Welcome to Pooh Corner

Welcome to Pooh Corner
Second Welcome to Pooh Corner title card
Starring	Joe Giamalva Patty Maloney Ronald Mangham Norman Merrill, Jr. Mark Sawyer Frank Groby Sharon Baird Shelagh Garren Peter Risch
Voices of	Hal Smith Will Ryan Ron Gans Phil Baron Kim Christianson Robin Frederick
Narrated by	Laurie Main
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	120
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Distributor	Walt Disney Domestic Television Distribution (1983–1985) Buena Vista Television (1985–1986)
Release
Original network	The Disney Channel (now Disney Channel)
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	April 18, 1983 – May 30, 1986

Welcome to Pooh Corner is a live-action/puppet television series that aired on Disney Channel, featuring the characters from the Winnie the Pooh universe portrayed by actors in human-sized puppet suits, except Roo, who was originally a traditional puppet. The animatronic costumes used for the characters were created by Alchemy II, Inc., headed by Ken Forsse who later created the toy sensation Teddy Ruxpin. The show was first aired on April 18, 1983, the day The Disney Channel was launched. Its timeslot for its early run was at 8:30 a.m. Eastern/Pacific Time, making it the third program of The Disney Channel's 16 (later 18) hour programming day. Reruns of the show aired on The Disney Channel until at least January 1997.

Hal Smith, Will Ryan, and Laurie Main were the only three actors from the original four Pooh shorts to reprise their roles here (Smith, who had voiced Owl ever since the beginning of Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise, had recently replaced Sterling Holloway as the voice of Pooh; Ryan had provided Rabbit's voice in the 1983 short Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore, replacing Junius Matthews; and Main was the narrator for Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore, replacing Sebastian Cabot). The show's title derives from the second Winnie the Pooh storybook, The House at Pooh Corner.

The show was hosted by a middle-aged Englishman (played by Laurie Main) who would present each episode. He would relate what he was talking about to an event that occurred in the Hundred Acre Wood, the home of the Pooh characters, and then he would proceed to read from a book entitled Welcome to Pooh Corner. He would then narrate the episode acted out by the characters. The action was filmed before a blue screen, rather than using traditional sets (the same technique was used for Dumbo's Circus, another live-action/puppet series that ran on The Disney Channel).