Classic TV: The Wonderful World of Color/Disney/Disney's Wonderful World (1961-81)

 Disney moved its weekly anthology series from ABC to NBC in 1961, and shifted it to a Sunday night berth, making it must-see TV for the whole family, that is, until ratings began to decline in the late 70's, and 60 Minutes was installed in its current berth.

Wonderful World of Color was rechristened The Wonderful World of Disney in 1969, but that only lasted a few years before then-NBC programming head Fred Silverman persuaded Disney to change the show's title again, this time to Disney's Wonderful World. This lasted just 2 seasons, and the series ended up moving to CBS, where it became simply, Walt Disney, moving to Saturday nights.

Back in the day, my folks would alternate between this anthology and other series, especially if Disney aired a rerun.

From 1970, here's "Disneyland Showtime", with the Osmond Brothers, Kurt Russell, and E. J. Peaker.

To think that 2 years later, the youngest of the brothers, Jimmy, would join the act in time for a Saturday morning cartoon for ABC, which lasted one season. Donny, I think, is the only one of the guys still active, and even did an infomercial recently.

Rating for the series: A.