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The Wonderful World of Disney

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TV Series

The Resume

    (October 27, 1954- )
    Aired as 'Disneyland' (ABC,1954-58), 'Walt Disney Presents' (ABC, 1958-61), 'Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color' (NBC, 1961-69), 'The Wonderful World of Disney' (NBC, 1969-79), 'Disney's Wonderful World' (NBC, 1979-81), 'Walt Disney' (CBS< 1981-83), 'The Disney Sunday Movie' (ABC, 1986-89), 'The Magical World of Disney' (NBC, 1989-90), 'The Wonderful World of Disney' (ABC, 1997-2008) and 'The Magical World of Disney Junior' (Disney Junior, 2012- )
    Hosted by Walt Disney (1954-66) and Michael Eisner (1986-90)
    Most frequently used theme song was 'When You Wish Upon a Star'
    Premise: Anthology series featuring animation, educational segments, and movies -- some original, mostly from the Disney vaults

Why The Wonderful World of Disney might be annoying:

    Pick a title and stick with it, already!
    It was created because Walt was desperate for funding for his theme park and ABC was desperate enough for hit programming to agree.
    In addition to sharing a title with the park, the initial episodes were tied to one of the park's lands: 'Frontierland' for tales from US history, 'Adventureland' for nature documentaries, 'Fantasyland' for animation and 'Tomorrowland' for science and sci-fi.
    As if this was not enough product placement already, there would be entire episodes about the park like 'An Adventure in the Magic Kingdom.'
    For much of its run, when it showed movies they either were edited down to fit into the one hour timeslot or were shown over two or three weeks.
    Because segments were pre-taped, Walt kept introducing episodes for five months after his death.
    Over the years, fewer original episodes were produced, resulting in the show repeating itself.
    After the mid-70s, its ratings started to slide, partly because of competition from 60 Minutes.
    In a late 70s attempt to modernize the show, the theme song was given a disco beat.
    After nearly 30 years, production halted in 1983 due to fears that it and the recently launched Disney Channel would cannibalize each other's audience.
    The subsequent relaunches never matched the ratings success of the original.

Why The Wonderful World of Disney might not be annoying:

    It made The Walt Disney Company the first major movie studio to enter TV production.
    It was the first ABC series to finish a season in the top ten of the Nielsen ratings (1954-55).
    It made the top twenty in the Nielsen ratings for its first two decades.
    Its 'Davy Crockett' episodes launched a craze that sold $300 million in coonskin caps and other merchandising (1955).
    Although its early ABC episodes were broadcast in black and white, Disney filmed them in color so they could be repeated when the show moved to NBC and color broadcasting.
    Donald Duck's uncle Ludwig von Drake was introduced in the first episode of 'Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color,' explaining the principles of color.
    The opening sequence of Tinker Bell flying by Sleeping Beauty's Castle became so iconic that Disney decided to have a Tinker Bell actress 'fly' trough the air during the fireworks shows at the theme parks.
    By the mid-70s, when the company's films were flopping, the TV show and the theme parks were its main successes.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 22.22% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 72 Votes: 41.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 42 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 139 Votes: 48.20% Annoying