D-TV

DTV was a series of music videos created by The Walt Disney Company and produced by Charles Braverman which premiered on May 5, 1984 by taking hit songs of the past and putting them together with various footage of vintage Disney animation, created out of the trend of music videos on cable channel MTV, which inspired the name of this series.^[1] Most songs used were contemporary hits (e.g., Hall and Oates' "Private Eyes"), though older songs like Sheb Wooley's '50s hit "The Purple People Eater" were also featured. The videos were shown as filler material on Disney Channel (as the network did not air commercials at this time), as well as being the focus of television specials. Home video collections were also released on VHS, Beta, CED Videodisc, and Laserdisc formats. After the first run of DTV, in 1989 a second series was produced known as DTV².^[2] The main title music, known as "RPM", was created in 1981 by a recording company called Network Music. In the opening of DTV, a cheese-like moon zooms out to reveal a black background with blue musical notes. A silhouette of Mickey Mouse's head rises from the moon, and the moon exits below the screen. The letter D (in the corporate Disney font) and the letters TV appear and zoom out to attach Mickey Mouse's head. Finally, after a few seconds, we zoom into Mickey Mouse's head and revealing several vintage Disney cartoon clips.

DTV ceased airing in the early 2000s.

Home media[]

Many of the songs listed above were released on VHS, in five separate volumes. The first three volumes "Pop & Rock", "Rock, Rhythm & Blues", and "Golden Oldies" were released in late 1984, as part of Walt Disney Home Video's "Wrapped and Ready to Give" promotion. Following that, two more videos, "Love Songs" and "Groovin' For a '60s Afternoon", were released during the summer of 1985.

Television specials[]

Disney aired three DTV television specials on NBC in 1986 and 1987: DTV Valentine (Feb 14, 1986, re-titled DTV Romancin' in later airings), DTV Doggone Valentine (Feb 13, 1987), and DTV Monster Hits (Oct 30, 1987).^[3] All three specials had their own theme of music: DTV Valentine focused on love and romance music; DTV Doggone Valentine focused on love songs with a tribute to Disney's dog and cat characters; DTV Monster Hits was focused on Halloween-themed music and footage; and DTV Christmas focused on holiday, Season's Greetings and Christmas special music.

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