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The Disney Channel in the 1980s

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 7:48 am
by snowbot
Did anyone else here watch the Disney Channel in the 80s? Some of my favorite TV memories were watching such classic programming as Danger Bay, The Edison Twins, DTV (as in Disney MTV), Welcome to Pooh Corner, Dumbo's Circus, Mousercise, Mousterpiece Theatre, and of course the great made for TV movies and classic Disney shorts. Just wondering.

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 8:04 am
by Captain Hook
I saw Gone are the Dayes and Lots of Luck from the 80s, I believe. They were both TV movies and very funny. Besides that, I don't remember anything.

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 8:15 am
by Luke
I do remember DTV and "Under the Umbrella Tree", "Kids, Incorporated", and Tiger Town and the Boogedy movies. The new Mickey Mouse Club started in '89 and I was going to say "Wake, Rattle & Roll", but that was 1990, apparently. Opps! :oops:

Welcome to the forum, snowbot! :eye:

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 8:37 am
by FilmMkr
I have a video of DTV! It's probably the oldest VHS I own

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 9:47 am
by Jack
I mostly watched Disney Channel in the 90s, but I remember really liking a show with Alan Thicke, who worked at a Sea World-type park. Is that "Danger Bay"?

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 10:35 am
by goofystitch
I remember Mousterpiece Theater, The New Mickey Mouse Club, Kid's Inc., DTV, Welcome To Pooh Corner, Dumbo's Circus, and Padington Bear. Being so young at the time, the only movie I remember is "Mother Goose Rockn' Rhyme." My parents had taped it and I used to watch it all the time.

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 10:48 am
by wwwjim
What I miss from the Disney Channel of the 80s is how they used to play so many of the classic Disney movies and tv shows. Their original programming was great, but I'm a sucker for the classics.

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 3:11 pm
by snowbot
Jack wrote:I mostly watched Disney Channel in the 90s, but I remember really liking a show with Alan Thicke, who worked at a Sea World-type park. Is that "Danger Bay"?
You are thinking of "Danger Bay", but it wasn't Alan Thicke, it was this guy:

Image

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 3:17 pm
by snowbot
Luke wrote: Welcome to the forum, snowbot! :eye:
Thanks for the welcome, Luke! I don't know if anyone else ever gets this feeling, but I think I subconsciously believe that Emilio Estevez is actually the Site Administrator here! Maybe "Luke" is an alias. Anyway, thought I'd let ya know.

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 3:32 pm
by Leonia
I don't remember watching a lot of TV as a baby/toddler (I was 3 years old when it was 1989, the last year of the decade), but I do remember watching a lot of DTV my parents recorded. That was when we still had cable, apparently.

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 3:58 pm
by Prince Adam
snowbot wrote:
Luke wrote: Welcome to the forum, snowbot! :eye:
Thanks for the welcome, Luke! I don't know if anyone else ever gets this feeling, but I think I subconsciously believe that Emilio Estevez is actually the Site Administrator here! Maybe "Luke" is an alias. Anyway, thought I'd let ya know.
I think it's just you, because I've never thought of him as Buzz Lightyear, ALF, or Hopper (some former avatars).

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 6:46 pm
by jebsdad
I have very fond memories of the Disney Channel in the 1980s. I subscribed from August 1983 (the first month my cable company carried it) until May 1988 (I was stationed in Scotland in the U.S. Navy from then, on).

I loved the channel mainly for the early 1983-1985 years before the channel started censoring the cartoons and the Wonderful World of Disney TV shows.

The Disney cartoons and those Walt Disney-hosted TV shows were my main interests in the Disney Channel. I taped every cartoon program and Walt TV show that I could. I even taped between movies because, back then, the channel would often show an unannounced cartoon between the films. I enjoyed the Mickey Mouse Club but mainly taped it just to catch any cartoon that might be shown.

I did watch some of the original programming - Five Mile Creek was among my favorites. I also occasionally enjoyed the "new" Leave It To Beaver series. I would also sample most of the other "children's programming" such as Welcome To Pooh Corner.

One series I especially remember fondly was the Disney Studio Showcase - which was mainly shown in the 1983-1985 years. There were numerous specials with interesting animation from around the world. One that I still have is Future Tense (1983), which had a trilogy of science fiction tales that I enjoy.

The 1980s were the best years of the Disney Channel...for me.

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 8:52 pm
by Luke
snowbot wrote:Thanks for the welcome, Luke! I don't know if anyone else ever gets this feeling, but I think I subconsciously believe that Emilio Estevez is actually the Site Administrator here! Maybe "Luke" is an alias. Anyway, thought I'd let ya know.
No way. I...I mean Emilio would be way too busy to run a website...after all, think of all the things he's been doing lately! Time for this site? I couldn't be Emilio...right? :)

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 9:10 pm
by catNC
Wouldn't it be cool if Luke was Emilio!!!! 8)

Here's my question though, was I the only one who got up super early during the week to watch Mousercise?? I absolutely loved that show! Never did any Mousercising though, just watched while I drank my juice and ate my Cheerios! :lol:

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 10:26 pm
by CJ
I use to watch mousercize early in the mornings. Dumbo's Circus was my favorite show back then. I remember watching all of the shows the rest of you have mentioned.

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 11:17 pm
by Poppins#1
I remember a great made-for-the-Disney-Channel movie from 1984 called "Love Leads the Way". It starred Timothy Bottoms as a blind man in the true story about the very first seeing-eye dog. I wish Disney would dig this out of their vault and put it out on DVD.

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2004 8:00 am
by MutantEnemy
what I think (and hope) is going to happen is that they are going to go the way of Nick-at-Nite and TV Land and make a separate channel called Vault Disney Channel. It would be a very profitable move on their part to make such a channel.....Don't forget Adventures in Wonderland on rollerskates, that was a great show!!!

Disney CHannel From the 1980's

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2004 8:29 am
by Disney Guru
And who can forget when they used to show Road To Avonlea every evening with miss Hetty King , Felix, Andrew, Olivia, Sara Stanley, Alec. And all of the rest!

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2004 9:03 am
by BriarRose32
I loved the Disney channel in the 80's!! :D Especially the Road to Avonlea series. I always looked forward to watching it each week. I so hope the do a Vault Disney channel. I would subscribe immediately!

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2004 9:26 am
by Jack
snowbot wrote:You are thinking of "Danger Bay", but it wasn't Alan Thicke, it was this guy:
Ah, okay. Now that I see the pic it definately looks familiar. I guess I was just combining memories of watching DB & "Growing Pains".