DO YOU REMEMBER? DISNEY ON SUNDAY

For many Americans who grew up in decades past, Sunday night provided a wonderful family tradition, where the whole clan would gather around to be entertained by the imagination of Walt Disney. Perhaps you knew it as Disneyland in the 50s, or Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color in the 60s, or maybe The Wonderful World of Disney in the 70s and 80s, but the fact remains – there are a whole bunch of folks out there who spent Sunday nights watching 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Davy Crockett, True-Life Adventures, Donald in Mathmagic Land, or perhaps just a kindly old gentleman enthusiastically telling us about his new theme park. We thought we would take a look back at these iconic shows that brought Walt Disney and his various creations into our living rooms each week.
When Walt first decided to get his feet wet in the medium of television in 1954, it was to promote his newest idea, a theme park in Anaheim, California, appropriately called Disneyland. Let’s take a look:


Disneyland actually aired on Wednesdays, but in 1958, the show was re-titled Walt Disney Presents and went from being shown of Friday nights to Sunday in 1961. Always the innovator, Walt wanted to show off the new color technology of the day, however, so he moved to NBC that year, and introduced Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. For the next 8 years, the show would enthrall viewers of all ages with its airing of classic Disney movies, cartoons, and documentaries:

The show’s name changed again in 1969, to The Wonderful World of Disney, which ran for another 10 years on Sundays: