It seems most TV series can be watched online for free now, so why not also stream episodes of a program like ABC's Wonderful World of Disney? Sure each episode is actually a feature-length Disney-made film, but a TV show is a TV show. Fortunately, Disney seems to agree, as they're putting this summer's crop of WWoD films online for free. Typical of Disney, though, and unlike ABC.com's library of episodes, each film will only be available for a limited time. Basically, each title will screen on ABC on Saturday night, then it will be up on Disney.com (specifically the WWoD page) the following week, from Monday through Friday only. Currently, Finding Nemo, which appeared on WWoD June 7, is being offered.

Other movies on the schedule this summer include Monsters Inc., Freaky Friday, The Haunted Mansion, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. Peter Pan will be the last to air and then stream, during the first week of August. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the one movie making its world premiere on the program, Camp Rock, will also (or is it only?) stream for 24 hours on June 23, on a separate page, after airing a few times on ABC and ABC Family the weekend prior.

As much as it would make fans of Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, and the others happy to see them together again, it's not quite an uplifting premise for a Disney Channel movie to see them all fail and have to re-do their Senior Year. Besides, Zac is starting to bring his mainstream, post-Musical career together now, so I would think that it would be hard, if not impossible, to get him back for another installment. Nevertheless, The Hollywood Reporter has posted that the Disney Channel is continuing the series. Silly me, to think that graduation would be the end of it, since High School Musical 3 is, well, "Senior Year."

The Disney Channel is so keen on continuing the series that they've already started working on the next one. Most likely, this will be a new television movie, rather than another big-screen adventure, and they're currently writing the script now. Disney Channel Worldwide president Rich Ross says: "Are we going to have all the cast back? Probably not. Will we have some of them? I hope so." The juniors are now seniors? Freshman now sophomores?

Poor Disney ... They must have been aching at the thought of their High School Musical franchise coming to an end once number 3 hits the big screen. It's been an insane sensation, and certainly good for both the company and channel. But what do you do when it all comes to an end? You could look for new material, or you could spin it.

Variety reports that Walt Disney Pictures has picked Steven Antin (jerky prep Troy from The Goonies) to write and direct a new musical project for them, which will be produced by Scott Sanders (who recently developed The Color Purple musical). The plot and title are being kept under wraps, but they might as well call it High School Musical 4: The Next Generation. Antin says: "It's a music-driven movie set in a high school, geared toward a Disney audience." Gee, how original.

But we just might get a bit of a breather before it comes out. Antin has finished part of the screenplay, and says that this project is "neck and neck" with Burlesque for filming this fall -- he had written the script, and Diablo Cody spunked it up with a rewrite. Either way, we're not out of the musical woods yet. Stay tuned to see who wins the showdown between burlesque and teen singers!

OK, so the music snob in me is not thrilled that someone like David Bowie would appear in a teen romance with a High School Musical star. But, luckily I don't take these things all that seriously and I'm sure I'll get over it. Variety reports that the music legend is currently in talks to star in the musical Will. Todd Graff (Camp) co-wrote the script with Josh Cagan and Graff will also direct.

The coming-of-age story centers on an outcast teen who befriends a like-minded girl who regrettably also runs with the popular crowd. Vanessa Hudgens plays the popular girl Sam, who after struggling with a stutter, has finally made it to the cool table. Liam Aiken will play her socially inept band mate. Remember this is a musical, so the story doesn't stop with the usual 'opposites attract' teen romance. The two then go on to "form an unlikely bond through their shared love of music. They assemble a like-minded crew of misfits and form a rock group to perform in a battle of the bands competition at their school."

The cast also includes Lisa Kudrow (who really does deserve to work more; the woman is hilarious), and Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights). Bowie is still in negotiations, so there is no word on which character he would be playing in the film. Part of me hopes it will just be a cameo, à la Zoolander. Will is set to start shooting in Austin, Texas in February and should hit theaters (with or without Mr. Ziggy Stardust) later this year.

For girls of a certain age, the very notion of Zac Efron is enough to send them into peals of ecstasy. Personally, I just don't get it. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Efron (star of High School Musical), has signed to star in the big-screen version of Robert Kaplow's coming-of-age novel, Me and Orson Welles. Efron will play Richard, a 17 year old boy "who, while strolling the streets of New York, happens upon the yet-to-open Mercury Theatre and is noticed by its mercurial founder, Orson Welles. The man lands a bit part in Julius Caesar, the production that catapulted Welles to the top, and spends the next week learning about life and love." Joining Efron in the cast is Christian McKay as Welles and Ben Chaplin as the famed British stage actor George Coulouris.

Richard Linklater is signed to direct from a Vince and Holly Gent Palmo script. The Palmos are long-time collaborators with Linklater; Holly started as a production coordinator on Dazed and Confused, and Vince has worked with Linklater on most of his films. Now that the filmmaker is involved, it could raise Efron's profile as an actor to something a little more challenging than High School Musical 3? 4? How many of those movies are there anyway? Not to mention, regardless of what you may have thought of The Newton Boys, it seems like Linklater would be able to handle another period piece (this one is set in 1937). The story is considered half romance and half history of the Golden Age of Broadway, and could definitely be Efron's shot at being taken a little more seriously as an actor -- as opposed to just a cover boy for "Non-Threatening Boys Magazine." Efron is currently shooting the teen comedy Seventeen, but then he will be off to start work on Welles in mid-February and March.

Well, you can all breathe easy now. After all the hubbub over whether the entire cast of Disney's remarkably successful High School Musical franchise would return for the third film in the series, all the main cast has finally signed on to come back one more time. Variety reports that all six leads -- Zac Efron, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman -- have signed on to return for High School Musical 3, which will hit a theater near you on October 24.

There was concern over whether Vanessa Anne Hudgens, who plays female lead Gabriella, would be back for the third film after some nudie pics she sent to boyfriend (and High School Musical heartthrob) Zac Efron leaked out onto the internet. Then there was concern over whether Disney would fork over enough cash to entice Efron himself to return (and sorry, but you just cannot have High School Musical 3 without Efron asTroy -- the tween girlies of America would unite against that in a hurry), given all the big screen success he's enjoying as a result of his High School Musical fame. Efron had a decent turn as Link Larkin in Hairspray (where he finally got to sing all on his own) and has been in talks on several projects, including upcoming pic Seventeen, (kind of a reverse of Big, one of my favorite movies ever -- remember how young and cute Tom Hanks was in that?) in which he will play a man who returns to being a high school student.

I don't know about you, but I'll sleep easier at night knowing the continuing adventures of the Wildcats gang are coming this fall. I can't think of a better way to come down off the headiness of all those serious films at Telluride and Toronto than to hit a screening of High School Musical 3, and find out what happens when Troy and Gabriella head to different colleges. Oh, boy! The possibilities (and opportunities to randomly break out into song-and-dance numbers) are practically endless. If you've got a tween in your life, you'd better start practicing your cool dance moves, and get ready to have more annoyingly-perky-yet-catchy tunes stuck in your head.

With its concentration on the music industry, it's easy to forget that the Grammys have a few movie-related categories. They include best compilation soundtrack album, best score soundtrack album and best song written for motion picture, television or other visual media. One thing that's always odd with the Grammys, though, is how many nominees are so old. Take a look at the score/composer nominees, for example: Babel (Gustavo Santaolalla); Blood Diamond (James Newton Howard); The Departed (Howard Shore); Happy Feet (John Powell); Pan's Labyrinth (Javier Navarrete); Ratatouille (Michael Giacchino). Only the last of those films came out in 2007. But the eligibility period for the Grammys is always October of the previous year until the end of September of the current year. All but Ratatouille's soundtrack were released in October, November and December of 2006. Since the Grammy ceremony is only a couple weeks prior to the Oscars, the ancient films honored are easily seen as that much more old news (Babel won the 2007 Academy Award for score).

Happy Feet was also recognized in the best song category, for "The Song of My Heart" by Prince (who already has the best soundtrack of all time), despite its not having received an Oscar nomination. Same goes for one of its competitors, Casino Royale theme song "You Know My Name", co-written (with David Arnold) and performed by Chris Cornell. Dreamgirls' "Love You I Do", written by Siedah Garrett and Henry Krieger (performed by Jennifer Hudson) is the only overlap from last February's Oscar nominees (it lost to Melissa Etheridge's "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth). The other recognized tracks, both from 2007 releases, are Eddie Vedder's "Guaranteed" from Into the Wild and Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová's duet "Falling Slowly" from Once.

Once is also a contender for best compilation soundtrack, though it faces a huge challenger in The Beatles, who are recognized for the album for the Cirque du Soleil show Love (how does that fall into this category and not the one for musical show album?) and indirectly for the soundtrack to the movie Across the Universe, which features covers of the band's tunes performed by the movie's cast. Other soundtrack nominees are retro musicals Dreamgirls and Hairspray. Sorry, fans of High School Musical 2.

For those who thought the rest of town was just going to sit back and let Disney rule the High School Musical world, think again -- Variety reports Showtime, Lionsgate and Spitfire Pictures have come together and will shovel out their own flick featuring a bunch of high school kids putting on a musical. Only, instead of having Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens blow each other candy-coated kisses from across the gymnasium (is that a scene, I don't even know?), this new film will be a straight-up documentary. Written and directed by Barry Blaustein, the doc will follow students from three southern Indiana high schools as they compete musical-wise for a spot in the International Thespian Festival.

Confession time: I was one of those drama kids back in high school, and helped work on the musicals (the ones where it was grade against grade -- we called it Sing!), although I never actually, well, sang. Behind the scenes stuff mostly, but I point this out because I know the kind of drama a drama class can provide. It could get nasty. Real nasty. Apart from the in-school activities, viewers will also get a chance to see how these kids live offstage; we'll meet the parents, teachers, local politicians, what have you. And hopefully none of the kids will get caught taking nude photos of themselves. Lionsgate will throw the doc onto the festival circuit to start out with, and if folks are really digging it, we'll see a theatrical run before DVD. So, are you fans of High School Musical ready to see how it really goes down? Or are you more comfortable in the land of make believe?

I haven't watched any of the High School Musical movies (probably because I'm not a pre-teen girl, nor do I have any pre-teen girls in my household), but I have seen pictures of star Vanessa Hudgens and ... well, let's not go there. By now you're probably well aware that naked photos of Hudgens appeared online last week, prompting male teens from around the globe to buy a whole lot of printer ink and tissues (ya know, in case the ink leaks). Almost immediately, folks began to wonder whether said photos would hurt Hudgens' chances of starring in a High School Musical 3, seeing as Disney goes to great lengths to protect their family-friendly image. However, following an apology from Hudgens herself, Disney has gone on record saying they would, according to a Reuters story, "continue negotiating her appearance in the third installment of the hugely popular series, one of the most popular programs in U.S. cable TV history."

The racy photos, which I refuse to link to (sorry), were apparently taken in private for Hudgens' boyfriend Zac Efron who, coincidentally, co-stars alongside the actress in those High School Musical movies. On-set teen romance -- does it get any cuter than that? I bet it started when she passed Efron a headshot with kissy lips on it. All together now -- awwww. But as the Reuters story points out, are nude photos of actors or actresses that big a deal anymore? Is Disney trying to forget this whole thing ever happened because they've decided to chill out a bit, chalk it up as "teens being teens" and go about their business, or is Disney simply not willing to break up the duo that helped provide them with "one of the most popular programs in U.S. cable TV history" -- even if one half of that duo now comes attached to a nude photo?

Personally, I don't know why on earth these stars continue to take photos and videos of one another in the nude when they always show up online afterwards. It almost leads me to believe the girl did it on purpose in order to (possibly) rid herself of that family-friendly rep. Then again, I'm not Vanessa and I don't know what she was thinking. But the good news is that she'll most likely star in at least one more Disney movie before moving onto bigger (and more controversial?) things. As far as her and Zac go -- I give it two months.

Since I'm well over the age of 18, you can probably understand why I'm not all that familiar with the work of Zac Efron. With only a passing familiarity with High School Musical and my refusal to sit through the Hairspray update (since they weren't bringing Pia "I play my bongos, listen to Odetta, and then I iron my hair" Zadora back), most of the time I'm just looking at the heartthrob wondering why he has chosen to revive Gwyneth Paltrow's haircut circa Sliding Doors. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Burr Steers (writer/director of Igby Goes Down) has just signed to direct the teen comedy 17 starring Efron. Written by Jason Filardi, the story centers on an adult man who suddenly finds himself to be 17 again and having to navigate the social mine field that is high school -- think of it as Mean Girls meets Big. Considering Steers' somewhat acidic take on young adulthood, it might help cut through the fairly cutesy premise of 17.

New Line snapped up the original pitch for the film back in February, and last June, Erik had given us the news that Efron had signed for the lead. The addition of a director must mean that the project is on its way to production. Efron has been recently linked to a remake of the 1984 classic, Footloose -- but as a musical! -- and our own Monika Bartyzel totally adores the idea. We kid. Of course, there is still the small matter of High School Musical 3 -- although, if you've been keeping on top of the gossip lately, you probably know that HSM producers might be facing a delay of in order to look for a new squeaky clean female lead.