Disney syndicated cartoon original airdates

[TServo2049]

Hello,

Something that's been bugging me for a while. The syndicated Disney cartoons, especially in the days of The Disney Afternoon, usually had staggered premiere schedules, meaning that 65 episodes would not air over 65 consecutive weekdays. (Also, the serialized versions of the "pilot" stories would be aired in the middle of the run.) In some cases, the real airdates are nigh impossible to locate online - the only source I've been able to find are recaps and schedules back from early 90s Usenet, and I can't find them for every episode of everything.

Also, there is the matter of the Disney Channel spring preview airings; starting with Rescue Rangers, each series would be previewed on TDC in the spring before making their over-the-air premieres in the fall. (I do know that the TDC preview showings of Bonkers were the Miranda Wright episodes only.)

In addition, Darkwing Duck and Goof Troop had new episodes airing in both syndication and on Saturday mornings - one old Usenet post I read mentioned that one of the ABC episodes of GT had previously aired on Disney Channel. For the TDC previews of DW and GT, I have no idea if they were only episodes which would air on ABC, or also ones which would air on TDA.

DuckTales and Rescue Rangers seem to have the correct airdates and order on the Wikipedia guides (with RR even having the Disney Channel airdates documented - the only show for which this is the case); I know that a while back, Ryan Wynns used Bill Cotter's The Wonderful World of Disney Television and Chris Barat and Joe Torcivia's The DuckTales Index to get the correct dates for DT. TaleSpin seems to have correct original syndication airdates on Wikipedia; Darkwing and Goof Troop's TDA dates on Wikipedia are consecutive dates with no gaps, so they're not correct. (The ABC episodes have correct dates on Wikipedia, since they aired over 13 consecutive weeks.)

I was able to get the TDA airdates for Goof Troop up to "Hallow-Weenies," which aired on the Friday before Halloween. After that, I can find no more information.

Is there anybody out there who was around back in the old days of the Internet, and actually has documentation of airdates, perhaps even those Disney Channel preview airdates?

[Peter Paltridge]

Hello,

Something that's been bugging me for a while. The syndicated Disney cartoons, especially in the days of The Disney Afternoon, usually had staggered premiere schedules, meaning that 65 episodes would not air over 65 consecutive weekdays.
That's not what I remember. I remember 65 eps straight from September through early December, for every show (unless Saturdays were involved) and then nothing else.

[TServo2049]

That's what I used to assume too, but then how do you explain this advance schedule which was posted on alt.fan.disney-afternoon when the fall '92 season was about to start?

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.disney.afternoon/browse_thread/thread/dc6816c18382bcd9?hl=en#

The missing week is filled in this post: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.disney.afternoon/browse_thread/thread/0b12044fb2094022?hl=en#

Look at the Goof Troop order. If you take out the repeats (and move "You Camp Take It With You" to Sept. 9, and placing "Midnight Movie Madness" on Sept. 10), it matches the *order* that's given elsewhere online. It matches the dates until October 7, when it goes back to "Axed by Addition", and the episodes are repeated in order, broken up by new episodes. That listing makes sense, if only because it says "Hallow-Weenies" would be premiering the day before Halloween, which seems more logical than it airing on October 14, which is what most guides say.

Also, in this post, which is on December 10, 1992, this person lists all the Goof Troop episodes that have aired to that point.

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.disney.afternoon/browse_thread/thread/83269debed2f803b?hl=en#

If Wikipedia is right, and new episodes ran uninterrupted from Sept. 7 to Dec. 4, why would there be titles missing from that list? Cross-referencing it with the air order, the latest one listed in that post is "Mrs. Spoonerville". Every episode after that is not on the list, meaning that the commonly circulated order is correct...just not the commonly circulated dates.

Also, all the episodes starting with "Nightmare on Goof Street" have 1993 copyrights (even the ones which have early production numbers). For example, take "Goofs of a Feather," which is the reason I started looking into this - the copyright says 1993, but Wikipedia/etc. say it aired on November 24, 1992. I have seen things released in one year having a copyright for an earlier year, but never for the NEXT year.

In this post dated May 26, 1993, this person says "With the last Goof Troop episode finally airing this past week..." meaning that the last new episode didn't air until late May 1993. http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.disney.afternoon/browse_thread/thread/c7f676690a3984de?hl=en#

That would explain the episodes with 1993 copyrights at the end, if they didn't air until 1993...

Maybe I should go hunt down some old-timer like Chris Barat and see if he knows anything. :)

[DarthGonzo]

That's not what I remember. I remember 65 eps straight from September through early December, for every show (unless Saturdays were involved) and then nothing else.

There's a possibility that different areas aired the shows on different dates but I can tell you with 110% certainty that in my area the 65 syndicated Darkwing episodes were aired staggered from September to May. And I have the videotaped evidence to prove this, considering I still have all the episodes from the winter and spring runs sandwiched in between first run episodes of The Simpsons. Sure, the first 4-5 weeks of the show saw first-runs five days a week before repeats finally set in, but from then on new episodes were sporadic. The fall run ended with "It's a Wonderful Leaf" airing sometime in December. Then there was a block of shows running in February ("Twitching Channels" to "Stressed to Kill") and another block of shows in the spring ("The Darkwing Squad" to "Bad Luck Duck".)

Of course further spoiling the "entire series back to back" first-run idea is that if it was done this way the Halloween episode ("Ghoul of my Dreams"), the Christmas episode and the Valentine episode ("My Valentine Ghoul") wouldn't have even aired on their respective holidays.

TServo, you are the man! Everything you said mirrors how things worked with Darkwing, almost to the letter.

[TServo2049]

TServo, you are the man! Everything you said mirrors how things worked with Darkwing, almost to the letter.

Aw shucks...:)

Now if only we could find the actual specific dates for Darkwing. I sent an e-mail to David Gerstein to see if he could get me in touch with Chris Barat, I hope this works. Who knows if he even recorded dates for DW or GT, or if he still has that info...

Also, I found a post by Barat on alt.fan.disney-afternoon which gave all of the original airdates for the 65 TDA episodes of Aladdin as well as the Disney Channel preview dates - those are up on Wikipedia now. (Unfortunately, I don't know the dates for 3 of the last 5 CBS episodes - Barat said "The Ethereal" aired 11/4/95, and another post said the last episode "The Great Rift" aired 11/25/95, but there are 3 episodes I can't place dates for: "While the City Snoozes" and "Two to Tangle" aired some time in October, and "The Shadow Knows" either on Nov. 11 or Nov. 18, but the actual dates are losts to the mists of time and incomplete Usenet archiving...)

According to Barat's dates, it seems Bonkers and Aladdin were staggered out to February, not May. (As I observed with Taz-Mania, I'm pretty sure that new episodes were mostly aired during sweeps periods...)

Also, I fixed the Goof Troop Christmas air info on Wikipedia - some sites give a date of December 5, 1992 (some say 1993...no idea why), but it did not air nationwide. It was syndicated by itself (as an hour special like "Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too", with Christmas shorts an a behind-the-scenes look at Aladdin), and made available to stations between late November and mid-December, for them to program at their own leisure. So on Wikipedia I just put a range of Nov. '92-Dec. '92.

But as I said before, I could only find Goof Troop dates up to October 30 '92. After that, I have no idea what the airdates were, just that they were staggered out to May.

[TServo2049]

I forgot about this Darkwing episode list which Craig Marinaro posted right here on TZ about 4 years ago. (I have removed the ABC episodes - under "season one," the episodes from first ABC season were interspersed in chronologically, but their dates aren't in question, so I'm not including them.)

Season One (1991-92):
052 / 053. Darkly Dawns the Duck 9/08
018. Beauty and the Beet 9/09
008. Getting Antsy 9/10
040. Night of the Living Spud 9/11
016. Apes of Wrath 9/12
004. Dirty Money 9/13
017. Duck Blind 9/16
036. Comic Book Capers 9/17
001. Water Way to Go 9/18
033. Paraducks 9/19
024. Easy Come, Easy Grows 9/20
050. A Revolution in Home Appliances 9/23
014. Trading Faces 9/24
015. Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlatan 9/25
012. Can't Bayou Love 9/26
029. Bearskin Thug 9/27
013. You Sweat Your Life 9/30
044. Days of Blunder 10/01
047. Just Us Justice Ducks, Part One 10/02
048. Just Us Justice Ducks, Part Two 10/03
019. Double Darkwings 10/04
021. Aduckyphobia 10/07
056. When Aliens Collide 10/08
031. Jurassic Jumble 10/10
039. Cleanliness Is Next to Badliness 10/15
045. Smarter Than a Speeding Bullet 10/17
027. All's Fahrenheit in Love and War 10/21
023. Whiffle While You Work 10/23
041. Ghoul of My Dreams 10/31
046. Adopt-a-Con 11/07
043. Toys Czar Us 11/11
055. The Secret Origins of Darkwing Duck 11/13
042. Up, Up, and Awry 11/14
049. Life, the Negaverse and Everything 11/18
026. Dry Hard 11/20
020. Heavy Mental 11/21
063. Disguise the Limit 11/26
061. Planet of the Capes 11/27
051. Darkwing Doubloon 12/16
060. It's a Wonderful Leaf 12/23
065. Twitching Channels 2/05
069. Dances with Bigfoot 2/06
067. Twin Beaks 2/10
062. The Incredible Bulk 2/12
068. My Valentine Ghoul 2/14
058. Dead Duck 2/17
006. A Duck by Any Other Name 2/18
064. Let's Get Respectable 2/20
002. In Like Blunt 2/24
059. Quack of Ages 2/26
070. Time and Punishment 2/27
066. Stressed to Kill 3/03
071. The Darkwing Squad 5/??
072. Inside Binky's Brain 5/??
073. The Haunting of Mr. Banana Brain 5/??
074. Slime Okay, You're Okay 5/??
077. Whirled History 5/??
076. U. F. Foe 5/??
081. A Star Is Scorned 5/??
078. The Quiverwing Quack 5/??
080. Jailbird 5/??
082. Dirtysomething 5/??
075. Kung Fooled 5/??
079. Bad Luck Duck 5/??

He said he "pieced together what should be a fairly accurate list about 10 years back, based on old Usenet posts and the order of recorded episodes on my VHS tapes." Note that the syndicated episodes are in the same order given elsewhere online, but the airdates are not all consecutive, and if you look at the dates, the run is broken up into "blocks" which match DarthGonzo's information exactly. And "Ghoul of My Dreams" is listed as airing Oct. 31 '91, "It's a Wonderful Leaf" on Dec. 23 '91, and "My Valentine Ghoul" on Feb. 14 '92.

I'm willing to bet that this list's dates are accurate, or the closest we'll be able to get (if I ever do get in contact w/ Chris Barat, I'll ask him about it). Now if only it had the airdates for the May episodes... (And if I could just find the Goof Troop dates...)

[A.Magik]

Indeed, I noticed how wikipedia and IMDb limit the shows' premiere dates to just the Fox broadcast and not to their original Disney Channel broadcast. In the case of Goof Troop, I do recall 'Meanwhile, Back at the Ramp', 'Slightly Dinghy', 'Date with Destiny', and 'Max-imum Security' among the episodes appearing on Disney in the spring of '92.


Aw shucks...:)
Also, I fixed the Goof Troop Christmas air info on Wikipedia - some sites give a date of December 5, 1992 (some say 1993...no idea why), but it did not air nationwide. It was syndicated by itself (as an hour special like "Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too", with Christmas shorts an a behind-the-scenes look at Aladdin), and made available to stations between late November and mid-December, for them to program at their own leisure. So on Wikipedia I just put a range of Nov. '92-Dec. '92.Really? I hope that doesn't affect the special's position as the last Goof Troop episode broadcast. I've just recently analyzed the special as being an important prelude to A Goofy Movie. Both special and movie were written by Jymn Magon, and they share a lot of plot similarities: Goofy's attempts to rekindle old memories proving disastrous with an embarrassed Max; Pete hurting Goofy's feelings with Max making things worse; dad & son reconciling with Max saving the day by embracing a family tradition (Reindeer Rumba/The Perfect cast). Basically, the major theme in both special and movie is about Max growing up, and how father and son deal with it.

[DarthGonzo]

TServo, that list is probably as accurate as you're going to get. Thank you very much for posting that. I wonder why they held on to a couple of single digit production code episodes until the February run.

[TServo2049]

Really? I hope that doesn't affect the special's position as the last Goof Troop episode broadcast.

That's just it. The Christmas special was not the last episode broadcast. Far from it; 18 episodes have 1993 copyrights at the end, and I presume these are the ones broadcast in 1993 (if it's like DarthGonzo says about Darkwing, they probably aired in February and May, which were not coincidentally the ratings sweeps periods...)

The U.S. Copyright Office database has a registration entry for the special with a code "4310-066". (The "4310-0xx" codes seem to be the actual episode code numbers - though they go from 4310-001 up to 4310-094, with 15 code numbers being skipped along the way for what reason or another. There's a separate "GT-xx" code in which 01-65 are the syndicated episodes and 66-78 are the ABC ones. Those are the numbers Wikipedia and others give as the production numbers...)

On the subject of Disney Channel airdates, not many people think about those, and even less people kept track of them. Other than Chris Barat, I've never seen anybody who ever kept track of the Disney Channel preview airdates...

Does anybody here keep contact w/ Mr. Barat?

[TServo2049]

TServo, that list is probably as accurate as you're going to get. Thank you very much for posting that. I wonder why they held on to a couple of single digit production code episodes until the February run.

The same thing happened with Goof Troop; "A Pizza the Action", prod. code ep. 6, was the 63rd show aired and has a 1993 copyright at the end (it probably aired some time in May '93). It's one of the episodes WDAJ subcontracted to Animal House, but another one, "Dr. Horatio's Magic Orchestra", is prod. code 62, so it probably doesn't relate to why it's such a low number.

[DarthGonzo]

The same thing happened with Goof Troop; "A Pizza the Action", prod. code ep. 6, was the 63rd show aired and has a 1993 copyright at the end (it probably aired some time in May '93). Absolutely no clue why.

Even weirder is that this episode is one of the very, very, very few Goof Troop shows animated in Japan, while the two Darkwing episodes in question were the only two animated in France.

[TServo2049]

Well, I tried to edit the Darkwing airdates on Wikipedia, but someone reverted my edits. DarthGonzo, do you think you could go into the discussion section and vouch for the accuracy of my edits? I want to be able to get my changes approved, but I don't want to personally fight an edit war...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Darkwing_Duck_episodes

If you need my help, I gave a detailed explanation in the discussion section of the Aladdin episode list, since I'm trying to get my edits reinstated there as well.

[DarthGonzo]

Wait, there's a Wikipedia discussion forum?

Either way, you probably won't get anywhere with a site like Wikipedia. I've tried to correct false info there only to get warned for vandalism. I don't see much of a point in trying.

[TServo2049]

Click on "Discussion" at the top.

I want to fix Wikipedia because when I fix the IMDB listings, I don't want anyone to subsequently "fix" them based on what Wikipedia says. Also, I feel a need to pass on the information I find, to preserve it - I don't want this stuff to disappear into the ether.

[DarthGonzo]

Wow, I posted a notice at the top of the episode list barely an hour ago about the incorrect dates that has already been taken down.

Looking at the discussion topics...no there's no such thing as a season three. The syndicated season and the first 13 ABC episodes are all part of season 1 and were produced and aired at the exact same time. I wonder if anyone who edits this stuff even watched the show when it was first airing.

EDIT: TServo, I saw your post in the discussion section and it's really sad how your contribution was blown off with a "Yeah, no." It's a shame a well thought out post like yours (full of information that's actually CORRECT) was dismissed by someone who talked to you like you were some sort of moron. But that's the internet for you.

[TServo2049]

I didn't realize you were the guy who posted that notice - I referred to that person as a "Wiki vandal" in my plea to the editor, and said I didn't condone that notice. I only said that so he wouldn't think my work was vandalism - I appreciate your intentions, but you should have posted that in the discussion like I did. Thank you for backing me up in the discussion, though.

Anyway, he hasn't reverted my changes...yet. Just in case, I'm changing the airdates on IMDB to make sure that some online source reflects my research findings. Even if some dates are just a month and year, or just a year, it's better than a full set of dates that aren't correct.

And as far as the syndicated and fall 1991 ABC Darkwing episodes being listed as separate seasons, I actually support that, if only to differentiate the two groups of episodes. In case you'd forgotten, Disney kept the syndicated and ABC episodes separate until the series left ABC at the onset of the 1993-94 season. AFAIK, not one of the 26 ABC shows aired on TDA until September '93 (and one post on a.f.d-a criticizes TDA for promoting them as "new" when they weren't...) Of course, this is all coming from my research, since 5-year-old Jeffrey was not paying any attention back then. :)

I also made an interesting find for Darkwing ABC season 2 and Goof Troop's ABC season - on November 28 (Thanksgiving weekend?) there were no new episodes (possibly of ANY ABC SatAM shows, the Usenet thread in question mentioned that Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa was also a rerun). This shifts the last two episodes of each season forward one week (which explains why "Clan of the Cave Goof" was not on that "current" list of Goof Troop episodes posted on a.f.d-a on Dec. 10, '92 - because of the skipped week, it didn't air until the following Saturday.)

And I'm still wondering why all modern episode listings of Aladdin switch "Poor Iago" and "Snowman Is an Island", saying that "Snowman Is an Island" was the 33rd aired and "Poor Iago" was the 38th, when they otherwise get at least the air order of the episodes right (excluding the Disney Channel previews of course). Lists from the Were "Poor Iago" and "Snowman Is an Island" swapped in the order used by Disney Channel/Toon Disney?

[TServo2049]

I've moved on to Bonkers. Bonkers was surprisingly accurate on Wikipedia (because Chris Barat's comprehensive, 100% accurate Bonkers guide was actually posted online, I guess?). However, the episodes which first aired on the Disney Channel were misdated as airing in 1994 instead of 1993 (but again, the day and date were the same). Maybe it has to do with the fact that TV.com, TVRage, etc. always calls those 9 Miranda episodes "season 4" which makes no sense since they were the first ones to air...I moved them to before "Going Bonkers/Gone Bonkers" and the first set of Lucky episodes (and noted both the Disney Channel and TDA airdates, like Chris Barat did).

Also, I changed the designations from "Season" to "Group" - in this case, I believe that all 65 episodes should be considered one season, even if they're still broken up into four groups, and in the new "Broadcast chronology" section I created, I explained this. (On IMDB, I'm going to reorganize the episodes into one season, numbered to match the Disney Afternoon first-run order, but with the Disney Channel preview episodes having the TDC airdates. Unlike the shows which had concurrent syndicated and network first-run episodes, there's absolutely no point in referring "seasons" of Bonkers...)

Since I was able to actually add a link to Chris Barat's guide, and since most of the information already matched Barat's list, I feel confident that my changes won't get reverted. (As of now, my Darkwing and Goof Troop edits remain in place, yay!)

And in my research, I've discovered that Toon Disney apparently didn't rerun "Fall-Apart Bomb Squad"; was it another episode pulled after 9/11, like "New Partners on the Block?" (As with that episode, it's easy to find the German and Russian dubbed versions on RapidShare/etc., in keeping with the whole notion that Europe has been generally immune to the whole PC meddling situation as far as the DTVA shows go.)

[speedy fast]

Not to get off-topic, but I know that The Muppet Show episodes all have different original airdates depending on where they were broadcast in the United States, due to being a syndicated series. I had been under the impression that this was the norm for most syndicated shows. So I had thought for awhile that it was a bit weird that pretty much all the Disney Afternoon shows seem to have consistient airdates in all markets.

[TServo2049]

Each 2-hour broadcast of The Disney Afternoon was put together by Disney and delivered by satellite to the various stations that aired it. Just about every station in the country would get the exact same episode on the exact same day.

I have heard that certain high-profile syndicated first-run shows (and reruns) are delivered like this, including bartered ones with national ads included.

[snowpeck]

Not to get off-topic, but I know that The Muppet Show episodes all have different original airdates depending on where they were broadcast in the United States, due to being a syndicated series. I had been under the impression that this was the norm for most syndicated shows. So I had thought for awhile that it was a bit weird that pretty much all the Disney Afternoon shows seem to have consistient airdates in all markets.

There are several reasons for that. For starters, The Muppet Show was weekly, so stations could air it on whatever day of the week they chose.

Secondly, back then, syndicated shows were "bicycled," meaning only a certain number of tapes were sent out to the stations showing it, then those stations sent the tapes on to other stations, etc., so the show wouldn't end up airing in the same order across the country.

Fast forward to the 1990s, and satellite transmission has taken over... so all stations get the same episodes of syndicated series on the same day.

[Trevor]

Fast forward to the 1990s, and satellite transmission has taken over... so all stations get the same episodes of syndicated series on the same day.

But that doesn't mean much, considering that at some stations management, even in a kids show, might object to certain things that are mentioned or displayed leading to that episode being edited before being aired, or skipped entirely.

Or even in some places the stations might delay the airing of an episode if a voice actor on the show is running in a political race to avoid having to give "free" airtime to the other candidates. (ie. Star Trek The Animated Series in Los Angeles, 1973 with George Takei)

[SetTheControls]

a while back, Ryan Wynns used
No wonder my ears were ringing! ;)


The syndicated Disney cartoons, especially in the days of The Disney Afternoon, usually had staggered premiere schedules, meaning that 65 episodes would not air over 65 consecutive weekdays.

Actually, relying (alas) only on my memory, I believe that the "staggering" began with Darkwing Duck. I know for a fact (as you're aware of, from my vigilante maintenance of a certain Wikipedia article!) that the premiere run of DuckTales' original 65 episodes was almost a continuous, uninterrupted "straight shot", I believe that was the also the case for Tale Spin and Rescue Rangers, if -- again 00 memory serves. (Unfortunately, I no longer have my copy of The Wonderful World of Disney Television. The airdates were included there.) I do remember that when Darkwing Duck began "mixing things up" with repeats and new episodes being spread thin well into the spring, for me as a viewer, it was a new, unexpected experience.


Also, there is the matter of the Disney Channel spring preview airings; starting with Rescue Rangers, each series would be previewed on TDC in the spring before making their over-the-air premieres in the fall.

The Disney Channel wasn't available in the town that I grew up in until the late '90's, so I have no first-hand experience with those Disney Channel "preview" runs. However, I recall reading somewhere (I can't for the life of me remember where, unfortunately) that Tale Spin was not previewed on the Disney Channel.

Two relevant personal anecdotes:

1. Circa winter 1989, the "news" column in the current issue of DuckTales Magazine (a children's story/activity publication, basically) had an announcement about a certain "new show" on the Disney Channel ... Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. It included a full-color still of all five Rangers, presumably from early in the show's development, with noticeable variations from the character designs we came to know. (I think I've seen this still online before, but some hasty Googling just now hasn't turned it up.) At this news, I was really, really pining for the Disney Channel. (Little did I know, I only had to wait 'til fall...)

2. Circa spring 1991,I was watching the Disney Channel at my grandparents' house (in another town, where they actually had the Disney Channel), I saw a promo spot for a certain "new show": Darkwing Duck. And...wonder of wonders, it prominently featured Launchpad!!! At this news, I was really, really pining for the Disney Channel. (Although at this point, I anticipated that I only had to wait 'til fall...)


For the TDC previews of DW and GT, I have no idea if they were only episodes which would air on ABC, or also ones which would air on TDA.

There was an issue of Animato! in the early '90s that had an episode guide, written by Judith Reboy, to the 13 episodes of Darkwing Duck that aired on ABC in 1991 (the first ABC season). Alas, I stupidly sold my collection of animation books and 'zines a few years ago, because I thought I was too "grown up". (That was rash and short-sighted, and, inevitably, I deeply regret it.) Thus, I can't quote the article directly, but (and this isn't something I would remember incorrectly, I assure you; it had my undivided attention) she stated that those particular 13 Darkwing episodes (ABC, 1991) were what had comprised the Disney's Channel's Darkwing "preview" run earlier that spring. I've never corroborated this with another source, though, and, because I didn't have access to the Disney Channel, didn't witness it with my own eyes.

[SetTheControls]

Also, I found a post by Barat on alt.fan.disney-afternoon which gave all of the original airdates for the 65 TDA episodes of Aladdin as well as the Disney Channel preview dates - those are up on Wikipedia now. (Unfortunately, I don't know the dates for 3 of the last 5 CBS episodes - Barat said "The Ethereal" aired 11/4/95, and another post said the last episode "The Great Rift" aired 11/25/95, but there are 3 episodes I can't place dates for: "While the City Snoozes" and "Two to Tangle" aired some time in October, and "The Shadow Knows" either on Nov. 11 or Nov. 18, but the actual dates are losts to the mists of time and incomplete Usenet archiving...)

It's a small world...I was actually corresponding with Barat (through actual letters, delivered by the postal service!) at the time. Between him and I, we were trying to pin down the dates for those last 8 episodes that aired on CBS in the fall of 1995. He had missed some, I had missed others. (In some cases, I think my VCR's "timer" -- remember those? -- had failed me. In one instance, CBS' Saturday morning lineup had been pre-empted by an appearance of the Pope in Central Park.) But by putting our heads together, we had all of them accounted for. In a letter dated January 27th, 1996, he compiled this master list, save "The Great Rift":

"The Hunted" 9/16/95
"Riders Redux" 9/23/95
"The Book of Khartoum" 9/30/95
"While the City Snoozes" 10/7/95 ("Yes, this was the one the Pope pre-empted", Chris noted)
"Two to Tangle" 10/21/95
"The Ethereal" 11/4/95
"The Shadow Knows" 11/18/95

Subsequently, he alludes to an anticipated eighth episode that neither of us had seen yet. As this was now January '96, I'm not sure why neither of had seen "The Great Rift". (I'm operating on the assumption that 11/25/95 date is correct.) In his next letter, dated March 4th, 1996, he responds to my description of "The Great Rift" (which I'd by then seen, while he hadn't), but there's no mention of a date.


Also, I fixed the Goof Troop Christmas air info on Wikipedia - some sites give a date of December 5, 1992 (some say 1993...no idea why)

I'll vouch for '92. I definitely remember that special airing during Goof Troop's first season.

[SetTheControls]

And as far as the syndicated and fall 1991 ABC Darkwing episodes being listed as separate seasons, I actually support that, if only to differentiate the two groups of episodes. In case you'd forgotten, Disney kept the syndicated and ABC episodes separate until the series left ABC at the onset of the 1993-94 season. AFAIK, not one of the 26 ABC shows aired on TDA until September '93 (and one post on a.f.d-a criticizes TDA for promoting them as "new" when they weren't...)

Do you really wanna get me started? ;)

I see where you're coming from on this. But grouping the fall '91 episodes as "Season 2" gives the impression that they "belong" "after" the 65 syndicated episodes. A few of the '91 ABC episodes are clearly some of the series' earliest, production-wise and continuity-wise: you have Darkwing's first encounters with Morgana, Gizmoduck, and Neptunia. (And in "Negaduck", you can infer that Darkwing and Co. hadn't yet met the "other" Negaduck, as they never referred to him.)

A great compromise would be to integrate the syndicated episodes and the fall '91 ABC episodes as "Season 1", but format the table in such a way that clearly distinguishes which were ABC and which were Disney Afternoon episodes. However, I'm not fluent in formatting Wikipedia articles. Is it feasible to color-code the chart, or something?

(And, actually, if Judith Reboy was correct and all 13 episodes that aired on ABC in the fall of '91 had comprised Darkwing's "preview" run on the Disney Channel several months earlier, it would make sense to group the '91 ABC episodes as Season One. For in that case, all 13 of them would have aired prior to the syndicated episodes. I have no idea if Reboy was correct about that, though, as I've never seen that indicated anywhere else, and have no source for dates; her article didn't include any.)

[SetTheControls]

Season One (1991-92):
052 / 053. Darkly Dawns the Duck 9/08
018. Beauty and the Beet 9/09
008. Getting Antsy 9/10
040. Night of the Living Spud 9/11
016. Apes of Wrath 9/12
004. Dirty Money 9/13


From those dates, I can deduce that 9/9 through 9/13 fell as a Monday-Friday. (And I vividly remember that first week -- those episodes -- Darkwing on weekday afternoons.) Our cable provider carried no less than three stations than ran The Disney Afternoon, and I remember that at least one of them actually showed "Darkly Dawns the Duck" on the preceding Friday night - which means that it actually aired as early as 9/6. (Disney provided it to stations in a two-hour package with the Back to School with the Mickey Mouse Club special. Anyone remember that?)

However, I have no source for this, so I don't really feel like getting involved in another Wikipedia article, if you know what I mean. ;)

Keep up the good fight, TServo, sir. I'm right by your side at the front line. ;)

[TServo2049]

Actually, relying (alas) only on my memory, I believe that the "staggering" began with Darkwing Duck. I know for a fact (as you're aware of, from my vigilante maintenance of a certain Wikipedia article!) that the premiere run of DuckTales' original 65 episodes was almost a continuous, uninterrupted "straight shot", I believe that was the also the case for Tale Spin and Rescue Rangers, if -- again 00 memory serves. (Unfortunately, I no longer have my copy of The Wonderful World of Disney Television. The airdates were included there.) I do remember that when Darkwing Duck began "mixing things up" with repeats and new episodes being spread thin well into the spring, for me as a viewer, it was a new, unexpected experience.



The Disney Channel wasn't available in the town that I grew up in until the late '90's, so I have no first-hand experience with those Disney Channel "preview" runs. However, I recall reading somewhere (I can't for the life of me remember where, unfortunately) that Tale Spin was not previewed on the Disney Channel.


Chris Barat's dates for TaleSpin, as featured on the great Kit Cloudkicker website, do show the airdates as being staggered - I think it must have started with the advent of The Disney Afternoon. His dates even say that "Flying Dupes" was held back all the way to *August 1991*. Wikipedia and IMDB also have this info.

Barat also provided the site with Disney Channel preview airdates - about 8 or 9 episodes are listed as having been previewed. I put those dates on IMDB and Wikipedia.

Hey, if you are in contact w/ Chris, do you or he have any info on the original airdates for Goof Troop? Using a.f.d-a, I was able to get the original dates up to "Hallow-Weenies," but I can only deduce that "Tub Be or Not Tub Be" to "Mrs. Spoonerville" aired in November '92, with the rest airing in 1993 (starting in February? but going as late as late May).

Also looking for the airdates of the last syndicated DW episodes from "The Darkwing Squad" to "Bad Luck Duck" - any comment on Chris Marinaro's dates for the rest of the episodes, which I posted earlier?

[SetTheControls]

Chris Barat's dates for TaleSpin, as featured on the great Kit Cloudkicker website, do show the airdates as being staggered - I think it must have started with the advent of The Disney Afternoon. His dates even say that "Flying Dupes" was held back all the way to *August 1991*. Wikipedia and IMDB also have this info.

Ah, I don't doubt that, then. I didn't follow Tale Spin as closely as I did Darkwing.


Barat also provided the site with Disney Channel preview airdates - about 8 or 9 episodes are listed as having been previewed. I put those dates on IMDB and Wikipedia.

Very nice! I either have a false memory of reading something about the Disney Channel not previewing Tale Spin, or what I read was incorrect.


Also looking for the airdates of the last syndicated DW episodes from "The Darkwing Squad" to "Bad Luck Duck" - any comment on Chris Marinaro's dates for the rest of the episodes, which I posted earlier?

Not sure of anything definite, beyond that new episodes were staggered into the spring.

I should really "reclaim" a copy of The Wonderful World of Disney Television. Looks like some fairly affordable used ones are listed on Amazon...

[snowpeck]

I picked up my copy of The Wonderful World of Disney Television at a local used book shop for just a couple bucks... but anyhow...

As for which Darkwing Duck episodes aired on The Disney Channel... someone on YouTube has posted the rarely seen opening and closing sequences used during that preview run... the theme song is done in a COMPLETELY different style... same lyrics and melody though.

He says those came from "Aduckyphobia" which did not air on ABC.. so that throws that out the window entirely.

He also says in a comment on one of the videos that he remembers the first five that aired on TDC were "That Sinking Feeling," "Getting Antsy," "Hush Hush Sweet Charlatan," "Dirty Money," and "Beauty and the Beet." Of those, only "That Sinking Feeling" aired on ABC.

[spidey4545]

"The Hunted" 9/16/95
"Riders Redux" 9/23/95
"The Book of Khartoum" 9/30/95
"While the City Snoozes" 10/7/95 ("Yes, this was the one the Pope pre-empted", Chris noted)
"Two to Tangle" 10/21/95
"The Ethereal" 11/4/95
"The Shadow Knows" 11/18/95


I want to commend all of you for trying to piece together the correct original airdates for the Disney Afternoon shows. I've been working on doing this for many 80's and 90's series over the last 5+ years. It's certainly no easy task and unfortunately, there is just so much inaccurate information floating around out there that it's almost impossible to know what is right and what is wrong. For many series, it appears that their original airdate information may have been lost with time.

Nevertheless, I can confirm that Bill Cotter's Wonderful World of Disney supplemental material does confirm these original airdates for Aladdin. He also lists "The Great Rift" as airing on November 25, 1995.

His records for Bonkers and DuckTales also lists the new episodes as airing consecutively and not being staggered.

[speedy fast]

I see where you're coming from on this. But grouping the fall '91 episodes as "Season 2" gives the impression that they "belong" "after" the 65 syndicated episodes. A few of the '91 ABC episodes are clearly some of the series' earliest, production-wise and continuity-wise: you have Darkwing's first encounters with Morgana, Gizmoduck, and Neptunia. (And in "Negaduck", you can infer that Darkwing and Co. hadn't yet met the "other" Negaduck, as they never referred to him.)

And despite that, quite a few introductory episodes in the Disney Afternoon episodes were broadcast after the characters had appeared in episodes.

[A.Magik]

And despite that, quite a few introductory episodes in the Disney Afternoon episodes were broadcast after the characters had appeared in episodes.
Indeed, but some stations did try to remedy this problem by giving the introductory episodes a prime-time broadcast on the day of the premiere. On the Fox station in my city, TS's 'Plunder and Lightning', DWD's Darkly Dawns the Duck and GT's 'Everything Coming Up Goofy/Good Neighbor Goof' got this showcase even though their eventual syndication broadcast came a tad late.

To my knowledge, DWD and GT were the only casualties of this disorder (GT's premiere episode 'Axed by Addition' reveals P.J's love for the Mutilator series. A following episode has P.J. introduced to the franchise!).

[TServo2049]

His records for Bonkers and DuckTales also lists the new episodes as airing consecutively and not being staggered.

Well, Bonkers was odd. Looking at Chris Barat's TDA dates, the first 11 weeks were consecutive premieres (including the Miranda Wright episodes that had previously aired on Disney Channel, and the 4 compilation episodes), but then the next 5 episodes were staggered up to the end of November, then the last 5 were staggered out during February sweeps.

What does the book say about DW and Goof Troop?

And I wonder, does the book also have airdates for The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh? I know it's not a TDA show, but I'm trying to figure out the correct dates and order for that too.

Gargoyles' correct airdates are already widely available online, so that's something I don't have to worry about...

[SetTheControls]

I picked up my copy of The Wonderful World of Disney Television at a local used book shop for just a couple bucks... but anyhow...

As for which Darkwing Duck episodes aired on The Disney Channel... someone on YouTube has posted the rarely seen opening and closing sequences used during that preview run... the theme song is done in a COMPLETELY different style... same lyrics and melody though.

He says those came from "Aduckyphobia" which did not air on ABC.. so that throws that out the window entirely.

He also says in a comment on one of the videos that he remembers the first five that aired on TDC were "That Sinking Feeling," "Getting Antsy," "Hush Hush Sweet Charlatan," "Dirty Money," and "Beauty and the Beet." Of those, only "That Sinking Feeling" aired on ABC.

That makes more sense to me than what Judith Reboy stated in her article, which always gave me an iffy feeling.

I've seen that version of the intro on YouTube, but hadn't noticed that comment. Thanks for pointing it out!

[SetTheControls]

I want to commend all of you for trying to piece together the correct original airdates for the Disney Afternoon shows. I've been working on doing this for many 80's and 90's series over the last 5+ years. It's certainly no easy task and unfortunately, there is just so much inaccurate information floating around out there that it's almost impossible to know what is right and what is wrong. For many series, it appears that their original airdate information may have been lost with time.

It's so frustrating, isn't it?!

Granted, there's more important things in the grand scheme of things, and we're an idiosyncratic lot when it comes to this interest, but there's nothing wrong with desiring correct, accurate information!


Nevertheless, I can confirm that Bill Cotter's Wonderful World of Disney supplemental material does confirm these original airdates for Aladdin.

There's a good reason for that. Chris Barat provided Cotter with his research to use for the book. ;)

[SetTheControls]

And despite that, quite a few introductory episodes in the Disney Afternoon episodes were broadcast after the characters had appeared in episodes.

Yes, thought of that counterpoint when making my original assertion, trust me. ;)

The thrust of my argument was that listing the first season of ABC episodes as "Season Two" gives the impression that they came "after" and "later than" the 65 Disney Afternoon episodes, which wasn't the case.

[SetTheControls]

Indeed, but some stations did try to remedy this problem by giving the introductory episodes a prime-time broadcast on the day of the premiere. On the Fox station in my city, TS's 'Plunder and Lightning', DWD's Darkly Dawns the Duck and GT's 'Everything Coming Up Goofy/Good Neighbor Goof' got this showcase even though their eventual syndication broadcast came a tad late.

I believe speedy fast was alluding to the numerous individual Darkwing episodes that "introduced" the series' various villains or recurring characters (ie, told their origin and/or showed Darkwing "meeting" them for the first time), not the "TV movie" specials ("Treasure of the Golden Suns", "To the Rescue", "Plunder and Lightning", "Darkly Dawns the Duck", etc.) that launched each series.

The problem with the "TV movie" premieres was that local stations generally didn't promote them as much as each series' regular run (understandably, as the latter is what they had a long-term investment in) (but, I mean, I remember one station showed "Plunder and Lightning" at, like, 10:00 on a Sunday morning, as if it were filler!), so many regular casual viewers missed those "grand opening" two-hour events, which is a shame, because, if seen, they gave each show a proper introduction, and made a big first impression.

[A.Magik]

I believe speedy fast was alluding to the numerous individual Darkwing episodes that "introduced" the series' various villains or recurring characters (ie, told their origin and/or showed Darkwing "meeting" them for the first time), not the "TV movie" specials ("Treasure of the Golden Suns", "To the Rescue", "Plunder and Lightning", "Darkly Dawns the Duck", etc.) that launched each series.I know that. I was just adding on to the discussion that these introductory specials were also not given the chronological broadcast they deserved.

[TServo2049]

On the Wikipedia episode guides, I've changed the "Season #" designations. For example, for DW, I changed the headings to "Disney Afternoon", "ABC Season 1" and "ABC Season 2," then explained more clearly how the first 78 episodes were technically one season.

I'm not sure how to handle it on IMDB; I'll probably have to leave it the way it is (but fortunately, there are ways to see episodes arranged in airdate order, so yeah...)

BTW, does anybody know anything about a Disney Channel preview airing of Rescue Rangers on August 27, 1988? During TDC's fall preview weekend of Aug. 26-28 '88, there was a Saturday morning preview airing of RR, and it was publicized in newspaper ads, mentioned in articles, and was indeed listed in TV guides for that day. The date was also listed in some other sources. A lot of sites mistakenly claim that the movie version of "To the Rescue" aired on this date, but Wikipedia says it was "Catteries Not Included", which makes much more sense since it was the first episode produced.

Does anybody know if this airing ended up actually happening? I know its more known Disney Channel preview run began on March 4, 1989. (I wonder which episode aired that day; most guides say "Piratsy Under the Seas" aired on March 5 (a Sunday) and "Catteries Not Included" on March 6 (a Monday), but reading TV guides from that week, I only see RR listed as airing on Saturday and Sunday, March 4 and 5. Charles Solomon's advance review in the Los Angeles Times, from March 3, reviews "Piratsy Under the Seas." I'll have to ask Chris Barat about this...)

All I know is, "Catteries Not Included" has an onscreen copyright of 1989 (then again, so do the "Time Is Money" episodes of DuckTales, which originally aired as a movie during on Thanksgiving weekend 1988...)

Maybe the commonly circulated dates are just one day off, which is my assumption, but I'll have to ask Chris Barat...

[SetTheControls]

On the Wikipedia episode guides, I've changed the "Season #" designations. For example, for DW, I changed the headings to "Disney Afternoon", "ABC Season 1" and "ABC Season 2," then explained more clearly how the first 78 episodes were technically one season.

Thanks! That's a good solution. ;)

[Classic Speedy]

I thank you for all your efforts, TServo. Disney syndication/network airdates is something that always confused me, and the way you edited the Wiki episode guides makes it easier to understand. I also think that the US Copyright office is an outstanding source; I mean, who's gonna argue with that?

[TServo2049]

Thanks, S.B., I'm glad to see someone appreciates my work. Obviously I've done enough to please Xeworlebi, the Wiki editor who originally reverted my corrections; since that incident and my long essay to him, he hasn't undone them again.

Actually, none of my dates come from the U.S. Copyright Office, because none of the DTVA episode registrations have a listed "date of publication", only a "date of creation" (i.e., the year on the copyright notice). No, I did all this research using old alt.fan.disney-afternoon posts, Chris Barat's airdates posted there and various other places online, and even some work done by a fellow TZ member.

I *wish* the U.S. Copyright Office entries had publication dates on them, because those usually match up to the original airdate (though certainly not always...).