Will ‘Lizzie McGuire’ get a chance to grow up?

“Lizzie McGuire,” which chronicles the travails of a teenage girl, has become a clear success for the Disney Channel. So why has the show ceased production, with its sets put into storage?

Because children’s shows are repeated so frequently, the Disney-owned cable network normally caps production of live-action series at 65 episodes. In the case of “Lizzie,” the channel recognized it had a hit on its hands early and accelerated the pace to complete that order while the program’s 15-year-old namesake, Hilary Duff, remained in her early teens.

The question now is how next to exploit the property--a subject of discussion within the Walt Disney Co., which, among other things, is considering a prime-time series for the studio’s broadcast network, ABC.

Currently, the existing TV show--which also runs on ABC’s Saturday-morning lineup--is only a part of the “Lizzie” empire. In addition to having spawned a licensing bonanza, Duff recorded a pop single, “I Can’t Wait,” through Disney’s Buena Vista Records, and the song has received heavy airplay on Radio Disney, a radio network aimed at kids.

A “Lizzie McGuire” film is in production as well, which Disney will release theatrically in the spring.

The Disney Channel also drew strong ratings earlier this year with a movie, “Cadet Kelly,” starring Duff.

Even though the series is no longer in production, fans needn’t fear missing it any time soon. Original episodes will keep showing up through 2003, with the latest, featuring Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler playing Santa Claus, premiering tonight.

Rich Ross, the Disney Channel’s president of entertainment, noted that the shelf life tends to be shorter on children’s programs. The channel’s niche involves targeting those in the 9-to-14 age bracket--known in marketing circles as “tweens,” meaning between children and teenagers--who quickly outgrow even their favorite shows.

Disney also faces pressure to ensure its content is appropriate to that age group, which would make continuing a show like “Lizzie McGuire” a challenging proposition, Ross noted. Unlike animation--where characters generally don’t age--the stars of live-action projects cannot be frozen in time.

“The wheelhouse for us is in junior high and elementary school,” he said. “High school is a whole different set of issues.”

Although talk of a network show is still in a nascent stage, there is considerable precedent for graduating youthful stars from children’s programs to broadcast networks. Melissa Joan Hart went from Nickelodeon’s “Clarissa Explains It All” to “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” while Amanda Bynes--formerly of “All That”--stars in the new WB network sitcom “What I Like About You.”

Those examples, however, teamed various studios, unlike the cradle-to-high school synergy Disney hopes to achieve with Duff--taking her from its cable platform to music, feature films and possibly broadcast television, without ever leaving the Disney family.