"Hannah Montana" is the sweetest of the Disney shows

Maybe it's the daughter-father combination of Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus, the latter a country singer best known for his mega-hit "Achy Breaky Heart." Or maybe it's the way that reality imitated art, with the real Miley Cyrus suddenly playing Hannah Montana concerts all over the country and reaching a level of fame that her father never enjoyed.

There's a poignant subtext that you can feel in each episode, with just enough real daughter and dad to make this show toe a narrower line than the rest of the Disney line-up. Back-talk is kept to a relative minimum, and teen Miley Stewart--who leads the life of a normal, brunette teen by day but becomes the blonde Hannah Montana pop star by night, seems to listen to her TV/real dad more than most kids. The acting also isn't as consistently over-the-top as it is with other Disney sitcoms, and the "lessons" behind every episode are more wholesome as well.