SATURDAY DISNEY

 

SATURDAY DISNEY
(Seven Network, 7TWO, 7flix, January 27, 1990-September 24, 2016)
 
Buena Vista International, Seven Network Australia

 

MAIN CAST:
Sofie Formica – Host (1990-92)
Jeniene Mapp – Host (1990-96)
James Sherry – Host (1990-94)
Lisa Barry – Host (1992-97)
Shelley Craft – Host (1996-2002)
Marc Buhaj – Host (1994-99)
Melanie Symons – Host (1997-2002)
Tim McDonald – Host (1999-2000)
Daniel Widdowson – Host (2000-07)
Shae Brewster – Host (2002-13)
Sara Groen – Host (2002-06)
Sally Stanton – Host (2006-11)
Jack Yabsley – Host (2007-11)
Nathan Morgan – Host (2011-16)
Candice Dixon – Host (2011-16)
Teigan Nash – Host (2013-16)

  

Before launching their international counterparts of The Disney Channel, Disney had an initiative to expand its programming to other countries under the unified name The Disney Club through their international production arm, Buena Vista International. Starting in 1989, these programming blocks aired on major free-to-air networks and mostly consisted of reruns of Disney shows supplemented by original content produced within those countries. As part of Australia’s Seven Network’s output deal and long-running relationship with Disney, they were to produce their own version of The Disney Club. However, the producers convinced Disney to allow them to rename it to Saturday Disney in order to avoid confusion with The Mickey Mouse Club—a title they felt was dated—due to the similar names and logo branding.

While the name may have been different, the format of Saturday Disney largely followed the ones employed by The Disney Club. Over the course of two hours, Saturday Disney aired three Disney programs on a rotating basis between original segments starring three hosts; always two girls and a boy. The only time they deviated from this line-up was when they would introduce the replacement for a departing host as a passing of the torch. The hosts lived in the “Disney House”, a set designed by Alan Olive and inspired by Queensland architecture to make viewers feel like they were visiting a friend’s house on a Saturday morning (it would see several revisions over the years). There, the hosts would engage in various imitable activities such as cooking, crafts or science that their audience could participate in; interviews with celebrity guests; interact with live animals; feature stories about places, activities and events reported as either themselves or characters; or star in recurring skits as various characters. Occasionally the show would leave their studio in Brisbane and film on location. The hosts not only worked on screen, but also served as writers and producers as well. A second similar, yet unrelated, Saturday Disney would debut in the United Kingdom in 1993; lasting only until 1996.

Two recurring segments each week were the Double Dog Dare and Letter of the Week. Double Dog Dare saw the hosts challenge each other to complete a ridiculous task; often a last-minute surprise to the one of them being challenged. If they were unsuccessful, they had to face an equally ridiculous punishment; such as consuming an unusual food concoction. Viewers got to participate by sending in ideas for punishments. Letter of the Week saw the hosts go through the various letters and artwork they were sent and select a winner. That winner would then get a selection of prizes and have their work displayed on the set.

The Disney House.

Saturday Disney debuted on Seven Network on January 27, 1990. The series was originally hosted by Sofie Formica, Jeniene Mapp and James Sherry and would air from 7:00 to 9:00. Throughout the 90s, the programs shown largely pulled from The Disney Afternoon and later One Saturday Morning programming blocks. Programming from The Disney Channel was also incorporated starting with the theatrical short anthology showcase The Adventures of Mickey & Donald. The series initially used an upbeat rendition of Leigh Harline and Ned Washington’s “When You Wish Upon a Star” for its theme before switching to the instrumental version of The Disney Afternoon’s,  composed by Tom Snow. From 1993 until 2001, Saturday Disney was expanded by an extra half hour to include programs such as The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and The Little Mermaid, Disney-distributed Sabrina: The Animated Series and Squiggle Vision/Science Court, and the Australian original Crash Zone. This extra half hour had minimal hosted content and would get its own separate entry in TV listings. In 1997, the series moved production to Sydney.

The first of many cast changes came just two years in when Formica was replaced by Lisa Barry in 1992. Shelley Craft, Marc Buhaj, Melanie Symons, Tim McDonald, Daniel Widdowson, Shae Brewster, Sara Groen, Sally Stanton, Jack Yabsley, Nathan Morgan and Candice Dixon would have their own respective tenures as hosts over the next decade. Following the addition of Hannah Montana in 2007 to the line-up, Saturday Disney began to incorporate more of Disney’s live-action programming into the mix. In 2009, the series was moved a half hour earlier for 3 months before returning to its regular timeslot. It also celebrated its 1,000^th episode by filming in Disneyland, as well as by airing a retrospective the week before. The following year it was moved to 9:00 to make room for infotainment news program Weekend Sunrise; which was an extension from its original Sunday timeslot.

In 2012, Saturday Disney was moved to station 7TWO at their original 7:00-9:00 timeslot to make room for talk show The Morning Show. That move came with an all-new look and opening sequence, as well as an eventual expansion to three hours that added two additional Disney programs to the rotation. That fall, those three hours were split between Seven, which aired it from 6:00-7:00, and 7TWO, which picked it up from 7:00 until 9:00. 2013 saw the final cast change when Brewster, the longest serving of all the hosts at just shy of 11 years, left and was replaced by Teigan Nash. In 2016, Saturday Disney moved again from 7TWO to 7flix and remained there until it broadcast its final episode that September. Marking the occasion, Symons, Widdowson, Brewster, Stanton and Yabsley returned for a guest appearance, as did Sherry via a video message. Ultimately, the program’s cancellation was attributed to a new executive producer in charge of children’s programming desiring to take things in a new direction.

Saturday Disney was the 20^th-longest-running program in Australia, and the country’s 5^th-longest-running children’s program that was consistently in the top 10 of children’s programs. It was nominated for a Logie Award in 2012 for “Most Outstanding Children’s Program”, which was co-presented by former host Craft, and for a TV Tonight Award in 2014 for “Best Kid’s Show”. While a couple of the hosts had disappeared from the public eye after the series’ end, many of them went on to have various careers in other shows or areas of broadcasting—some even with Disney again—and left a generation of Australian kids with fond childhood memories.