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Walt Disney anthology television series facts for kids

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Walt Disney anthology television series
WWoDisney 2015.png
Opening title for The Wonderful World of Disney used since 2015
Genre Anthology series
Created by Walt Disney
Presented by Walt Disney (1954–66)
Michael Eisner (1987–2002)
Narrated by Dick Wesson (1954–79)
Mark Elliot (1979–88)
Danny Dark (1988–91)
John O'Hurley (2021–present)
Theme music composer Leigh Harline
Ned Washington
Opening theme "When You Wish Upon a Star" (1954–61, 1968–2012 and 2012–present; various instrumental adaptations)
"The Wonderful World of Color" (1961–68)
"Heaven's Triumph" (2012–present)
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 53
No. of episodes 2000 (list of episodes)
Production
Camera setup Multi-camera (hosted segments)
Running time 156–180 minutes
Distributor Self Distributed
(1954 - 1986)
Buena Vista Television
(1986–2007)
Disney–ABC Domestic Television
(2007–present)
Release
Original network ABC (1954–61, 1986–88, and 1997–present)
NBC (1961–81 and 1988–91)
CBS (1981–83, 1991–97)
Picture format NTSC (480i)
HDTV 720p
Original release October 27, 1954 (1954-10-27) – present (present)

The Walt Disney Company has produced its flagship anthology television series under several different titles since 1954.

The original version of the series premiered on ABC on Wednesday, October 27, 1954. The show was broadcast weekly on one of the Big Three television networks until 1990, a 36-year span with only a two-year hiatus in 1984–85. The series was broadcast on Sunday for 25 of those years. From 1991 until 1997, the series aired infrequently.

The program resumed a regular schedule in 1997 on the ABC fall schedule, coinciding with Disney's recent purchase of the network. From 1997 until 2008, the program aired regularly on ABC. Since then, ABC has continued the series as an occasional special presentation from 2008 onward, the most recent being a holiday music special in November 2019. In May 2020, the series returned with movies from the Disney+ library.

The show has had only two hosts, founder and former president, Walt Disney, and former Chairman and C.E.O., Michael Eisner.

The show is the second longest-running prime-time program on American television, behind Hallmark Hall of Fame.

Titles

The Magical World of Toons

The Magical World of Toons was the daily prime time programming block featuring character's key series episodes coinciding with the launch of its channel, Toon Disney, on April 18, 1998. It continued at least until 2003.

The Magical World of Disney Junior

In 2012, Disney Junior launched a variant of the movie night anthology as The Magical World of Disney Junior on its new 24/7 channel. The channel also premiered its first Disney Junior Original Movie, Lucky Duck during Magical World on Friday, June 20, 2014.

Reruns

Prior to the launch of the Disney Channel, several of the films and specials made for the anthology series were licensed to pay-TV networks such as HBO; in HBO's case, the kaleidoscopic-pattern titles that preceded them in the original run were retained.

Around the same time that the 1980s incarnations aired on ABC and NBC, reruns of older episodes of the Disney anthology series, airing under the Wonderful World of Disney banner, were syndicated to broadcast television stations throughout the United States as well as in various international markets. In Australia, the program aired on Network Seven on Saturdays at 6:30 pm, before it was dropped in 1994 due to Optus Vision (later Foxtel)'s launch of a domestic version of the Disney Channel, with Saturday Disney replacing it as the channel's main block of Disney films.

Reruns of the shows were a staple of the Disney Channel for several years under the title Walt Disney Presents (which used the same title sequence as the 1980s CBS incarnation), when it was an outlet for vintage Disney cartoons, television series, and films, basically serving the same function that the anthology series served in the days before cable. The original opening titles were restored to the episodes in 1997. Reruns of the anthology series were discontinued when the channel purged all vintage material with the removal of its Vault Disney late-night block on September 8, 2002. However, a few select episodes are available on VHS or DVD (some of which are exclusive to the Disney Movie Club), with the possibility of additional future releases.

Recently, live-action Disney films from the 1950s to the 1980s have aired on Turner Classic Movies, without commercial interruption, and presented uncut and with letterboxing on the network's standard-definition feed.

All of the episodes and existing material used on the series up to 1996 are listed in the Bill Cotter book The Wonderful World of Disney Television, which was released in 1997 by Hyperion Books (which was owned by the Walt Disney Company at the time of the book's publication).

Programming

Originally hosted by Walt Disney himself, the original format of the Disney anthology series consisted of a balance of theatrical animated cartoons, live-action features, and other informational material (some original, some pre-existing) from the studio's library. For many years, the show also featured edited one-hour versions of such then-recent Disney films as Alice in Wonderland, and in other cases, telecasts of complete Disney films that were split into two or more one-hour episodes. Later original programs consisted of dramatizations of other historical figures and legends along the lines of the Davy Crockett mini-series. These included a miniseries based on Daniel Boone (not the Fess Parker characterization), Texas John Slaughter, Elfego Baca, Francis Marion (the "Swamp Fox") and 1977's Kit Carson and the Mountain Man (with Christopher Connelly as Kit Carson, Robert Reed as John C. Fremont, and Gregg Palmer as mountain man Jim Bridger).

Occasionally, a more educational segment would be featured (such as The Story of the Animated Drawing), including nature and animal programs similar to the True-Life Adventures that were released in theaters, as well as various dramatic installments which were either structured as single-part, two-part, and sometimes, multipart editions. Much of the original informational excerpts were to create awareness of Disneyland. In spite of essentially serving as advertisements for the park, entertainment value was emphasized, as well to make the shows palatable. Some of the program's informational content was formatted to promote upcoming feature film releases by the studio (such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Darby O'Gill and the Little People), with some programs focusing on the art and technology of animation itself.

Theme music

  • From 1954 to 1961, the series used the song "When You Wish Upon a Star" as its theme. The recording was taken directly from the soundtrack of the movie Pinocchio.
  • From 1961 to 1969, an original song was used, "The Wonderful World of Color", written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. This song helped to emphasize the use of color with its lyrics.
  • From 1969 to 1979 (The Wonderful World of Disney), orchestral medleys of various Disney songs from movies and theme parks as theme songs.
  • From 1979 to 1980 (Disney's Wonderful World), a disco-styled theme was written to emphasize the new visual changes, even though the format remained the same. John Debney composed the melody and John Klawitter wrote the lyrics.
    • From 1980 to 1981, the series discarded the Debney/Klawitter theme and went back to an earlier orchestral medley theme, while keeping the 1979 credits motif and title.
  • From 1981 to 1983 (Walt Disney), a short disco arrangement of "When You Wish Upon a Star", arranged by Frank Gari, served as theme against some elaborate, then-state-of-the-art computer graphics. CBC Television in Canada also used this title sequence and theme music for their own versions of the show. The sequence was also used as the opening sequence on international Walt Disney Home Video releases until 1987.
  • From 1986 to 1988, a synthesized, pop-rock arrangement of "When You Wish Upon a Star" with some clapping was the theme. This was used again for the 1989–90 season of The Magical World of Disney and the 1991–96 run on The Disney Channel.
  • In 1988, an orchestral medley of "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" and "When You Wish Upon a Star" was used. This was switched back to the 1987 theme in 1989.
  • From 1991 to 1997, an orchestral medley of "When You Wish Upon a Star" and "Part of Your World" (the latter from Disney's then recent hit The Little Mermaid) was used for network airings of the show (known as The Wonderful World of Disney on CBS and A Disney Special on other networks) as well as The 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage, a collaboration with Stephen J. Cannell Productions. This theme was also used internationally.
  • From 1997 to 2002, an orchestral medley of "When You Wish Upon a Star" and "A Whole New World" (the latter used in the movie Aladdin) were used; also used occasionally was the Louis Armstrong hit "What a Wonderful World". This theme is still used today internationally.
  • From 2002 to 2007, a newer orchestral arrangement of "When You Wish Upon a Star" with a wordless choir was used for ABC airings in the United States.
  • From 2007 to 2008, another orchestral arrangement of "When You Wish Upon a Star" (in actuality, the theme from the current Disney logo, composed by Mark Mancina) and a brand-new opening title sequence (depicting a montage of the company's work with audio from Walt Disney himself) are used for ABC airings in the United States.
  • From 2012 on, "Heaven’s Triumph", composed by Robert Etoll via Q-Factory, is used along with a brand-new opening title sequence (updated with a longer voice-over from Walt Disney and including Star Wars and Marvel properties).

International broadcasts

Argentina

The Telefe era

El mundo de Disney (The World of Disney) aired for the first time on the OTA network Telefe in 1990, hosted by Leonardo Greco. He remained as the sole presenter of the show, lasting until 1995, when the series concluded. The programme started airing at 8:00 pm nightly from the second half of 1990 until December 1992. By 1993, it was moved to weekday afternoons at 5:00 pm. When it was coming to an end, around 1994, shifted to Sunday afternoons, and aired a long marathon of movies and cartoons. According to Greco, this programme was possible because of a distributor who acquired the material, and was allowed to be shown without following a strict format, because the company wanted to do so. Telefe wanted a comeback, and appointed chef and host Maru Botana (then network talent) to present Planeta Disney (Disney Planet) on Sunday evenings, at 8:00pm, beginning November 21, 2004. Starting on July 9, 2005, Botana was replaced with two personalities employed by Disney, Carolina Ibarra and Dani Martins. They both shared the duties of hosting this show and the South American edition of Zapping Zone, on Disney Channel. This lasted for a year and a half, with relative success.

The Canal 13 era

While Telefe had a major success carrying the animated movies and some TV series like Blossom or Dinosaurs (distributed by Buena Vista Television), Canal 13 saw the possibility of buying material from the company and airing it (sometimes competing against the Telefe's programme) on Sunday afternoons, beginning in 1994, which at that time was filled with telecasts of ancient Argentinian films from the 1950s, 1960s or 1970s, and by reruns of Tarzan and The Three Stooges. The only clear difference was that only movies starring human actors, like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or The Island at the Top of the World, could be broadcast, and not the cartoons. This experiment lasted until early 1996. By 2007, the network took off from Telefe the exclusive rights to show all the Disney franchise movies and programs, and began to air its movies on Sunday evenings at 7:00 pm, without a host. This also allowed Canal 13 to detain rights for other shows not related with Disney, but with the ABC network, like Lost or Grey's Anatomy, and to produce a localised version of the high-grossing film High School Musical.

Australia

After more than 30 years of the Seven Network, in 2019, it is now broadcast on the Nine Network and on 9Go!.

Brazil

The ABC run of the program under The Magical World of Disney title originally aired in that country under the title Cine Disney, now as O Mundo Mágico de Disney and Sessão de Domingo Disney, on the Brazilian-Portuguese version of Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão (SBT) in partnership with The Walt Disney Company. The ABC run of the program under The Wonderful World of Disney title originally aired in that country under the title O Maravilhoso Mundo de Disney on the Brazilian Portuguese version of Disney Channel; the program moved to SBT as Mundo Disney in 2015, for return in partnership with The Walt Disney Company, for end partnership in 2018 from 2 years.

Hong Kong

Episodes

Main page: List of Walt Disney anthology television series episodes

Ratings

Nielsen seasonal ratings

Network Season Timeslot TV Season Season Premiere Season Finale Season
Rank		 Viewers (m)
ABC 1 Wednesday 7:00 p.m. ET 1954–1955 October 27, 1954 July 13, 1955 #6 12.00
2 1955–1956 September 14, 1955 May 30, 1956 #4 13.05
3 1956–1957 September 12, 1956 June 5, 1957 #14 12.37
4 1957–1958 September 11, 1957 May 14, 1958
5 Friday 7:00 p.m. ET 1958–1959 October 3, 1958 May 29, 1959
6 1959–1960 October 2, 1959 April 1, 1960
7 Sunday 7:00 p.m. ET 1960–1961 October 16, 1960 June 11, 1961
NBC 8 1961–1962 September 24, 1961 April 15, 1962 #23 11.02
9 1962–1963 September 23, 1962 March 24, 1963 #24 11.22
10 1963–1964 September 29, 1963 May 17, 1964 #21 11.87
11 1964–1965 September 20, 1964 April 4, 1965 #11 13.54
12 1965–1966 September 19, 1965 April 10, 1966 #17 12.49
13 1966–1967 September 11, 1966 April 2, 1967 #19 11.85
14 1967–1968 September 10, 1967 April 28, 1968 #25 11.73
15 1968–1969 September 15, 1968 March 23, 1969 #22 12.41
16 1969–1970 September 14, 1969 March 29, 1970 #9 13.81
17 1970–1971 September 13, 1970 March 14, 1971 #14 13.46
18 1971–1972 September 19, 1971 April 9, 1972 #19 13.66
19 1972–1973 September 17, 1972 April 1, 1973 #9 15.23
20 1973–1974 September 16, 1973 March 13, 1974 #13 14.76
21 1974–1975 September 15, 1974 March 23, 1975 #18 15.07
22 1975–1976 September 14, 1975 July 25, 1976
23 1976–1977 September 26, 1976 May 22, 1977
24 1977–1978 September 18, 1977 June 4, 1978 #56 17.3
25 1978–1979 September 17, 1978 May 13, 1979 #55 16.9
26 1979–1980 September 16, 1979 July 27, 1980
27 1980–1981 September 14, 1980 August 16, 1981
CBS 28 Saturday 7:00 p.m. ET 1981–1982 September 26, 1981 July 31, 1982
29 1982–1983 September 25, 1982 September 24, 1983
ABC 30 1985–1986 February 1, 1986 June 21, 1986
31 1986–1987 September 20, 1986 August 29, 1987
32 1987–1988 October 3, 1987 May 21, 1988
NBC 33 1988–1989 October 8, 1988 July 22, 1989
34 1989–1990 September 30, 1989 August 25, 1990
CBS 35 Sunday 7:00 p.m. ET 1990–1991 September 23, 1990 September 15, 1991
36 1991–1992 September 22, 1991 September 13, 1992
37 1992–1993 September 20, 1992 September 12, 1993
38 1993–1994 September 19, 1993 September 11, 1994
39 1994–1995 September 18, 1994 September 10, 1995
40 1995–1996 September 17, 1995 August 25, 1996
41 1996–1997 September 8, 1996 December 1, 1996
ABC 42 1997–1998 September 28, 1997 May 18, 1998 #30 13.50
43 1998–1999 September 27, 1998 May 30, 1999 #45 11.90
44 1999–2000 September 26, 1999 May 14, 2000 #29 12.82
45 2000–2001 October 8, 2000 May 27, 2001 #39 12.10
46 2001–2002 September 16, 2001 May 19, 2002 #38 11.20
47 2002–2003 November 3, 2002 July 27, 2003 #53 10.10
48 Saturday 8:00 p.m. ET 2003–2004 September 27, 2003 May 8, 2004 #99 7.39
49 2004–2005 October 16, 2004 June 18, 2005 #96 6.93
50 2005–2006 November 5, 2005 July 8, 2006 #137 5.30
51 2006–2007 December 16, 2006 August 4, 2007 #208 4.28
52 2007–2008 December 22, 2007 December 20, 2008 #172 4.01

Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards

Won

  1. Best Individual Program of the Year (Operation Undersea, 1955)
  2. Best Television Film Editing (Lynn Harrison, Grant K. Smith, Operation Undersea, 1955)
  3. Best Action or Adventure Series (1956)
  4. Best Producer – Film Series (Walt Disney, 1956)
  5. Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Children's Programming (1963)
  6. Outstanding Program Achievements in Entertainment (Walt Disney, 1965)
  7. Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement – Programs (Ron Miller, executive producer, 1971)
  8. Outstanding Main Title Design (1998)

Nominated

  1. Best Television Film Editing (Chester W. Schaeffer, "Davy Crockett: Indian Fighter", 1955)
  2. Best Single Program of the Year ("Davy Crockett and River Pirates", 1956)
  3. Best Musical Contribution for Television (Oliver Wallace, 1957)
  4. Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Children's Programming (1962)
  5. Outstanding Program Achievements in the Fields of Variety and Music – Variety (1962)
  6. Outstanding Children's Program (Walt Disney, Ron Miller (Further Adventures of Gallagher, 1966)
  7. Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming – Programs (Ron Miller, executive producer, 1969)
  8. Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming – Programs (Ron Miller, executive producer, 1970)
  9. Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement – General Programming (Ron Miller, producer, 1972)
  10. Special Classification of Outstanding Program Achievement (Ron Miller, executive producer, 1977)
  11. Outstanding Children's Program (The Art of Disney Animation, 1981)

Home media

Several home media releases have included episodes of the anthology series.

  • On Vacation with Mickey Mouse and Friends
  • Kids Is Kids
  • The Adventures of Chip 'N' Dale
  • Disney's Halloween Treat
  • A Disney Christmas Gift
  • Winnie the Pooh and Friends
  • Bambi Platinum Edition
    • Tricks of Our Trade (excerpt)
  • Alice in Wonderland Masterpiece Edition
    • One Hour in Wonderland (complete episode)
    • Operation Wonderland Featurette
    • The Fred Waring Show (first half)
    • 1954 Introduction
    • 1964 Introduction
  • Alice in Wonderland Special Un-Anniversary Edition
    • One Hour in Wonderland (complete episode)
    • Operation Wonderland Featurette
    • The Fred Waring Show (first half)
    • 1954 Introduction
    • 1964 Introduction
  • Alice in Wonderland 60th Anniversary Edition
    • One Hour in Wonderland (complete episode)
    • Operation Wonderland Featurette
    • The Fred Waring Show (first half)
    • 1954 Introduction
    • 1959 Introduction
    • 1964 Introduction
  • Peter Pan Special Edition
    • The Peter Pan Story Featurette
  • Peter Pan Platinum Edition
    • The Peter Pan Story Featurette
  • Dumbo 60th Anniversary Edition
    • Walt Disney Introduction
  • Dumbo Big Top Edition
    • Walt Disney Introduction
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Platinum Edition
    • Tricks of Our Trade (two excerpts)
    • The Silly Symphony Story (excerpt)
  • Pete's Dragon Gold Collection/High Flying Edition
    • The Plausible Impossible (excerpt)
  • The Aristocats Special Edition
    • The Great Cat Family
  • Disneyland, USA
    • The Disneyland Story
    • Disneyland After Dark
    • Disneyland 10th Anniversary
  • Behind the Scenes at the Walt Disney Studios
    • The Story of the Animated Drawing
    • The Plausible Impossible
    • Tricks of Our Trade
  • Tomorrow Land
    • Man in Space
    • Man and the Moon
    • Mars and Beyond
    • Our Friend the Atom
  • The Complete Pluto, Volume 1
    • A Story of Dogs (featuring excerpt from "Pluto's Picture Book")
  • The Chronological Donald, Volume Two
    • A Day in the Life of Donald Duck
  • Your Host, Walt Disney
    • I Captured the King of the Leprechauns
    • Backstage Party
    • Where Do the Stories Come From
    • The Fourth Anniversary Show
    • Disneyland 10th Anniversary
  • True Life Adventures (4 volumes)
  • Disneyland: Secrets, Stories and Magic
    • The Golden Horseshoe Revue
    • Disneyland Goes To the World's Fair
    • Disneyland Around the Seasons
  • So Dear to My Heart
    • So Dear to My Heart (introduction)
  • 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
    • Monsters of the Deep (excerpt)
  • Lady and the Tramp Platinum Edition
    • A Story of Dogs ("making-of" segment and excerpt)
    • A Cavalcade of Songs (3-minute-long excerpt)
  • Old Yeller
    • Best Doggone Dog in the West
  • Darby O'Gill and the Little People
    • I Captured The King of the Leprechauns
  • Johnny Tremain
    • The Liberty Story (first half)
    • Johnny Tremain, Part One (excerpt)
    • Johnny Tremain, Part Two (excerpt)
  • Sleeping Beauty Special Edition
    • An Adventure in Art (segment: "Four Artists Paint One Tree")
    • The Peter Tchaikovsky Story (Life of Tchaikovsky segment only)
  • Sleeping Beauty Platinum Edition
    • An Adventure in Art (segment: "Four Artists Paint One Tree")
    • The Peter Tchaikovsky Story (complete episode – two versions)
  • Pollyanna
    • Pollyanna, Part One (introduction)
    • Pollyanna, Part Two (introduction)
    • Pollyanna, Part Three (introduction)
  • Swiss Family Robinson
    • Escape to Paradise/Water Birds (first half)
  • The Parent Trap
    • The Title Makers (first half)
  • The Sword in the Stone Gold Collection
    • All About Magic (complete episode)
  • The Sword in the Stone 45th Anniversary Edition
    • All About Magic (excerpt)
  • A Goofy Movie Gold Collection
    • Goof Troop: Calling All Goofs (complete episode)
    • The Goofy Success Story (complete episode)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
    • From the Pirates of the Caribbean to the World of Tomorrow (first half)

In the 1980s, Walt Disney Home Video released 15 volumes of the anthology series on VHS, while many episodes have been released on DVD from either the Disney Movie Club or the Disney Generations movies-on-demand (MOD) program on Amazon.com.

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