TV Reviews : ‘World of Disney’ Promotes Nostalgia

You wouldn’t be off the mark in complaining about the self-serving nature of a TV program produced by the Walt Disney studio that pays tribute to the Walt Disney studio.

You would, however, be a tad late--by exactly the same four decades covered in tonight’s “The Wonderful World of Disney: 40 Years of Television Magic.”

The first Disney TV series in 1954, after all, was called “Disneyland” and, as we are reminded in clips tonight, featured regular updates on progress at the Anaheim theme park that was then under construction. Indeed, it was in exchange for ABC investing in the park that Disney agreed to go into the television business.

So, among the many things about which Walt Disney was a visionary--and they were many, as the program reminds us, from family entertainment to technology to space exploration--was corporate synergy. Even in the first season of “Disneyland,” the studio produced one of those now-common promotional documentaries about the making of its theatrical film “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”--and won an Emmy for it, beating “Twelve Angry Men” as best program of the year!

As infomercials go, however, tonight’s program does have its nostalgic value, with memorable clips from “Davy Crockett,” “Zorro,” “The Mickey Mouse Club” and the early “Disneyland” space programs and nature documentaries, plus other assorted TV ventures (and some non-TV ones too, in what feels like padding to cover two hours).

And, for those of us who are a lot more cynical about TV now than we were back then, there’s fun to be had counting the subtle plugs for other Disney products: “The Lion King” (and its soundtrack), the coming Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, Margaret Cho, who stars in the Disney-produced ABC series “All-American Girl.” . . . You’ve got to admire what 40 years of honing these cross-promotional skills have produced.

* “The Wonderful World of Disney: 40 Years of Television Magic” airs at 8 tonight on ABC (Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42).