Disney Shows From The 90s - TaleSpin

TaleSpin is a half-hour American animated television series spin-off of The Jungle Book that first aired as

part of The Disney Afternoon. The name of the show is a play on “tailspin”, defined as “the rapid descent

of an aircraft in a steep spiral”. The “Tale” in the name originally referred to the series DuckTales,

because Launchpad McQuack from that show was originally going to be the star of TaleSpin, but was replaced

by Baloo.

Background

After a preview of The Disney Afternoon that aired on the Disney Channel in May 1990, the series began its

run in September of the same year. The original concept was embodied in the introductory television movie

Plunder and Lightning which was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (Prime Time

for Programming One Hour or More) in 1991 and was later re-edited into four half-hour episodes for reruns.

The show was often seen either on its own as a half-hour show, or as part of the two-hour syndicated series

The Disney Afternoon. TaleSpin ended on its 65th episode which ran in 1994. However, reruns continued to be

shown on The Disney Afternoon through late 1994 till 1996. Afterwards, it was moved into Disney Channel and

later into Toon Disney.

Several of the characters are loosely based on characters from Disney’s animated film version of The Jungle

Book: in particular Baloo, the hot-shot pilot hero of the series; Louie, the owner of Baloo’s favorite bar;

and Shere Khan, a business tycoon who appears in many episodes. Kit seems to be a stand-in for Mowgli,

since Baloo calls him by the same nicknames his Jungle Book counterpart called Mowgli, like “Little

Britches” and “Baby Bear”. Shere Khan’s soldiers are black panthers, resembling Bagheera.

Also, many of the series concepts seem to be based on the 1982 ABC series Tales of the Gold Monkey,

including the main concept of a cocky flying boat cargo pilot and his rocky relationship with his

girlfriend, his scatterbrained mechanic sidekick, the era and designs of the aircraft and costumes, the

Pacific Islands setting, the secondary character relationships, even the visual appearance of the lagoon.

Also, the protagonists of both series fly planes named for waterfowl (Cutter’s Goose and Sea Duck) and are

regular denizens of taverns named “Louie’s”.

The series was largely developed by writers Jymn Magon and Mark Zaslove, who were also the Supervising

Producers on the series as well as Story Editors. There were four production teams, each one headed by a

Producer/Director: Robert Taylor, Larry Latham, Jamie Mitchell and Ed Ghertner.

Synopsis

TaleSpin is set in the fictional city-state of Cape Suzette (a pun on the pancake dish, Crêpe Suzette), a

harbor town protected by giant cliffs through which only a small opening exists. The opening in the cliffs

is guarded by anti-aircraft artillery, preventing flying rabble-rousers or air pirates from entering the

city. Characters in the world of TaleSpin are anthropomorphic animals. The timeframe of the series is never

specifically addressed, but appears to be in the mid to late 1930s; the helicopter and jet engine are

experimental devices and most architecture is reminiscent of the art deco style of that period. “The Great

War” ended “nearly 20 years ago”, and radio is the primary mass medium.

The series centered on the adventures of bush pilot Baloo the bear, whose air cargo freight business is

bought out by Rebecca Cunningham, and renamed “Higher for Hire”. An orphan boy and former air pirate, the

ambitious Kit Cloudkicker, attaches to Baloo and becomes his navigator. He sometimes calls him “Papa Bear”.

Together, they are the crew of Higher for Hire’s only aircraft, a modified Conwing L-16 named the Sea Duck.

From there, the series follows the ups and downs of Higher for Hire and its staff, sometimes in the vein of

old action-adventure film serials of the 1930s and ’40s and contemporary variations, such as Raiders of the

Lost Ark.

Their adventures often involve encounters with a gang of air pirates led by the histrionic Don Karnage,

with representatives of Thembria, a parody of the Stalinist Soviet Union inhabited by anthropomorphic

warthogs, or other, often even stranger obstacles. In deference to contemporary sensitivities, there is no

equivalent of the Nazis in the series, although one story in Disney Adventures Magazine had the heroes

encounter “the Hausers,” a menacing militaristic nationality of dogs who wear uniforms that are clearly

based on German ones.

The relationship between Baloo and Rebecca owes something to the screwball comedy films of the 1930s. It is

even more closely patterned after the later years of the television sitcom Cheers—in both shows, a

buttoned-down businesswoman named Rebecca takes the reins of a struggling company, then hires its previous

owner (a fun-loving but irresponsible slacker) to do most of the work for her.

A video game by Capcom was also released on the NES and Game Boy. Sega produced a different version for the

Sega Genesis and Sega Game Gear. A third incarnation was produced by Hudson Soft for the TurboGrafx-16.

Famed Uncle Scrooge comic writer and artist Don Rosa contributed to episode 6 “It Came From Beneath the Sea

Duck” and episode 9 “I Only Have Ice for You”.

Characters and cast

Main article: List of TaleSpin characters

Episodes

Main article: List of TaleSpin episodes

DVD releases

Disney released the first 27 episodes (including the 4-part pilot) of TaleSpin on DVD in Region 1 on August

29, 2006. Volume 2 of the series was released on November 13, 2007, which includes the controversial

episode “Last Horizons”. Disney has yet to confirm a third volume with the remaining episodes, and there is

no word on whether the other controversial episode, “Flying Dupes” will be included, (see “Controversy”

below).
DVD Name     Release Date     Eps#
Volume One     August 29, 2006     23eps. with 4-part pilot.
Volume Two     November 13, 2007      27 eps.
Volume Three     TBA     11 eps.

Controversy

Banned episodes

Two episodes of Talespin drew varied amounts of controversy, enough for one episode to be temporarily

banned and the other to be permanently banned.

The first of these, the episode “Last Horizons”, was temporarily banned and taken off the air.

Investigation of the event has since revealed that the reason for its temporary removal was the alleged

stereotyping of Asians. The villain in the episode is an anthropomorphic panda Emperor named Wan Lo (voiced

by actor Robert Ito) living in a mock-pre-WWII Asian nation called “Panda-La”, who takes Baloo into his

country to exploit his naiveté and attacks Cape Suzette. There is a reference to how their lust for

conquest is not shared by all of their species with “Good Pandas especially dislike us.”

The fictitious nation may have been a take on Japan, which attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor,

Hawaii on December 7, 1941. That incident ushered America’s entry into the Second World War.

The second episode, coincidentally the last in the series, titled “Flying Dupes” was aired for the first

time on August 8, 1992 and was immediately pulled from the lineup afterward, not to be seen again for more

than ten years. It made a brief re-appearance on Toon Disney several years ago, possibly by mistake, and

has never been re-aired since. Considered by Disney to be a banned episode, the apparent reason for this

episode’s permanent removal from the airwaves is the terrorist theme associated with it. Despite this ban,

the episode was aired repeatedly by independent stations, including Seattle-based KSTW-TV and Family

Channel in Canada. They also get aired on German TV (dubbed) practically anytime the series gets broadcast.

The general synopsis of the episode starts with Baloo being asked to deliver a goodwill present (a cuckoo

clock he is told) to the High Marshall of Thembria from Cape Suzette. Baloo is unaware until the end of the

episode that the package really contains a time bomb planted by munitions manufacturers who wish to provoke

a war between Thembria and Cape Suzette in order to boost weapons sales.

Voice impersonation

A controversy related to TaleSpin involved the character Louie. In 2001, the widow of Louis Prima, who had

voiced the scat singing orangutan in The Jungle Book, filed suit against Disney for “breach of contract,

non-payment of royalties, unjust enrichment, fraud and negligent misrepresentation”. At issue were back

royalties owed for profits made from video and DVD sales of The Jungle Book and unauthorized use of her

husband’s voice and its likeness in shows like TaleSpin (Jim Cummings’s impersonation of Prima’s voice was

near-perfect). Although the case was eventually settled out of court, Disney has since chosen to avoid any

further trouble and has refrained from using the character in anything else. Illustrating this point was

the appearance of a Louie doppelgänger in an episode of the Disney’s House of Mouse, “King Larry Swings

In.” Here “Larry” was identified as Louie’s identical twin brother to avoid offending the Prima estate. It

was also due to this lawsuit that Louie was conspicuously absent from The Jungle Book 2 (2003); he is the

only major Jungle Book character who did not appear in the 2003 film.

Comics

A monthly comic book based on the show was published by Disney Comics in 1991, running for seven issues

(eleven, counting a four-issue mini-series based on the series premiere). Bobby JG Weiss was the writer for

issues 1-4 and 6-7. As issue 5 was adapted from the episode 41, “The Old Man And The Sea Duck”, Weiss only

is credited for adaptation.

The comic’s cancellation seven months later terminated several planned stories that would have revealed

pieces of background for the main characters. Issue 7 explored Kit’s past, and how he joined up with the

pirates. According to the letter page in #3, a planned story for the comic’s annual would have explored the

origin of the Iron Vulture. #4-7 would have letters ‘answered’ by the characters.

A collected edition called Disney’s Cartoon Tales featuring TaleSpin came out in 1991 (ISBN 1-56115-269-2).

It reprints #4 and 6 from the regular comic book series.

Subsequent comic stories were also printed in Disney Adventures from 1990 to 1995 then re-appeared in the

Summer 2006 Disney Adventures Comic Zone Magazine, as well as in the Disney Afternoon comic book published

by Marvel Comics.

TaleSpin #8

While issue #8 of the monthly comic series never made it to print, the end of issue #7 included a preview

for it:

“Spies in Cape Suzette?! There are some mighty mysterious folk sniffing around Shere Khan Industries. When

Special Agent Booker shows up to handle the problem he finds that battling foreign agents is easier than

dealing with Baloo as an assistant in… THE SPY WHO BUGGED ME!”

Relationship

At some point during the series, Baloo and Rebecca’s relationship matures into a strong friendship with

possible romantic overtones. Several episodes feature Baloo serving as escort to Rebecca for various social

occasions though often with a degree of reluctance from one or both. In “It Came From Beneath the Sea

Duck”, Baloo accompanies Rebecca on a shopping spree; in “Her Chance to Dream”, Baloo becomes slightly

jealous when Rebecca is courted by the ghost of a Victorian era sea captain; in the beginning of “A Star Is

Torn”, the two have a dinner date as “friends”. Baloo’s statement to Rebecca of “Remember the last time we

went out?” suggests that this is not their first date; In “Feminine Air”, when Rebecca reveals that she

could tell her co-pilot “Tan Margret” was really Baloo in drag, she calls Baloo her “best friend”; “Gruel

and Unusual Punishment” both Baloo and Rebecca ready themselves to go the annual Pilot’s Ball with her

getting a new dress (which is a leftover from “Her Chance to Dream”) and him losing weight when she

threatens to take someone else and they get just a little bit closer (but not a lot) in the closing moments

of “My Fair Baloo.” In addition, at the end of “Lost Horizons,” Rebecca clearly shouts with joy at Baloo’s

escape from certain death, “I love you, Baloo!”

Trivia

* Prior to Talespin, voice actors Ed Gilbert and R.J. Williams starred as father and son in the NBC

cartoon Kissyfur.

* Kit Cloudkicker’s first name is leftover from a never produced Disney TVA series called “Metro Mice”

which starred two mice detectives: Colt Chedderson and Kit Colby. Metro Mice eventually evolved into Chip

‘n Dale Rescue Rangers.

* Don Karnage’s massive airship, the Iron Vulture was originally going to be called the Sky Shark. It

also had a much more fishlike appearance in the early concept art.

* Baloo is the only character to appear in all 65 episodes

* In the show, Baloo would use recycled lines from previous Disney works. He often mentioned “bear

necessities” and called Kit “little britches”, both hand downs from The Jungle Book (1967 film). In Plunder

and Lightning he said “One more time.”, a line said by Louie in The Jungle Book. In A Bad Reflection on You

he said “This ain’t no hay ride, lets move it on out of here.”, said by Little John in Robin Hood (Disney

film). The latter was originally voiced by singer/voice actor Phil Harris who originally portrayed Baloo

for Disney.

* In one episode of the Aladdin cartoon the Genie, Princess Jasmine, Abu and Iago attempt to stop an

evil genie by flying a plane very similar in design to the Sea Duck. Genie is dressed as Baloo, and

resembles him facially; Jasmine is dressed like Rebecca, Abu like Louie, and Iago like Kit.

* The plot for episode 38, “The Time Bandit” was recycled from an episode of DuckTales, “Allowance

Day”, which premiered less than eight months earlier.
* This is the first Disney show to have a major use of CGI to create the perspective’s of the planes

and 3-D backgrounds. This is very noticeable on the pilot episode. This would be later used in Goof Troop.

* A smaller Sea Duck look-a-like appears in Total Drama Island.

Disney Shows From The 90s - So Weird

So Weird is a television series shot in Vancouver, British Columbia that aired on the Disney Channel as a

midseason replacement from January 18th, 1999 to September 28th, 2001. The series at first centered around

teenage girl Fiona Phillips (Cara DeLizia) who toured with her rock star mom (Mackenzie Phillips),

encountering paranormal activity along the way. Acting as an X-Files for the younger crowd, the series took

a darker tone than other Disney Channel Originals. The third and final season saw the replacement of Cara

DeLizia with actress Alexz Johnson playing Annie Thelen in a revamped, lighter version of the show. After

65 episodes, Disney Channel halted production on the series.

Main cast

* Cara DeLizia as Fiona ‘Fi’ Phillips (Seasons 1-2)
* Mackenzie Phillips as Molly Phillips
* Alexz Johnson as Annie Thelan (Season 3)
* Patrick Levis as Jack Phillips
* Erik von Detten as Clu Bell
* Eric Lively as Carey Bell (Season 2-3)
* Belinda Metz as Irene Bell
* Dave Ward as Ned Bell

Plot

Season one

The season began with Fiona Phillips on tour with her famous rocker mother Molly, brother Jack (Scully to

her Mulder), bus driver Ned, his wife Irene, and their son Clu. Stringing together all of Fi’s paranormal

encounters was her search to communicate with her father, who died when she was three years old. Fi first

“encountered” her father in the second episode titled “Website” where an unknown force sent her internet

articles warning her of the future. From alien invasions, time warps, and ghosts, Fi faced 13 episodes

worth of paranormal activity. Also encountered: one powerful tulpa, a Bigfoot, angels, and more

significantly, the Will o’ the Wisp. The season finale featured Jack becoming possessed by an Irish Will o’

the Wisp, also known as Spunkie. Fi found the spirit’s true name - Bricriu - and saved her brother by

speaking it. Bricriu had offered to protect Fi, and while it is understandable that Fi initially believed

he was lying, subsequent events in the show proved that Bricriu may have been telling the truth. However,

this is questionable at best.

Season two

The second season was even darker than the first, playing out over twenty-six episodes. The premiere picked

up with Molly taking time off the tour to record an album. Fi and friend Candy meet a medium who is proven

to be a fraud. However, the one who uncovers the fake is actually a medium himself who aids Fi in

contacting her father through music on his old guitar. The episode ends in an emotional scene between Fi

and Molly revealing how Molly really feels about Fi’s search for her father.

The character of Clu was reduced during the season as he went off to college, and his brother Carey was

introduced to fill in the gap. Many classic beasts surfaced within the season, including vampires,

werewolves, banshees, trolls, sirens, and merfolk. In a pivotal episode, Fi learned that her father

investigated the same kinds of supernatural events that Fi did. In fact, this was exactly what killed him.

Upon learning this, Fi is angered by her mother’s deceit in covering up the truth about her father. Molly

was eventually possessed by the same Will o’ the Wisp as Jack was in season one, and Fi discovered that

Will o’ the Wisps or other dark powers, though not necessarily Bricriu himself, may have killed her father,

resulting in the motorcycle accident that police had assumed took his life. In this episode Bricriu used

Molly to try to kill a firefighter who had been present at Rick’s car crash and was aware that Fi’s dad had

been dead, with no apparent cause, before the car crashed. Following this episode, Fi had further contact

with her father, as the answer to a troll’s question - Faith - was revealed at the last moment.

The season ended with Fi discovering her father’s twin sister received messages from him in her sleep. The

messages led Fi to a rooftop where she was attacked by a demon and saved by the ghost of her father. He

left her with a message that the spirit world was angry with her and would try to stop her. At last, Fi got

the proper farewell to her father that she had been searching for. Many DeLizia fans consider this a

proper, if not entirely fulfilling, finale.

Season three

After skewing extremely dark and intricate in its second season, the show was forced into a lighter tone

for its final batch of episodes. Cara DeLizia left after the first episode, which introduced family friend

Annie Thelen. Fi had yet another encounter with Bricriu that ended with him convincing her to give up her

innate attraction to the paranormal in order to protect her family. Fi, unable for whatever reason to see

that Bricriu was acting in her best interests, trapped him in a floppy disk. The attraction, manifested in

the ring her father gave her, was passed on to Annie as Fi went to live with her aunt. Molly moved the

family to a new, brightly colored house.

Annie’s story arc was the mystery behind a spirit guide that followed her in the form of a panther. Her

character was also musically talented, and episodes featured more of her singing than that of the older

Mackenzie Phillips. The season’s stories were a far cry from previous episodes, playing such plots as being

sucked into a painting (which directly followed an episode of people being sucked into photographs) and a

detention class that never ended. Fi never reappeared in the season, not even the final episode, which was

a clip show of mostly the third season.

Cancellation

After 65 installments, Disney canceled the show as was standard practice at the time no matter how popular

a series it was. After the show ended, the series’ reruns were pushed further back on the schedule. Before

it was taken off completely, the show was airing at 3:00 AM in late 2001. Starting in 2002, Disney Channel

completely overhauled its line-up and So Weird re-runs were gone.

Unaired plots

Executive producers Jon Cooksey and Ali Marie Matheson had plotted out a very different and dark third

season. Season two would have ended with Rick being thrown off the roof rather than having a tearful

farewell with his daughter. Season three would then pick up with stories including Bricriu making a

reappearance, possessing Fi who would later be saved by Molly’s priest brother. Fi would have continued to

investigate the paranormal but the encounter on the rooftop would have made her more cautious; the Phillips

witch ancestry would be delved into; the alien thread from the past two seasons would have come full

circle; Jack would have been revealed to have lived a past life as a knight (subtly alluded to in past

episodes); Molly’s past alcoholism (the subject of “In the Darkness”) would have been addressed; and Rick’s

story would have continued through to the series finale of Fi going into Hell to rescue her father.

However, Disney would not allow the dark themes to be included in the show. They instead opted for a

lighter tone to dominate the final season. This led to executive producers Cooksey and Matheson leaving the

show. However, most of the planned plots would not have been possible because Cara DeLizia had already made

the decision to leave and pursue other projects.

The other known incidence of Disney rejecting proposed stories was the unproduced episode “Chrysalis.” The

episode would have featured Carey helping a friend who was a victim of addiction. The episode would have

also introduced the backstory of Molly’s alcoholism. The episode “Avatar” was aired instead of chrysalis.

Cast changes and guest appearances

Erik von Detten was snatched up by Disney when the show was in its second season. While he was used in two

network projects, sitcom Odd Man Out and fantasy series Dinotopia, von Detten returned in the third season

in several guest spots. Eric Lively meanwhile replaced him. The Disney movie The Princess Diaries also

featured von Detten.

Despite many rumors, producers confirm that Cara DeLizia left after season two to pursue other projects

before Disney had decided to revamp the show.

In the season three episode “Earth 101,” Fi’s cameo appearance was done through past vocal footage and a

look-alike stand-in. DeLizia had no part in the episode.

The Moffatts made a guest appearance in the episode “Destiny.” SHeDAISY made a guest appearance in the

episode “Listen.”

Mackenzie Phillips does not appear in two episodes of the series.

Music of So Weird

The series featured original songs sung by both Mackenzie Phillips and Alexz Johnson. Songs sung by

Mackenzie Phillips included the theme “In the Darkness”, “Another World”, “Rebecca”, “The Rock” and “Love

is Broken”. Each of the songs usually tied into the theme of the episode they were featured in. For

example, “Rebecca” was featured in the episode “Rebecca” which dealt with Molly’s former best friend of the

same name who vanished when she was 13 years old. A compilation of Molly’s songs was featured in the

episode “Encore.”

“Last Night Blues,” was the only occasion Cara DeLizia had to sing during her stint on the show. The song

was supernaturally transferred to the characters from a murdered blues musician.

Season 3 mainly used the music of Alexz Johnson. One of Johnson’s original songs, “Dream About You”, was

featured in the episode “Carnival.” A music video by Alexz Johnson, “Shadows”, was also featured near the

end of the show’s run on the Disney channel.

The following is an incomplete listing of music from So Weird. With the exception of “Lorena” and

occasional musical guest appearances, all music was original, created especially for the series.

Introduced in season one

* “In the Darkness”

Music by Annmarie Montade
Lyrics by Jon Cooksey
Sung by Mackenzie Phillips

* “More Like a River”

Music by Brent Belke
Lyrics by Jon Cooksey
Sung by Mackenzie Phillips

* “Rebecca”

Music by Annmarie Montade
Lyrics by Jon Cooksey
Sung by Mackenzie Phillips

* “She Sells”

Music by Annmarie Montade
Lyrics by Jon Cooksey
Sung by Mackenzie Phillips

Introduced in season two

* “Origami”

Sung by Mackenzie Phillips

* “New Math”

Sung by Mackenzie Phillips

* “The Rock”

Sung by Mackenzie Phillips

* “Love Is Broken”

Sung by Mackenzie Phillips

* “Last Night Blues”

Sung by Mackenzie Phillips and Cara DeLiza

* “Another World”

Sung by the fictional Phillips Kane Band, and by Mackenzie Phillips. Alternate version sung by David

Steele

Introduced in season three

* “One In A Million World”

Sung by Mackenzie Phillips and Alexz Johnson

* “To Dream About You”

Sung by Alexz Johnson

* “Never Give Up”

Sung by Alexz Johnson

* “What You Do (Voodoo)”

Sung by Mackenzie Phillips

* “Thinkin’ About Tomorrow”

Sung by Mackenzie Phillips

* “A Different Story”

Sung by Mackenzie Phillips

* “Push Me, Pull You”

Sung by Alexz Johnson

* “‘Cause You’re Watching Over Me (Shadows)”

Sung by Alexz Johnson

* “While I Stare”

Sung by Mackenzie Phillips

Other songs

* “Lorena” (folk song fragment)

Sung by Mackenzie Phillips

* “Star-Dot-Star” (fictional jingle)

Sung by cast (and by gremlins)

* “Jack’s Lullaby”

Sung by Patrick Levis

* “Questions”

Sung by Jewel Staite

* “Little Goodbyes”

Sung by SheDaisy

* “Misery”

Sung by The Moffatts

Episodes

Main article: List of So Weird Episodes

Fan reaction

So Weird was popular amongst older audiences, more so than most other Disney Channel Original Series. Most

fans had latched on to the first two seasons with its dark mythology, especially when led by central

character Fiona Phillips.

When the lighter tone of season three came around, it seemed to alienate most fans (many of which still

continued to watch). In fact, many fans separate the eras as two different series. However, as Disney had

hoped, younger audiences became attracted to the show in its final season, thanks to its lighter stories

and marketable new music talent Alexz Johnson filling in for DeLizia. However, many fans were also angered

by the fact that Disney seemed to completely ignore the show’s past in the final year, dropping all

previous threads and not including clips from seasons one and two in its finale clip show.

Disney Shows From The 90s - The Famous Jett Jackson

The Famous Jett Jackson was a Disney Channel Original Series coming of age television series about a boy

named Jett Jackson (Lee Thompson Young) who plays a teenage secret-agent on a fictional TV show-within-a-

show called Silverstone. Jett lives and films Silverstone in his fictional hometown of Wilsted, North

Carolina, where his father is the sheriff. However, the actual series, The Famous Jett Jackson, was filmed

in Brooklin, Ontario.

Plot

Jett Jackson previously lived with his publicist mother in Los Angeles, but missed his home and his

friends. Longing for a relatively normal life, Jett succeeds in getting the production of Silverstone moved

to Wilsted, North Carolina, thus providing jobs to townspeople while affording Jett the chance to live with

his father, Sheriff Wood Jackson, and his great-grandmother, Miz Coretta (whom Jett calls Nana).[1] Keeping

in touch with his mother Jules by video link on his computer (though by the third season she also moved to

Wilsted), Jett now spends part of his time with family, friends and school, and the rest living the life of

a working actor and celebrity. In doing so, Jett often ends up in sticky situations, usually aided and

abetted by his best friend, J.B., his not-quite girlfriend Kayla, and sometimes by Cubby, Silverstone’s

wacky special effects wizard. In the second half of the series, Jett’s new co-star, Riley Grant, is added

to the mix.

The show within the show, Silverstone, is about a spy who works for Mission Omega Matrix in order to save

the world from villains like Dr. Hypnoto and the Rat. In contrast to Jett, Silverstone has no family, only

his mentor, Artemus, and eventually his partner Hawk (”played” by Riley Grant).

History and related series

The Famous Jett Jackson is notable for being the first of the original series created by Disney Channel in

the late 1990s. Show creator Fracaswell Hyman reportedly devised the character before casting Lee Thompson

Young for the role. Like Jett, Young was raised in a single parent home in the South, and decided on an

acting career at an early age. Young went on to write one of the episodes produced for the series.

The series included both young guest stars such as Hayden Christensen, Britney Spears and Destiny’s Child

and veteran stars such as Eartha Kitt, the latter of whom played the new coach of Wilsted’s minor league

baseball team in one episode.

The relative realism of Jett’s home life sometimes gave way to fantasy or paranormal elements, such as one

episode in which Jett learns about a shameful incident in Wilsted’s history with a little prodding from the

ghost of a key figure in the buried scandal. Other episodes dealt with issues in a more realistic and

contemporary way, such as when J.B.’s father’s family-owned store is threatened by the arrival of high-

powered, “big box” competition, and another in which Jett’s English teacher, Dr. Dupree, runs afoul of

local attempts at censorship of a class reading assignment. Other episodes dealt with such topics as

bulimia and the question of whether Jett, with his relatively sheltered and pampered home life, can truly

understand or cope with the problems of other African Americans.

Although it was well-received and regarded as a success, the series ended on June 22, 2001, allegedly due

to Disney’s unstated policy of making only 65 episodes per series. It was followed by a Disney Channel

movie in which Jett finds himself trapped in Silverstone’s world, and vice versa. In that movie he takes on

Silverstone’s role for real and is able to muddle through while Silverstone does the same thing in Jett’s

world until Miz Coreta finds out the truth and he returns home and sends Jett back as well. The movie ends

with Jett returning to Silverstone’s world and helping him complete his mission by rescuing Silverstone

from Kragg and then defeating Kragg alongside his hero alter-ego. The series was in re-runs on Disney

Channel throughout 2002 at 12:30 AM eastern/Pacific.

Many of the regular and recurring cast members from The Famous Jett Jackson have since appeared in another

Canadian television series, Strange Days at Blake Holsey High, as stars or guest stars. The most obvious

examples of this are Jeff Douglas (Cubby) as Professor Noel Zachary, a.k.a. Professor Z., Lawrence Bayne

(Dr. Hypnoto) as Victor Pearson, Tony Munch (The Rat) as The Janitor, and Valerie Boyle (Vice Principal

Niad) as Principal Amanda Durst.

Director Shawn Levy (Cheaper by the Dozen, The Pink Panther, Night at the Museum) did a few episodes of the

series and has since then cast members of the cast in minor roles in his big-budget films.

Critical reaction

Response to the show was generally positive. Laura Fries of Variety, the Hollywood trade paper, noted in

her review of Jett Jackson: The Movie that “Young serves as an appealing role model, much like Sarah

Michelle Gellar’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer –someone who can fulfill young, action craving audiences

without the gratuitous violence. There’s a sense of empowerment associated with these sort of roles, and

handled correctly, they function as an excellent allegory for the confusing teenage years.” Although she

mentions “contrived plot devices”, she also refers to the series as “clever” and “an extremely entertaining

concept”.

Film

Jett Jackson: The Movie

Awards and nominations

The series The Famous Jett Jackson and its young cast were nominated for Young Artist Awards, presented by

the nonprofit Young Artist Foundation, in several categories in the course of the show’s run:

1998-1999 (21st Annual Young Artist Awards)

* Lee Thompson Young, BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV COMEDY SERIES: Leading Young Actor (nominee, lost to

Thomas Dekker)
* Ryan Sommers Baum, BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV COMEDY SERIES: Supporting Young Actor (nominee, lost to

Andrew Ducote)
* Kerry Duff, BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV COMEDY SERIES: Supporting Young Actress (WINNER)
* The Famous Jett Jackson, BEST FAMILY TV COMEDY SERIES (nominee, lost to Freaks and Geeks)

1999-2000 (22nd Annual Young Artist Awards)

* Lee Thompson Young, BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV DRAMA SERIES: Leading Young Actor (nominee, lost to

Robert Clark)
* Ryan Sommers Baum, BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV DRAMA SERIES: Supporting Young Actor (nominee, lost to

Miko Hughes)
* Kerry Duff, BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV DRAMA SERIES: Supporting Young Actress (nominee, lost to

Michelle Trachtenberg)

2000-2001 (22nd Annual Young Artist Awards) (for Jett Jackson: The Movie[7]

* Kerry Duff, BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV MOVIE (Comedy or Drama): Leading Young Actress (nominee, lost to

Kelsey Keel)

In addition, the Parents’ Choice Foundation presented a “Silver Honor” medal to The Famous Jett Jackson as

part of its 2001 Parents’ Choice Awards.

Disney Shows From The 90s - Bear in the Big Blue House

Bear in the Big Blue House is a television program for young children produced for the Disney Channel by Mitchell Kriegman and The Jim Henson Company. The program taught simple life lessons by following the title character and his puppet friends as they went through their day.

In 2004, The Jim Henson Company sold The Bear in the Big Blue House franchise to The Walt Disney Company. The characters and show are currently owned and operated by The Muppet Holding Company, LLC.

Overview

The gentle, soft title character of Bear in the Big Blue House is a talking, seven-foot (213 cm) light brown bear who lives in a house and loves to help children learn. Despite his enormous size, Bear is child-friendly. He addresses the kids at home directly, talking to them as if they were all his close friends. Bear in the Big Blue House was created for the very young, teaching concepts like shapes, gravity, helping, seasons, and even toilet training. Joining the ever-curious Bear are an assortment of woodland creatures — excitable lemur Treelo, headstrong mouse Tutter, peppy otter twins Pip and Pop and imaginative little bear cub Ojo — all of whom help illustrate the day’s lesson. At the end of every episode, Bear goes out on his balcony to talk about what everyone has learned with his friend Luna, the wise moon.

Bear interweaves learning with playtime. After the musical call, “Where oh where oh where is Shadow?”, Bear’s friend Shadow appears. Together with other shadow friends, the girl puts on shadow plays of brief, amusing stories, often with grown-up humor lurking just under the surface.

Cast

The cast for the show including:

* Bear: a tall, gentle bear who always gives great advice. Portrayed by Noel MacNeal
* Luna: the moon. Bear and Luna often meet on Bear’s balcony and Bear tells her what he has done during the day and they sing the “Goodbye Song”. Her name comes from the word ” Luna” the earth’s moon. She was portrayed by the late Lynne Thigpen
* Tutter: a small blue mouse, portrayed by Peter Linz
* Pip and Pop: two purple otters (twins), also portrayed by Peter Linz and Tyler Bunch
* Ojo: a girl bear cub portrayed by Vicki Eibner
* Treelo: a colorful lemur, respectively portrayed by Tyler Bunch
* Grandma Flutter: Tutter’s grandmother mouse portrayed by Alice Dinnean
* Cousin Whiner: portrayed by Victor Yerrid
* Tutters Uncle “Jet Set Tutter”: portrayed by Tim Legasse
* Benny the Bat portrayed by Jim Kroupa
* Ray the Sun portrayed by Geoffrey Holder
* Miss Maxwell portrayed by Jennifer Barnhart
* Rita Mouse portrayed by Anney McKilligan
* Shadow portrayed by Tara Mooney
* Cousin Teeter portrayed by Sean Choi
* Harry the Duck portrayed by Eric Jacobson

Popularity

Bear in the Big Blue House became a long-running hit on The Disney Channel. The program was initially produced from 1997 - 2003. After a three-year hiatus and the spin-off Breakfast with Bear, new episodes returned to the Disney Channel in April 2006. The show attained such popularity that Bear himself sometimes appeared on Hollywood Squares.

Disney announced plans for several events and new merchandise to celebrate the show’s 10th anniversary in 2007. Despite this, the anniversary has passed without event.

The show was shown throughout the world including in the United Kingdom on five and Playhouse Disney UK, on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Australia and on RTÉ Two in Ireland.

Awards

* Multiple Daytime Emmy Award Winner
* Parent’s Choice Gold Award Winner
* Director’s Guild Award - Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs - “Episode 225: Love Is All You Need”

Songs

* “Oops! I Goofed Again” (1:49), sung by Bear, included by Songs From Bear In The Big Blue House
* “So Much To Be Thankful For [Who could ask for more?]” (1:26), sung by Bear, Doc Hogg, Flutter, Pip, Pop, Ojo, Tutter and Treelo, included on Bear’s Holiday Celebration
* “What’s Mine Is Yours”, sung by Bear, included on More Songs From Bear In The Big Blue House
* “What’s That Smell?,” sung by Bear in several episodes
* “What’s in the Mail Today?,” sung by Bear in several episodes
* “Everybody Say Ah!,” sung by Old Doc Hog, Bear, Tutter, Ojo, Treelo, Pip, and Pop
* “Rub-a-Dub-Dub,” sung by Bear, Tutter, Treelo, Ojo, Pip, and Pop in several episodes
* “A Little Quiet Time,” sung by Bear and Tutter
* “Goodbye,” sung by Bear and Luna (and sometimes others) at the end of every episode
* “Rock-A-Bye,” sung by Bear and Shadow
* “The Shape of a Bear,” sung by Bear (and, later, Bear, Ojo, Pip, and Pop)
* “Good Morning,” sung by Bear and Ray
* “Colors,” sung by Bear
* “Clean Up,” sung by Ojo Tutter Treelo & Pip & Pop
* “Take Time to Smell the Cheese”, sung by Bear and Tutter
* “The Bear Cha Cha Cha” sung by Bear
* “Dear Grandma” sung by Bear and Tutter
* “We’re All Different” sung by Bear(2:30)
* “Dancing the Day Away” sung by Bear(1:47)
* “You Will Find Your Way” sung by Bear and Cousin Whiner(1:56)
* “It’s Great to Be at Home” sung by Bear(1:41)
* “Let the Rhythm Take You” sung by Bear,Pip, and Pop(1:46)
* “Just Listen” sung by Bear and Luna
* “Rhythm of Life” sung by Bear
* “Brush Brush Bree” sung by Bear, Tutter, Treelo, Ojo, Pip, and Pop in several episodes
* “Look At You Now” sung by Bear and Treelo
* “That’s My Name”
* “Everybody Say Ah” sung by Doc Hog, Bear, Tutter and Ojo
* “Great To Be At Home”
* “Go To Bed, Sleepy Head” sung by Bear
* “Take Time To Smell The Cheese” sung by Tutter
* “Clean Up The House” sung by Bear, Tutter, Treelo, Ojo, Pip, and Pop in several episodes
* “Oops! I Goofed Again” sung by Bear
* “Quiet Time” sung by Bear and Tutter
* “Otter Love” sung by Bear, Pip and Pop
* “Baby, Baby” sung by Tutter
* “When You Make Yourself A Friend” sung by Bear
* “Here in Woodland Valley” sung by Doc Hog and Bear

Other media

Ubisoft released in 2002 a video game of Bear in the Big Blue House under license from the Jim Henson company, on the Game Boy Color platform.

Disney Shows From The 90s - Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show

Based on the hit feature film of the same name, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids expands upon the original film’s concept of a shrinking experiment gone wrong to include myriad experiments gone awry.

The syndicated series, produced between 1997 and 2000, is a one-hour comedy/adventure starring Peter Scolari as the lovable but befuddled scientist Wayne Szalinski. The well-meaning Wayne constructs a variety of inventions, including the Shrink-Ray, Neuron Nudger and Brainiactivator among others, that create predicaments for his wife Diane (Barbara Alyn Woods), their kids Amy (Hillary Tuck) and Nick (Thomas Dekker), and their friends. The series picks up with the Szalinski household relocating to Matheson, Colorado. Each episode incorporates new technologies and digital effects to feature the family in various new adventures. The series was filmed in Calgary, Alberta, with its main studios located in Currie Barracks, a decommissioned Canadian Forces dormitory.

After running for several seasons in syndication, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show later moved to The Disney Channel. It was last seen on the Disney Channel during the late night hours in 2004.

Cast

Main

* Peter Scolari as Wayne Szalinski
* Barbara Alyn Woods as Diane Szalinski
* Hillary Tuck as Amy Szalinski
* Thomas Dekker as Nick Szalinski
* Matese as Quark (Season 1)
* Rusty as Quark (Season 2-3)

Recurring

* Vanessa King as Danielle
* Bruce Jarchow as H. Gordon Jennings
* George Buza as Chief Jake McKenna
* Andrew T. Grant as Joel McKenna
* Cathy Trien as Ms. Trudi
* Hilary Alexander as Ms. Elders
* Wilson Wong as Myron
* Mark Hildreth as Jack McKenna
* Christine Willes as Mrs. Gotteramerding
* Jewel Staite as Tiara
* Miranda Frigon as Veronica
* Thierry P. Nihill as Russel
* Lorette Clow as Margaret
* David Le Reaney as Mr. Patterson
* Jesse Moss as Howard
* Sam Doumit

Episodes

66 42-44-minute episodes have been aired from September 27, 1997 to May 20, 2000. The ones marked with a * used shrinking in them.

Season 1: 1997-1998

1. Honey, We’ve Been Swallowed By Grandpa (9/27/1997) *
2. Honey, The House Is Trying To Kill Us (10/4/1997)
3. Honey, I’m Haunted (10/11/1997)
4. Honey, We’re Stuck In The 70’s (10/18/1997)
5. Honey, I Shrunk The Science Dude (10/25/1997) *
6. Honey, You’ve Got Nine Lives (11/1/1997)
7. Honey, I’ve Been Duped (11/8/1997)
8. Honey, They’re After Me Lucky Charms (11/15/1997)
9. Honey, They Call Me The Space Cowboy (11/22/1997)
10. Honey, I Know What You’re Thinking (11/29/1997)
11. Honey, You’re Living In The Past (12/15/1997)
12. Honey, I’m Streakin’ (1/17/1998)
13. Honey, Meet The Barbarians (2/7/1998)
14. Honey, You Drained My Brain (2/14/1998)
15. Honey, He’s Not Abominable… He’s Just Misunderstood (2/21/1998)
16. Honey, I’m In The Mood For Love (2/28/1998)
17. Honey, The Bear Is Bad News (3/28/1998)
18. From Honey, With Love (4/2/1998)
19. Honey, I’m Dreaming, But Am I? (4/23/1998)
20. Honey, The Garbage Is Taking Us Out (4/30/1998)
21. Honey, You’re So Transparent (5/9/1998)
22. Honey, It’s No Fun Being An Illegal Alien (5/16/1998)

Season 2: 1998-1999

1. Honey, It’s Quarkzilla (9/26/1998)
2. Honey, She’s Like A Fish Out Of Water (10/3/1998)
3. Honey, It’s Doomsday (10/10/1998)
4. Honey, Let’s Trick Or Treat (10/24/1998)
5. Honey, I’m Rooting For The Home Team (10/31/1998)
6. Honey, We’re Young At Heart (11/7/1998)
7. Honey, We’re Past Tense (11/14/1998)
8. Honey, I’m Wrestling With A Problem… And The Chief (11/21/1998)
9. Honey, The Bunny Bit It (12/5/1998)
10. Honey, I’ve Joined The Big Top (12/12/1998)
11. Honey, I’m The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (12/19/1998)
12. Honey, I’m King Of The Rocket Guys (1/30/1999)
13. Honey, The Future’s Comin’ Back On Me (2/6/1999)
14. Honey, It’s A Miracle (2/13/1999)
15. Honey, You’ll Always Be A Princess To Me (2/20/1999)
16. Honey, There’s A Pox On Our House (2/27/1999)
17. Honey, I’m Going To Teach You A Lesson (4/24/1999)
18. Honey, It’s The Ghostest With The Mostest (5/8/1999)
19. Honey, It’s A Blunderful Life (5/15/1999)
20. Honey, It’s Your Party (5/22/1999)
21. Honey, I’m Not Just Clowning Around (5/29/1999)
22. Honey, I’ll Be Right Witch You (6/12/1999)

Season 3: 1999-2000

1. Honey, Name That Tune (9/25/1999)
2. Honey, It’s A Billion Dollar Brain (10/2/1999)
3. Honey, It Takes Two To Mambo (10/9/1999)
4. Honey, We’re On TV (10/16/1999)
5. Honey, It’s Gloom And Doom (10/23/1999)
6. Honey, I’m Kung Fu Fighting (11/6/1999)
7. Honey, I’m Not Up To Par (11/13/1999)
8. Honey, It’s One Small Step For Mankind (11/20/1999)
9. Honey, You’re Driving Me Like Crazy (11/27/1999)
10. Honey, The Play’s The Thingie (12/18/1999)
11. Honey, He Ain’t Rude, He’s My Brother (1/8/2000)
12. Honey, You Won’t Believe What Happens Next (1/15/2000)
13. Honey, Situation Normal, All Szalinski’d Up (1/22/2000)
14. Honey, It’s The Fixer-Uppers (1/29/2000)
15. Honey, I’m On The Lam (2/5/2000)
16. Honey, I’m The Wrong Arm Of The Law (2/12/2000)
17. Honey, It’s An Interplanetary, Extraordinary Life (2/19/2000)
18. Honey, I’m Spooked (2/26/2000)
19. Honey, Like Father, Like Son (4/29/2000)
20. Honey, Growing Up Is Hard To Do (5/6/2000)
21. Honey, I Shrink, Therefore I Am (5/13/2000) *
22. Honey, Whodunit? (5/20/2000)

Disney Shows From The 90s - Smart Guy

Smart Guy was an American sitcom that aired on The WB for three seasons from 1997 to 1999. The show is about the misadventures of kid genius T.J. Henderson, who skips elementary school and moves up to high school. He must adjust to life with older but not necessarily wiser high school teenagers - including his brother Marcus.

The series was created by Danny Kallis, who would later co-create The Suite Life of Zack & Cody for Disney Channel, where Smart Guy had also aired in reruns following its cancellation by The WB.

Characters

Main characters

T.J. Henderson

T.J., played by Tahj Mowry, is the title character and the youngest child in his family. He’s 10 years old in seasons 1 and 2, and, as the title suggests, is smart, with an I.Q. of 180. He skipped from 4th grade to 10th, knows several different languages and has a photographic memory. Outside of the occasional moments of awkwardness that are bound to occur when a child interacts with high schoolers, T.J. has a peaceable existence in the school, and is eager to be involved in school functions. So much so, that he becomes the mascot for his school basketball team, which leads to bullying. He spends a fair amount of time at school with his older brother, Marcus, and Mo, Marcus’ best friend. Although they have some tense moments, it is obvious that the two brothers care for each other deeply. T.J. plays keyboard for Marcus’s band in several episodes after the other member broke his finger from an accident.

Marcus Henderson

The character of Marcus Henderson, played by Jason Weaver, is T.J.’s older brother. He is fairly popular and reacts remarkably well to his younger brother sharing nearly every one of his classes, although tensions do arise from time to time. He gets average grades because he does not apply himself. He’s a forward on his school’s basketball team and has several love interests throughout the run of the show. He is the vocals for their band which he created, Mackadocious.

Morris L. “Mo” Tibbs

The character of Mo Tibbs was played by Omar Gooding. He is Marcus’s best friend. It’s been revealed that he was adopted and his birth mother is a fortune teller. Floyd is often annoyed with Mo’s antics, such as eating from their fridge and sleeping in T.J.’s bed. He pretty much lives there and he hates eating at his own house (he once cracked a tooth off his mother’s oatmeal). He works out and is very muscular. He plays bass guitar in the band. Also he is a talented chef. He is portrayed in the show as someone who is sometimes dimwitted and gullible. He also says the famous phrase, “Hello der!” (said “hello dare”), and he is lovable at the same time.

Tasha Yvette Henderson

The character of Yvette Henderson was played by Essence Atkins. She is the older sister of Marcus and T.J. Yvette is intelligent and is a women’s rights activist. She has a fake I.D. that says she’s 28. She is in 11th grade in season 1 and graduates high school at the end of season 3. After being rejected by Princeton, Yvette is planning to attend Georgetown University as the series ends.

Floyd Henderson

The character of Floyd Henderson, played by John Marshall Jones, is the father of the family and owns a roofing business. Unfortunely, his wife Christina (as mentioned in an episode) died of a heart attack. After the loss of his wife, he would have trouble finding another woman to date. He is frequently a comic foil to most characters including T.J. He also gives good moral advice to all of his children (and Mo, too).

Recurring characters

* Nina Walsh - Played by Tinsley Grimes, Nina is one of Yvette’s friends and is seen with her most of the time. She is a White American and works at the store in the mall, where in one episode she was forced to follow black people because her boss thought they would steal. She is deep and poetic and drools over cute guys.

* Deon - Played by Arvie Lowe Jr., Deon is a African-American teenager who goes to Piedmont High. His usual hijinks include taking pictures of Marcus and Mo and selling them to a company for profit, and scamming Marcus and Moe into selling health bars, among other things (Marcus refers to him as “a little shrimp”). In one episode, Deon had a crush on Yvette and asked her out to the school dance.

* Mackey Nagle - Played by J.D. Walsh, Mackey is a student who is in Marcus and Mo’s grade. He is fairly popular and is definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He tries to fit in at school by buying new clothes. He has a dream about Yvette kissing him as she tells him about her dreams about Mo. He often wears flannel shirts. He actually ends up streaking in one episode.

* Mr. Militich - Played by James K. Ward, he is the vice-principal of the school. He is cheap when it comes to school necessities, and sometimes presented as incompetent.

* Coach Gerber - Played by Dann Florek, he is the gym teacher at the school. He is bald and aging and went through a divorce (which includes paying 800 dollars to his wife monthly). He once taught math and gets angry easily. He sleeps in his office since he can no longer afford a home of his own. He once mentioned that he has prostate problems.

* Brandy Dixon - Played by Kyla Pratt, Brandy is a girl around T.J.’s age, and met T.J. at the arcade. She is very good at basketball and joined the team T.J. plays on, but she stopped playing due to T.J. being upset with her when she begins starting and T.J. is benched. She wears “ghetto fabulous” clothing and depicts an exaggerated stereotype of African American youth.

Reruns/syndication

Three months after Smart Guy was canceled on The WB, reruns began airing on the Disney Channel from September 1999 to September 2003, and again in a “Back to School” themed marathon of the show in August 2004. The show was recently removed from the Canada-based Family and was replaced by Wizards Of Waverly Place though it’s still on Disney Channel in the United Kingdom, but not on a recurring basis in the UK. In late 2006, the show started airing on Disney Channel in Australia and New Zealand.

The show currently airs reruns on BET which started September 6, 2008.

Trivia

* ahj Mowry and Omar Gooding are the only cast members not to appear in every episode. Tahj Mowry did not appear in the Season 3 episode Get a Job and Omar Gooding didn’t appear in “A Little Knowledge”

* Ashley Tisdale, who would later star in the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Disney’s High School Musical movie franchise, appeared in an episode when she was only 11 years old.

* Destiny’s Child appears in Season 3, Episode 10, “Date with Destiny”. Those were the original members, Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland, Latavia and Letoya Luckett.

* Jason Weaver did three of his songs in his band, Mackadocious, in Season 1, 2, and 3.

* Mowry makes a comical performance on tap dancing with Dulé Hill in Season 2, though the tapping noises are added through post-production. Mowry is a tap dancer in real life.

* A laugh track was added in order to keep the actor’s facial expressions intact.

* Series creator Danny Kallis previously worked alongside Omar Gooding in Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, where Gooding played Earvin Rodman and which Kallis served as Executive Producer for much of that show’s first season. Kallis has also directed several Smart Guy episodes.

* The establishing shot of the fictional Piedmont High school later appeared on another DC-based Disney show, the Disney Channel Original Series Cory in the House.

* Tahj Mowry’s character, T.J., appeared on Tahj Mowry’s sisters’ show, Sister, Sister in 1997 on the episode Child’s Play, where he portrayed Tia and Tamera’s tutor for the SATs. Tahj is actually the younger brother of the sisters. Tahj had previously played two other guest roles.

Goofs

* In the Season 2 Episode 2, “Working Guy”, in the main office you can see the camera that makes the connection, but in T.J’s house it isn’t there.

Disney Shows From The 90s - Muppets Tonight

Muppets Tonight is a live-action/puppet television series created by Jim Henson Productions and featuring

the Muppets. Much like the “MuppeTelevision” segment of The Jim Henson Hour, Muppets Tonight was a

continuation of The Muppet Show, set in a television studio, rather than a theater.

Format

The premise of Muppets Tonight was that Clifford the Catfish (a Muppet who first appeared on The Jim Henson

Hour and was voiced by Kevin Clash) was the host of a variety/talk show on KMUP. The show stuck closely to

the Muppet Show format of various skits (mostly featuring the show’s human guest star) interspersed with

some sort of crisis occurring backstage.

Among the regular sketches were parodies of Baywatch (as Bay of Pigswatch); the various Star Trek sequels

(as Deep Dish Nine: The Next Generation of Pigs In Space); and ER (as E-I-E-I-O R).

Muppets introduced in Muppets Tonight

Muppets introduced in Muppets Tonight included Bobo the Bear, Seymour (an elephant), Pepe (a king prawn),

Johnny Fiama (a Rat Pack-style singer) and his “furry little monkey” Sal (short for Sal Minella), Bill the

Bubble Guy, and Spamela Hamderson (see Pamela Anderson). Some of these went on to appear in later Muppet

productions, particularly Pepe the Prawn, who has become a regular in the most recent Muppet productions.

The show also featured regular appearances from Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Statler & Waldorf and Rizzo

the Rat, and occasional appearances by other Muppet Show characters.

Series run

The show ran from 1996 to 1998. There were 22 episodes produced in two batches. 13 episodes were ordered by

ABC, though only ten of them were run in the 1995-96 TV season. The program was then purchased by the

Disney Channel, which ordered a further nine episodes and aired these along with the three episodes ABC did

not air, in the 1997-98 season. One of the nine newly-produced episodes was a clip show compilation culled

from the earlier episodes. Both ABC and the Disney Channel are owned by The Walt Disney Company, which also

owns the rights to the Muppet characters outright.

In the UK the show was transmitted at 7pm on friday evenings.

Guest stars

Main article: List of Muppets Tonight episodes

Unlike the original Muppet Show, most episodes of Muppets Tonight featured multiple guest stars. Typically,

there would be one principal guest, but other celebrities would make small walk-on appearances. For

example, the Garth Brooks episode (aired as episode #2) features a cameo from Leonard Nimoy.

Disney Shows From The 90s - Sing Me A Story With Belle

Sing Me a Story with Belle is a live action series which features Belle from Beauty and the Beast and other characters. It featured Belle running a book and music shop, visited by local children to whom Belle would tell (and sing) stories, usually with a moral that fit a situation happening in the shop or with the children. The opening credits featured a mix of animation and live action (specifically inserting the live-action Belle into animation from the “Belle” musical sequence in Beauty and the Beast). Often classic Disney short films, such as Pecos Bill and The Brave Little Tailor were used to illustrate the stories. Actors portraying her father Maurice and Gaston also occasionally appeared. The actress for Belle herself was California native Lynsey McLeod.

The television series was produced by Walt Disney Television, and aired from 1995 to 1999. Reruns were shown on Disney Channel in 2000.

Live Actors

* Lynsey McLeod - Belle from Beauty and the Beast
* Kirsten Storms

[edit] Voice actors and their characters

* Mary Kay Bergman - Fifi, Hansel & Gretel, Elf, Witch
* Christine Cavanaugh - Carol the Book Worm
* Tim Goodwin - Brioche
* Jim Cummings - Big Book, Lewis the Book Worm

disney shows from the 90s

This is a list of notable television series produced or distributed by The Walt
Disney Company and its subsidiaries during the 1990s.

Disney Shows From The 90s - Live Action Series

*

Road to Avonlea (1990-1996)

*

Adventures in Wonderland (1991-1995)

*

Dinosaurs (1991-1994)

*

Sing Me A Story With Belle (1995)

*

Muppets Tonight (1996-1998)

*

Smart Guy (1997-1999)

*

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show (1997-2000)

*

Bear in the Big Blue House (1998-2002) (Jim Henson Company)

*
The Famous Jett Jackson (1999-2001)

*
So Weird
(1999-2001)

Disney Shows From The 90s - Animated Series

*
TaleSpin (1990-1991)

* Darkwing Duck (1991-1992)

* Goof Troop (1992-1993)

* Raw Toonage (1992)

* The Little Mermaid (1992-1994)

* Bonkers (1993-1995)

* Marsupilami (1993)

* Aladdin (1994-1995)

* Gargoyles (1994-1997)

* The Schnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show (1995)

* The Lion King’s Timon and Pumbaa (1995-1999)

* Quack Pack (1996-1997)

* The Mighty Ducks (1996-1997)

* Jungle Cubs (1996-1998)

* Disney’s Doug (1996-1999)

* 101 Dalmatians: The Series (1997-1998)

* Nightmare Ned (1997)

* Recess (1997-2001)

* Pepper Ann (1997-2000)

* Hercules: The Animated Series (1998-1999)

* PB&J Otter (1998-2000)

* Mickey Mouse Works (1999-2000)

Read more about Disney
Shows From The 90s at
MyDisneyMagic.com

Disney Shows From The 90s - Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs is an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on ABC from April 26, 1991 to July

20, 1994. It was produced by Michael Jacobs Productions and Jim Henson Productions in association with Walt

Disney Television about a family of anthropomorphic dinosaurs. The world of Dinosaurs is a parody of human

society.

Overview

The show is initially set in 60,000,003 BC with the years, months and days counting toward zero (in the

first episode, Robbie asks his father if he ever questions what they are counting down to). The show

centers on the Sinclair family (a reference to Sinclair Oil Corporation which uses a dinosaur as its logo)

- the father (Earl Sinclair, a reference to Earl Holding, Sinclair Oil’s principal owner), the mother (Fran

Sinclair), the son (Robbie Sinclair), the daughter (Charlene Sinclair), the baby (Baby Sinclair), and the

grandmother (Ethyl Phillips, a reference to Phillips Petroleum and ethyl gasoline) (curiously, they all

appear to belong to wildly different species: Earl, Fran and Robbie look like carnivorous dinosaurs, and

Charlene resembles an ceratopsian herbivore). Earl’s job is to push over trees for the Wesayso Corporation

(alluding to the fact that petroleum comes from compressed trees and other organic matter, keeping with the

petroleum theme of the show) with his friend and coworker Roy Hess (Hess Corporation is another regional

petroleum chain). Another reference to petroleum companies is Earl’s boss, named B.P. Richfield. Earl’s

employer, the Wesayso Corporation’s logo also is a reference to DuPont Chemical’s traditional oval logo.

One of the most popular characters on the show is the mischievous Baby, occasionally referred to as

“Junior” until the second season where he was officially named “Baby Sinclair”. Baby Sinclair’s mannerisms

were loosely based on writer and producer Bob Young’s youngest child Ethan.[citation needed]

His favorite pastime is to hit Earl repeatedly over the head with a frying pan while shouting, “Not the

mama!” Frequently, when Baby should be hurt (such as after having been hurled through the air), he will

throw his arms up enthusiastically and exclaim, “Again!” A music video was produced for a song based on

another of Baby’s catchphrases, “I’m the Baby, Gotta Love Me”.

Characters

Main article: List of Dinosaurs characters

The focus of the show’s plot is the Sinclair family: Earl, Fran, Robbie, Charlene and Baby. Other

supporting characters are Ethyl Phillips, Roy Hess, B.P. Richfield, Monica Devertebrae and Spike. Humans

have appeared in several episodes as cavemen, and the dinosaur characters often expressed the belief that

humans could never develop intelligence. A recurring joke is that the dinosaurs do not know how to tell

male and female humans apart and usually switch them in conversation or as shown in one episode (”The

Mating Dance”) in which zoo keepers unknowingly pair two obviously male humans together and cannot figure

out why they will not produce offspring. There are also other recurring, major characters, typically from

the Wesayso Corporation where Earl works.

Intended audience
Robbie and Charlene in the episode “Refrigerator Day”.
Robbie and Charlene in the episode “Refrigerator Day”.

The world of Dinosaurs is a satirical parody of human society. The dinosaurs are “intelligent” enough to

talk, trade, build things, have traditions, go to war, and so forth, although a number of things that are

taken for granted in the real world, such as war, return policy, and divorce, are invented during the

course of the show. Despite the cartoonish violence that often occurs in the series, the plotlines and many

jokes are aimed at adults. Sometimes these jokes are in the form of references to events or people which

children are not likely to know. For example, at the end of “When Food Goes Bad,” the defeated General Chow

(a refrigerator creature and source of food to the dinosaurs) states that “Old food never dies, it just

goes bad,” a reference to General Douglas MacArthur’s famous speech in which he stated that “Old soldiers

never die. They just fade away.”

The show explicitly states that the intended audience is adults, with at least a couple of breaks of the

fourth wall. In “How to Pick Up Girls,” Earl asks Fran to watch a puppet show on TV. Fran dismisses it

with, “Earl, that’s for kids,” to which Earl replies, “Yeah, you’d think that because they’re puppets, so

the show seems to have a children’s aesthetic,” and then he turns toward the camera and says, “yet the

dialogue is unquestionably sharp-edged, witty, and thematically skewed to adults.” And at the end of the

episode “A New Leaf,” Robbie makes a short public service announcement asking people to stop doing drugs to

help put an end to sitcoms with preachy anti-drug messages. In his message, he describes the show as

“adult-themed.” And in “Georgie Must Die”, when about to punch Georgie (a clear take-off on Barney) in the

face, Earl turns to the camera and says, “This is for all you parents at home.”

Topical issues

Topical issues featured in Dinosaurs include environmentalism, women’s rights, sexual harassment,

objectification of women, censorship, civil rights, body image, steroid use, allusions to masturbation (in

the form of Robbie getting caught doing a mating dance by himself), drug abuse, racism, peer pressure,

rights of indigenous peoples, corporate crime, government interference of parenting, and allusions to

homosexuality and communism (in the guise of herbivorism).

The two-part episode “Nuts to War,” in which the two-legged dinosaurs go to war with the four-legged

dinosaurs over rights to pistachio trees, aired in February and March of 1992, and was almost certainly in

response to the Persian Gulf War. Dialogue in the episode addresses war profiteering (by the Wesayso

Corporation of B.P. Richfield, Earl’s boss, which sells weaponry to both sides), the casualties of war

(limited to one two-legger, which the Sinclair family thought for a time was Robbie), the war’s use as a

distraction from domestic issues during an election year, government suppression of information, and the

harassment of the antiwar movement. The (politically) hawkish dinosaurs created a catchphrase for their

political party: “We Are Right” (W.A.R.) Earl, originally a hawk but later disillusioned, takes to

protesting the war with a sign reading “Pistachio Eaters Against the Chief Elder” (P.E.A.C.E.), a

backronym.

In the episode “I Never Ate For My Father,” in lieu of carnivorism, Robbie chooses to eat vegetables, and

the other characters liken this to homosexuality, irreverence, communism, and drug abuse.

In the final season, “The Greatest Story Ever Sold” (a take off of The Greatest Story Ever Told) even

references religion when the Sinclair family becomes eager to learn the meaning of their existence. The

Elders dictate a new system of beliefs, and the entire cast (with the exception of Robbie) abandons science

to blindly following the newly popular “Potato-ism.” The religion arbitrarily brings about a set of strange

and pointless rules that they decree all dinosaurs must adhere to, possibly a parody of the Ten

Commandments. Robbie and a reluctant Earl refuse to follow the rules leading to their punishment of being

burned at the stake. Just as they are about to be executed, the fire mysteriously goes out. It is

considered a sign, and the two are allowed to go free. The episode ends with them speculating as to whether

there really is a god who created and watches over them.

In another episode, Earl switches bodies with a tree and raises the issue of conservation. This is more

dramatically explored in the series finale.

The series finale of Dinosaurs concerns the irresponsible actions of the dinosaurs toward their

environment, and the ensuing Ice Age which leads to their demise. The episode begins with the failure of a

beetle swarm to show up and devour a form of creeper vine. It is shown that the Wesayso Corporation has

constructed a wax fruit factory on the swampland that serves as the beetles’ breeding grounds, causing the

extinction of the species. Fearing a public relations fiasco more than any environmental threat, Wesayso

quickly puts Earl in charge of an attempt to destroy the vines, which have grown out of control without the

beetles to keep them in check. Earl proposes spraying the plant with defoliant, which works only too well;

not only does the defoliant eradicate all the vines, but all other plant life on the planet as well. B.P.

Richfield assumes that the creation of clouds will bring rain, allowing the plants to grow back, and so

decides to create clouds by dropping bombs in the planet’s volcanoes to cause eruptions and cloud cover.

The dark clouds instead instigate global cooling, in the form of a gigantic cloudcover (simulating the

effects of what the viewer would recognize as nuclear winter) that scientists estimate would take “tens of

thousands of years” to dissipate; viewers are thus left in no doubt as to the final fate of the dinosaurs.

The final scene of the series depicts a color-warped broadcast from newscaster Howard Handupme, eerily

staring into the camera in a slowly freezing studio, and droning, “And, taking a look at the long-range

forecast, continued snow, darkness, and extreme cold. This is Howard Handupme. Goodnight. (pause) Goodbye.”

The credits then roll over a shot of the Sinclairs’ house, slowly disappearing beneath a snowdrift, while a

melancholy string instrumental plays. The episode contains a clear, dark message of environmental

responsibility and, while not overt in its portrayal of the extinction of the dinosaurs (their fate is only

implied, not depicted), the episode was still a marked change from the series’ normal humor. “Changing

Nature” merited a special parental warning in TV Guide’s listings the week it aired, cautioning that its

subject matter might frighten or disturb younger viewers.

The shows within the show
The Sinclair family watches TV.
The Sinclair family watches TV.

While Dinosaurs was, of course, a TV show, several jokes in the series were at the expense of television

shows in general. Earl often wants to watch TV rather than do something more practical, and several jokes

accuse television of “dumbing down” the population and making it lazy. Four episodes had themes related to

television. In “Family Challenge”, Earl gets the family to go on a game show in order to win a new TV when

both of the household’s televisions are destroyed. In “Fran Live”, Fran gets a call-in show when she

suggests that the host of the show “Just Listening With Frank” should give advice rather than just listen.

In “Network Genius”, Earl starts working for ABC (the Antediluvian Broadcasting Company) and recommends

several “stupid” shows for the network; when these shows drastically reduce the IQ of the population, he

recommends “smart” shows to save the world. In “Georgie Must Die”, Earl attempts to thwart the evil plans

of an orange hippo reminiscent of Barney from Barney & Friends.

A few characters in the shows within Dinosaurs made repeat appearances. Howard Handupme was the standard

news anchor for the Dinosaur News Network (DNN). Mr. Lizard, a parody of Mr. Wizard, was a scientist

demonstrating several dangerous aspects of nature and science for his child assistant, who inevitably died

in each episode (by such methods as watching the effects of what happens when you put an open flame next to

a mixture of sulfur, phosphorus, and gasoline; having Timmy see how a rocket engine works by sticking his

head into the exhaust while Mr. Lizard turns it on; and the effects of putting nitroglycerine in a

blender), prompting Mr. Lizard to quip, “We’re going to need another Timmy!” Captain Action Figure shows up

in children’s programming that Fran mistakes for a commercial. Whenever Captain Action Figure mentions a

product, the screen flashes “Tell Mommy I WANT THAT!”. Before the appearance of Georgie, Dinosaurs used a

puppet highly reminiscent of Barney named “Blarney” in two episodes. During his appearances, members of the

Sinclair family commented on his annoying characteristics and failure to teach anything to children. As the

powers behind Barney & Friends have threatened legal action to subdue Anti-Barney Humor, it is possible

that Dinosaurs received a legal warning, resulting in the creation of the Georgie character.

Other fictional shows that have appeared on Dinosaurs:

* Tricera-Cops: appeared in two episodes as a parody of fictional dramas about unconventional police

officers.
* Mr. Ugh: a parody of Mr. Ed featuring a talking caveman.
* Info 411: a parody of Rescue 911 featuring actual calls to Information.
* Totally Ineffectual Dad: a show about a father who neglects the needs of his son, who is on fire in

the episode featured.
* Don’t Lift That Heavy Object: a show that captures real-life dinosaurs in the act of trying to lift

heavy things.
* The Smoo Show: a show that appeared to be musical/variety, created in response to positive reaction

to the use of a swear word on network television. Similar shows were mentioned but not shown, called “The

Flark Show” and “Kiss My Glick.”
* Totally Hidden Predator: a parody of Totally Hidden Video (a Candid Camera-like show from the 1990s)

in which a camera captures the reactions of dinosaurs to a huge hidden monster that devours them.
* The Book “Blue Eggs and Toast”, a parody of Green Eggs and Ham.
* DNN: parody of CNN.
* DSPN: parody of ESPN.
* DSN: Dinosaur Shopping Network: a parody of HSN.
* DTV: Dinomusic Television: a parody of MTV.
* Dirty Dare: a parody of Double Dare.
* Love Confession: a parody of Love Connection.
* Good Morning Pangaea: a parody of ABC’s Good Morning America.
* Pangaea’s Funniest Home Injuries and Pangaea’s 2nd Funniest Home Injuries: a parody of America’s

Funniest Home Videos. In one episode, the host of the show said that here’s a father and son playing catch

near an active volcano with a new way of the expression “Go Deep.”
* The Hat Channel: 24 hours a day of hat news, hat features, and hat happenings. Later in the

broadcast, a news anchor reports “The fire swept through two square city blocks. Miraculously, no hats were

damaged.” Earl replies, “Yippee, there’s a piece of good news.”
* Box Full o’ Puppies: A show in which people were surprised by receiving a cardboard box full of

puppies.
* The Happy Colors Show: One of Earl’s “dumb” shows, it appears to be little more than a grid of

flashing colors. The theme song goes, “It’s the Happy Colors Show / It’s the happiest show we know / With

red and green and aquamarine / And blue like the sky above / But our favorite color is love!”
* Economics Hoedown: One of Earl’s “smart” shows, it features dinosaurs popping up from a cornfield to

give riddles involving complex economic patterns. A parody of Hee Haw.
* We’re Not Even Related But Somehow We’re All Living Together: A show which teaches valuable lessons.

Likely a parody of Three’s Company.
* House Full of Dads: A sitcom in which a girl is raised by at least a dozen fathers. Another likely

parody of Full House and/or My Two Dads in which Florence Stanley, the voice of Grandma Ethyl, had a

recurring role.
* Mysteries that Haven’t Been Solved Yet: A parody of Unsolved Mysteries, except that the program

features the same set of stories in every episode, which no one notices. One of the mysteries is eventually

solved though, so after her near-death experience, Ethyl is approached to tell her story for the show.
* Pangaea Hills, DINO210: a parody of Beverly Hills, 90210.
* Lifestyles of Those We Envy: is a parody of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
* “Way Too Complicated”, a parody of the Brady Bunch, with 14 kids that are either ghosts or dinosaurs.
* A parody of a Richard Simmons-type workout show appears at the beginning of the episode Nature Calls.

R ichard Simmons does a guest voice over for his Richard Simmons Dinosaur character.
* In the episode “Honey, I Miss the Kids,” the movie “The Little Underwater Girl” is a parody of

Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
* In the background of an episode, a crowd on TV can be heard saying “Wheel! Of!” in the manner of

Wheel of Fortune, though the last word is not heard.

International screening

The show was screened on ITV in 1992 and in reruns from 1995 to 2002 in the UK on Disney Channel.

Credits

* Creators Michael Jacobs and Bob Young
* Executive Producers Michael Jacobs, Brian Henson
* Producer Michael Jacobs
* Director of Photography, second unit Robert Schoenhut
* Performance Coordinator Pons Maar
* Camera Operator Robert Schoenhut
* Staff Writers included Mark Drop and Jane Espenson.

Trivia

* Gunge, a small rodent-like creature from Fraggle Rock, appeared in a dinosaur’s stomach in one

episode.
* A running gag involved the calendars, which ran backward—the month of October ended with the 1st, in

line with the idea that the years were counting down to 0. In one episode, Robbie asks his father whether

he ever questions what they are counting down to.
* The plaid on Earl’s shirt was the Sinclair tartan, in line with the family’s surname.
* In the episode “Network Genius,” names of TV shows parodying real shows are shown such as “Mary

Tyler,” “She Wrote,” “Gilligan’s,” “My Two,” “Hardcastle,” and others all ending or starting with “Test

Pattern” after the network’s test pattern turns out to be more popular than regular shows. A potential show

by the name of “A Question of Faith” is a parody of The Flying Nun.
* “Refrigerator Day,” featured in the episode of the same name, has characteristics of mostly Christmas

but also Hannukah and Thanksgiving. In one scene towards the end, Baby is dressed up as, and uses a line

from, Tiny Tim from Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. Also in this episode, a store named “Kave Mart” is

likely a parody of K-Mart.
* It is mentioned throughout that dinosaurs are legally adults at the age of fifteen, though they do

not leave their parents’ care until the age of eighteen.

Pop culture references

* In the episode “Charlene’s Tale” there are numerous parodies and references. A commercial advertises

“Dino-Netics” by L. Mother Hubbard, a parody of Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard. In the same episode, a

commercial for a magazine named “Dinosaur Sports” is a parody of Sports Illustrated, a commercial

advertising an up-coming television show called “Way Too Complicated!” is a parody of The Brady Bunch, and

Fran mentions the cancellation of a show called “Thirty Million Something,” a reference to the show

Thirtysomething.
* In the episode “License to Parent,” the ending credits is highly reminiscent of the ending to the TV

series Real Stories of the Highway Patrol.
* In the episode “When Food Goes Bad,” the abduction of Baby by the creatures from the refrigerator and

the threat from the leader to Charlene is highly reminiscent of Labyrinth, another Jim Henson production.
* In the episode “Driving Miss Ethyl,” Ethyl mentions moving in with her friends Dorothy, Blanche, and

Rose, the names of three of The Golden Girls. Also in this episode, when they are lost in the Valley of the

Monsters there is a parody of Jurassic Park when a giant monster is walking towards the car and the liquid

in Earl’s cup ripples with each step.
* In the episode “The Howling”, Robbie has a poster in his room that says “Teenage Mutant Ninja

Cavemen”, referencing to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.