by playing interesting supporting roles in movies like The TV Set and series like Desperate Housewives. But she's also been -- just like 75% of the people in Hollywood -- an aspiring writer, struggling to get her scripts produced (and you think having connections helps ... she knows Michael J. Fox and her brother is Jason Bateman, and she still couldn't get her scripts produced).

But now she can add "sitcom writer" to her credits; she just wrote an episode of The Disney Channel's hit Wizards of Waverly Place, according to the New York Daily News. Apparently, she's a friend of executive producer Peter Murrieta, and she got to know some of the show's writers during the writers' strike. So, when the strike ended, she was invited to write an episode for the show.