''D-TV'' was a series of

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

s created by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...

and produced by Charles Braverman and edited by Ted Herrmann which premiered on May 5, 1984, by taking hit songs of the past and putting them together with various footage of vintage

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

animation, created out of the trend of music videos on cable channel

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

, which inspired the name of this series. Most songs used were contemporary hits (e.g., Hall and Oates' "Private Eyes"), though older songs like Sheb Wooley's '50s hit "The Purple People Eater" were also featured. The videos were shown as filler material on

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Comp ...

(as the network did not air commercials at this time), as well as being the focus of television specials. Home video collections were also released on VHS, Beta, CED Videodisc, and Laserdisc formats. After the first run of ''D-TV'', in 1989 a second series was produced known as ''DTV²''. The main title music, known as "RPM", was created in 1981 by a recording company called Network Music. When the segments were shown individually on television, the title music used was from "Sunset Boulevard", also by Network Music. In the opening of ''D-TV'', a cheese-like moon zooms out to reveal a black background with blue musical notes. A silhouette of

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

's head rises from the moon, and the moon exits below the screen. The letter D (in the corporate Disney font) and the letters TV appear and zoom out to attach Mickey Mouse's head. Finally, after a few seconds, we zoom into Mickey Mouse's head and revealing several vintage Disney cartoon clips. ''D-TV'' ceased airing in the early 2000s.

Home media

Many of the songs listed above were released on VHS, in five separate volumes. The first three volumes "Pop & Rock", "Rock, Rhythm & Blues", and "Golden Oldies" were released in late 1984, as part of

Walt Disney Home Video Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...

's "Wrapped and Ready to Give" promotion. Following that, two more videos, "Love Songs" and "Groovin' For a '60s Afternoon", were released during the summer of 1985.

Television specials

Disney aired three ''DTV'' television specials on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

in 1986 and 1987: ''DTV Valentine'' (Feb 14, 1986, re-titled ''DTV Romancin in later airings) (including 3 songs from

Disney Sing-Along Songs ''Disney Sing-Along Songs'' is a series of videos on VHS, betamax, laserdisc, and DVD with musical moments from various Disney films, TV shows, and attractions. Lyrics for the songs are sometimes displayed on-screen with the Mickey Mouse i ...

, ''DTV Doggone Valentine'' (including Siamese Cat song from

) (Feb 13, 1987), and ''DTV Monster Hits'' (including Heffalumps and Woozles from

) (Oct 30, 1987).

''DTV Valentine''

''DTV Valentine'' focused on love and romance music.

Songs

*Betty Everett: The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) *Stevie Wonder: I Just Called To Say I Love You *Madonna: Dress You Up *Stray Cats: Rock This Town *Lionel Richie: Hello *Desiree Goyette: Hey Mickey *Elton John & Kiki Dee: Don't Go Breaking My Heart *Bella Notte (from ''Lady and the Tramp'') (song lyrics on-screen) *Elvis Presley: Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear *Eurythmics: There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart) *Once Upon a Dream (from ''Sleeping Beauty'') (song lyrics on-screen) *Huey Lewis and The News: The Heart of Rock n' Roll *The Contours: Do You Love Me *Someday My Prince Will Come (from ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'') (song lyrics on-screen) *Whitney Houston: You Give Good Love

Voice Characterizations

Tony Anselmo Tony Anselmo (born February 18, 1960) is an American voice actor and animator. He has been the official character voice of Donald Duck since 1985 following the death of the original voice actor, Clarence Nash. He has also provided voices for Do ...

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

Corey Burton Corey Gregg Weinberg (born August 3, 1955), known professionally as Corey Burton, is an American voice actor. He is the current voice of Captain Hook, Ludwig Von Drake, Dale and others for The Walt Disney Company, Shockwave on '' The Transformer ...

- Gruffi Gummi *

Eddie Carroll Eddie Carroll (September 5, 1933 – April 6, 2010) was a Canadian actor, who is best known as the third performer to provide the voice for Jiminy Cricket, a role he played for over 35 years. Career In Canada, Carroll studied at the Orion theate ...

Jiminy Cricket Jiminy Cricket is the Disney version of the " Talking Cricket" (Italian: ''Il Grillo Parlante''), a fictional character created by Italian writer Carlo Collodi for his 1883 children's book ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'', which Walt Disney adap ...

Mary Costa Mary Costa (born April 5, 1930) is an American retired actress and singer. Her most notable film credit is providing the voice of Princess Aurora in the 1959 Disney animated film ''Sleeping Beauty'', of which she is the last surviving original vo ...

- Princess Aurora *

Paul Frees Solomon Hersh "Paul" Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986) was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass, and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during ...

Ludwig Von Drake Professor Ludwig Von Drake is a cartoon character created in 1961 by The Walt Disney Company. He is the paternal uncle of Donald Duck. He was first introduced as the presenter (and singer of " The Spectrum Song") in the cartoon ''An Adventure in ...

, Announcer * Les Perkins -

Will Ryan William Frank Ryan (May 21, 1949 – November 19, 2021) was an American voice actor, musician and singer. He provided the voice of Petrie in the 1988 animated film ''The Land Before Time''. He was also known for his voice work as Eugene Meltsner ...

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled f ...

, Pongo * Judith Searle -

Chip and Dale Chip and Dale (also spelled Chip 'n' Dale) is a cartoon duo of anthropomorphic chipmunks created in 1943 by The Walt Disney Company. Concept The characters were first drawn by Bill Justice and introduced in the 1943 Pluto short ''Private ...

Bill Shirley William Jesse Shirley (July 6, 1921 – August 27, 1989) was an American actor and tenor/lyric baritone singer who later became a Broadway theatre producer. He is perhaps best known as the speaking and singing voice of Prince Phillip in Walt Disn ...

- Prince Phillip * Lisa St. James - Dalmatian puppies

''DTV Doggone Valentine''

''DTV Doggone Valentine'' focused on love songs with a tribute to Disney's dog and cat characters.

Songs

*Wham!: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go *John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John: You're The One That I Want *The Flamingos: I Only Have Eyes For You *Huey Lewis and The News: Working For A Livin' *Bee Gees: Stayin' Alive *Kenny Rogers: Lady *Patti Page: How Much Is That Doggie In The Window? *"Weird Al" Yankovic: Eat It *George Thorogood and The Destroyers: Bad to the Bone *Paul Anka: Puppy Love *The Siamese Cat Song (from ''Lady and the Tramp'') (song lyrics on-screen) *The Soul Survivors: Expressway To Your Heart *Stray Cats: Stray Cat Strut *Marvin Gaye: I'll Be Doggone *Deniece Williams: Let's Hear It For The Boy *Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs: Stay

Voice Characterizations

* Wayne Allwine - Mickey Mouse * Albert Ash - Ludwig Von Drake * Eddie Carroll - Jiminy Cricket *

Bill Farmer Bill Farmer (born November 14, 1952) is an American voice actor, comedian and impressionist. He has performed the voice of the Disney character Goofy since 1987, and has also been the voice of Pluto (Disney), Pluto and Horace Horsecollar since ...

- Goofy *

Maurice LaMarche Maurice LaMarche (born March 30, 1958) is a Canadian voice actor, comedian, and impressionist. He has voiced the Brain in '' Animaniacs'' as well as its spin-off '' Pinky and the Brain'', Big Bob in ''Hey Arnold!'' (1996–2004), and a variety of ...

- Awards Show MC * Will Ryan - Pongo * J. J. Jackson - Announcer * Lisa St. James - Dalmatian puppies *

Russi Taylor Russi Taylor (May 4, 1944 – July 26, 2019) was an American voice actress. She is best remembered as the official voice of Minnie Mouse from 1986 to 2019, and was notably married to voice actor Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse, until h ...

Minnie Mouse Minnie Mouse is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As the longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a bow, polka-dotted dress, white bloomers, and low-heeled shoes occasional ...

, Dalmatian puppies

''DTV Monster Hits''

''DTV Monster Hits'' was focused on

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...

-themed music and footage. It was also referred to as Disney's DTV Monster Hits by the show's narrator,

Gary Owens Gary Owens (born Gary Bernard Altman; May 10, 1934 – February 12, 2015) was an American radio announcer, personality, disc jockey and voice actor. His polished baritone speaking voice generally offered deadpan recitations of total nonsense, wh ...

. By this time,

Hans Conried Hans Georg Conried Jr. (April 15, 1917 – January 5, 1982) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for providing the voices of George Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's ''Peter Pan'' (1953), Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's '' Dud ...

had died and the duties of the Magic Mirror, now credited at the end of the show as ''Man in the Magic Mirror'' played by

Jeffrey Jones Jeffrey Duncan Jones (born September 28, 1946) is an American character actor, best known for his roles as Emperor Joseph II in '' Amadeus'' (1984), Edward R. Rooney in ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986), Charles Deetz in ''Beetlejuice'' (1988 ...

Songs

*Michael Jackson: Thriller *Ray Parker, Jr.: Ghostbusters *Creedence Clearwater Revival: Bad Moon Rising *Bobby "Boris" Pickett featuring The Crypt-Kickers: Monster Mash *Rockwell: Somebody's Watching Me *Electric Light Orchestra: Evil Woman *Stevie Wonder: Superstition *Pat Benatar: You Better Run *Spike Jones and His City Slickers: That Black Old Magic *Daryl Hall: Dreamtime *The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Heffalumps & Woozles (song lyrics on-screen) *The Eurythmics: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Voice Characterizations

*Wayne Allwine - Mickey Mouse *Tony Anselmo - Donald Duck * Stuart Buchanan - The Huntsman (archive footage) *

Adriana Caselotti Adriana Elena Loreta Caselotti (May 6, 1916 – January 18, 1997) was an American actress and singer. Caselotti was the voice of the title character of the first Walt Disney animated feature, ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'', for which she w ...

Snow White "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection '' Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

(archive footage) *

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

Brom Bones "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a gothic story by American author Washington Irving, contained in his collection of 34 essays and short stories titled '' The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.'' Written while Irving was living abroad in Bir ...

(archive footage) *Bill Farmer - Goofy *

June Foray June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...

Witch Hazel Witch-hazels or witch hazels (''Hamamelis'') are a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae, with three species in North America ('' H. ovalis'', '' H. virginiana'', and '' H. vernalis''), and one each in Japan ('' H.&nb ...

, Pauline *

Sterling Holloway Sterling Price Holloway Jr. (January 4, 1905 – November 22, 1992) was an American actor and voice actor who appeared in over 100 films and 40 television shows. He did voice acting for The Walt Disney Company, playing Mr. Stork in '' Dumbo'', A ...

- Winnie the Pooh (archive footage) * Barrie Ingham - Basil of Baker Street (archive footage) *

- Magic Mirror *Maurice LaMarche - Leslie J. Clark *

- Announcer *

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...

- Ratigan (archive footage) *

Lucille La Verne Lucille La Verne (November 7, 1872 – March 4, 1945) was an American actress known for her appearances in early sound films, as well as for her triumphs on the American stage. She is most widely remembered as the voices of the Old Witch in the 19 ...

- The Evil Queen (archive footage) * Paul Winchell -

Tigger Tigger is a fictional character, an anthropomorphic stuffed tiger. He was originally introduced in the 1928 story collection '' The House at Pooh Corner'', the sequel to the 1926 book ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' by A. A. Milne. Like other Pooh chara ...

(archive footage)

Notes

* June Foray returned as the voice of Witch Hazel to dub new lines. These can be seen when she introduces Michael Jackson and during the segment where she is reading a book about scary stories, which is a segment lifted directly from a Disneyland episode, The Mad Hermit of Chimney Butte. * New lines for Donald Duck were dubbed during the Ghostbusters theme, where he says he's not afraid of ghosts is a new line. * Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Be Our Guest clips courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

References

{{Former Disney Channel original series Music videos Disney Channel original programming Disney television films 1984 American television series debuts Television series by Disney