Thursday, September 28, 2023

YouTube Theatre: NBC salutes Disney's 25 years on television (1978)

 In launching the 10th season of The Wonderful World of Disney (1st series), NBC decided it was time to give Disney its just due, as it was the studio's 25th season of television programming, having started at ABC in 1954 as Disneyland.

Ron Howard (Happy Days) & Suzanne Somers (Three's Company) are the hosts, joined by a number of TV luminaries past & present (as of that era), including Valerie Bertinelli (One Day at a Time), Buddy Ebsen (Barnaby Jones), Dan Haggerty (The Life & Times of Grizzly Adams), Bill Bixby (The Incredible Hulk), Melissa Gilbert (Little House on The Prairie), Gavin McLeod (The Love Boat), Bob Hope, Ray Charles, Crystal Gayle, Ricardo Montalban (Fantasy Island), Ed Asner (Lou Grant), and Fess Parker (ex-Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone), who reunites with Ebsen for a segment.

Some, like Howard, Parker, Ebsen, Asner, & Montalban, had ties to Disney's storied past. We had previously posted a segment reuniting "The Aristocats" castmates Phil Harris & Scatman Crothers, over at Saturday Morning Archives, but it was taken down due to copyrights. Now, we have the whole enchilada.

Dick Tufeld, who had taken over as the announcer for Wonderful World by this point in the series, succeeding Dick Wesson, is the announcer.


I did not see this the first time, since I was at church that night. However, this makes up for it.

Rating: A.

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