Disney’s World of Magic (1982-1990)
Episode 44 of the Tales of Television Past Direct View Net Channel.
Title Sequence
An image of an old television gets turned on by a hand and, after warming up, distorted retro 1980s theme music plays and the screen[1] displays the title card “Tales of Television Past” on the screen, then: “Episode 44: Disney’s World of Magic (1982-1990)”. It then transitions to the original opening theme and intro for “Disney’s World of Magic.” We zoom in on the screen until it is the full display we see, nested and blocked to fit our screen. It starts showing a montage of historical clips, mostly from Disney TV past.
Host
The year was 1981. Walt Disney’s Wonderful World had been on the air in one form or another since 1954. But after all those decades, the public had largely tired of a show that hadn’t really changed since 1975. It relied heavily on re-runs, classic Disney shorts, and a few live performances, most of which was far out of touch with the popular culture of the time. NBC, who hosted the show on Sunday nights, was threatening cancellation.
Montage
Images from the TV Show, the Shorts on it, and still images pertinent to the discussion points go by on the screen as the Host discusses them. Public Domain music, with snippets of copywritten music interspersed, play.
Host
Enter Jim Henson, the man behind the Muppets. In late 1980 he joined the Disney team, first as a consultant and then later as Chief Creative Officer, or CCO. As one of Henson’s first jobs as CCO, Disney President Ron Miller tasked him with revamping the flagging show. Henson had a lot to do. Reinvigorating a failing old show would require not just new material, but an exciting new look. After several long creative meetings, it was decided to keep the classic structure of having a host introducing the various Shorts. However, the set would get a modern update with new, contemporary theme music and sets and, most importantly, new and boundary-pushing Shorts. The thought was that the show could be used as an experimental test bed for new ideas, a virtual mass test screening, as it were.
Montage
Images continue, now shifting towards the newer, post-Henson images from the new show.
Host
The host would speak from a modern new office set backed by a large picture window, from which exotic, magical, and otherworldly images would be first back-projected, and then later chromakey inserted, suggesting that the office was located on some strange new world or setting. Special visual effects “magic” would be used during the live action hosting segments and other live performances in order to play up the mystical power of television as a medium, and, indeed, demonstrate the “Magic of Disney”. The show would then progress through the week’s Shorts, with stylish animated or puppet sequences, abstract images, or other transitional sequences separating them. The Shorts would primarily be new sequences, short animations, Muppet sequences, musical videos or performances, short documentaries (often about Disney rides and attractions, puppetry, animation, behind-the-scenes, nature, or environmental issues), or excerpts from upcoming movies, though an occasional classic Short would be used as filler or if deemed appropriate to that week’s themes.
Montage
Images shift to footage of the various guest stars.
Host
In addition to the Shorts, the show would take a cue from variety shows (including the Muppet Show) and feature live guest stars. At first, these guest stars were recruited mostly from Bernie Brillstein’s agency or from existing Disney contracts, though in time more guest starts would seek out opportunities on the show, particularly once it was realized that appearing on the show could gain one an audience with Disney producers and directors, and thereby a chance to set up future gigs. The guests would perform and interact with Muppets, animated characters, walkaround characters, or even with the host. Musical and dance performances from these stars would add a hip, pop culture vibe that, along with for-the-time cutting edge computer animated transitions and segues, would help give the show the new, hip modern vibe that Henson and Miller were looking for.
Montage
Images transition into shots of various producers, directors, and artists on the set and at work.
Host
Henson assigned the job of Production to Muppet Show veteran David Lazer, Disney Creative VP Tom Wilhite, and Jim’s agent-turned-manager-turned-producer Bernie Brillstein. Individual guest writers and guest Directors would be given the opportunity to do a week’s episode, thereby having the show serve as a training ground for new talent. Henson and the team filmed an internal pilot hosted by Jim Henson, with the idea being that President and later CEO Ron Miller would take over hosting for the actual show. To Henson’s surprise, Miller asked if Jim could host[2]! Already a household name following the fame of the Muppets, Jim Henson’s easy-going nature and friendly smile would provide exactly the kind, family friendly presence that Disney wanted for the show. Though Henson’s stiff and stilted early appearances betrayed his hesitance to put his own face on camera[3], over time he relaxed into the role, becoming a calming, pleasant, reassuring presence for audiences.
Montage
Images transition from Production stills and on-the-set shots interspersed into stills from other TV shows and clips, and then into Disney Channel shows.
Host
Production began in January of 1982. By this point NBC had dropped the show and CBS had picked it up. It would run on Saturday nights from 8-9 PM Eastern & Mountain time before being moved to Tuesdays to avoid competition with the wildly popular
Diff'rent Strokes and
Silver Spoons. Ratings improved notably compared to the previous several years of the show, though it would never reach the heights of
The Muppet Show, whose viewership it had largely hoped to capture once the latter went off the air in 1983. After the creation of the Disney Channel in 1983, the Disney management briefly considered moving the show there[4], but on the advice of Brillstein and Lazer they kept the show on network television, where it would effectively serve as a profit-generating advertisement for Disney movies, attractions, and the new shows on the Disney Channel. For example, when a Short featuring the Waggle Rock characters was aired on
World of Magic, it generated a notable spike in subscriptions and viewership for the show on the Disney Channel.
Montage
Images transition into Production stills and on-the-set shots interspersed with the Shorts
Host
The show also offered Disney a chance to expand its boundaries with audiences. Disney animators and writers, in particular the young and the unorthodox, would get opportunities to create fare that was outside the normal Disney aesthetic…within reason, of course. This would allow for a variety of different styles, moods, pallets, mediums (including computer animation), and story structures to be explored, particularly when special edition shows like holiday episodes were run. Future big names in animation, such as John Lassiter, Ron Clements, Joe Ranft, and Tim Burton, would get their first big break on this show. In particular, audiences remembered Burton’s first contribution, the stop-motion short Vincent, which aired during the 1982 Halloween special. With its bleak, German Expressionist inspired imagery, it would stick in the audience’s memories, whether they wanted it to or not. Vincent would receive critical acclaim and would even win a Prime Time Emmy for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, one of many the series would win during its run. The series itself would take home an Emmy in 1985 for Outstanding Variety Sketch Show.
Montage
Images transition into more clips from Disney’s World of Magic.
Host
Disney’s World of Magic would air weekly from the spring of 1982 to the fall of 1986, when its high costs would drive a transition into a periodic special format rather than a weekly series. It would see slight tweaks in format over the years, with chromakey technology and computer graphics backgrounds moving in during the mid to late 1980s. In 1990 it would change its name back to the Wonderful World of Disney. This later, updated format would continue to air periodic specials up to the present day.
Montage
Images flip through more clips from Disney’s World of Magic before finally ending on a concluding screen.
Host
Disney’s World of Magic represented an interesting blend of the new and the traditional, giving it a unique place within the history of Disney television. While the show’s obvious and outdated special effects and graphics betray its age and its era, the show remains a favorite in syndication and direct viewing and is considered by fans to be one of the best eras of the “Wonderful World” Disney anthology series. Thus, Disney’s World of Magic remains a memorable Tale of Television Past. Tune in next week when I talk about Great Television Disasters, including My Mother the Car, Spy-Yai-Yai[5], and the epically disastrous Heil Honey, I’m Home! If you’d like to see more videos please “like”, Subscribe, and hit the “Tracker” button for more…
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[1] My apologies to
Defunct TV for ripping off their schtick. Consider this a tip of the hat for all the great research I’ve gained from the
Defunctland channels.
[2] Ron Miller was famously shy and nervous in front of a group and would be very reticent about hosting a TV show
[3] As seen in his stiff hosting of
The Jim Henson Hour in the late ‘80s; there he never got the chance to settle in to the role, as it didn’t last a season.
[4] This happened in our timeline where the show largely got absorbed into shows like
Disney Studio Showcase and
Mousterpiece Theater.
[5] Fictional, thank the Maker. Unfortunately, the other two examples
actually existed.