The Disney Afternoon
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| The Disney Afternoon | |
|---|---|
 The Disney Afternoon gang |
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| Genre | Animation |
| Created by | Disney Television Animation |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Various |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Broadcast syndication |
| Original run | September 10, 1990 – August 29, 1997 |
The Disney Afternoon was a created-for-syndication two-hour television programming block which aired from September 10, 1990, until August 29, 1997. At that time, Disney decided to retire the name and continued to run a 90-minute syndicated block until 1999. The Disney Afternoon was produced by The Walt Disney Company. Before and after its cancellation, the shows in the block were rerun both on Disney Channel (during the mid-to-late 1990s) and on Toon Disney (all of them between the channel's launch in 1998 and 2004, with some remaining until as late as 2008). Starting on October 2, 1995, four of the shows (Darkwing Duck, TaleSpin, DuckTales, and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers) were rerun on the Disney Channel as a two-hour programming block called "Block Party" which aired on weekdays in the late-afternoon/early-evening.[1] Currently, the only Disney Afternoon shows that still air in the United States are The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa which airs on Disney Junior and Gargoyles which airs on Disney XD; however, several of the block's shows are available on DVD in the United States.
The Disney Afternoon's two-hour block was broken up into four half-hour segments, each of which contained a cartoon series. As each season ended, the first cartoon shown in the lineup would typically be dropped, and a new one added to the end. The Disney Afternoon itself featured unique animated segments consisting of its own opening and "wrappers" around the cartoon shows shown.
This block did not air in every market across the United States, but for those markets that did not air the block in full, individual shows featured on The Disney Afternoon could be packaged by themselves.
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History of the block and programs that aired [edit]
Some of the early cartoon series in The Disney Afternoon came from already in-circulation cartoons, such as Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears which aired on NBC from 1985-89 until moving to ABC. DuckTales premiered in 1987 as Disney was focused on incorporating animated series into its portfolio in the era of cartoons; it was the only cartoon series until accompanied in 1989 by Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. Both had been a one-hour-long cartoon block in 1989–1990, until both were incorporated into The Disney Afternoon the following year.
Both DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers were syndicated and packaged at first through its original television affiliates, most of which evolved from independents to Fox affiliates with successful children's lineups. However, due to disputes between Disney and Fox later on, both shows were pulled from many Fox affiliates by Disney and landed on other stations in the same markets that were still independents by the time The Disney Afternoon came to play. Other Fox affiliates simply passed it down to their independent competitors by choice due to shorter time frames for local programming, mainly with the debut of The Disney Afternoon's main competitor Fox Kids and more stations premiering local morning news programs.
Some of the later additions were inspired by shorter cartoons in the short-lived series Raw Toonage, which appeared on the CBS network in fall, 1992—for example, Marsupilami; also He's Bonkers!, which has characters that also appear in Bonkers.
Beginning with the 1994 season, Marvel Comics began publishing a comic book series based on the programs featured on the block, as part of their line of comics based on modern Disney properties (the classic properties were licensed to Gladstone Publishing). The series mainly consisted of stories based on Darkwing Duck, with occasional stories featuring Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers and TaleSpin. It ended at 10 issues, but stories based on the block's shows continued in Marvel's Disney Comic Hits! and in the children's magazine Disney Adventures.
The Disney Afternoon was last aired on August 29, 1997. Beginning September 1, Disney dropped the block's name and reduced it to 90 minutes. The unnamed 90-minute block ran until September 3, 1999, when it was finally cancelled and a new block, Disney's One Too began airing on UPN.
The shows that aired from 1997-1998 were DuckTales, The Mighty Ducks, Quack Pack, and 101 Dalmatians: The Series, and from 1998-1999 it was formed by DuckTales, Disney's Doug, and Hercules: The Animated Series.[2][3][4]
International broadcasts [edit]
Some of The Disney Afternoon's shows also aired on international versions of Disney Channel, Toon Disney and Disney Cinemagic, and on several local channels in various countries. In Europe, blocks similar to The Disney Afternoon were produced, mostly with names which translate in English as "Walt Disney Presents" (not related to the anthology series).
In Edmonton, Canada, the city's then-independent TV station ITV (now Global Edmonton) produced its own version of The Disney Afternoon over roughly the same period as the American program, but only once per week in a two-hour block on Saturday afternoons, though using the same cartoon lineup as the American weekday block. Apart from the animated introduction, the block did not use any Disney-produced wrapper segments, instead using locally-produced live-action segments between programs with host Mike Sobel.[5] ITV (and thus the Sobel-hosted TDA) was at that time also available on cable in various mid-sized and smaller markets across Canada, as far away as St. John's.
Disney Afternoon Avenue [edit]
The popularity of The Disney Afternoon led to a temporary attraction at Disneyland called "Disney Afternoon Avenue."[6] Disney Afternoon Avenue was a feature of Disneyland in 1991, two years before Mickey's Toontown (a name linked to the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit) opened in January 1993.
Approximate lineup by seasons [edit]
| Season | 3:00 PM | 3:30 PM | 4:00 PM | 4:30 PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One (1990–1991) | Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears | DuckTales | Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers | TaleSpin |
| Two (1991–1992) | DuckTales | Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers | TaleSpin | Darkwing Duck |
| Three (1992–1993) | Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers | TaleSpin | Darkwing Duck | Goof Troop |
| Four (1993–1994) | TaleSpin | Darkwing Duck | Goof Troop | Bonkers |
| Five (1994–1995) | Darkwing Duck | Goof Troop | The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show / Bonkers / Gargoyles | Aladdin |
| Six (1995–1996) | Goof Troop | Bonkers | Aladdin | Gargoyles / The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa [7] |
| Seven (1996–1997) | Darkwing Duck | Gargoyles | Aladdin | The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa / Quack Pack / The Mighty Ducks |
Video games [edit]
Many of The Disney Afternoon shows were made into video games.
References [edit]
- ^ "Block Party: Four Disney Animated Series." The Disney Channel Magazine, Vol. 13, no. 5, October/November 1995: p. 36.
- ^ Animation World Magazine, Issue 2.6, September 1997
- ^ Animation World Magazine, "Tooning in the 1998 Fall Season"
- ^ Animation World Magazine, "It's Show Time! The Fall TV season, September 1999
- ^ "Personalities: Mike Sobel". GlobalTVEdmonton.com. Shaw Media. 2011-05-26. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
- ^ "Disney Afternoon Avenue at Yesterland". Yesterland.com. Retrieved 2013-05-10.
- ^ "Disney Afternoon and Kids WB Promo's (1995)". YouTube. Retrieved 2013-05-10.
External links [edit]
- Disney Afternoon On Yahoo! Groups
- Disney Afternoon On Retro Junk
- Disney Afternoon vs. Tiny Toons (1989) (first nine pages of publicity packet touting The Disney Afternoon over syndication offerings of Warner Brothers)
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