Today in History: The Magic of Disney Comes Alive
- Tory DiBlasi
- Oct 28, 2017
- 1 min read
Walt Disney Productions produced an anthology television series named “Disneyland”. The original show premiered on ABC on Wednesday, October 27, 1954.
The “Disneyland” series evolved into “The Wonderful World of Disney”. The show was broadcast weekly until 1983 on the major networks. After a two year hiatus in 1984 and 1985, it returned and was aired until 1990. The series was broadcast on Sunday for 25 of those years. Although aired infrequently from 1991 to 1997, the “Wonderful World of Disney” resumed a regular schedule starting in the Fall of 1997 on ABC as a result of Disney purchasing ABC. The program aired regularly until the series finale was broadcast on December 24, 2008.
The Disney series is the second longest showing prime-time program on American television, behind “Hallmark Hall of Fame”. It is important to mention that over the incredible 54 year span the show only had two hosts. The first was creator Walt Disney and the second was Michael Eisner. After the death of Walt Disney on December 15, 1966, Michael Eisner became the Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company. Although Michael Eisner was not a performer by profession, he became the host of the show as well as the public face of the company.
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