The Disney Sunday Movie
| Walt Disney anthology television series | |
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Opening title for The Wonderful World of Disney used since 2015.
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| Also known as |
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| Genre | Anthology series |
| Created by | Walt Disney |
| Presented by | Walt Disney (1954–1966) Michael Eisner (1986–2002) |
| Narrated by |
Dick Wesson (1954–1979) Mark Elliot (1979–1988) Danny Dark (1988–1991) |
| Opening theme | "When You Wish Upon a Star" (1954–1961 and 1968–present; various instrumental adaptations) "The Wonderful World of Color" (1961–1968) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 53 |
| No. of episodes | 1,224 |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera (hosted segments) |
| Running time | 156–180 minutes |
| Distributor |
Walt Disney Productions (1954–1983) Walt Disney Domestic Television Distribution (1983–1985) Buena Vista Television (1985–2007) Disney–ABC Domestic Television (2007–present) |
| Release | |
| Original network |
ABC (1954–1961, 1986–1988 and 1997–present) NBC (1961–1981 and 1988–1991) CBS (1981–1986, 1991–1997) Disney Junior (2012–present) Disney Channel (1991–1997) |
| Picture format |
480i (SDTV), 720p (HDTV) |
| Original release | October 27, 1954 – present |
Walt Disney Productions (later The Walt Disney Company) has produced an anthology television series under several different titles since 1954 being broadcast weekly on one of the Big Three television networks for 34 years being on hiatus for only two years by 1990, a 36 year span. The series was broadcast on Sunday for 25 of those years. The show has had only two hosts, Walt Disney and Disney Chairman Michael Eisner. The original version of the series premiered on ABC on Wednesday, October 27, 1954.
The same basic series has since appeared on several networks. The show is the second longest running prime-time program on American television, behind rival film anthology, the Hallmark Hall of Fame. However, Hallmark Hall of Fame aired as a weekly program during its first five seasons before becoming a bi-monthly program, while Disney remained a weekly program for more than 40 years.
The anthology series was an outgrowth of Walt Disney looking for funding for Disneyland with Roy Disney approaching all the big three networks with American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres taking the deal for programming for ABC.
Although Walt Disney was the first major film producer to venture into television, there were two established independent film producers that successfully ventured into television production before Disney, Hal Roach and Jerry Fairbanks. Disney wanted to produce a television program in order to finance the development of the Disneyland amusement park. After being turned down by both CBS and NBC, Disney eventually signed a deal with ABC (which had merged with United Paramount Theaters in 1953) on March 29, 1954. The show contained teasers for Walt's park, as well as episodes representing life in one of the park's main sections: Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and Frontierland, with the opening titles used from its inception until the show's move to NBC in 1961, showing the entrance to Disneyland itself, as well as the four aforementioned lands, which were then identified as the main feature of that evening's program.
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Wikipedia