Yesterworld: The Rise & Fall of the Disney Channel

[ToyfareMark]

Another excellent video from Yesterworld,



If you are a fan of Defunctland, this channel is right up your alley.

[Deleted]

Jetix is a pretty fascinating history, given it was adapted from Fox Kids and integral to Disney's reach in Europe, but people f***ing hated it in the United States.

[Paul]

That's a great retrospective! Thanks for posting it. I used to love watching Welcome To Pooh Corner, Dumbo's Circus, and Good Morning, Mickey on The Disney Channel.

[HMARK Center]

If there’s anything Nick Nacks and these Disney Channel retrospectives have shown me, it’s that I find myself really fascinated by early cable TV programming circa the 80s, where a lot of these stations seemed to try to have a little something for everyone while revolving around their channel’s main theme (I.E. Disney being a family friendly channel specializing in the Disney catalog).

Totally understandable why they’d change to suit the times and the more profitable tastes of their eventual target demographics, but there’s something about the old school approach to specialty channels that just feels more interesting. Guess it’s because it was so early in the process that there simply weren’t that many trends to chase yet.

[James Fabiano]

Raccoons mention! Automatic five stars ;-)

But really, I echo the positive feedback about this feature (Yesterworld/Defunctland is usually top notch in general).

I remember looking forward to free preview weeks from our cable company when we could get TDC instead of having to listen to Scramblevision. Forget exactly when we caved in and decided on the package that included it. I agree about it originally being more something-for-everyone, before demographics and even before rights issues/wanting to only push their brand. Shoot, based on an ad break I watched from either the 80s or early 90s, you could see not only Disney properties, but also DC (Superman: The Movie and Batman ['66]: The Movie were there) and Don Bluth films, as well as the Peanuts and some Hanna-Barbera, IIRC.

TDC was where I learned what The Ozzie and Harriet Show was, and didn't they air Ready Steady Go! reruns at one point? If only I knew then what I knew now of Britpop...

They aired the National Lampoon's Vacation movies too?!!?

[Welfare Willis]

Aug 2, 2022 5:42:38 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

If there’s anything Nick Nacks and these Disney Channel retrospectives have shown me, it’s that I find myself really fascinated by early cable TV programming circa the 80s, where a lot of these stations seemed to try to have a little something for everyone while revolving around their channel’s main theme (I.E. Disney being a family friendly channel specializing in the Disney catalog).

Totally understandable why they’d change to suit the times and the more profitable tastes of their eventual target demographics, but there’s something about the old school approach to specialty channels that just feels more interesting. Guess it’s because it was so early in the process that there simply weren’t that many trends to chase yet.

Agreed. The part of the problem with cable today is with so many things competing for eyeballs they've had to go for the least common dominator to compete. Back in the 80s cable was experimental in some ways. There were all these channels and so much time to fulfill.

[James Fabiano]

Aug 2, 2022 10:06:44 GMT -5 Welfare Willis said:

Aug 2, 2022 5:42:38 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

If there’s anything Nick Nacks and these Disney Channel retrospectives have shown me, it’s that I find myself really fascinated by early cable TV programming circa the 80s, where a lot of these stations seemed to try to have a little something for everyone while revolving around their channel’s main theme (I.E. Disney being a family friendly channel specializing in the Disney catalog).

Totally understandable why they’d change to suit the times and the more profitable tastes of their eventual target demographics, but there’s something about the old school approach to specialty channels that just feels more interesting. Guess it’s because it was so early in the process that there simply weren’t that many trends to chase yet.

Agreed. The part of the problem with cable today is with so many things competing for eyeballs they've had to go for the least common dominator to compete. Back in the 80s cable was experimental in some ways. There were all these channels and so much time to fulfill.

And that's true of TV in general. The local stations were like that in the 80s as well. This is how I came to appreciate shows and movies of different decades, as they were still heavy on reruns from the 50s and up.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

At work so I’ll watch it later.

Seems like there’s a pre-Hilary Duff and post-Hilary Duff era. Lizzie McGuire was a sea change for Disney Channel and they hit this pop culture stride with the Hollywood Records roster. But I also have fond memories of the Raccoons days, and the Nelvana episodes of Cars Bears they aired were way funnier than the prior ones.

[horsemen4ever]

I am glad he mentioned The Raccoons, but no mention Saved By The Bell season 0 aka Good Morning Miss Bliss.

[James Fabiano]

Aug 2, 2022 20:26:57 GMT -5 horsemen4ever said:

I am glad he mentioned The Raccoons, but no mention Saved By The Bell season 0 aka Good Morning Miss Bliss.

It probably effin' killed itself.

[BlackoutCreature]

All those shout-outs to all those shows and movies, and Ocean Girl couldn't get a mention? I am disappointed.