Steve Arino
Banned
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2015
- Messages
- 69
Hello everyone,
Steve Arino here, wanting to remind everyone that this month marks 65 years since Walt Disney entered the infant medium of Television with "One Hour in Wonderland," a special promoting his then-new film "Alice in Wonderland" which aired only ONCE on the CBS Television Network; 4 years later, Walt conceived, created, and hosted "The Wonderful World of Disney," originally airing Wednesday nights on the ABC Television Network (bought by Disney in 1995) before finding its peak in popularity airing for 20 years every Sunday night on NBC from 1961-1981.
Walt continued to host until his Lung Cancer death on December 15, 1966, 10 days after turning 65, after which his announcer, Dick Wesson, began narrating each episode with no host until its original run ended on CBS on September 24, 1983; 2 years later, in late 1985, then-Disney chairman Mike Eisner revived the concept, which revived in February 1986 on ABC for an additional 4-year run, finally concluding on NBC on August 26, 1990.
In the years since, The Walt Disney Company has permanently found a niche in Television--including subsidiary TV studios such as ABC Studios (known as Walt Disney Television from 1983-2007), Touchstone Television (an alternate name of Walt Disney Television launched in 1985 to produce adult-oriented made-for-TV movies such as "Tuesdays with Morrie," featuring one of Jack Lemmon's final on-screen appearances), and Jim Henson Productions (first owned by Disney from 1991-1997 before being sold by Disney to German company EM.TV and later bought back by Jim's adult children who then subsequently sold Jim's Muppet characters back to Disney in February 2004).
As far as Disney Television is concerned, my all-time favorite Disney show is "Home Improvement," which, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, was a hit 1990s Disney sitcom starring stand-up comedian Tim Allen as Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor, the host of a local cable TV show in Tim's real-life adopted hometown of Detroit, Michigan called "Tool Time," where he was reluctantly assisted by Al Borland (Rick Karn), a master plumber who could handle a Tool FAR better than Tim ever could; and Binford Tool Girl Lisa (pre-"Baywatch" babe Pam Anderson), later succeeded by Heidi (Debbe Dunning) after Pam left for "Baywatch." At home, Tim was NO different than he was on "Tool Time," living at 510 Glenview Road in Detroit with his wife of 12 years, Jill (Pat Richardson), and their three rambunctious sons: 10-year-old Brad (Zachery Bryan), 9-year-old Randy (Jonathan Thomas), and 6-year-old Mark (Taran Smith). Whenever Tim had a problem, usually with Jill, he always asked his neighbor Wilson (Earl Hindman) for advice on how to handle the issues. An interesting tidbit: on a personal note, I was watching an episode of "Home Improvement" midway through the 1st season, the episode "What About Bob?," and in addition to Rick Karn's real-life wife, Tudi Roche (who'd later be a recurring guest star as one of Jill's sisters, a Commercial Photographer named Carrie), I also spotted Kirk Cameron in the "Tool Time" audience, Kirk being involved in a blink-and-you-missed-it moment in the "Tool Time" audience scene before Bob Vila got knocked unconscious by Tim. "Home Improvement" was produced by Wind Dancer Productions, Inc. & Walt Disney Television.
Another of my favorite Disney shows is "Empty Nest," an '80s Disney sitcom spun off from "The Golden Girls." The original pilot was telecast as a "Golden Girls" episode featuring character actor Paul Dooley & Rita Moreno portraying, respectively, George & Renee Corliss, a happily married couple struggling to adjust to the realization their youngest child has left the nest. The only holdover from the pilot was David Leisure, who portrayed a DIFFERENT character, test pilot Oliver, than the character he played in the eventual series, that of Charley Dietz. The series, created by Susan Harris, was re-tooled as a vehicle for her old friend Richard Mulligan, cast as Dr. Harry Weston, a widower whose wife, Libby, died 18 months ago, leaving him as a single parent to 2 grown daughters, Carol (Dinah Manoff) and Barbara (Kristy McNichol). A 3rd younger daughter, Emily, was away at college and briefly portrayed by Lisa Rieffel during Season 5. Other characters included Nurse LaVerne Todd (Park Overall), the nurse at the Hospital where Dr. Harry had his Medical Practice; Jeffrey Millstein (Edan Gross), a frequent patient of Harry's; and cruise ship operator Charley Dietz (David Leisure). "Empty Nest" was A Witt Thomas Harris Production in association with Walt Disney Television.
In recent years, Walt Disney Television has produced/distributed a number of TV programs such as "Alias," "According to Jim" & "Scrubs" and continues, as ABC Studios, to flourish, meaning Walt Disney Television WILL NEVER die.
Steve Arino here, wanting to remind everyone that this month marks 65 years since Walt Disney entered the infant medium of Television with "One Hour in Wonderland," a special promoting his then-new film "Alice in Wonderland" which aired only ONCE on the CBS Television Network; 4 years later, Walt conceived, created, and hosted "The Wonderful World of Disney," originally airing Wednesday nights on the ABC Television Network (bought by Disney in 1995) before finding its peak in popularity airing for 20 years every Sunday night on NBC from 1961-1981.
Walt continued to host until his Lung Cancer death on December 15, 1966, 10 days after turning 65, after which his announcer, Dick Wesson, began narrating each episode with no host until its original run ended on CBS on September 24, 1983; 2 years later, in late 1985, then-Disney chairman Mike Eisner revived the concept, which revived in February 1986 on ABC for an additional 4-year run, finally concluding on NBC on August 26, 1990.
In the years since, The Walt Disney Company has permanently found a niche in Television--including subsidiary TV studios such as ABC Studios (known as Walt Disney Television from 1983-2007), Touchstone Television (an alternate name of Walt Disney Television launched in 1985 to produce adult-oriented made-for-TV movies such as "Tuesdays with Morrie," featuring one of Jack Lemmon's final on-screen appearances), and Jim Henson Productions (first owned by Disney from 1991-1997 before being sold by Disney to German company EM.TV and later bought back by Jim's adult children who then subsequently sold Jim's Muppet characters back to Disney in February 2004).
As far as Disney Television is concerned, my all-time favorite Disney show is "Home Improvement," which, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, was a hit 1990s Disney sitcom starring stand-up comedian Tim Allen as Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor, the host of a local cable TV show in Tim's real-life adopted hometown of Detroit, Michigan called "Tool Time," where he was reluctantly assisted by Al Borland (Rick Karn), a master plumber who could handle a Tool FAR better than Tim ever could; and Binford Tool Girl Lisa (pre-"Baywatch" babe Pam Anderson), later succeeded by Heidi (Debbe Dunning) after Pam left for "Baywatch." At home, Tim was NO different than he was on "Tool Time," living at 510 Glenview Road in Detroit with his wife of 12 years, Jill (Pat Richardson), and their three rambunctious sons: 10-year-old Brad (Zachery Bryan), 9-year-old Randy (Jonathan Thomas), and 6-year-old Mark (Taran Smith). Whenever Tim had a problem, usually with Jill, he always asked his neighbor Wilson (Earl Hindman) for advice on how to handle the issues. An interesting tidbit: on a personal note, I was watching an episode of "Home Improvement" midway through the 1st season, the episode "What About Bob?," and in addition to Rick Karn's real-life wife, Tudi Roche (who'd later be a recurring guest star as one of Jill's sisters, a Commercial Photographer named Carrie), I also spotted Kirk Cameron in the "Tool Time" audience, Kirk being involved in a blink-and-you-missed-it moment in the "Tool Time" audience scene before Bob Vila got knocked unconscious by Tim. "Home Improvement" was produced by Wind Dancer Productions, Inc. & Walt Disney Television.
Another of my favorite Disney shows is "Empty Nest," an '80s Disney sitcom spun off from "The Golden Girls." The original pilot was telecast as a "Golden Girls" episode featuring character actor Paul Dooley & Rita Moreno portraying, respectively, George & Renee Corliss, a happily married couple struggling to adjust to the realization their youngest child has left the nest. The only holdover from the pilot was David Leisure, who portrayed a DIFFERENT character, test pilot Oliver, than the character he played in the eventual series, that of Charley Dietz. The series, created by Susan Harris, was re-tooled as a vehicle for her old friend Richard Mulligan, cast as Dr. Harry Weston, a widower whose wife, Libby, died 18 months ago, leaving him as a single parent to 2 grown daughters, Carol (Dinah Manoff) and Barbara (Kristy McNichol). A 3rd younger daughter, Emily, was away at college and briefly portrayed by Lisa Rieffel during Season 5. Other characters included Nurse LaVerne Todd (Park Overall), the nurse at the Hospital where Dr. Harry had his Medical Practice; Jeffrey Millstein (Edan Gross), a frequent patient of Harry's; and cruise ship operator Charley Dietz (David Leisure). "Empty Nest" was A Witt Thomas Harris Production in association with Walt Disney Television.
In recent years, Walt Disney Television has produced/distributed a number of TV programs such as "Alias," "According to Jim" & "Scrubs" and continues, as ABC Studios, to flourish, meaning Walt Disney Television WILL NEVER die.
