Walt Disney Television Animation
Encyclopedia
Disney Television Animation is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 animation studio
Animation studio
An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales or rentals of the media produced...

 that is the TV animation production arm of the Disney-ABC Television Group
Disney-ABC Television Group
Disney-ABC Television Group manages all of The Walt Disney Company's worldwide entertainment and news television properties...

, owned by The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...

, dedicated to creating, developing and producing animated television series, films, specials
Television special
A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...

 and other projects.

Established in 1984 during the reorganization and subsequent re-incorporation of The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...

 following the arrival of then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner is an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until 2005.-Early life:...

, the entity was formerly known as The Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group, the name was then later changed,
shortened to Walt Disney Television Animation starting in mid-1988 and was its name up until 2009, when it has been shortened again to Disney Television Animation.

The unit was originally formed as the animation production arm of the former Walt Disney Television
Walt Disney Television
Walt Disney Television was the former name of the television production division of The Walt Disney Company.-History:It was formed in 1983, as the Walt Disney Pictures Television Division, the name was later shortened to Walt Disney Television in the mid-1980s...

 group banner. Television Animation, itself part of The Walt Disney Studios, Burbank
Walt Disney Studios (Burbank)
The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, United States, serve as the international headquarters for media conglomerate The Walt Disney Company. The Walt Disney Studio's house offices for each of the company's divisions along with creative spaces designed for movie production. The Walt Disney...

 and formerly parented by the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, like all of the in-house/outsourcing television animation studios proved a commercially successful venture, as most of the animated series it produced and established were well-received at best and were successful enough to gain and earn enough popularity during
their initial premieres (due to virtually-acclaimed promotional campaigns and groundbreaking receptions for their animated shows). The Television Animation studio previously had some immediate eventual success in 1985, when they successfully gambled with substantially higher budgeted productions which proved profitable ventures that raised the standard for the TV medium.
In 2003, it absorbed the old U.S. Walt Disney Television
Walt Disney Television
Walt Disney Television was the former name of the television production division of The Walt Disney Company.-History:It was formed in 1983, as the Walt Disney Pictures Television Division, the name was later shortened to Walt Disney Television in the mid-1980s...

 group name, re-branding itself into a separate unit of its own that same year. Today, the aforementioned Walt Disney Television brand is still active as in-name-only by producing television programs internationally.

The studio is (or was) responsible for and exclusively involved in the production of animated television programming and other projects (including made-for-TV films, specials and short subjects). The company formally produced many of the cartoon shows airing on The Disney Afternoon
The Disney Afternoon
The Disney Afternoon was a created-for-syndication two-hour television programming block which aired from September 10, 1990, until Fall 1999. At that time, it was taken out of syndication, and a new Disney weekday afternoon block was started on UPN. The Disney Afternoon was produced by The Walt...

 syndication package program and the ABC Kids Saturday morning
Saturday Morning
-Album credits:*All tracks produced by Ralph Sall for Bulletproof Recording Company Inc.*Executive Producer/Concept: Ralph Sall for Bulletproof Recording Company Inc.*Engineered by Peter McCabe and Larry Fergusson....

 programming block of the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 television network, but in the present, the studio is under control and under contact from Disney's cable television network Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

 to produce and program animated original content exclusively for the channel (as of late-2002).

It is headquartered since 1998 in the Frank G. Wells Building on the Studio Lot across from the Team Disney Burbank building (fronted by the Seven Dwarfs). The Frank G. Wells building was specifically designed for Television Animation, and has a film reel and filmstrip across the front of the building facing Team Disney Burbank across the parking lot. Television Animation has a secondary building located in Glendale
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...

 on Sonora Street which they moved into in 2002, since the creation of DisneyToon Studios
DisneyToon Studios
DisneyToon Studios is an American animation studio owned by The Walt Disney Company, responsible for producing direct-to-video and occasional theatrical films for Walt Disney Studios....

 in 2003, both studios share the building.

Television Animation was formerly headquartered at the Motion Picture and Television Academy in North Hollywood, with a secondary building on Cahuenga. For a short period of time following the 1998 move, the secondary building was the Fairmont building next to Bob's Big Boy
Bob's Big Boy Restaurant of Burbank, California
Bob's Big Boy is a restaurant chain that Bob Wian founded in Southern California in 1936, originally named Bob's Pantry. It is now part of the Big Boy Corporation, which also owns several other chain restaurants.-Oldest remaining restaurant:...

 in Burbank. Television Animation is now split between the Frank G. Wells Building (third floor), and its first floor location in Glendale at the Sonora Building.

History

The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...

 first ventured into the television industry as early as 1950, beginning with the one-hour one-off special, One Hour in Wonderland
One Hour in Wonderland
One Hour in Wonderland is a 1950 television special made by Walt Disney Productions. It was first seen on Christmas Day, 1950, over NBC for Coca-Cola, and was Walt Disney's first television production...

.
This was followed by the long-running (1954–2008) anthology series, The Wonderful World of Disney (which was Disney's first regular series as a whole), the children's
Children's television series
Children's television series, are commercial television programs designed for, and marketed to children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run in the early evening, for the children that go to school...

 variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...

 The Mickey Mouse Club, and the 1957-1959 adventure
Adventure (genre)
The adventure genre, in the context of a narrative, is typically applied to works in which the protagonist or other major characters are consistently placed in dangerous situations...

 series, Zorro.
However, one element was missing from Disney's expansion into television: An original animated television series. Until the early 80's, the studio had never produced its own original animated shows in-house, because Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 felt it was economically impossible. Nearly all pre-1985 TV animation was wrap-around segments made to bridge the gaps on existing theatrical material on The Wonderful World of Disney. Osamu Tezuka
Osamu Tezuka
was a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, animator, producer, activist and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack...

 met Walt at the 1964 World's Fair, at which time Disney said he hoped to "make something just like" Tezuka's Astro Boy someday, but unfortunately nothing came of it.

But under new management, the studio, (originally known as Walt Disney Productions), formed in 1985 what was originally christened the Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group, but then was later renamed as Walt Disney Television Animation, to produce high-quality animated television series. They invested far more money into the television series than had previously been spent on animated shows of the time.
This was considered a risky move, because animated TV series were generally considered low-budget investments for most of the history of TV cartoons up through the 1980s
Limited animation
Limited animation is a process of making animated cartoons that does not redraw entire frames but variably reuses common parts between frames. One of its major trademarks is the stylized design in all forms and shapes, which in the early days was referred to as modern design...

.
Many critics say that Disney's own animation studio had lost most of its luster during the period from Walt Disney's passing through the 1980s.
However, the studio took a number of risks that paid off handsomely. The studio successfully gambled on the idea that a substantially larger investment into quality animation
Quality television
Quality television is a term used by television scholars, television critics, and broadcasting advocacy groups to describe a genre or style of television programming that they argue is of higher quality, due to its subject matter, style, or content...

 could
be made back through both network television and over-the-air in syndication, as well as cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

. The final result is a string of higher budgeted animated television
productions which proved to be profitable ventures and raised the standard for the TV medium.

The Disney television animation cycle began in mid-1985, with The Wuzzles
The Wuzzles
Disney's Wuzzles is an American animated television series created for Saturday morning television, and was first broadcast on September 14, 1985 on CBS. An idea of Michael Eisner for his new Disney television animation studio, the Wuzzles are crossbred animals which sport a combined appearance of...

(which premiered on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 on September 14, 1985) and Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears is an American animated television series that aired in the United States in the mid-1980s through the early 1990s...

(which had premiered on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 on September 14, 1985 at the same time as and shown first-run back-to-back with The Wuzzles), both which are based upon funny animal
Funny animal
Funny animal is a cartooning term for the genre of comics and animated cartoons in which the main characters are humanoid or talking animals, with anthropomorphic personality traits. The characters themselves may also be called funny animals...

-based conceptions,
the Gummi Bears being named after a common candy and the Wuzzles originating as a hybrid of two animals put together into one creature. The supposedly (and possibly) final third series in the
incidentally so-called "magic animal"-based "trilogy" of original character sets was going to be Disney's Fluppy Dogs
Disney's Fluppy Dogs
Disney's Fluppy Dogs is a one-hour animated television special which aired on November 27, 1986 on ABC, and was intended to be a pilot for the third Walt Disney Television animated series...

(which premiered only as an hour-long TV movie pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

 on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 on November 27, 1986), itself loosely based a series of children's books and line of toys about a race of anthropomorphic pastel-colored dimension-hopping alien (fluppy) dogs.
It was not a successful hit (due to low viewership and support) however, as the proposed series was not picked up after it never went beyond that one pilot episode, and the studio instead quickly fell into a routine of adapting its old properties into the new use, which ultimately, Disney co-incidentally really did.

In 1987, Disney finally unveiled the newest series yet in its cycle, and the first in their successful long-time line of syndicated animated shows, DuckTales
DuckTales
DuckTales is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Based on Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge comic book series, it premiered on September 18, 1987 and ended on November 28, 1990 with a total of four seasons and 100 episodes...

, which premiered on September 18, 1987. The show was successful enough to spawn a feature film, DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp
DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp
DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp is a 1990 American animated feature film based on the animated children's television series DuckTales. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures on August 3, 1990. Although it was a theatrically released animated film, it was the first feature outside...

, and two spin-off series: Darkwing Duck
Darkwing Duck
DarkWing Duck is an American animated television series produced by The Walt Disney Company that ran from 1991–1992 on both the syndicated programming block The Disney Afternoon and Saturday mornings on ABC. It featured the eponymous anthropomorphic duck superhero whose alter ego is mild-mannered...

and Quack Pack
Quack Pack
Quack Pack is an animated television series made by The Walt Disney Company, featuring Donald Duck and his nephews. The show debuted in September 1996 as a part of the Disney Afternoon weekday afternoon programming block. Unlike other Disney Afternoon shows, it was aimed at an older audience,...

. The success of DuckTales also paved the way for a new wave of high-quality animated TV series, including Disney's own The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television that ran from 1988 to 1991, inspired by A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories.-Overview:...

in 1988.
Later, early that spring, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Created by Tad Stones and Alan Zaslove, it featured the established Disney characters Chip 'n' Dale in a new setting. The series premiered on the Disney Channel on March 4, 1989,...

debuted on March 4, 1989, and was paired with DuckTales in an hour-long syndicated show through the 1989-1990 television season. In the 1990-1991 season, Disney expanded the idea even further, to create The Disney Afternoon
The Disney Afternoon
The Disney Afternoon was a created-for-syndication two-hour television programming block which aired from September 10, 1990, until Fall 1999. At that time, it was taken out of syndication, and a new Disney weekday afternoon block was started on UPN. The Disney Afternoon was produced by The Walt...

, a two-hour long syndicated block of half-hour cartoons, which premiered much later on September 10, 1990. DuckTales was one of the early flagship cartoons in the series.

Over the next few years - and later, many more to come, Disney experimented with more television animation fare, such as Goof Troop
Goof Troop
Disney's Goof Troop is an American animated television series from The Walt Disney Company featuring Goofy as a father figure and bonding with his son Max.-Premise:...

, Darkwing Duck
Darkwing Duck
DarkWing Duck is an American animated television series produced by The Walt Disney Company that ran from 1991–1992 on both the syndicated programming block The Disney Afternoon and Saturday mornings on ABC. It featured the eponymous anthropomorphic duck superhero whose alter ego is mild-mannered...

, TaleSpin
TaleSpin
TaleSpin is a half-hour American animated television series based in the fictional city of Cape Suzette, that first aired in 1990 as part of The Disney Afternoon, with characters adapted from Disney's 1967 animated feature The Jungle Book. The name of the show is a play on "tailspin", the rapid,...

, Raw Toonage
Raw Toonage
Disney's Raw Toonage is a half hour Disney animated cartoon series that aired on the CBS network in the fall of 1992.-History and production:...

, Bonkers
Bonkers (TV series)
Bonkers is an animated American television series that aired from September 4, 1993 to February 23, 1994 in first-run syndication . The syndicated run was available both separately, and as part of The Disney Afternoon...

,
Marsupilami
Marsupilami
Marsupilami is a fictional comic book species created by André Franquin, first published on 31 January 1952 in the magazine Spirou. Since then it appeared regularly in the popular Belgian comic book series Spirou et Fantasio until Franquin stopped working on the series in 1968 and the character...

and Gargoyles
Gargoyles (TV series)
Gargoyles is an American animated series created by Greg Weisman. It was produced by Greg Weisman and Frank Paur and aired from October 24, 1994 to February 15, 1997. Gargoyles is known for its dark tone, complex story arcs and melodrama...

(which was Disney's first serious action-based animated series, that infinitely
later gained a large cult/fan following) and The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show and Disney's Doug (which was the sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...

 to and revival version
Revival (television)
A television revival is an attempt to revive a defunct series by producing new episodes created for broadcast. Network executives may decide to attempt to revive a television program when they feel that a market once again exists for it....

 of the Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...


animated series of the same name) and Nightmare Ned
Nightmare Ned
Nightmare Ned was a short-lived animated television series which ran from April 19, 1997 to August 9, 1997 on ABC. Based on a homonymous video game developed by Creative Capers Entertainment, the show focuses on the life of Ned Needlemeyer , a 10-year-old boy that deals with his daily problems...

. The TV animation unit was also responsible for even adapting some of the films from the Disney animated features canon and other film sources as well (The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid (TV series)
The Little Mermaid is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation based on the 1989 Disney film of the same name. It features the adventures of Ariel as a mermaid prior to the events of the film. This series is the first Disney television series to be spun...

, Aladdin
Aladdin (TV series)
Aladdin is an animated television series made by Walt Disney Television which aired from 1994 to 1995, based on the original 1992 feature. Coming on the heels of the direct-to-video sequel The Return of Jafar, the series picked up where that installment left off, with Aladdin now living in the...

, Timon and Pumbaa, The Mighty Ducks, itself loosely based on Disney's The Mighty Ducks film series, Jungle Cubs
Jungle Cubs
Jungle Cubs is an animated series produced by Disney for ABC in 1996. It was based on their 1967 feature film The Jungle Book, but set in the youth of the animal characters. The show was a hit, running for two seasons in syndication before moving its re-runs to the Disney Channel...

, the second spin-off of Disney's The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book (1967 film)
The Jungle Book is a 1967 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Released on October 18, 1967, it is the 19th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. It was inspired by the stories about the feral child Mowgli from the book of the same name by...

, 101 Dalmatians: The Series
101 Dalmatians: The Series
101 Dalmatians: The Series is a animated television series produced by the Walt Disney Company based on the classic 1961 Disney animated feature of the same name and its 1996 live-action remake.-Premise:...

, Hercules, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command is an American animated science fiction/adventure/comedy series produced by Walt Disney Television. The character is from the planet Zurtron. The series originally aired on UPN and ABC from October 2000 to January 2001 as part of Disney's One Saturday Morning...

, based on Disney/Pixar's Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...

franchise
Toy Story (franchise)
Toy Story is a CGI animated media franchise created by Pixar and distributed by Disney, beginning with the original 1995 film, Toy Story. The franchise focuses on a group of toys that secretly come to life and end up unexpectedly embarking on life-changing adventures...

, The Legend of Tarzan
The Legend of Tarzan
The Legend of Tarzan is an animated television series created by The Walt Disney Company in 2001, based on the Tarzan character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs....

, etc.) and later finally
bought back Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...

 and company for two both brand new animated anthology and variety series, Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works is a television show that features the cartoon character Mickey Mouse and his friends in a series of animated segments. It is somewhat of an update of Mickey's Mouse Tracks....

and Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse is an American animated television series, produced by Walt Disney Television, that originally aired from 2001 to 2003-Premise:...

.
At the same time, the Disney Television Animation banner was strongly associated with Saturday morning cartoon
Saturday morning cartoon
A Saturday morning cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated television programming that has typically been scheduled on Saturday mornings on the major American television networks from the 1960s to the present; the genre's peak in popularity mostly ended in the 1990s while the popularity of...

s and, more recently since 1998,
The Disney Channel, and may have adversely affected the widely commercial, and ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...

, successes of its other cartoon series that premiered on ABC's Saturday morning programming block, such as Recess
Recess (TV series)
Recess is an American animated television series created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. The series focuses on six elementary school students and their interaction with other classmates and teachers...

and The Weekenders
The Weekenders
The Weekenders is a Disney animated series about the weekend life of four diverse 7th graders: Tino Tonitini, Lorraine McQuarrie, Carver Descartes, and Petratishkovna Katsufrakis, voiced by veteran cartoon voice-actors: Jason Marsden, Grey DeLisle, Phil LaMarr, and Kath Soucie, respectively...

. Other noted WDTA series include Kim Possible
Kim Possible
Kim Possible is an American animated television series about a teenage crime fighter who has the task of dealing with worldwide, family, and school issues every day. The show is action-oriented, but also has a light-hearted atmosphere and often lampoons the conventions and clichés of the...

, Phineas and Ferb
Phineas and Ferb
Phineas and Ferb is an American animated television comedy series. Originally broadcast as a preview on August 17, 2007, on Disney Channel, the series follows Phineas Flynn and his English stepbrother Ferb Fletcher on summer vacation. Every day the boys embark on some grand new project, which...

, Fish Hooks
Fish Hooks
Fish Hooks is an American animated television series created by Noah Z. Jones. Twenty-one episodes have been ordered for the first season. It premiered on September 24, 2010. An 11-minute preview was shown on September 3, 2010, following the Disney Channel Original Movie, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam...

and the forthcoming Gravity Falls.

Most of the following shows produced by WDTA premiered on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 and some on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 and over-the-air in first-run syndication, and are (or were) currently being re-run almost every day on various incarnations of The Disney Channel (despite whom since 2002, the cable network now produces exclusive material of its own from WDTA) and its spin-offs, the now-defunct Toon Disney
Toon Disney
Toon Disney was an American cable television channel owned by The Walt Disney Company. A spinoff of Disney Channel, it mostly aired children's animated series and some live action programming. Its format had similarities to those of Cartoon Network and Nicktoons...

 and Playhouse Disney
Playhouse Disney
Playhouse Disney was Disney Channel's television block for programs aimed at entertaining preschool aged children, often airing as its own channel outside the United States. It was introduced in 1997 after Disney Channel's move to basic cable from premium cable, with a target audience of children...

 and their successors Disney XD
Disney XD
Disney XD is a brand of children's TV channels worldwide targeting young males, owned by The Walt Disney Company. The channel was formerly known as Toon Disney and/or Jetix in most areas. According to Gary Marsh, President of Entertainment for Disney Channel Worldwide, "XD" does not "stand for...

 and Disney Junior
Disney Junior
Disney Junior is a current program block on Disney Channel and an upcoming American basic cable and satellite television network intended to replace SOAPnet in February 2012. It began airing on February 14, 2011, replacing Playhouse Disney....

.

Ownership and management

Originally, Television Animation was formerly part of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, it has had been since then taken on by the Disney-ABC Television Group
Disney-ABC Television Group
Disney-ABC Television Group manages all of The Walt Disney Company's worldwide entertainment and news television properties...

 in circa 2004. Also, since November 2005, Walt Disney Television Animation is now a unit of Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

, operating as its animation sub-arm, similar to Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

's Cartoon Network Studios
Cartoon Network Studios
Cartoon Network Studios is an American animation studio. A subsidiary of the Turner Broadcasting System , Cartoon Network Studios focuses on producing and developing animated programs only for and related to Cartoon Network...

 and Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

's own Nickelodeon Animation Studio. WDTA is headed by Eric Coleman, Vice President of Original Series of WDTA, he reports to Carolina Lightcap, president of Disney Channel.

Prior this president of Television Animation was Barry Blumberg, who announced his resignation in November 2005. A restructuration on the four units of the studio had disappeared upon the role of Vice President of WDTA.

Tom Ruzicka, now at Universal Animation Studios
Universal Animation Studios
Universal Animation Studios , is an American animation studio which is a division of Universal Studios....

, was one of the original executives in charge of this fledgling group. Other animation executives that worked at Television Animation over the years were Barbara Ferro, Sharon Morrill, Bill Gross (former President of Jumbo Pictures
Cartoon Pizza
Cartoon Pizza is an animation company located in New York City. It was co-founded by Jim Jinkins and David Campbell as the successor to Jinkins' former company, Jumbo Pictures, Inc. Cartoon Pizza's logo is a picture of a pizza with a face in front of a globe and under the logo is the company's...

, creators of Doug
Doug
Doug is an American animated sitcom created by Jim Jinkins and co-produced by his studio, Jumbo Pictures . Doug centers on the surreal and imaginative exploits of its title character, Douglas "Doug" Funnie, who experiences common predicaments while attending middle school. The series lampoons...

), Maia Mattise, Lenora Hume.

Disney television series

Title Original running Notes
The Wuzzles
The Wuzzles
Disney's Wuzzles is an American animated television series created for Saturday morning television, and was first broadcast on September 14, 1985 on CBS. An idea of Michael Eisner for his new Disney television animation studio, the Wuzzles are crossbred animals which sport a combined appearance of...

1985
Adventures of the Gummi Bears
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears is an American animated television series that aired in the United States in the mid-1980s through the early 1990s...

1985–91
DuckTales
DuckTales
DuckTales is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Based on Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge comic book series, it premiered on September 18, 1987 and ended on November 28, 1990 with a total of four seasons and 100 episodes...

1987–90
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television that ran from 1988 to 1991, inspired by A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories.-Overview:...

1988–91
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Created by Tad Stones and Alan Zaslove, it featured the established Disney characters Chip 'n' Dale in a new setting. The series premiered on the Disney Channel on March 4, 1989,...

1989–90
TaleSpin
TaleSpin
TaleSpin is a half-hour American animated television series based in the fictional city of Cape Suzette, that first aired in 1990 as part of The Disney Afternoon, with characters adapted from Disney's 1967 animated feature The Jungle Book. The name of the show is a play on "tailspin", the rapid,...

1990–91
Darkwing Duck
Darkwing Duck
DarkWing Duck is an American animated television series produced by The Walt Disney Company that ran from 1991–1992 on both the syndicated programming block The Disney Afternoon and Saturday mornings on ABC. It featured the eponymous anthropomorphic duck superhero whose alter ego is mild-mannered...

1991–92
Goof Troop
Goof Troop
Disney's Goof Troop is an American animated television series from The Walt Disney Company featuring Goofy as a father figure and bonding with his son Max.-Premise:...

1992–93
The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid (TV series)
The Little Mermaid is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation based on the 1989 Disney film of the same name. It features the adventures of Ariel as a mermaid prior to the events of the film. This series is the first Disney television series to be spun...

1992–94
Raw Toonage
Raw Toonage
Disney's Raw Toonage is a half hour Disney animated cartoon series that aired on the CBS network in the fall of 1992.-History and production:...

1992
Bonkers
Bonkers (TV series)
Bonkers is an animated American television series that aired from September 4, 1993 to February 23, 1994 in first-run syndication . The syndicated run was available both separately, and as part of The Disney Afternoon...

1993–94
Marsupilami
Marsupilami
Marsupilami is a fictional comic book species created by André Franquin, first published on 31 January 1952 in the magazine Spirou. Since then it appeared regularly in the popular Belgian comic book series Spirou et Fantasio until Franquin stopped working on the series in 1968 and the character...

1993 in association with Marsu Productions
Marsu Productions
Marsu Productions, or simply Marsu, is a publishing house and licensing and merchandising company located in Monaco, managing Franco-Belgian comics characters and copyright concerns, chiefly from the comics universe of André Franquin...

Aladdin
Aladdin (TV series)
Aladdin is an animated television series made by Walt Disney Television which aired from 1994 to 1995, based on the original 1992 feature. Coming on the heels of the direct-to-video sequel The Return of Jafar, the series picked up where that installment left off, with Aladdin now living in the...

1994–95
Gargoyles
Gargoyles (TV series)
Gargoyles is an American animated series created by Greg Weisman. It was produced by Greg Weisman and Frank Paur and aired from October 24, 1994 to February 15, 1997. Gargoyles is known for its dark tone, complex story arcs and melodrama...

1994–97
The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show 1995
The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa
Timon & Pumbaa (TV series)
The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa is an American animated television series made by the Walt Disney Company. It centers on Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog from the Disney film franchise The Lion King, without most of the other characters in the franchise...

1995–99
Quack Pack
Quack Pack
Quack Pack is an animated television series made by The Walt Disney Company, featuring Donald Duck and his nephews. The show debuted in September 1996 as a part of the Disney Afternoon weekday afternoon programming block. Unlike other Disney Afternoon shows, it was aimed at an older audience,...

1996
The Mighty Ducks 1996–97
Doug
Doug
Doug is an American animated sitcom created by Jim Jinkins and co-produced by his studio, Jumbo Pictures . Doug centers on the surreal and imaginative exploits of its title character, Douglas "Doug" Funnie, who experiences common predicaments while attending middle school. The series lampoons...

1996–99 Seasons 5-7 only, co-production with Jumbo Pictures
Cartoon Pizza
Cartoon Pizza is an animation company located in New York City. It was co-founded by Jim Jinkins and David Campbell as the successor to Jinkins' former company, Jumbo Pictures, Inc. Cartoon Pizza's logo is a picture of a pizza with a face in front of a globe and under the logo is the company's...

, inherited from Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon is a US cable TV channel.Nickelodeon may also refer to:-In television:*Spinoffs of the Nickelodeon channel:** Nickelodeon Magazine, a children's magazine.** Nickelodeon Universe, an amusement park....

Jungle Cubs
Jungle Cubs
Jungle Cubs is an animated series produced by Disney for ABC in 1996. It was based on their 1967 feature film The Jungle Book, but set in the youth of the animal characters. The show was a hit, running for two seasons in syndication before moving its re-runs to the Disney Channel...

1996–97
Nightmare Ned
Nightmare Ned
Nightmare Ned was a short-lived animated television series which ran from April 19, 1997 to August 9, 1997 on ABC. Based on a homonymous video game developed by Creative Capers Entertainment, the show focuses on the life of Ned Needlemeyer , a 10-year-old boy that deals with his daily problems...

1997
101 Dalmatians
101 Dalmatians: The Series
101 Dalmatians: The Series is a animated television series produced by the Walt Disney Company based on the classic 1961 Disney animated feature of the same name and its 1996 live-action remake.-Premise:...

1997–98 co-production with Jumbo Pictures
Recess
Recess (TV series)
Recess is an American animated television series created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. The series focuses on six elementary school students and their interaction with other classmates and teachers...

1997–2001
Pepper Ann
Pepper Ann
Pepper Ann is an American animated series created by Sue Rose and aired on ABC. It debuted on September 13, 1997.Pepper Ann starred cartoon adolescents and charted their ups and downs at Hazelnut Middle School. It aired as part of the Disney's One Saturday Morning block...

Hercules 1998–99
Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works is a television show that features the cartoon character Mickey Mouse and his friends in a series of animated segments. It is somewhat of an update of Mickey's Mouse Tracks....

1999–2000
The Weekenders
The Weekenders
The Weekenders is a Disney animated series about the weekend life of four diverse 7th graders: Tino Tonitini, Lorraine McQuarrie, Carver Descartes, and Petratishkovna Katsufrakis, voiced by veteran cartoon voice-actors: Jason Marsden, Grey DeLisle, Phil LaMarr, and Kath Soucie, respectively...

2000–04
Teacher's Pet
Teacher's Pet (TV series)
Teacher's Pet is an American Disney animated television series about a dog who lives like a little boy. Created by Gary Baseman, Bill Steinkellner and Cheri Steinkellner and directed by Timothy Björklund, it was broadcast on Disney's One Saturday Morning on ABC and later Toon Disney...

2000–02
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command is an American animated science fiction/adventure/comedy series produced by Walt Disney Television. The character is from the planet Zurtron. The series originally aired on UPN and ABC from October 2000 to January 2001 as part of Disney's One Saturday Morning...

2000–01 co-production with Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...

House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse is an American animated television series, produced by Walt Disney Television, that originally aired from 2001 to 2003-Premise:...

1999–03
Lloyd in Space
Lloyd in Space
Lloyd in Space is an animated television series, created by Joe Ansolabehere and Paul Germain , and released in 2001. The pilot was written by Ansolabehere, Germain and Mark Drop...

2001–04 co-production with Paul & Joe Productions
The Legend of Tarzan
The Legend of Tarzan
The Legend of Tarzan is an animated television series created by The Walt Disney Company in 2001, based on the Tarzan character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs....

2001–03
Teamo Supremo
Teamo Supremo
Teamo Supremo is an animated television series created by Disney. Animated in the limited animation style pioneered by Jay Ward, predecessors which inspired its style, it tells of three superhero kids: Captain Crandall, Skate Lad, and Rope Girl...

2002–04
Fillmore!
Fillmore!
Fillmore! is an American animated television series which was produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. The series was created by Scott M. Gimple...


Disney Channel Original Series

Title Original running Notes
Kim Possible
Kim Possible
Kim Possible is an American animated television series about a teenage crime fighter who has the task of dealing with worldwide, family, and school issues every day. The show is action-oriented, but also has a light-hearted atmosphere and often lampoons the conventions and clichés of the...

2002–07
Lilo & Stitch: The Series
Lilo & Stitch: The Series
Lilo & Stitch: The Series is the animated television spinoff of the feature film, Lilo & Stitch and the follow-up to Stitch! The Movie.-Plot:...

2003–06
Dave the Barbarian
Dave the Barbarian
Dave the Barbarian is an American animated television series created by Doug Langdale, creator of The Weekenders, that premiered on January 23, 2004 on Disney Channel and ended on January 22, 2005. Continuing to air in other countries after the show ended, the show follows a barbarian named Dave,...

2004–05
Brandy and Mr. Whiskers
Brandy and Mr. Whiskers
Brandy & Mr. Whiskers is an American animated television series about a dog and a hyperactive rabbit that get stuck in the Amazon Rainforest together. The show originally aired from August 2004 to August 2006. It was televised in the United States by Disney Channel, and also aired on Toon Disney...

2004–06
American Dragon: Jake Long
American Dragon: Jake Long
American Dragon: Jake Long is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. The show had premiered on January 21, 2005 and ended on September 1, 2007. The show currently airs on Disney XD in the United States...

2005–07
The Buzz on Maggie
The Buzz on Maggie
The Buzz on Maggie was an American animated television series which originally aired for 21 episodes between June 2005 and May 2006. The series focuses on Maggie Pesky, a tween fly, that aspires of becoming a rock star, but many episodes focus on her daily life.The series was created by Dave...

2005–06
The Emperor's New School
The Emperor's New School
The Emperor's New School is an American animated television series that airs on Disney Channel, ABC Kids, and Disney XD and is produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. The show is based on the characters from The Emperor's New Groove and its direct-to-video sequel Kronk's New Groove...

2006–08
The Replacements 2006–09
Phineas and Ferb
Phineas and Ferb
Phineas and Ferb is an American animated television comedy series. Originally broadcast as a preview on August 17, 2007, on Disney Channel, the series follows Phineas Flynn and his English stepbrother Ferb Fletcher on summer vacation. Every day the boys embark on some grand new project, which...

2007–present
Fish Hooks
Fish Hooks
Fish Hooks is an American animated television series created by Noah Z. Jones. Twenty-one episodes have been ordered for the first season. It premiered on September 24, 2010. An 11-minute preview was shown on September 3, 2010, following the Disney Channel Original Movie, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam...

2010–present
Gravity Falls forthcoming Spring 2012

Playhouse Disney Original Series

Title Original running Notes
PB&J Otter
PB&J Otter
PB&J Otter is an animated children's series which premiered on Playhouse Disney on March 15, 1998. A total of 65 episodes were produced during the course of its three season run, with the "farewell" episode airing on September 24, 2000. The series centered on the Otter family who lived in the rural...

1998–2000 co-production with Jumbo Pictures
Cartoon Pizza
Cartoon Pizza is an animation company located in New York City. It was co-founded by Jim Jinkins and David Campbell as the successor to Jinkins' former company, Jumbo Pictures, Inc. Cartoon Pizza's logo is a picture of a pizza with a face in front of a globe and under the logo is the company's...

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a children's television series, that premiered in prime time on Disney Channel on May 5, 2006. The program was originally part of the Playhouse Disney daily block intended for preschoolers...

2006–present
My Friends Tigger & Pooh
My Friends Tigger & Pooh
My Friends Tigger & Pooh is a computer animated television series, inspired by Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne. The television series features Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends, including two new characters: a brave 6-year-old red-headed girl named Darby and her dog Buster...

2007–10
Special Agent Oso
Special Agent Oso
Special Agent Oso is a current Disney Channel series created by Ford Riley. The program was originally part of the Playhouse Disney block intended for preschoolers...

2009–present

Disney XD Original Series

Title Original running Notes
Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil 2010–present
Tron: Uprising
Tron: Uprising
Tron: Uprising is an upcoming animated science fiction television series, part of the Tron franchise, which will air on Disney's television channel Disney XD, in the United States. The show is set to air in summer 2012. It will be directed by Charlie Bean, Joseph Kosinski and Sean Bailey, who will...

forthcoming Summer 2012 co-production with Sean Bailey Productions
Motorcity forthcoming Winter 2012 co-production with Titmouse, Inc.

Disney Junior Original Series

Title Original running Notes
Jake and the Never Land Pirates
Jake and the Never Land Pirates
Jake and the Never Land Pirates is a musical animated Disney Junior show based on the successful Disney franchise, Peter Pan. It is the first Disney Junior original show following the switch from Playhouse Disney...

2011–present
Sofia the First forthcoming 2012
7D

Disney television specials

Title Original airdate
Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too
Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too
Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too is a Christmas television special based on the Disney television series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, originally broadcast on Saturday December 14, 1991, on ABC....

December 14, 1991
Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh
Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh
Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh is a Halloween television special based on the Disney television series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, originally broadcast on October 25, 1996.-Synopsis:...

October 25, 1996
A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving
A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving
A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving is a 1998 made-for-TV special featuring the voice talents of Jim Cummings, Paul Winchell, and John Fiedler. The movie shows Pooh and his friends learning the true meaning of Thanksgiving...

November 22, 1998
A Valentine for You February 13, 1999


All originally-produced first-run specials are directly related to the TV series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television that ran from 1988 to 1991, inspired by A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories.-Overview:...

.

Disney television films

  • Fluppy Dogs
    Disney's Fluppy Dogs
    Disney's Fluppy Dogs is a one-hour animated television special which aired on November 27, 1986 on ABC, and was intended to be a pilot for the third Walt Disney Television animated series...

    (1986)
  • DuckTales: The Treasure of the Golden Suns (1987)
  • DuckTales: Time Is Money (1989)
  • Super DuckTales (1989)
  • Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers: To the Rescue (1989)
  • TaleSpin: Plunder and Lightning
    Plunder and Lightning
    Plunder and Lightning is a television movie, originally broadcast on September 7, 1990, that makes up the first four episodes of the Disney animated series TaleSpin...

    (1990)
  • Darkwing Duck: Darkly Dawns the Duck (1991)
  • Stitch! The Movie
    Stitch! The Movie
    Stitch! The Movie is a direct-to-video animated spinoff of Lilo & Stitch, released on August 26, 2003. It is often considered more of a backdoor pilot for the spinoff series Lilo & Stitch: The Series rather than a sequel to the original film. The story is an introduction to Dr. Jumba Jookiba's 625...

    (2003)
  • Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time
    Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time
    Disney's Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time is a 2003 American made-for-TV animated film about a crime-fighting high-school cheerleader named Kim Possible, who battles a band of time-traveling criminals. The film was directed by Steve Loter for the Disney Channel...

    (2003)
  • Leroy & Stitch
    Leroy & Stitch
    Leroy & Stitch is an animated TV film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It is a spin-off film of the 2002 animated feature film Lilo & Stitch and the conclusion to the television series Lilo & Stitch: The Series and the franchise as well...

    (2006)

Disney Channel Original Movies

  • Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama
    Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama
    Kim Possible Movie: So The Drama is the second feature-length animated movie of the Kim Possible series. This film includes a mix of traditional animation and computer-generated imagery....

    (2005)
  • Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension (2011)

Only Fluppy Dogs is not related to any television series, as it is a failed pilot episode to the proposed TV series of that same name.

See also

  • The Disney Afternoon
    The Disney Afternoon
    The Disney Afternoon was a created-for-syndication two-hour television programming block which aired from September 10, 1990, until Fall 1999. At that time, it was taken out of syndication, and a new Disney weekday afternoon block was started on UPN. The Disney Afternoon was produced by The Walt...

  • ABC Kids
  • Disney's One Too
    Disney's One Too
    Disney's One Too was a weekday and Sunday morning children's programming block on UPN, it was a spinoff of Disney's One Saturday Morning, and resembled The Disney Afternoon.-History:...

  • Jetix Animation Concepts
    Jetix Animation Concepts
    Jetix Concept Animation was an American brand owned by The Walt Disney Company. Its programming was previously seen on ABC Family and Toon Disney; some, soon to be one, of these programs can now be seen on Jetix's successor in the US, Disney XD....

  • Walt Disney Television
    Walt Disney Television
    Walt Disney Television was the former name of the television production division of The Walt Disney Company.-History:It was formed in 1983, as the Walt Disney Pictures Television Division, the name was later shortened to Walt Disney Television in the mid-1980s...

  • DisneyToon Studios
    DisneyToon Studios
    DisneyToon Studios is an American animation studio owned by The Walt Disney Company, responsible for producing direct-to-video and occasional theatrical films for Walt Disney Studios....

  • Walt Disney Animation Japan
    Walt Disney Animation Japan
    Walt Disney Animation Japan was an animation studio located in Japan that worked on both feature length Disney films and television series, founded by ex-employees of Tokyo Movie Shinsha. In contrast with Walt Disney Animation Australia, Walt Disney Japan's expertise was attention to action scenes...

  • Nickelodeon Animation Studio - the animation division of Nickelodeon
    Nickelodeon (TV channel)
    Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

  • Cartoon Network Studios
    Cartoon Network Studios
    Cartoon Network Studios is an American animation studio. A subsidiary of the Turner Broadcasting System , Cartoon Network Studios focuses on producing and developing animated programs only for and related to Cartoon Network...

     - the animation division of Cartoon Network
    Cartoon Network
    Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....


External links

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