The Disney Afternoon - History of The Block and Programs That Aired

History of The Block and Programs That Aired

Some of the early cartoon series in The Disney Afternoon came from already in-circulation cartoons, such as Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears (created years earlier). DuckTales premiered in 1987 as Disney was focused on incorporating animated series into its portfolio in the era of cartoons; it was the only cartoon series until accompanied in 1989 by Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. Both had been a one-hour-long cartoon block in 1989–1990, until both were incorporated into The Disney Afternoon the following year.

Both DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers were syndicated and packaged at first through its original television affiliates, most of which evolved from independents to Fox affiliates with successful children's lineups. However, due to disputes between Disney and Fox later on, both shows were pulled from many Fox affiliates by Disney and landed on other stations in the same markets that were still independents by the time The Disney Afternoon came to play. Other Fox affiliates simply passed it down to their independent competitors by choice due to shorter time frames for local programming, mainly with the debut of Disney Afternoon's main competitor Fox Kids and more stations premiering local morning news programs.

Some of the later additions were inspired by shorter cartoons in the short-lived series Raw Toonage, which appeared on the CBS network in fall, 1992—for example, Marsupilami; also He's Bonkers!, which has characters that also appear in Bonkers.

Beginning with the 1994 season, Marvel Comics began publishing a comic book series based on the programs featured on the block, as part of their line of comics based on modern Disney properties (the classic properties were licensed to Gladstone Publishing). The series mainly consisted of stories based on Darkwing Duck, with occasional stories featuring Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers and TaleSpin. It ended at 10 issues, but stories based on the block's shows continued in Marvel's Disney Comic Hits! and in the children's magazine Disney Adventures.

The Disney Afternoon was last aired on August 29, 1997. Beginning September 1, Disney dropped the block's name and reduced it to 90 minutes. The unnamed 90-minute block ran until September 3, 1999, when it was finally cancelled and a new block, Disney's One Too began airing on UPN.

The shows that aired from 1997-1998 were DuckTales, The Mighty Ducks, Quack Pack and 101 Dalmatians: The Series, and from 1998-1999 it was formed by 101 Dalmatians: The Series, Disney's Doug and Hercules: The Animated Series.