''The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'' is an American animated television series produced by
Walt Disney Television Animation
Disney Television Animation (DTVA), formerly known as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group and Walt Disney Television Animation, is the television animation production arm of Disney Branded Television, a sub-division of the Disney Ge ...
. Based on the ''
Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard.
The first collection of stories about the character was the book ''Win ...
'' books by authors
A. A. Milne
Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winni ...
and
E. H. Shepard, ''The New Adventures'' was the first time a major Disney character headlined an animated, made-for-television series as well as the first Disney television series based on a major animated film.
The cartoon premiered with a limited run on
The 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 Compan ...
on January 17, 1988. Nine months later, the show moved to
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
as part of their Saturday morning lineup. New episodes continued until October 26, 1991. Proving popular with children and older fans, it remained on television in the United States for nearly two decades.
The series depicts the everyday lives of
Christopher Robin
Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, based on his son Christopher Robin Milne. The character appears in the author's popular books of poetry and ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disney ...
and his companions
Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard.
The first collection of stories about the character was the book ''Winn ...
,
Piglet,
Eeyore
Eeyore ( ) is a fictional character in the ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' books by A. A. Milne. He is generally characterized as a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, anhedonic, old grey stuffed donkey who is a friend of the title character, Winnie-th ...
,
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 char ...
,
Kanga,
Roo
Roo is a fictional character created in 1926 by A. A. Milne and first featured in the book ''Winnie-the-Pooh''. He is a young kangaroo (known as a joey) and his mother is Kanga. Like most other Pooh characters, Roo is based on a stuffed toy an ...
,
Rabbit,
Owl
Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...
and
Gopher
Pocket gophers, commonly referred to simply as gophers, are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. The roughly 41 speciesSearch results for "Geomyidae" on thASM Mammal Diversity Database are all endemic to North and Central America. They are ...
.
Rather than a straightforward adaptation, the show was more
Americanized
Americanization or Americanisation (see spelling differences) is the influence of American culture and business on other countries outside the United States of America, including their media, cuisine, business practices, popular culture, tec ...
than previous ''Pooh'' efforts. Episodes dealt with strong messages about honesty, responsibility, persistence, cooperative effort, friendship, and caring. Many stories are designed to help young children distinguish between fantasy and reality and overcome common childhood fears.
Publications ranging from ''
The Los Angeles Times
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' to ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' gave the series extremely positive reviews for its resemblance to the earlier Disney efforts and its high production quality, receiving praise for its wholesome tradition. The show won back-to-back
Daytime Emmy Award
The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...
s for
Outstanding Animated Program as well as two
Humanitas Prize
The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist P ...
s. The show was well received by both children and their parents. Most of the viewer mail the crew received were from parents thanking the staff for producing a show that they can watch with their children.
''The New Adventures'' is credited with bringing about a resurgence of ''Pooh'' animated media, including a series of television and video specials.
History
Origin
Winnie the Pooh was created by British authors
A.A. Milne and
E. H. Shepard in the 1920s. The character was named after a teddy bear owned by his son, Christopher Robin Milne. He had named his toy bear after
Winnie, a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
black bear
Black bear or Blackbear may refer to:
Animals
* American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species
* Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species
Music
* Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...
he often saw at
London Zoo, and "Pooh", a swan they had met while on holiday. Drawing from this and other toys owned by his son, Milne created the world of Winnie-the-Pooh. He first appeared by name on December 24, 1925, in a Christmas story commissioned and published by the London Evening News. The following year, a collection of Pooh stories was formally released bearing the name ''
Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard.
The first collection of stories about the character was the book ''Win ...
''. The stories proved very popular and inspired a sequel.
The idea for a television series was first discussed in 1957. NBC suggested
Jay Ward
Joseph Ward Cohen Jr. (September 20, 1920 – October 12, 1989), also known as Jay Ward, was an American creator and producer of animated TV cartoon shows. He produced animated series based on such characters as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bu ...
undertake the pilot, then titled ''The World of Winnie the Pooh'', with an option for thirty-nine episodes. Some songs and bits of dialogue were recorded, but the project was ultimately abandoned. In 1961, The Walt Disney Company's namesake founder
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
bought the film rights to make an animated movie starring the characters. He subsequently produced a series of three short featurettes throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with ''
Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree
''Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree'' is a 1966 animated featurette based on the first two chapters of ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' by A. A. Milne. The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions, and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution on February ...
''.
Disney had also aired a variety show with the characters that used electronically controlled puppetry and life-sized costume titled ''
Welcome to Pooh Corner
''Welcome to Pooh Corner'' is a live-action/puppet television series that aired on Disney Channel, featuring the characters from the Winnie the Pooh universe portrayed by actors in human-sized puppet suits, except Roo, who was originally a traditio ...
''. This became the highest rated program on the Disney Channel. The original featurettes also proved popular, with video sales topping the charts in 1986 and 1987.
Development
![Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (2076600212)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Academy_of_Television_Arts_%26_Sciences_%282076600212%29.jpg)
An animated cartoon starring the characters was first proposed by
Walt Disney Television Animation
Disney Television Animation (DTVA), formerly known as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group and Walt Disney Television Animation, is the television animation production arm of Disney Branded Television, a sub-division of the Disney Ge ...
Vice President Gary Krisel during a Disney retreat, in which company assets and future prospects were examined.
Rich Frank later recalled him saying: "I think Pooh is a great character for Saturday morning animation". He believed the merchandising license, held at that time by
Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
, would work as a great promotional tool.
Mark Zaslove
Mark Zaslove (born June 7, 1959) is an American television and film writer, director and producer and novelist, in live-action and animation. He has won two Emmy Awards and the Humanitas Prize. He has created a wide range of content from the child ...
was contacted to write the series bible; he had recently finished work on the ''
DuckTales
''DuckTales'' is an American animated television series produced by Disney Television Animation. The original cartoon series premiered on syndication and on Disney Channel on September 18, 1987 and ran for a total of 100 episodes over four sea ...
'' pilot episode. The document was written over Memorial Day weekend 1987, with Zaslove having only three days to complete the proposal. The pitch was well received by Disney and subsequently green-lit.
Instead of shopping ''Winnie the Pooh'' around to different networks, the show was pitched directly to ABC. The channel had desperately wanted a cartoon from Disney for their Saturday morning schedule, which had fallen to last place in the ratings. They had hoped Pooh could boost ratings for the channel.
Two years earlier,
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...
and Krisel had set up meetings with all three major networks in hopes to sell rights to their two cartoon series: ''
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears
''Adventures of the Gummi Bears'' is an American animated television series, created by Disney CEO Michael Eisner, produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, and distributed by Buena Vista Television. The series, loosely inspired by the gummy ...
'' and ''
The Wuzzles
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
''. NBC and CBS had purchased ''Gummi Bears'' and ''Wuzzles'' respectively. Realizing they had nothing left to offer ABC, Eisner and Krisel met with them anyway and received a warm response to the gaffe.
[Article](_blank)
''Emmy''. Volume 16. A deal was reached giving ABC the show, while giving first run rights to
The 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 Compan ...
.
The show was official announced via a press release on November 15, 1987. It would mark the first time a prominent Disney character was seen on Saturday morning television.
[ ] The series was viewed as a gamble, with people unsure if Pooh would survive on the new medium. At the time, Saturday morning cartoons were viewed as a place with dry, repetitive storylines, shallow characters, clichéd narratives, and cheap animation.
As a result, animation fans greeted Disney's plans to adapt A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard's childhood favorite to the small screen with a mixture of skepticism and dismay, fearing the show could not top the original featurettes.
Production
ABC eagerly commissioned 25 half-hour episodes of ''The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'' for its first season, rather than the standard 13 to 17.
Karl Geurs, a self-described Pooh fan, developed the series,
which took many months. At the time, Walt Disney Television Animation had only 80 employees and two projects in production. The department did not yet have in-house facilities built,
so employees worked out of the
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences building.
Disney put the same high standards of expectation that they had with their feature films.
They had hoped to set a new standard of excellence in Saturday morning television, one with "storytelling rich in language and values, as well as delightful well acted characters" that would appeal to audiences of all ages.
The writing process began with story premises being pitched to Zaslove, who served as
story editor for the first season. The best ones were selected and sent to ABC executives for approval, followed by story outlines and scripts. The process took around four weeks per episode.
The crew were "dyed-in-the-wool" fan of Milne's works,
constantly checking their work against published ''Pooh'' books in order to stay true to the original sense of
Milne. Special attention was given to maintain the personalities of the characters as they had originally been written.
The cartoon attempted to have the right balance of both action-adventure sequences and moments of whimsy.
The staff often found trouble working with the limited cast, with supervising director Ken Kessel quoted as saying: "You are restrained by what the characters can do and who they are".
The writing staff hoped to channel the spirit of the Walt Disney shorts of the 1940s, drawing inspiration from artists
Jack Hannah
John Frederick Hannah (January 5, 1913 – June 11, 1994) was an American animator, writer and director of animated shorts.
Biography
Hannah was born on January 5, 1913, in Nogales, Arizona. He moved to Los Angeles in 1931 to study at the Art ...
,
Ward Kimball
Ward Walrath Kimball (March 4, 1914 – July 8, 2002) was an American animator employed by Walt Disney Animation Studios. He was part of Walt Disney's main team of animators, known collectively as Disney's Nine Old Men. His films have been honor ...
, and
Jack
Jack may refer to:
Places
* Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA
People and fictional characters
* Jack (given name), a male given name, ...
and
Dick Kinney
Richard Timothy Kinney (December 15, 1916 in Utah – March 24, 1985 in Glendale, California) was an American animator and comic book writer. His comic book work was mostly in Disney comics, writing stories featuring Donald Duck and Scrooge M ...
.
The series had one internal standards director. Care was made to ensure there was no imitable behavior that children could copy. A source of friction on the show was whether Gopher was allowed to have gunpowder. A consulting company based in Glendale, California advised the team on how the characters should speak, look, and act in order to better appeal to the target demographic. The relationship with the production staff was described as positive.
Like most other cartoons, the animation was outsourced to other countries. This was mainly done for cost purposes and the limited availability of artists in the United States. All the writing, music, direction, character design, and color was worked by around 30 Disney employees in Hollywood. After this, everything was sent overseas for the animation. Approximately 300 employees would work on inking and printing.
An unusually high number of animation
cel
A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid (consisting of cellulose nitrate and camphor) was used during the first half of the 20th century, bu ...
s were used for the show, with 20,000 cels in each episode as opposed to 8,000–12,000 for typical cartoons.
The show had more drawings per minute than any other television cartoon at the time.
Early episodes were completed by
TMS Entertainment
, formerly known as the , also known as or , is a Japanese animation studio established on October 22, 1946.
TMS is one of the oldest and most famous anime studios in Japan, best known for numerous anime franchises such as '' Lupin the Third' ...
in Tokyo, Japan and later by Walt Disney Animation UK Ltd. in London, England,
Hanho Heung-Up
Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd. () is an animation service studio based in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1984 by Steven Hahn, over the years the studio has produced animation for many of the industry’s leading SVOD, cable, and broadcast studios and di ...
in Seoul, South Korea
and
Wang Film Productions
Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd. (also known as Hong Guang Animation (宏廣) and Cuckoos' Nest Studio) is one of the oldest and most prolific Taiwanese-American animation studios since 1978. The company, based in Xindian, Taipei and Los Angeles, ...
in Taipei, Taiwan. Sixteen episodes were also produced by
Walt Disney Television Australia in Sydney, New South Wales. The show set a benchmark for similar cartoons that both Disney as well as other channels expected for future shows.
In Manila, Philippines,
Fil-Cartoons (subsidiary of
Hanna-Barbera) and
Toon City
Toon City is a Filipino animation studio located in Manila. Its primary contractor is The Walt Disney Company and its DisneyToon Studios division, which produces animated TV series and direct-to-video films. They have also done a few commercial ...
also contributed some animation for the series.
After the animation was completed, the production reels were sent back to the United States where music and sound effects were added.
The show's theme song, entitled "Pooh Bear", was written by Steve Nelson and sung by Steve Wood. A version with Nelson doing the vocals later appeared on his ''Listen What the Katmandu'' album. Another version of the song with Jim Cummings doing the vocals (who also voiced Pooh and Tigger) appeared in reruns of the series on
Disney Channel in 1994. Nelson also composed several additional songs that were shown on the early episodes.
The music was particularly praised by critics. The show's underscore was composed by Thom Sharp. An orchestra was used to record the music, using instruments such as trumpets, woodwinds, and a full string section. The composers were given the unique opportunity to examine the animator's exposure sheets, enabling them to write music while an episode was being scripted.
The producers actively sought out the surviving original voice cast which had been used in the 1960s featurettes.
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'', Ad ...
, the original voice of Winnie the Pooh, read for the part, but had aged to the point where he could no longer do the voice successfully.
A
casting call
In the performing arts industry such as theatre, film, or television, casting, or a casting call, is a pre-production process for selecting a certain type of actor, dancer, singer, or extra for a particular role or part in a script, screenplay, ...
was held and
Jim Cummings was selected as his replacement, a role he has continued with to the present day. Cummings claimed that veteran actors such as
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997) was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed theater, film, and television.
Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "on ...
and
E.G. Marshall
E. G. Marshall (born Everett Eugene Grunz;Everett Eugene Grunz in Minnesota, U.S., Birth Index, 1900-1934, Ancestry.comEverett Eugene Grunz in the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, accessed via Ancestry.com June 18, ...
had read for the part of Pooh as well.
John Fiedler
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
and
Hal Smith, the original voices for
Piglet and
Owl
Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...
respectively, returned for the series.
Paul Winchell
Paul Winchell (''né'' Wilchinsky; December 21, 1922 – June 24, 2005) was an American actor, comedian, humanitarian, inventor and ventriloquist whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950 to 1954, he hosted ''The Paul Winchell S ...
also reprised his role as
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 char ...
. On advice from his
cardiologist
Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular ...
, Winchell mostly avoided working with the rest of the cast to avoid the stress. The studio let him do his voices alone.
At the time, Winchell was making various trips to
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
to cure hunger. Cummings often filled in for Winchell during these.
In the show's third season, Cummings permanently took over the role of Tigger. Most of the sessions occurred at
B&B Sound in
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...
. Newer technology allowed for the actors to record their roles without having to be in the same room. For example, Fiedler always did his recordings from
New York and Winchell was able to do some from
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
.
Promotion
Coming into the 1988–89 television season, networks had been struggling with a drop in ratings among children. ABC itself experienced a decline of 37 percent in kids under the age of 6.
It had been surmised by ABC executives that this was due to a change in the way
Nielsen ratings were collected.
The data had historically been recorded automatically by a device inside household television sets. However this had been changed the year before; children now had to use
people meters for their viewership to be counted. This required manually pushing buttons that would clock kids in and out and programs, something they often had trouble successfully completing.
What resulted was a demographic that could not be guaranteed to advertisers.
In order to combat this, ABC decided to fill their programming with "old favorites".
The studio began to develop and retool preexisting characters and shows, ones that they hoped could attract older children and their parents into watching the program.
''Winnie the Pooh'' became the centerpiece in this plan, with the show was described as the highlight of ABC's Saturday morning schedule.
The character had what network executives call "marquee value"—meaning they are familiar and already have a built-in audience.
Squire Rushnell, Children's Vice President for ABC, was hoping ''Pooh'' could draw a "somewhat more sophisticated" audience in the range from 6 to 11 years.
In the three weeks leading up to its debut, ABC began airing promotionals for the cartoon during prime-time hours.
This was seen as a very unusual occurrence.
Part of the reason this was done was to fill airtime, as the
1988 Writers Guild of America strike had caused production to be halted on prime time television shows. Advertisements for ''The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'' were played during adult shows such as ''
thirtysomething
''Thirtysomething'' is an American drama television series created by Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz for United Artists Television (under MGM/UA Television) and aired on ABC from September 29, 1987, to May 28, 1991."The 'don't trust any ...
'' and ''
Moonlighting
Moonlighting may refer to:
* Side job
A side job, also informally called a side hustle or side gig, is an additional job that a person takes in addition to their primary job in order to supplement their income. Side jobs may be done out of nec ...
'' using the tag line "Now you can share your childhood heroes with your children".
A television commercial that aired during the ''
ABC Sunday Night Movie
''The ABC Sunday Night Movie'' is a television program that aired on Sunday nights, first for a brief time in 1962 under the title ''Hollywood Special'' (although ''Time'' magazine lists this version as ''The Sunday Night Movie'') to supposedly r ...
'' on September 4, 1988 used the tagline "before taxes. before puberty. there was childhood. and Winnie the Pooh".
The evening before the show made its broadcast debut, ABC aired a thirty-minute Saturday Morning preview show featuring Winnie the Pooh and other debuting cartoons: ''
The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil
''The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil'' was a very short-lived revival of Bob Clampett's '' Beany and Cecil''. It was produced in 1988 by DIC Animation City. Only five half-hour episodes aired out of the thirteen in production during its origin ...
'' and ''
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo
''A Pup Named Scooby-Doo'' is an American animated mystery comedy series produced by Hanna-Barbera. It is the eighth incarnation of the studio's ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise and depicts younger versions of the title character and his human companion ...
''. The show placed second in its time slot with a 7.3 rating and a 14 share, with 11.2 million viewers watching.
Sears & Roebuck
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began as ...
and
Honey Nut Cheerios
Honey Nut Cheerios is a variation of Cheerios breakfast cereal, introduced in 1979 by Yandel Gonzalez, who was in the General Mills cereal company.
Honey Nut Cheerios is sweeter than the original, with a honey and almond flavor. While Honey Nut ...
partnered to host a nationwide premiere party to celebrate the series coming to ABC. Over 300 Sears stores across the country participated in the breakfast, which doubled as a charity event. The first episode was telecast on in-store video displays. More than 40,000 children attended the event.
Some stores had Winnie the Pooh characters show up in costume. Sears also dedicated eight pages of their Christmas catalog to the series.
Broadcast history
During the 1980s, a debate emerged inside Disney about whether original programs should be aired on the Disney Channel or outsourced to other channels. Some executives felt there was nothing more important than the Disney Channel.
Others such as Gary Krisel disagreed, feeling they risked losing a generation of TV viewers who did not have cable.
In the end, a compromise was reached with Disney Channel President John F. Cooke, who agreed to "pay" Krisel's division a certain price if he could get first run rights.
The show premiered on the
Disney Channel on January 17, 1988. Thirteen episodes aired at 8:30am on weekends. The show's run ended that July.
The show then moved to Saturday morning where it aired for a full hour from 8:30am to 9:30am. For the second season, the show was cut back to 30 minutes to make room for new entries. The show was merged with ''Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears'' and aired as part of the ''Gummi Bears-Winnie the Pooh Hour''.
This partnership was short-lived and lasted only one year, when ''Gummi Bears'' moved to
The Disney Afternoon
The Disney Afternoon (later known internally as the Disney-Kellogg Alliance when unbranded), sometimes abbreviated as TDA, was a created-for-syndication two-hour programming block of animated television series. It was produced by Walt Disney T ...
. ''Winnie the Pooh'' returned as a solo effort the following year.
New episodes intermixed with reruns returned for a third season in the fall of 1990.
During this time, two of the show's characters—Winnie the Pooh and Tigger—were incorporated into the television special ''
Cartoon All Stars to the Rescue''. The show returned for a fourth season on September 7, 1991.
The show was not renewed the following year. After the series ended, the crew produced ''
Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too
''Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too'' is a 1991 Christmas television special based on the Disney television series ''The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'', originally broadcast on December 14, 1991, on ABC and produced by Walt Disney Animation ...
'', a primetime spin-off of the show.
Despite production ending the year before, reruns of the show returned to ABC's fall schedule for the 1992–93 season. By the following year, the show was dropped by ABC and sold in
syndication
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
. Executives felt the show could make more money selling directly to television stations rather than accepting ABC's
license fee. The show later returned on December 9, 1995 when reruns of the program replaced ''
The New Adventures of Madeline''. The show briefly stopped airing for the first part of the 1996–97 season, then returned to the lineup on January 4, 1997 and continued until September 7, 2002.
The Disney Channel began airing reruns of the series on October 3, 1994. These continued until September 1, 2006, at which point it was taken off the schedule.
It was also shown on
Toon Disney, first airing April 18, 1998. Internationally, the show has aired in several countries including the Family Channel in Canada, India, and Poland. Reruns also aired on Playhouse Disney.
Characters
*
Winnie the Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard.
The first collection of stories about the character w ...
(
Jim Cummings) is the main character, a "bear of very little brain". Pooh is very naive yet lovable and is always good-natured. Cummings called the program timeless.
*
Piglet (
John Fiedler
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
) is Pooh's best friend. Piglet is shy, very kindhearted and is obsessed with keeping things neat and tidy, and enjoys beautiful things like flowers. His fears and nervousness often hinder his life, as Piglet runs and hides when unnecessary and often stutters when nervous, but has been shown to have a lot of hidden courage and often faces danger to help others. Piglet sometimes has an inferiority complex, although his friends think highly of him. Episodes about him tend to revolve around these traits as well as his small size. Fellow actor
Jim Cummings described his voice as "kind of like the wind blowing through tall grass. It sounded homey, and it sounding comforting." Fiedler was very proud of his work on the show and enjoyed the role just as much as when Piglet started in 1968.
*
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 char ...
(
Paul Winchell
Paul Winchell (''né'' Wilchinsky; December 21, 1922 – June 24, 2005) was an American actor, comedian, humanitarian, inventor and ventriloquist whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950 to 1954, he hosted ''The Paul Winchell S ...
in Seasons 1–3 and
Jim Cummings in Seasons 3–4) is an ebullient
tiger
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...
. Tigger is always filled with great energy and optimism, and though always well-meaning, Tigger can also be mischievous, and his actions have sometimes led to chaos and trouble for himself and his friends. Tigger is very confident and has quite an ego, having a high opinion of himself. Tigger has a notable habit of mispronouncing various words, or stressing wrong syllables in them. Unlike previous adaptations, Tigger is shown living in a large treehouse. Winchell thought of him as a cross between the
Dead End Kids
The Dead End Kids were a group of young actors from New York City who appeared in Sidney Kingsley's Broadway play '' Dead End'' in 1935. In 1937, producer Samuel Goldwyn brought all of them to Hollywood and turned the play into a film. They prov ...
and the
Cowardly Lion
The Cowardly Lion is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He is depicted as an African lion, but like all animals in Oz, he can speak.
Since lions are supposed to be "The Kings of Beasts," the Cowardl ...
.
Winchell voiced Tigger in the first two seasons and some of the third season, before Cummings took over the role for the rest of the last two seasons.
When Cummings took over the role, Winchell said "Take care of my little friend for me."
*
Rabbit (
Ken Sansom
Frank Kenneth Sansom (April 2, 1927 – October 8, 2012) was an American actor. Among his best known roles, Sansom voiced Rabbit in animated television series, television specials, and films for Disney's ''Winnie the Pooh'' franchise from 1988 t ...
) is a sarcastic and finicky
rabbit. In addition to wanting to be organized and practical, Rabbit's tendency to take charge is inflated to the extent that Rabbit becomes a control freak who insists on doing things exactly right, in his way and in the proper order. Rabbit keeps a garden and does whatever he can to protect it from other animals such as bugs and crows, often getting upset when anyone or anything tries to steal his vegetables. Rabbit and Tigger are usually foils for each other, reluctantly working together. Rabbit was shown as pale green in the series, compared to yellow in later efforts. Sansom described voicing Rabbit as the best professional experience he ever had.
*
Gopher
Pocket gophers, commonly referred to simply as gophers, are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. The roughly 41 speciesSearch results for "Geomyidae" on thASM Mammal Diversity Database are all endemic to North and Central America. They are ...
(
Michael Gough
Francis Michael Gough ( ; 23 November 1916 – 17 March 2011) was a British character actor who made more than 150 film and television appearances. He is known for his roles in the Hammer Horror Films from 1958, with his first role as Sir Arthu ...
) plays a more prominent role in this series. Gopher is shown to be a bit of a workaholic, and is obsessed with dynamite and digging in his tunnels. Gopher speaks with a Southern accent and wears a helmet with a light attached. Gopher often helps the others out with construction plans.
*
Eeyore
Eeyore ( ) is a fictional character in the ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' books by A. A. Milne. He is generally characterized as a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, anhedonic, old grey stuffed donkey who is a friend of the title character, Winnie-th ...
(
Peter Cullen
Peter Claver Cullen (born July 28, 1941) is a Canadian voice actor. He is best known as the voice of Optimus Prime in the original 1980s ''Transformers'' animated series, reprising the role many times since 2007. He has also voiced many other ...
) is a gloomy
donkey
The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
. Eeyore is somewhat less caustic and sarcastic in this version than in the original stories. Despite his depressive nature, Eeyore is capable of great compassion. Eeyore usually expects misfortune to happen to him, such as his house of sticks to be knocked down regularly, but accepts it when it does.
* Owl (
Hal Smith) is the eldest character in the series. Owl presents himself as a mentor and teacher to the others, but is really quite scatterbrained. Owl enjoys telling stories about his distant relatives, whenever something reminds him of one, but many of his stories are pointless or absurd. Owl speaks with a strong Southern English accent.
*
Christopher Robin
Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, based on his son Christopher Robin Milne. The character appears in the author's popular books of poetry and ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disney ...
(
Tim Hoskins) is a young
boy
A boy is a young male human. The term is commonly used for a child or an adolescent. When a male human reaches adulthood, he is described as a man.
Definition, etymology, and use
According to the ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'', a boy is ...
that has adventures with the stuffed animals.
*
Roo
Roo is a fictional character created in 1926 by A. A. Milne and first featured in the book ''Winnie-the-Pooh''. He is a young kangaroo (known as a joey) and his mother is Kanga. Like most other Pooh characters, Roo is based on a stuffed toy an ...
(
Nicholas Melody
''The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'' is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Based on the ''Winnie-the-Pooh (book), Winnie-the-Pooh'' books by authors A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard, ''The New ...
) is a young
joey
Joey may refer to:
People
*Joey (name)
Animals
* Joey (marsupial), an infant marsupial
* Joey, a Blue-fronted Amazon parrot who was one of the Blue Peter pets
Film and television
* ''Joey'' (1977 film), an American film directed by Horac ...
. Roo wears a light blue shirt. The smallest of the characters, Roo frequently is seen hanging around
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 char ...
.
* Kanga (
Patricia Parris
Patricia Parris (also professionally credited as Pat Parris, Patty Parris, Patti Parris and Patricia E. Parris) is an American actress who provided voice-overs for several animated television series for such studios as Hanna-Barbera, The Walt Di ...
) is Roo's mother. Kanga rarely appears, but is shown to be kindhearted and calm.
For the most part, the show used a limited cast consisting only of characters in the original Milne books, with the notable exception of the Disney-created character Gopher.
However, several minor characters did make appearances. Christopher Robin's mother is shown occasionally, but always with her face obscured.
Kessie is a female
bluebird
The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the order of Passerines in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas.
...
that Rabbit rescues, makes her first appearance in this series; Kessie would later appear in ''
The Book of Pooh
''The Book of Pooh'' is an American children's television series that aired on the Playhouse Disney block on Disney Channel. It is the third television series to feature the characters from the Disney franchise based on A. A. Milne's works; th ...
''.
Stan Woozle
This is a list of characters appearing in the “Winnie-the-Pooh” books and the Disney adaptations of the series.
Main
Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh, or Pooh for short, is an anthropomorphic, soft-voiced, cuddly, loveable and quiet teddy ...
and
Heff Heffalump
A Heffalump is a type of elephant-like character in the Winnie the Pooh stories by A. A. Milne. Heffalumps are mentioned, and only appear, in Pooh and Piglet's dreams in ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' (1926), and seen again in ''The House at Pooh Corner'' ...
appear as a pair of honey thieves. This marked the first time
heffalump
A Heffalump is a type of elephant-like character in the Winnie the Pooh stories by A. A. Milne. Heffalumps are mentioned, and only appear, in Pooh and Piglet's dreams in ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' (1926), and seen again in ''The House at Pooh Corner'' ...
s and
woozles were seen on-screen.
Prior to this, heffalumps and woozles had always been portrayed as creatures that did not exist and were representative of childhood fears. Instead, the show used other unseen villains such as
Jagulars and the
"Grab-Me Gotcha." Papa Heffalump also appeared from time to time. Other characters on the show include
Owl
Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...
's cousin Dexter (voiced by
Hal Smith) and
Skippy the Sheepdog.
Chuck McCann provided additional voices as well.
Setting
For this adaptation, the show underwent an Americanization. The setting was changed from native England to contemporary America.
The series depicted Christopher Robin as a typical 1980s kid rather than a 1920s British child. He is shown living in a suburban house with his mother and no longer had an English accent.
His mischievous imagination drew comparisons to
Calvin Calvin may refer to:
Names
* Calvin (given name)
** Particularly Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States
* Calvin (surname)
** Particularly John Calvin, theologian
Places
In the United States
* Calvin, Arkansas, a hamlet
* Calvi ...
from ''
Calvin and Hobbes
''Calvin and Hobbes'' is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Commonly cited as "the last great newspaper comic", ''Calvin and Hobbes'' has enjoyed b ...
'', as opposed to Milne's original interpretation.
Additionally, unlike the earlier Disney featurettes, the show did not use a narrator or the storybook theme.
Although the show still used the
Hundred Acre Wood
The Hundred Acre Wood (also spelled as 100 Aker Wood, Hundred-Acre Wood, and 100 Acre Wood; also known as simply "The Wood") is a part of the fictional land inhabited by Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends in the Winnie-the-Pooh series of children's s ...
as its main setting, several episodes took place in other locations. The characters occasionally traveled to the adjacent town, going to a grocery store or movie theater.
Other episodes were set in more imaginative settings and involved the characters journeying into the clouds or down in a
wishing well
A wishing well is a term from European folklore to describe water well, wells where it was thought that any spoken wish would be granted. The idea that a wish would be granted came from the notion that water housed deity, deities or had been ...
. Two episodes took place in
the Wild West
Wild West often refers to the American frontier period of the Western United States in the 19th century.
Wild West may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
(Chronological)
* ''Wild West'' (serial), a 1925 film serial
*''Wild West' ...
, one in the form of a play. These styles of episodes were done away with later on.
The writing staff felt they worked best in the Hundred Acre Wood.
The writers made a point of keeping the show as timeless as possible, having the Hundred Acre Wood become a "never, never land". The show did its best to leave out all the modern conveniences.
The approach to episodes was to put more emphasis on adventure, yet keep the integrity of Milne's characters.
To add excitement, the occasional waterfall or cliff was added,
which the show found tough to fit in.
The dialogue was updated to make the show more relatable to today's generation.
Themes and analysis
The show was a conceived as a
comedy of manners
In English literature, the term comedy of manners (also anti-sentimental comedy) describes a genre of realistic, satirical comedy of the Restoration period (1660–1710) that questions and comments upon the manners and social conventions of a gr ...
and was hailed as a rare cartoon devoid of any violence or villains.
The show's main theme revolved around the complications and misunderstandings that often arose between the characters and their eventual return to normalcy.
For instance, one episode dealt with Pooh believing Rabbit was moving away after hearing he had "eaten him out of house and
oney Oney may refer to:
* Oney, France, a subsidiary of French Auchan Holding and Banque Accord
* Oney, Oklahoma, an unincorporated community in Oklahoma
* "Oney" (song), a song written by Jerry Chesnut and sung by Johnny Cash, 1972
* Oney Judge, a ...
.
Special attention was paid to write from a child's point of view, rather than an adult's. For this, the writers drew inspiration from
Bill Cosby
William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...
,
Gahan Wilson
Gahan Allen Wilson (February 18, 1930 – November 21, 2019) was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations.
Biography
Wilson was born in Evanston, Illinois, and was inspired by th ...
, and ''
The Phantom Tollbooth
''The Phantom Tollbooth'' is a Juvenile fantasy, children's fantasy adventure novel written by Norton Juster, with illustrations by Jules Feiffer, first published in 1961 in literature, 1961. The story follows a bored young boy named Milo who ...
''.
Additionally, the staff was also very conscious of their older viewers—dubbed "older kids"—and would always aim for a sensibility that would appeal to them as well. Kessel noted that while the show often had writing that would go over the heads of little kids, the original Milne books did as well.
Unlike previous adaptations of ''Winnie the Pooh'', the stories were for the most part not based on chapters from A. A. Milne's books. The writers made a point of not copying from Milne, but instead drawing the essence of him for the modern day; keeping the same charm and style as the original stories.
The episodes have very little action in terms of plot, which in later years has drawn comparisons to ''
Seinfeld
''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...
''.
The main storylines typically derived from the characters and their relationships to each other.
Episode plots ranged from the simple, such as Winnie the Pooh searching for
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
(stylized as hunny), to the more dramatic, such as Christopher Robin becoming trapped under his bed.
Some episodes spoofed published works of fiction including ''
Frankenstein
''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ...
'' and
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
.
Episodes focused on socioemotional issues, dealing with topics such as teamwork, resourcefulness, how to triumph over challenges, the power of positive outlook, and the value of friendship. The series delivered strong messages about honesty, responsibility, persistence, cooperative effort, friendship and caring. The morals taught in each story allow children to draw parallels to their own lives.
These were offered in a far more subtle manner than the "prosocial snippets" seen on other programs.
Many stories are designed to help young children distinguish between fantasy and reality and overcome common childhood fears. Innumerable children's-expert panels continued throughout its lengthy network run to highly commend and recommend the series to the three-to-ten-year-old crowd, even growing tolerant enough to be amused by the "hunny/honey" spelling controversy.
Reception
Critical response
Charles Solomon of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' called the show "the best made-for-TV cartoon show in several seasons".
Months later, he claimed it as "not only the classiest new show of the season, but also one of the best-looking series ever animated for television", and gave an similarly positive review the next year. ''
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...
'' said it "contained much more detailed and lively animation than the usual kidvid". ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' said the show had "theatrical-grade animation, sprightly stories, conscientious eschewing of laugh tracks and best of all, the willingness to let the visual jokes speak for themselves". ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' gave the show an "A" saying "there's enough excitement, including lots of slapstick and bad guys, to keep '90s adventurers happy".
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called the show "lovingly faithful" to the original Milne books.
Lee Winfrey of ''
Knight-Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, it was the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspaper bran ...
'' says the writers successfully maintained the integrity of Milne's characters and praised the animators for
Ernest H. Shepard
Ernest Howard Shepard OBE Military Cross, MC (10 December 1879 – 24 March 1976) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is known especially for illustrations of the Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic animal and soft toy characters in ''Th ...
's illustrations.
The ''
Milwaukee Journal
The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...
'' said the show will "offer children and probably their parents, a gentle walk through Pooh Corner".
Gene Seymour of ''Knight-Ridder'' called the best animation on weekly television outside of the General Mills Commercials. ''The Dayton Daily News'' called the program one of the best on television writing "The animation of this offering from the Disney's studios is not as sumptuous as the company's feature films, but it is miles above the television norm". Charles Witback praised the show claiming that "Milne
ame #REDIRECT AME
{{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
out on top " and they remain unique to the flashy, noisy Hollywood.
''
The San Bernardino Sun
''The San Bernardino Sun'' is a paid daily newspaper in San Bernardino County. Founded in 1894, it has significant circulation in neighboring Riverside County, and serves most of the Inland Empire in Southern California, with a circulation area ...
'' wrote "if kids like the verbal wit of the other shows, they'll tackle the rich sophistication of Winnie the Pooh".
''
Good Housekeeping
''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...
'' wrote that the show was "sweet and endearing, though its educational value is essentially limited to a kid-tailored 'I'm okay, you're okay' theme".
Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children. gave the show 4 stars, saying "the lessons are just as classic and time-tested as the characters".
Hal Erickson, writing in his book ''Television Cartoon Shows'', called the show a delightful eye of calm in "the hurricane of hectic Saturday morning slapstick".
DVDizzy.com praised the show calling it "true both to the spirit of Milne's creation and the animation of Disney's terrific short films".
DVDVerdict.com called the show "perfectly respectable imitations that still rank as stellar, sweet-natured children's entertainment", going on to write "Kids should enjoy this stuff and adults should feel comfortable leaving their young ones in the care of this of this good-hearted programming for an hour". ''AnimatedViews'' called the show "a well-remembered if not exceptional series that slotted into the kind of programming that filled the Disney Afternoons."
David Perlmutter, in his book ''America Toons In'', called the longevity of the show "a testament to the enduring appeal of the beloved characters".
Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children. have the series a four out of five stars, saying, "Classic characters will delight preschoolers."
Not all reviews have been positive. Evan Levine, writing for the ''
Philadelphia Daily News'', gave the program a mixed review, saying "the characters are all true to form, but the colors are overly bright, and the whole look is harsh" but adding "this series is certainly better than a lot of other cartoons that we've seen". Jan Crain Rudeen, writing for the
Scripps Howard News Service
The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is h ...
, described the series and the resulting video releases as "awful", which he felt lacked imagination. Desson Thomson, Desson Howe of ''The Washington Post'' described the series as "cheaply sweetened fare". One particular episode has been a source of controversy. "Sorry Wrong Slusher", in which the characters stay up late, order pizza, and watch a late night slasher film, "slusher film", has been called violent.
Ratings
The network television premiere on Saturday, September 10, 1988, was hailed as an immediate success.
The show won its time-slot with 5.9/23 Nielsen ratings share, translating to 5.7 million viewers. ABC, who had been in third place for Saturday morning the year prior, won every time-slot averaging a 5.0 rating/20 share.
This trend continued for the next three weeks. Selby Hall, Marketing Manager for ABC, was quoted as saying "[the show had] been very successful on Saturday mornings in the States". The high ratings caused an extra push behind the international airings of the program. Throughout the season, the show continued to receive "solid" ratings. The show ranked 10th place out of all Saturday morning cartoons for the season.
During the 1989–90 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning), 1989–90 television schedule, the series was paired with ''Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears''. The show once again won its time-slot, but fell one rating point from the previous year's debut. The show repeated this the next week, but was beaten by ''Captain N: The Game Master'' the next two weeks.
By 1993, the show had fallen in the ratings. Finishing 27th out of the 36 Saturday morning programs, the show averaged a 2.1/9 Nielsen rating share. The show received a 3.3 Nielsen rating in late February 1993 corresponding to 3.2 million viewers. In 1997, ''MediaWeek'' ranked it 301st out of every broadcast show. By the late 1990s, the show was one of the top five Saturday morning cartoons. It had a (2.5/11) market share in Boys 2–11 and a (2.2/11) market share in boys 6–11.
Awards
For its debut season, the show won a
Daytime Emmy Award
The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...
for
Outstanding Animated Program. During his acceptance speech, Mark Zaslove praised the actors and animators for their dedication to the series and specifically thanked Jymn Magon and Karl Geurs for the humanity they brought to the program. The following year the series was awarded the same honor, this time in a tie with ''Beetlejuice (TV series), Beetlejuice''. The show was awarded the first of two
Humanitas Prize
The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist P ...
s during its first season for "[examining] the need to both hold onto and let go of love". Three years later, the show would pick up its second prize for its dramatization "of the struggle to assume responsibility and live with the consequences of your mistakes". The show also received a commemoration from the Action for Children's Television with President Peggy Charren calling the show "an imaginative extension of the Pooh stories...preserving the essence of the original characters".
The show was cited in the Children's Television Act, Children's Television Act of 1990 as an example of a positive educational program. The show received a special salute during the opening session of the Congressional Club in 1988. Joan Lunden, co-host of ''Good Morning America'', hosted the opening session which included United States Congressional and Cabinet wives as well as their children and grandchildren. BuzzFeed ranked the theme song third in their list of "7 Cartoon Theme Songs Guaranteed to Earworm You"
Home media
![Disney s Winnie the Pooh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Disney_s_Winnie_the_Pooh.svg)
Although Disney has never released the complete series on home video, there have been numerous video collections released over the years.
The first was a collection of 10 videocassette tapes issued by Walt Disney Home Video.
Each VHS contained two to four episodes, with the first three tapes released in 1989. This was followed by an additional three the next year and four more in 1992. Due to a twenty-five year license agreement on ''Pooh'' merchandise, these videotapes were released only in Sears. Sales were very poor, despite a solid consumer base.
Eric Schulz, Vice President of Marketing at Disney, recalled an incident one Friday afternoon at Kmart where parents were shopping: "We noticed that no Winnie the Pooh characters were available. Several consumers were asking the store clerks if the Poohs were sold out". Schulz and his team discovered there were no plush toys available at Kmart, due to the licensing. They also discovered that this license was expiring in just a few months and would not be renewed. That afternoon, the marketing team returned to the office and began to plan new ideas to sell ''Winnie the Pooh'' videos.
In 1994, on the day that the Sears license expired, a nationwide Pooh video and plush promotion was launched.
Videos were packaged with Pooh plush characters together in a single box.
Disney proclaimed 1994, "The Year of Pooh", which coincided with the 70th anniversary of Winnie the Pooh. In lieu of traditional press kit, Disney sent out a Winnie the Pooh cookie jar to the press outlets, a decision which received overwhelmingly positive reaction. ''Today (American TV program), The Today Show'' proudly displayed its Pooh cookie jar on television while the hosts talked about the new video releases.
Two collections of compilation tapes called ''Pooh Playtime'' and ''Pooh Learning'' were released with three videotapes encompassing each set. The videos featured between two and four episodes of ''The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'' and featured new songs written by Dave Kinnoin. Sales were very high, with numerous videos turned up on the ''Video Bestseller List''. In just three weeks, Disney had sold twenty times more ''Winnie the Pooh'' videos than they had in the previous twelve months. By 1995, Pooh videos sold over thirty times what they had sold the year before, despite the fact that Disney had only repackaged existing products.
Because of their success, two additional videos were added to each collection. A third collection entitled ''Pooh Friendship'' was released in 1997, bringing the three collections to fifteen videos between them.
The show first appeared on DVD in the United Kingdom. Under the title ''The Magical World of Winnie the Pooh'', eight volumes were released consisting of four episodes apiece. The first five volumes of this series later appeared in the United States under the name ''Growing Up with Winnie the Pooh''. Appearing in February 2005, the releases were made to coincide with the premiere of ''Pooh's Heffalump Movie''. These episodes did not include the original opening credits, but instead had new sequences specifically made for the discs.
Episodes of the show have also been released as part of the "special features" in the DVD releases of Winnie the Pooh movies, such as ''The Tigger Movie'' and ''Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo''.
The series became available on Disney+ when the service launched on November 12, 2019.
Impact and legacy
The series helped spawn a successful ''Winnie the Pooh'' media franchise, which grew into a series of made-for-TV holiday specials, two additional television series, and four theatrically released movies. Many of the cast members continued to work with these Winnie the Pooh adaptations. Jim Cummings continues to voice Winnie the Pooh and Tigger in the present day. Paul Winchell briefly reprised his role as Tigger in ''Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin''.
John Fiedler voiced Piglet until his death in 2005.
Ken Sansom and Peter Cullen continued voicing their characters until 2010. Much of the writers and directors returned for ''Pooh's Grand Adventure'' and ''The Book of Pooh''. Bruce Talkington has since written many children's books based on Winnie the Pooh.
The show was one of the last times ''Winnie the Pooh'' was designed and marketed for audiences of all ages. In the years following the series, Walt Disney Home Video began to reposition their strategy and marketed the television series, and Winnie the Pooh in general, towards younger age groups, despite critics claiming the show can be enjoyed by members of all ages.
In later years, the show has been touted as strictly for preschoolers. DVDizzy summarized the idea saying "Even though Milne's books had won over readers of all ages and even though kids weren't buying movie tickets and merchandise, Disney seemed set on the idea that Pooh was strictly for little ones, those not even old enough to attend school".
The program caused a resurgence of popularity of ''Winnie the Pooh'' that continues to this day, to the point of the character being Disney's second largest franchise.
Following the home video releases, Disney's annual revenue from ''Winnie the Pooh'' rose from $100 million to more than $1 billion in just four years.
Winnie the Pooh is now the most successful Disney character, surpassing Mickey Mouse. As of 2012, it is the List of highest-grossing media franchises, third most popular media franchise in the United States.
To promote the opening of ''Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation'', the production released a recording of Corbin Bleu covering the show's theme song.
Bleu sings the original ''Winnie the Pooh'' theme for the actual production.
Notes
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{{DEFAULTSORT:New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh, The
1980s American animated television series
1988 American television series debuts
1990s American animated television series
1991 American television series endings
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