The Disney Afternoon was a created-for-syndication two-hour television programming block which aired from September 10, 1990, until Fall 1997. At that time, it was taken out of syndication, and a new Disney weekday afternoon block was started on UPN. The Disney Afternoon was produced by The Walt Disney Company. After its cancellation, the shows in the block were rerun both on Disney Channel (during the late 90s and early to mid-2000s) and on Toon Disney (all of them between the channel's launch in 1998 and 2004, with some airing until 2007-2008).
Some of the block's shows continue to air on international versions of Disney Channel and,Toon Disney and on several local channels in various countries. Also, several of the block's shows are available on DVD in the United States.
The Disney Afternoon's two-hour block was broken up into four half-hour segments, each of which contained a cartoon series. As each season ended, the first cartoon shown in the lineup would typically be dropped, and a new one added to the end. The Disney Afternoon itself featured unique animated segments consisting of its own opening and "wrappers" around the cartoon shows shown.
This block did not air in every market across the United States, but for those markets that did not air the block in full, individual shows featured on The Disney Afternoon could be packaged by themselves. In Europe, similar series were produced, mostly translated into "Walt Disney presents" (not related to The anthology series)
History of the block and programs that aired[]
Some of the early cartoon series in The Disney Afternoon came from already in-circulation cartoons, such as Adventures of the Gummi Bears (created years earlier). DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers had been a one hour long cartoon block in 1989-1990, until both were incorporated into The Disney Afternoon the following year.
Some of the later additions were inspired by shorter cartoons in the short lived series Raw Toonage, which appeared on the CBS network in fall, 1992—for example, Marsupilami; also He's Bonkers!, which has characters that also appear in Bonkers.
Beginning with the 1994 season, Marvel Comics began publishing a comic book series based on the programs featured on the block, as part of their line of comics based on modern Disney properties (the classic properties were licensed to Gladstone Publishing). The series mainly consisted of stories based on Darkwing Duck, with occasional stories featuring Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers and TaleSpin. It ended at 10 issues, but stories based on the block's shows continued in Marvel's Disney Comic Hits! and in the children's magazine Disney Adventures
| Season | 3:00 PM | 3:30 PM | 4:00 PM | 4:30 PM |
| One (1990-1991) | DuckTales | Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers | TaleSpin | |
| Two (1991-1992) | DuckTales | Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers | TaleSpin | Darkwing Duck |
| Three (1992-1993) | Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers | TaleSpin | Darkwing Duck | Goof Troop |
| Four (1993-1994) | TaleSpin | Darkwing Duck | Goof Troop | Bonkers |
| Five (1994-1995)1 | Darkwing Duck | Goof Troop | Bonkers | Aladdin |
| Six (1995-1996) | Goof Troop | Bonkers | Aladdin | Gargoyles |
| Seven (1996-1997) | Darkwing Duck | Gargoyles | Aladdin | Quack Pack |
- Disney attempted to diversify The Disney Afternoon in the 1994-1995 season. It was attempting to make 'Monday Mania', and 'Disney Action Friday', as is implied from the Monday/Friday breakup of slot 3. The format idea did not catch on and was dropped after this season.
- The Schnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show was shown on Mondays - and Gargoyles, on Friday, in this slot
- The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa ran on Fridays in this slot
- The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa ran on Mondays, and The Mighty Ducks, on Fridays, in this slot
Saturday Mornings[]
Some of these cartoons, when originally airing on Disney Afternoon also had Saturday morning episodes that were being broadcast for ABC and CBS. When the Saturday morning run ended for the first 4 of these shows, the episodes would be part of the Disney Afternoon package. These are:
- Darkwing Duck 1991-1993, ABC (seasons 2 and 3)
- Goof Troop 1992-1993, ABC (seasons 2)
- Aladdin 1994-1996, CBS (seasons 2 and 3)
- The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa 1995-1997, CBS (seasons 2 and 4, as the Disney Afternoon showed seasons 1 and 3)
- The Mighty Ducks 1996-1997, ABC (both showed the first episode of the series)
Gargoyles does not fall into this category because only the third season episodes subtitled The Goliath Chronicles aired during the 1996-1997 season on ABC, while The Disney Afternoon was only showing reruns of the first 2 seasons. Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears continued running on Saturday mornings during the 1990-1991 season on ABC, but ABC was only showing reruns while the Disney Afternoon showed new episodes and repeats of the first 5 seasons, resulting in Disney's
Video games[]
Many of the Disney Afternoon shows were made into video games.