The Rise & Fall of The Disney Channel

Explore the untold history of The Disney Channel! From its origins in the 1970s, the channel’s near collapse in the 80s, the peak in the 90s & drastic changes into the 2000’s & Today.



PRIMARY SOURCES:

The Disney Touch - Ron Grover

Prince of the Magic Kingdom - Joe Flower

ADDITIONAL SOURCES:

Dreamfinder Script:

Inside the Rise of HBO - Bill Mesce, Jr.

VIDEO & IMAGE CREDITS:

(In Order of Appearance)

(The rest are continued in a pinned comment)

[YesterworldEntertainment]

Hey all! So wow...I can't believe how long this episode took to get out! On top of the length of the video itself & complexity/number of all the video assets, I wound up catching COVID last month...it took weeks for my voice to recover to where I felt it wouldn't be incredibly distracting to continue narration, and even then, it was still a struggle to get through recording. So long story short, this episode would've come out quite a bit earlier, but alas...it's here now! I hope you enjoy this labor of love.
Mark

(Credits continued)











“Magician Mickey” - Walt Disney Company


Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse ‘Giantland’ - Walt Disney Company

Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse ‘Orphan’s Benefit’ - Walt Disney Company

The Mickey Mouse Club (1950s) - Walt Disney Company

Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse ‘Hawaiian Holiday’ - Walt Disney Company

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes - Walt Disney Company

The Parent Trap - Walt Disney Company









Disney Channel Promises squeaky-clean programming - The Philadelphia Inquirer, 1982

An Adventure In Color – Mathmagic Land - The Walt Disney Company




Disneyland 10th Anniversary - The Walt Disney Company

[blacksun]

This man rattled off disney movies for 4 minutes just to shut up the "you didn't mention" crowd and I respect it.

[CaptainJZH]

that clip of walt disney firing a gun at the ground and demanding that the singers perform is pure gold lol

[alyssagrimes]

It’s SO weird to hear Austin and Ally listed among shows like Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly place, in my mind it came WAY after those but really it didn’t, A&A started the same year Hannah Montana ended. It’s just odd how I feel like those were two completely separate “eras” of Disney Channel when they really weren’t

[Wendish]

As a Disney+ subscriber, I actually get more joy from watching the Disney channels in my Disney resort hotel room than streaming. There is something to be said for just watching what's playing on TV at the moment versus scrolling through various options on streaming until finally landing on one that you might possibly want to watch.
God, I sound like a Boomer.

[undefinedromance]

Hearing all the different DCOM's being listed off, it was so interesting spotting the specific wave that helped definite my childhood. Somewhere between Halloweentown and as late as Wendy Wu is where the nostalgia lies.

[FullForce]

That point in every story about Disney history: "And then Michael Eisner walked in"

[jml]

I remember every time a Disney Channel Original Movie would come on when I was at my dad's house (we didn't have cable at my moms) it felt like such a gift. So many good memories of all those movies, I don't care if they're good or not.

[becmartin]

My mom let me stay home from school the day the Disney Channel premiered. I remember being so excited seeing the Mickey satellite for the first time!

[cadendicky]

I gotta say, seeing Walt Disney himself on camera talking about his movies and theme parks felt amazing, it felt like he really cared about his company.

[authorrayrogers]

My Dad was an Imagineer for 30+ years, working mostly at Walt Disney World in Florida. We also lived in France briefly while he worked on the construction of Disneyland Paris. To say we were a Disney family is an understatement. My younger sister and I would watch The Disney Channel pretty much non-stop. You and Me, Kid was my favorite, while Welcome to Pooh Corner was my sister's. I discovered The Beatles from watching a documentary on them that aired on The Disney Channel late one night. I will always look fondly on those days, when we were still young enough to enjoy Disney entertainment without the cynicism that always seems to spring up once you become an adult.

[jiixn]

15:52 Imagine your a kid in the 80's, falling asleep well watching Disney channel, your in the living room with al the light of, to then be awoken by this noise.

[Larry]

I love the fact that early cable TV movies were literally them filming live in the local movie theatre. 😂

[STSGuitar]

It won’t be the same for kids today. Back when I was younger, everyone watched the Disney channel. Like every single person in any of my classes in elementary school saw all of those old classics like Zack and Cody and Even Stevens. See, we didn’t get a choice of what show or movie to watch, they got chosen for us and so we all were watching the same stuff. I think that’s a big part of the nostalgia, too. These days, every kid will be watching something different and they won’t share that bond like we used to.

[pablocardona]

The level of quality of this video is stunning, what the platform needs, amazing video, I remember watching Disney Channel from 2005-2014, I never knew the channel had such a long and amazing history.

[YTubeBrowser]

I was an 80s kid. My parents got satellite and subscribed to the Disney Channel, and that changed my world. I loved everything Disney, old and new at that time. The most memorable (for me) were the holiday content, like Disney’s Halloween Treat, and a Disney Christmas, each consisting of old Disney cartoon shorts sewn together with a narrator, plus the respective seasonal movies. I thought I’d never see stuff like that again. Then YouTube came online and I’m able to find some of the old material (if it hasn’t been removed for ‘copyright’ violations). With Disney+ online I’m hoping they’ll bring back more of the late 70s/ early 80s stuff for us ‘old’ kids.

[CaptainTurner]

I love the "just to name a few" right after Mark lists every single DCOM.

[wendymccoy]

Why have I never seen that clip of Walt yelling SING before? That was gold!

[mnmin]

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
0:45 - History, P1
12:10 - Launch Content
15:35 - History, P2
23:10 - 90s Content
27:23 - Promos and Bumpers (80/90s)
28:15 - Changes of the 90s
35:15 - Changes/Content of Early 2000s to Early 2010s
39:02 - Every DCOM, Listed
40:05 - "Life is Ruff" rant
40:50 - Every DCOM (cont.)
42:12 - The end of Disney Channel/Disney Plus
43:04 - Credits

[rolfathan]

That 1997 rebranding was that gradual change that lost me so much. I loved back when they were playing stuff without commercials, tons on cool animation (The Last Unicorn? The animated Hobbit and Lord of the Rings? The Dark Crystal?) the rebranding started to turn to all original, yet fewer and fewer classics shows and movies from the company.