02.06
So what have we learned, kids? Disney is awesome and have made some great stuff in the 80 + years of the studio’s existence, and their old syndication block is up there with some of their best moments.
I can watch a show like DuckTales again and still catch bits to laugh at, as well as subtlety’s I haven’t even considered. I can put on Darkwing Duck and think that there aren’t that many cartoons with jokes as varied as it on television now. These two, in my opinion, were the heart and soul of the block. Gargoyles may be my favorite series overall and Gummi Bears holds up better than I would have expected, but DuckTales is something special, a very strong combination of humor, adventure, and heart that other studios wish they could make, while Darkwing has enough of all of the above to make it a worthy successor.
These four series would make my ideal Disney Afternoon block. While these four did not air on the same lineup together, some of them have aired together; DuckTales and Gummi Bears were a part of the first season in 1990-1991, while DuckTales remained on the block for the second season to join Darkwing Duck in 1991-1992, and Darkwing stayed on for the fifth season in 1994-1995 to join Gargoyles, and also returned for the seventh season in 1996-1997, with Gargoyles still on.
If I had to make a schedule, it would look like:
3:00- Darkwing Duck
3:30- Gummi Bears
4:00- DuckTales
4:30- Gargoyles
And yes, I do encourage those who read the blog to make their own dream schedule.
Thinking about it, DuckTales and Darkwing Duck, alongside Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, were among the block’s most popular series and instantly come to mind when discussing one or the others. I would say this is similar to Dexter’s Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls and Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy for fans of the Cartoon Cartoons; The Flintstones, The Jetsons and Scooby-Doo for fans of classic Hanna-Barbera; and Rugrats, Doug and Hey Arnold! for fans of classic NickToons(or Ren & Stimpy, Rocko’s Modern Life and The Angry Beavers for “weirder” kids). The good memories of one will likely bring up the other two for people, and it’s not hard to think that someone can enjoy all three equally.
As for the block’s history, the last real line-up seemed to be the 1996-1997 season. There were technically two more seasons afterwards, but the name(which was already shortened to merely TDA at that point) was removed, as was the last half-hour. Most of the shows were already taken off for the 1997-1998 year; from the previous year, only Quack Pack remained, while Saturday morning component 101 Dalmatians: The Series was added to the package as well as repeats of DuckTales. The following year 101 Dalmatians stuck around as well as repeats of Hercules and Doug from ABC’s Disney-owned Saturday morning block, One Saturday Morning. The Disney Afternoon was virtually dead at this point, and would remain that way as UPN would air repeats of One Saturday Morning cartoons for them in 1999, taking away the need for a syndication block.
Why did the Disney Afternoon end? It seems that as the years went by and cable networks were utilizing their advantages more efficiently, the need for syndication for new programs was not necessary. Not every market contained Disney Afternoon broadcasts and that hurt potential ratings. As the years went by less series premiered new episodes on unreliable syndication schedules and the practice is rarely used now.
You can also blame better options for why TDA ended it’s run. When Fox Kids added a weekday block and upped their original lineups with popular series such as Power Rangers, X-Men, and Animaniacs, there was more reason for kids to tune into their block. Many consider the Disney Afternoon to peak with Darkwing Duck and consider most of the shows after it’s release as filler, so perhaps around that point kids started tuning in less, not to mention that you could also see such series as Darkwing, Goof Troop, and Aladdin elsewhere, be it on Saturday morning schedules or on Disney Channel.
The Disney Afternoon didn’t have as sad of an ending as I made it look, however. Some of these series still aired on the Disney Channel for a little while longer, and in 1998, Disney made the channel Toon Disney. This network was meant to air most of the studio’s many animated programs as well as some acquired ones, such as the DiC properties they owned. For a few years the Disney Afternoon programs still aired regularly on here, but as the channel progressed, newer series were put on from One Saturday Morning as well as the Disney Channel, which would cut back on airings of series such as Darkwing Duck and Bonkers, while some shows such as Gummi Bears were eventually taken off entirely.
In 2004 things for the channel made their biggest change yet by adding Jetix, a nightly block that aired shows more pumped up on action for older boys. The shows on Jetix mainly consisted on series from Fox Kids newly acquired by Disney(oh, the irony!), as well as a couple of action-oriented series they already owned such as Gargoyles. With the need to air newer shows such as Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, Recess and Kim Possible during the day cutting some of the Afternoon series to later at night, there wasn’t much of a home for the shows.
Some shows stayed on the network for a couple of years after the impending success of Jetix, such as the aforementioned Gargoyles, as well as Aladdin, which based off of the success of the original film and the Princess line lead it to stay on a block with The Little Mermaid, usually focusing on episodes involving Jasmine. Even as far as 2008, Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin and Goof Troop showed up sporadically on the network.
The chance for just about all of these series to remain on the block came to an end in early 2009, when the channel was taken over for Disney XD, a spruced up, “boys” take on Disney Channel. Combine Jetix’s action shows with some of the less girly Disney Channel originals such as The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Phineas & Ferb, and some new programs, and this is what we have. Just about everything from Toon Disney’s previous schedule that didn’t have much guy appeal was taken off, and that includes the Afternoon programs. Gargoyles still airs nightly in late hours, which is seems destined to do for a while, but that is the sole exception.
Now, not every animated series by Disney post Afternoon was bad, mind you. In fact, there were quite a few shows since then that I enjoyed, and I do plan to write a follow-up article on some of them, but most of the shows don’t compete to DuckTales or Gargoyles in my opinion.
For a while, there was a chance to watch some of these series again, but that seems to be gone, and since the DVDs don’t seem to have been too successful, there isn’t much of a chance to watch these shows on our TV again, unless you have old tapes of them. We should always remember the good times we had with the Disney Afternoon, as well as any television series we loved. I look for likable characters, sharp writing, and well-developed locations in my TV, and most of these shows filled my need for just that. If you want to order one of the DVD that are available, check out my links in previous blogs or look outside for a good deal. I guarantee that your purchase would be worth the money.
If I could have, I so would have gone here.
Originally posted on Sunday, July 4, 2010.