//Exclusive: Hannah Montana Star Mitchel Musso Talks Reshoot Of Scrapped Diabetes Episode//

The Miley Cyrus-led Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana doesn’t really deal with any particularly deep issues. The deepest it’s gone is how on earth will Miley choose between her hot actor ex Jake Ryan (Cody Linley) or her backing band cutie Jesse (Drew Roy). But when producers went digging for depth on the season three premiere episode, upset parents made sure they’d hit a dead-end.

The third season’s opener, entitled “No Sugar, Sugar,” was to feature Miley’s BFF Oliver, played by 18-year-old singer/actor Mitchel Musso, dealing with a recent diagnosis of juvenile diabetes. Although producers consulted with medical experts for info before putting the script together, complaints about the disease’s portrayal began pouring in after early screenings. The episode was subsequently pulled from the season’s lineup for “reevaluating.”

Speaking with Neon Limelight back in June, Musso discussed his feelings about the episode being scrapped — at least temporarily. “You know, I feel like it’s kind of sad it was cut but we’re actually reshooting it,” he told us. “We’re going to recap on everything that was not completely examined right. I know a lot of people were saying we really didn’t hit diabetes exactly on the head.”

Part of the reason he feels the episode may not have given a clear understanding of what diabetes is all about is how much each diagnosis varies.

“There were a couple of pieces that were off in everyone’s story about diabetes and how it all works.”

“Our idea was that Oliver had a really bad case of diabetes and he couldn’t eat any sugar and then a lot of the people were saying, ‘No, people with diabetes can still eat sugar. This is wrong! You’re teaching kids wrong messages.’”

“But it’s not wrong,” he added. “There are people out there who cannot have sugar. That’s just the way of life.”

The episode’s script will be rewritten so that the majority of viewers “feel good and comfortable about it” says Musso. It will now air as a part of the fourth and final season of Hannah Montana.

photo: Disney

reporting by Story Gilmore

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