The show is the second longest-running prime-time program on U.S. The show has had only two hosts, founder and former president, Walt Disney, and former chairman and C.E.O., Michael Eisner. In 2020, the series returned with movies from the Disney+ library. Since then, ABC has continued the series as an occasional special presentation from 2008 onward, the most recent being a holiday music special in 2019. From 1997 to 2008, the program aired regularly on ABC. The program resumed a regular schedule in 1997 on the ABC fall schedule, coinciding with Disney's purchase of the network in 1996. From 1991 until 1997, the series aired infrequently. After a two-year hiatus it resumed, running regularly until 1991.
The show was broadcast weekly on one of the Big Three television networks until 1983. The original version of the series premiered on ABC in 1954. The program moved among the Big Three television networks in its first four decades, but has aired on ABC since 1997 and Disney+ since 2020. The program's current title, The Wonderful World of Disney, was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 onward.
The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats.
