The Wonderful World of Disney

[Steve Arino]

The year is 1954. Dwight David Eisenhower is U.S. President; the Vietnam War is about to take affect; and Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, USA) is preparing himself and The Walt Disney Company to become the FIRST Major Movie Studio (and Producer) to make the leap to Prime-Time Network TV, striking a deal with the then-infant ABC Television Network (bought by Disney in August 1995) for Walt to create and host a brand-new Anthology Series originally known as "Walt Disney's Disneyland" (named after his proposed theme park that would eventually open on July 17, 1955 in Anaheim, California, near the Disney Studios in nearby Burbank, California), but for old-times sake, despite the various name-changes in the course of 65 years, I'll refer to the series from here-on out under its best-known and longest-running title, "The Wonderful World of Disney."

Initially airing Wednesday nights on ABC, "The Wonderful World of Disney" served as a weekly Anthology Series devoted to a variety of different subjects, ranging from Science (e.g. "Mars and Beyond") to Mini-Series e.g. Fess Parker as "Davy Crockett" and even condensed versions of several of Walt's theatrical films over the course of the series, e.g. "Alice in Wonderland" and "Peter Pan."

After 7 years on ABC, ABC cancelled "The Wonderful World of Disney," after which Walt made a deal with rival network NBC to move the show to Sunday nights at 7 P.M. ET on NBC--a timeslot it would hold over the next 20 years, even after Walt died of Lung Cancer at age 65 on December 15, 1966.

Despite Walt's passing, "The Wonderful World of Disney" soldiered on without a regular host for the rest of its original run, which ended its NBC run in 1981 after 20 years due to a gradual decline in viewership, after which the series was picked up by CBS for another 2 years til airing its swan song on September 24, 1983, where by this time "The Wonderful World of Disney" aired on Saturdays.

In 1985, shortly after taking over The Walt Disney Company, new Disney CEO and Chairman Mike Eisner decided to bring "The Wonderful World of Disney" back to its original network home of ABC, with Eisner becoming the host of each episode as Walt had originally done for the show's first 12 1/2 years; the revival began its 4-year run in February 1986, airing for 2 years on ABC until its cancellation, after which NBC picked up "The Wonderful World of Disney" for another 2 years, airing until September 9, 1990, after which time the show moved to The Disney Channel until ABC (by this time owned by Disney) began airing new episodes in a 2-hour Format until ending as a regular series in 2005.

In 2015, "The Wonderful World of Disney" began airing as occasional specials, but with Eisner having stepped down in 2005, succeeded as Disney Chairman and CEO by Bob Iger, the Intros by Iger do not exist, because they've never been made.

Personally, I'd LOVE it if Iger, when Disney+ (a new Streaming Service owned by Disney) officially launches on November 12, were to include on Disney+ select episodes of "The Wonderful World of Disney" as originally broadcast, including Intros by Walt and Eisner fully restored from the original network Prints; in the meantime, I've got YouTube clips of various "WWOD" episodes, including those in poor quality, to watch, as well as several episodes I digitized, albeit in crappy quality, until the day when/if that happens.

In the meantime, here is a YouTube copy of an episode of "The Wonderful World of Disney" from the mid-1980s:

 

[fuzzygobo]

I remember WWOD during its 70s NBC run. It was my Sunday night staple. Also in the early 70s was a prime-time series called "The Mouse Factory" featuring various stars interacting with Disney characters.
Good stuff.