Disney on TV

The first Disney television program, a special entitled One Hour in Wonderland, aired on Christmas Day in 1950. Disney and TV have had a symbiotic bond ever since.

It was ABC that helped a cash-strapped Walt Disney with money to open Disneyland in 1955. In exchange, Walt produced a weekly anthology series and The Mickey Mouse Club. After years of successful broadcast television, the company would launch a cable station, the Disney Channel, in 1983. They'd own a local Los Angeles television station before acquiring ABC/Capital Cities in 1996, which greatly expanded their television domain. Now with their broadcast and cable networks, including powerhouse ESPN, Disney's television operations are a major part of the company's entertainment portfolio.

Because of its presence, I find myself watching Disney television programming with some frequency, though the choice is very rarely mine since I don't control the remote control. Below are some thoughts and observations of what I've seen lately ...

Dancing with the Stars - Last night, Drew Lachey and his professional dance partner Cheryl Burke took home the disco ball trophy as the top couple on the surprising reality show hit. We were tuned in to see the coronation. If you had asked me, even after the successful summer run of the first edition of this program, whether this show would have factored into the rating success of ABC -- on Thursday nights no less -- I would have said no way. But there is something captivating about watching B- and C-level "stars" doing the cha-cha and tango on live TV. Personally, I was rooting for Stacy Keibler to win it all but Drew was a worthy winner. At least Jerry Rice didn't take home the honors.

The Amazing Race - And speaking of reality show hits, the ninth season of this Emmy-winning, around-the-world sprint is about to air on CBS. Produced in part by Touchstone Television, it is one of the more engaging reality shows on TV. Sometimes the challenges are silly, sometimes they are lame but it is always fun to see people out of their element trying to win a million dollars. We actually didn't watch last season's "family" edition and haven't always been thrilled with their stunts of adding reality stars from other CBS shows to the mix. Hopefully, this new season will just go back to the basics and have teams of two with some relationship to one another go to places that I know I'll never travel.

ABC Primetime - We're watching a lot more primetime programs on ABC than in some time. It's nice to see that the network is again competing for eyeballs after languishing near the bottom of the Nielsen ratings for a number of years. Luckily, the success is built upon quality programming rather than stunts that offer only short-term gains, such as six nights of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire every week. The success of Desperate Housewives has helped make a monster hit out of Grey's Anatomy. I'd love to get into Lost but have been holding out since I didn't watch the series from the beginning. I really need to catch up via DVD or iTunes.

ABC Daytime - in primetime - Kathy loves her ABC Soaps. We used to record them and watch them after getting home from work but we actually bought a subscriber tier on our cable system just for SoapNet, which allows Kathy to watch All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital each night or on the weekends. Needless to say, I have lots of free time to take care of chores around the house when Kathy goes into soap mode.

Big Mondays - Monday nights on ESPN often provide an opportunity for Kathy to watch her favorite college basketball team play on TV. With coverage of the Big 12 division, we try to catch Kansas whenever their games are aired. Sometimes that means watching ESPN on other days of the week too, depending on the schedule.

Conspicuously absent from our viewing schedule is any programming on the Disney Channel. I used to love watching some of the vintage programming that they'd show. I even watched some of the originally programming and re-broadcasts of recent Disney-produced shows like Smart Guy and Boy Meets World. But now that the station is geared predominately for 'tweens, I find I'm not drawn to the channel's programming.

There are other Disney shows that we'll watch from time to time. Kathy loves a good Lifetime Movie. We're keeping our fingers crossed that In Justice will get better. And the Oscars are an annual tradition.

I'm hoping that Disney continues to produce great programs and that ABC and the various cable stations all deliver compelling, funny, interesting and most of all entertaining television. The TV's on quite a bit in our household. We'd prefer to watch good stuff over the junk that often times invades people's living rooms.

P.S. If you'd like to know more about the history of Disney and TV, check out Bill Griffiths' excellent The Wonderful World of Disney essay here on StartedByAMouse.com.