"The last thing we want to be is the ones who brought the franchise down"

Sorry Disney, but replacing Christopher Robin with a 6 year old girl is pretty much guaranteed to do it. Haven't you heard of Poochie?

And no, this isn't political correctness run amok. It's marketing run amok. This is about providing a better marketing opportunity to sell toys to young girls.

"We got raised eyebrows even in-house at first, but the feeling was these timeless characters really needed a breath of fresh air that only the introduction of someone new could provide," says Nancy Kanter of the Disney Channel.

In other news, Eeyore is to be changed to E-OR, an intergalactic cyborg killing machine with a heart of gold, Winnie the Pooh will be forced to wear pants and every episode will involve some kind of extreme sport...