Playhouse Disney- Review of My Childhood (part 1)

Hi, I'm the Whatsoever Critic. I review just about anything.

Lately I've been feeling nostalgic about the shows that I used to watch as a kid. I remember watching Playhouse Disney way before it became Disney Junior. Most of my childhood consisted of innocent learning and growing my imagination. I can't wait to share my feelings on Playhouse Disney. I don't care if this review is split into parts...

-Well, seeing that most movies are becoming two-parters nowadays...

I decided to make this one Part 1 of my review. So let's get started!

Having its start on May 8, 1997 until it was closed down on February 13, 2011, Playhouse Disney was one of my favorite channels growing up (besides PBS). It's fitting that I start by showing you the shows that started in the year 1997, and then go from year to year from there- all the way to the final number of shows that were crammed before they carried over to Disney Junior. So for Part 1, these are the shows that I saw on Playhouse Disney growing up:

Bear in the Big Blue House

I used to love this bear when I was a kid. The show itself wasn't too bad either for a Jim Henson-Muppet feel.

This show about a large bear with a good sense of smell, as well as a sense of curiosity, who has many friends that would visit him at his house, and they would have many adventures together.

Bear was voiced by Paul Andrejco, who also designed most of the characters that were on the show. The character of this beloved creature seemed okay, but now that I'm old enough to understand a lot of things, I sometimes wonder if he was being too friendly with the kid audience.

For example, every time Bear greets us by the door (which occurs in each episode), he sniffs around until he sniffs at the audience, and then he asks us about the smell that he's smelling...

-Okay, I'll admit: sometimes he gets the scent wrong, and sometimes he gets it right. There was this one time,  I remember as a kid, I had finished taking a bath. My mom turns on this show. The show just started, and I was sitting there in the living room, still drying my hair. Then I hear Bear ask the audience, "What's that smell?" He would sniff around, until he exclaims, "It's you!" And then he asked something along the lines of: "Did you just take a bath?" I remember my jaw dropping. I was like: "How did he know that?"

But who cares? I still love this Bear, and I hope Disney Junior would find it in its heart to put this show back on the air.

Also in 1997 came show that seems forgettable nowadays. I'm not sureif it was because of the show's budget or not, but it had no redeeming value. I'm talking about Spot the Dog.

Granted, I was okay with this show as a kid. I just find it so forgettable, because nobody really talks about it like it was something worthy of a Twitter following.

Anyway, it's about a little dog that goes on many adventures (either with friends or by himself).

The first thing that you'll notice with these characters is that their lips don't move whenever they speak. It's like another Thomas the Tank Engine-like show where the budget was too low (or something) to not think having the lips move. 

As for the stories, they were okay. I still remember the characters going to an amusement park; I still remember the picnic that got rained on; and I still remember Spot sniffing around in search of a smell until he finds a cake waiting for him at home (Spoiler Alert if you haven't seen the show).

Now that I'm looking deeper into this show, I remember something about this being based on the children's book series by Eric Hill.

Well, if you like the books, then you can check out the show if you haven't seen it, or if you don't remember it.

And for the last two shows that I'm going to show you for today, the word is that they were "acquired programming," meaning that they also aired in other channels (I think). So, first, let's dive right into The Little Mermaid series.

Since Disney felt that the original movie was such a big hit, they decided to continue Ariel's adventures, where they're basically saying: "See what happened before Ariel met her prince Eric."

-Well, the third movie would contradict that...

If you haven't guessed the premise yet: Ariel is her teen self, going on adventures with Flounder and Sebastian, and doing one of two things:

1. causing trouble (in a naive way, mainly)

2. making the situation worse (in a naive way)

-Kinda like King Julien's character in Penguins of Madagascar.

This show had to have been the start of Disney movies getting their spin-off shows like Aladdin and Timon and Pumbaa. But unlike Aladdin, The Little Mermaid was never restricted by the environment that the original movie had already given it. I remember Ariel naiively unleashing a bunch of dinosaur that one episode. I remember Ariel rescuing Spot the whale from some kind of harbor that one time.

I remember Ariel going to a Las Vegas-like underwater city with a group of mermaid once...

-Do any of those episodes ring a bell?

Plus, I also remember so many characters (besides the obvious ones that were from the movie).

I remember Urchin,
the lobster duo,

Spot,

the Evil Manta, and...

the sign-language girl... 

-Okay, I don't know most of the character. I just know what they look like.

Anyway, this show was decent to an extent. Plus, it still had Jodi Benson as Ariel, which was awesome.

However, I have to acknowledge the show that grabbed my attention the most: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

For the premise, most of the adventures that the characters have take place in the Hundred Acre Wood. However, they sometimes go to Christopher Robin's house. And, there was this one episode where they went to the movies as a group.

-Remember all of that?

Anyway, the show had the same characters as the original Winnie the Pooh stories.

There was Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo...

-(me giggling on that last part)

...Gopher, Owl, and Christopher Robin.

As for the side characters, there were a few episodes where you got to see Christopher Robin's mom and babysitter, but they didn't show their faces. In fact, most of the adults on this show didn't have a face.

-It's like in most of the Tom and Jerry cartoons...

Well, it doesn't matter. You can learn timeless lessons from most of the episodes,

like being honest,

being yourself,

have a little imagination, and... don't get in trouble with the law(?)

Yeah, I'm not sure if anyone else remembers this one or not, but there was one episode where Christopher Robin and the characters had flooded a house. The next thing you know, the police are called in, the characters are interrogated, and the episode ends with Christopher Robin's mugshot.

-Unless this was only in their imagination(?)

Well, it was still a great show, and something else that Disney Junior should consider adding to their time slot.

So this was Part 1 of reviewing Playhouse Disney. Be sure to stay tuned for Part 2!

Whatsoever Critic

Sources:

Wikipedia

Bear in the Big Blue House

Spot the Dog

The Little Mermaid (series)

The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Courtesy: The Jim Henson Company, Buena Vista Home Video, and Walt Disney Television Animation.