"Disney Celebrates America" An Success for ABC, Nearly 50 Million Tuned In

By Josh Albarran

David Muir anchoring special semiquincentennial coverage of Disney Celebrates America 250 from atop ABC News world headquarters at the Robert A. Iger Building in New York City.
(ABC News) 

GMA First Look and World News Now co-anchors Sophie Flay and Hanna Battah reporting in Rhode Island for Disney Celebrates America telecast.
(ABC News)

ABC's World News Tonight anchor David Muir in New York City chatting with ESPN's SportsCenter anchors Kevin Negandhi and Christine Williamson in Bristol, Connecticut during the 24-hour semiquincentennial telecast Disney Celebrates America.
(ABC News/ESPN)

In an celebration of the United States of America's 250th semiquincentennial, no major broadcast network threw an one big patriotism party like ABC. To captured the magic from that was ABC 2000 Today: An Celebration of the Millennium from 26 years ago anchored by Peter Jennings, the network owned by The Walt Disney Company went live for 24 straight hours with "Disney Celebrates America" beginning late Friday night and onto the Forth of July on Saturday led by David Muir and an team of reporters & experts from across Disney divisions including ABC News, ABC-owned stations & affiliates, ESPN and National Geographic (https://abc.com/news/a1c1f857-b25c-48b6-a70d-f827fc16b7dc/category/1138628). Nearly 50 million viewers tuned in to ABC alone for 24-hours of celebration coverage including in primetime defeating NBC's telecast of the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks show, according to the network Nashville's Star-Spangled Bash drew an 5.44 million for ABC and it was the No. 1 primetime show on broadcast television in all demos that Saturday holiday (https://deadline.com/2026/07/july-4-ratings-abc-david-muir-1236978308/).

Disney Celebrates America aired on across the ABC Television and Radio Networks as well as cable channels National Geographic, FX and Freeform, and streaming on ABC News Live, Disney+, Hulu and the ESPN app.
(American Broadcasting Companies Inc.)

ESPN's Hannah Storm contributed to Disney Celebrates America telecast anchoring from outside SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles where the NFL Super Bowl LXI will take place February 14, 2027 airing on ABC and ESPN.
(ESPN)

Disney spend an year to worked on multi-platform America 250 telecast in addition to the ABC network, the ABC News Live streaming channel and ABC News Radio, that also included simulcasts airing on Disney+, Hulu, National Geographic, Freeform, FX and ESPN (both ESPN and ESPN2 took part in some simulcasts with ABC for sports-related telecast such as the Nathan's Eating Hot Dog Contest and an two-hour SportsCenter but the two linear channels continued to air regular sports programming at other times, the ESPN app however streamed the entire ABC News event), the children's networks Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Jr. remained with normal programs as well. Disney Parks in both Disneyland in Anaheim and Walt Disney World in Orlando also held events over Independence Day weekend to celebrated the nation's 250th milestone. As an result for the 24-hour event, Jimmy Kimmel Live was preempted for Party Across America with GMA's Sam Champion, Lara Spencer and ABC News Prime anchor Linsey Davis co-anchored the 11pm ET (or 11:35pm ET after local news in some areas) special followed an special edition of Nightline. Full ABC stations' local morning and early evening newscasts were also preempted but allowed anchor crews in most cities including flagship New York City O&O station WABC-TV to presented local cut-ins during Good Morning America and Hometowns & Heroes in the morning and Dreamers & Innovators and SportsCenter Celebrates America 250 in the afternoon. The syndicated Weekend Adventure educational E/I block were pre-empted as well and most ABC stations had to rescheduled Hearst's shows the following day or the week ahead depending where they live. 

Rebecca Jarvis in her hometown from Minneapolis, MN reported for Disney Celebrates America with David Muir anchored from New York.
(ABC News)

Eyewitness News weeknight anchor team of Joe Torres and Tanya Rivero doing local news cut-ins for WABC-TV in New York City during ABC's SportsCenter Celebrates America 250 special.
(American Broadcasting Companies Inc.)

Like Jennings before, his World News Tonight successor Muir anchored for almost 24 hours broadcasting from atop ABC News world headquarters at their new Robert A. Iger building and unlike the other two major networks (NBC and CBS) televised their respected America 250 specials late that evening, the weather for almost the entire day was mostly perfect for the ABC crew. Correspondents, local anchors & reporters, ESPN personalities and National Geographic explorers contributed to Disney Celebrates America telecast including those of the news division reporting from each state like Ginger Zee in Michigan, Gio Benitez in Manie, Mary K. Bruce in Washington, Lee Goldberg in New York, Rebecca Jarvis in Minneapolis and KGO anchor Nancy Chen in San Francisco. ESPN hosts & anchors also appeared in the broadcast to talked the history of sports in America including Joe Buck, Hannah Storm, Chris Berman, Stephen A. Smith, Nicole Briscoe as well as Kevin Negandhi and Christine Williamson hosted an two-hour edition of SportsCenter.

David Muir visited the Grand Canyon for the ABC News and National Geographic special "Seven Wonders of America" part of Disney Celebrates America.
(ABC News/National Geographic) 

National Geographic Explorer Ami Vitale interviewed at the National Geographic Museum of Exploration in Washington D.C. for ABC's special July 4th telecast of Disney Celebrates America.
(ABC News/National Geographic)

For the telecast itself hours into the very first dawn of Independence Day, David Muir welcomed the first sunrise occurred just after 5am ET in Manie and took viewers to places across the nation with the teams at Disney throughout the morning while presented fascinating stories inspired the American institution. After Joey Chestnut won the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, it was time to revealed the "Seven Wonders of America" as ABC News anchors teamed with National Geographic Explorers highlighting the Seven Natural Wonders of America from Muir visiting the Grand Canyon landmark to Juju Chang exploring the volcanoes in Hawaii and from Diane Sawyer hiking into the Great Smoky National Park to Michael Strahan seeing the waters of Niagara Falls. Plus, ABC News took an inside look at the new National Geographic Museum of Exploration in Washington D.C. which had recently opened to the public back in late June, Seven Wonders of America was the No. 1 non-sports program during the afternoon drew 4.5 million total viewers watching the National Geographic special on ABC (Stream the ABC/National Geographic special anytime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHghYlymvCo). When the night was about to come to an end, Ryan Seacrest capped-off the evening with the best of Southern music in Disney Celebrates America: Nashville's Star-Spangled Bash where ABC for the first time topped NBC's annual Macy's 4th of July fireworks show in 16 years as well as the last-place CBS's disastrous Great American Block Party telecast from Washington D.C. (you can learn more on that in the link below, https://www.thedailybeast.com/cbs-insiders-spill-on-maga-coded-anchor-tony-dokoupils-disastrous-july-4-broadcast/).

Here are the final moments post-credits in an quick toss-over from Ryan Seacrest in Nashville to David Muir in New York as ABC concluded the 24-hour Disney Celebrates America telecast: 

Seacrest: Amazing! Such a blast live from Nashville. Can you believe the spectacular sight in the sky above the city? Thank you so much spending America's birthday with us this evening. Thanks to all of you here in Nashville and to all of you watching at home. Thank you Emily Ann Roberts, John Crist and all of our amazing performers. The hundreds of thousands of friends that we have made here tonight, so fun and of course you at home. Stay with us as it continues, this unprecedented historic milestone. Happy Birthday America, here is to 250 more! Now with final words on the 24 hours of Disney Celebrates America we go back to David Muir from ABC World News Tonight. From Nashville, good night America!

Muir: Thank you, that was extraordinary. Nashville and a course this country celebrating the Fourth. Thank you so much at home for being along for the ride in the last 24 hours as we celebrated the Wonders of America. Happy 250th and from all of us here at ABC News and The Walt Disney Company. I'm David Muir, happy Fourth! Good night.

Kevin Negandhi and Christine Williamson anchored an special two-hour ABC edition of SportsCenter Celebrates America 250 from the ESPN studios in Bristol, Connecticut.
(ESPN)

Ryan Seacrest capped-out the 24-hour semiquincentennial telecast with Disney Celebrates America: Nashville's Star-Spangled Bash from the Music City in Nashville, Tennessee.
(American Broadcasting Companies Inc.)

To recap, Disney Celebrates America was an success in both ratings, promotional and the presentation of bringing stories within the past 250th years in the country's history dated back to the Decoration of Independence. ABC News (or the American Broadcasting Company they originally called it as an whole) had done it again from presenting 24-hours of millennium coverage to the world and more than 24-hours on-air of their last non-stop breaking news coverage that we all remembered back on September 11, 2001 to the recently 24-hours of celebrating the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If this was not an one-done prep, there's hope it could return again in the near future because that's the Disney way of bringing people together.

ABC posted the entire ratings results from the 24-hour non-stop semiquincentennial Disney Celebrates America telecast on the link below:

https://www.detpress.com/abcnews/pressrelease/nearly-50-million-viewers-tune-in-for-epic-24-hour-disney-celebrates-america-july-4th-programming-event/

ABC News Radio in addition to offered an TV simulcast of Disney Celebrates America to over 1,400 radio stations in the United States, also presented an three-hour special during the Fourth of July weekend titled America 250: The Hero Next Door which includes stories of courage, patriotism and sacrifice from the 9/11 generation of American military veterans and everyday heroes, plus an conversation for ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent and This Week co-anchor Martha Raddatz's new book "The Hero Next Door: Stories of Patriotism and Purpose." The ABC News Radio special is available now online to stream or wherever you get your podcasts from ABC Audio:

https://abcaudio.com/podcasts/radio-specials/

TCM To Honor Ted Turner At Its 10th Annual Classic Film Festival

By Josh Albarran

From left to right: Turner Broadcasting founder Ted Turner (5th person on the right) alongside director Arthur Hiller, actress Arlene Dhal, Jane Powell & Celeste Holm, actor Van Johnson and TCM host Robert Osborne in the switch on ceremony for Turner Classic Movies' first day on the air at New York City's Times Square on April 14, 1994.
(Turner Broadcasting System Inc.)

NEW YORK - April 3, 2019 -- 25 years ago, an billionaire running an cable company from Atlanta, Georgia named Ted Turner in front of millions at New York's Times Square launched an 24 hour day commercial-free network known as Turner Classic Movies, presenting the best of Hollywood's finest from the golden years of cinema. TCM announced Wednesday that Mr. Turner will be honored at its annual Classic Film Festival, which its celebrating its 10th anniversary to be held in Hollywood April 11-14.

TCM, was one of the many proprieties Mr. Turner created at his Turner Broadcasting System unit. Prior to TCM's debut in 1994, Turner brought the film library of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer when he acquired the struggling studio from Culver City in 1986 before he sold MGM back to its previous owner 74 days later but Ted kept the pre-1986 MGM library to himself. Mr. Turner would used that thousands of classic MGM films (including some from Warner Bros. and RKO) on its cable networks at the time TBS (along with the simulcast on its local Atlanta station WTBS, later became WPCH in 2007 and sold by Turner Broadcasting in 2017) and TNT.

Most of the Turner-owned library films that produced in black & white like Casablanca and the cartoons shorts had been colorized on air its late 1980s airings something we never seen before decades after TV switch from black & white to color (TNT along with TBS had aired Casablanca in color in the early years of that network, but after that there is no color version of that film to this day on either networks or on DVD/Blu-ray releases just the original B&W version).

The 1939 David Selznick-produced film Gone with the Wind with Clark Gable (left) and Vivien Leigh (right) is Ted Turner's favorite film of all-time. Mr. Turner called it "the greatest movie ever made."
(Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.)

In 1990s, Mr. Turner would launch two cable channels dedicated to showcase Turner's MGM library. First, the cartoon shorts like MGM's Tom and Jerry and the pre-1948 Looney Tunes along with Hanna-Barbera programs Turner acquired from Taft Broadcasting years ago and original produced programming were broadcast on the Cartoon Network when it premiered in October on 1992. And then finally, the remainder parts of its library such as The Wizard of Oz, Swing Time and Ted's favorite film of all-time Gone of the Wind featuring Clark Gable & Vivien Leigh would headline the new Turner Classic Movies channel that debuted on April 14, 1994. Mr. Turner also played in an small role in Hollywood, including an cameo in the 1993 box-office successful film Gettysberg produced by Turner's production company based on the events of an real-life battle taking place in 1863.

Since its debut 25 years ago, TCM continues Mr. Turner's tradition of presenting uncut and unedited classic Hollywood films every day with no commercials, including an guide of hosts (including the late founding host Robert Osborne) talking about the behind the scenes on how an movie is made during primetime every day and weekend afternoons on-air. TCM also has an fan-interactive Backlot membership program and an number of activities for movie lovers across the county such as the TCM Classic Film Bus Tour and the TCM Classic Film Festival. Recently as part of major reconstructing announcement by WarnerMedia in March of this year, TCM along with Cartoon Network and Adult Swim will be moving to its sister company Warner Bros. after 25 years operated at Turner Broadcasting, giving WB an golden key to program its own library of films and television shows to and the complete control of those networks.

When asking about 25 years of TCM, Mr. Turner replied, "Turner Classic Movies was a passion of mine, born of my love of classic films." He also said he was "very proud to have played a role in honoring these great works through the years, hope they continue to provide just as much joy and entertainment to TCM as they have to me."

Ted Turner in the 1992 award-winning TNT documentary MGM When The Lion Roars, an three-part series that tells the story of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios including its final years of the original era when Turner briefed own MGM.
(Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.)   

In addition to TCM, TBS, TNT and Cartoon Network, Mr. Turner also created and launched CNN, the world's first 24-hour a day cable news channel and an major player as worldwide news organization having own an number of many breaking news coverage such as the Gulf War and September 11, 2001 terror attacks as well as major award wins and several accomplishments since it debuted back in 1980. Ted was also served as Vice President of Time Warner (now WarnerMedia) from 1996 after the company acquired Turner Broadcasting until 2001, but remain on its board of directors until 2006 to pursuit other projects including the Turner Foundation, which raise millions of dollars to charity including the United Nations in which Mr. Turner is an long-time supporter to the UN when it comes to nuclear threat crisis and climate change.

We want to give an round an applause and congratulated Mr. Turner on accepting this special honor and to everyone at Turner Classic Movies on celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

One Year Later, Remembering TCM Host Robert Osborne

March 6, 2018

By Josh Albarran

Robert Osborne (1932-2017), TCM on-air host.
(Turner Classic Movies)

New York, NY -- It was Thursday, April 14, 1994, at 6:00pm Eastern time when Ted Turner the founder of Turner Broadcasting System pull the switch on at an public ceremony in New York City's Times Square and he introduced on the top of the NYC screen and across the television sets to Robert Osborne the first on-air host of Turner Classic Movies (TCM) as he presented the 1939 Academy Award-winning film Gone with the Wind and the rest was history.

It has been one year ago since Mr. Osborne was passed away after nearly 23 years as the face of TCM, an man from the West Coast (mainly resides in the last few decades from the East Coast of New York) who loves and talks about Hollywood's finest stars and motion pictures including the Golden Age that made the film industry look famous and still is today. I never met Robert, but I watched most of all of his introductions when it appears during primetime and he inspires me how these movies were made and how people became stars in their time.

Osborne started as an student actor in an Washington college before moving to Hollywood and star in several films and television shows before signed with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's Desilu Studios to write for its television programs, that pursuit him to do journalism as an reporter and columnist for The Hollywood Reporter which led Osborne to published the best-selling compilation book 60 Years of the Oscars: The Official History of the Academy Awards in 1989 (with updated editions recently with the upcoming anniversaries that followed). Osborne made regularly appearances on local TV in the Los Angeles metropolitan area and on CBS with analysis on the entertainment world.

All of these accomplishments led him to enter cable TV that would be the home of old-school classic movies 24 hours a day, Osborne joined TBS in 1994 to become the new evening host of its cable channel Turner Classic Movies, which is the home of Turner's library of many M-G-M and RKO Pictures films. Back then before TCM was introduced, those films previously aired on Superstation WTBS-TV (today's TBS network) and on Turner Network Television (TNT), with TCM, Mr. Osborne found an home to talk classic movies with its viewers.

In addition to his movie introductions, Osborne interviewed several actors on-air at TCM including stars like Debbie Reynolds, Leslie Caron, Mickey Rooney, Anthony Quinn, Lauren Bacall, Esther Williams, Angela Lansbury and many more talked on their movie experiences in the network's one-long Private Screenings documentaries. He also served as host at select TCM events including the annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood and TCM Classic Cruise.

Robert Osborne was an friend to ours, an father to TCM and an American institution to classic movies audiences across the country and around the world. Every day, he will always be remembered on his network and all of our hearts.

Warner Bros. Classics Coming Exclusive To FilmStruck

By Josh Albarran

New York, NY -- Good news for classic movies fans, FilmStruck operated by Turner Classic Movies is adding Warner Bros. films starting today on its website as part of new partnership between the two sister Time Warner companies, TCM's parent Turner Broadcasting System and Digital Networks operator Warner Bros. Entertainment.

According to Turner, FilmStruck says it would add critically acclaimed Hollywood classics from the Warner Bros. library to the service including Casablanca, Singin' In The Rain, Citizen Kane, An American In Paris and hundreds more (by the way, most of these films are also currently available on Disney's Movies Anywhere service). In addition, TCM has launched an new collection available exclusively to FilmStruck, the TCM Select Collection which will offer the most iconic films from the Golden Age of Hollywood with introductions from the cable channel host Ben Mankiewicz.

This new partnership would expand Warner Bros' streaming operations which also operates the Boomerang classic animation service (which features classic Warner Bros. cartoons including Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo! and Tom & Jerry) with TCM's sister channel Cartoon Network as well as the upcoming DC Comics streaming channel set to premiere later this year and another movie network the Warners operated DramaFever.

Current subscribers to the Warner Archive Collection (also operated by WBDN) will be transferred to FilmStruck beginning on April 26th when the Warner Archive service folds into FilmStruck (although the Warner Archive Collection will continue to release classic films through home entertainment) In 2016, more customers subscribed to Turner's FilmStruck with films based on classic arthouse, foreign and independent features and now with be more with adding Warner Bros.' Hollywood classics to the platform, as the TCM slogan says "Let's Movie."

Josh Albarran contributed to this report.

Miss Shirley and PBS

November 30, 2017

By Josh Albarran

L.M. Montgomery's Anne of The Green Gables The Good Stars.
(PBS)

If you had watched the latest instrument in the Anne of Green Gables series L.M. Montgomery's Anne of The Green Gables The Good Stars last Thanksgiving weekend on PBS, well this is an must-seen holiday tradition between these two storytellers.

Anne of Green Gables started an children's book from Canadian Lucy Maud (L.M.) Montgomery published in 1908 about an orphan girl named Anne Shirley. Living with their siblings at the Green Gables in Avonlea, goes to school with her best friend Diana Barry and haves an love relationship with Gilbert Blythe. The Anne of Green Gables book series was sold more than 50 million copies to kids and all-ages worldwide.

PBS is an non-profit broadcasting organization first went on the air back in 1970 with more than 350 member stations across the United States offering educational primetime and children's programming to viewers, well known for presenting the Anne of Green Gables series. PBS aired all four Anne films from Kevin Sullivan between 1986 and 2010 as well the animated series for PBS Kids in the early 2000s and recently the L.M. Montgomery's Anne of The Green Gables series last year.

In L.M. Montgomery's Anne of The Green Gables The Good Stars, Anne Shirley is turing thirteen years old and is facing her friends, adults and Gilbert. According to the PBS website, "Her free-spirited nature is challenged by her perceived need to be sensible, a journey fraught with confusion and some unfortunate, albeit amusing, mishaps."

Ella Ballentine is played once again as Miss Shirley alongside the returning cast from the 2016 telefilm including Martin Sheen as Matthew Cuthbert, Sara Botsford as Marilla Cuthbert, Juila Lalonde as Diana Barry and Drew Haytaoglu as Gilbert Blyhte. They all expected to return in 2018 on PBS with their third telefilm Fire and Dew.

In case you missed L.M. Montgomery's Anne of The Green Gables The Good Stars, it may reair throughout this holiday season on your PBS stations or stream the full movie at PBS.org (and on the PBS app) and make sure to order the DVD of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of The Green Gables The Good Stars available now from PBS Distribution.
Visit ShopPBS.org:
https://shop.pbs.org/l.m.-montgomery-s-anne-of-green-gables-the-good-stars-dvd/product/ANNE602

NYC Gets Animated Invaded By Warner Bros.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

By Josh Albarran

NEW YORK -- If you had went to see the annual New York Comic Con convention this past weekend at the Javits Center, then fans of longtime Warner Bros. cartoon fans would get an bonus gift by visiting their "Get Animated Invasion" event over in Lower Manhattan just several blocks from the NYCC.

The living room of Tom & Jerry.
(Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.)

Hop on in the Mystery Machine with Scooby-Doo!
(Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.)

"It's Rabbit Season!" with Bugs Bunny.
(Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.)

The Warner Bros. "Get Animated Invasion" experience held on October's 6 to 8 at the BoxLunch Shop at West 107 Grand St. through an special partnership in the studio's participate in the NYCC as well as the Warner's streaming subscription service Boomerang with Turner's Cartoon Network. Warner Bros. is home to animated legends like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Scooby-Doo!, Tom & Jerry and other Hanna-Barbera & M-G-M cartoons.

Martin the Martian as Wonder Woman
(Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc./DC Comics)

Astro of The Jetsons wants an bite of an Flintstone Ice Cream.
(Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc./Post Holdings, Inc.)

We went there on Saturday on its second day of the experience to review it and it feels like I'm in an Warner Bros. cartoon as an Looney Tune character for an day (and forever). "Get Animated Invasion" head it all including several apps featuring animated programs streaming on Boomerang; taking pictures of scenes like "Duck Season! Rabbit Season!" from Looney Tunes, the living room from Tom & Jerry and hop on in the Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo!. There's also an exhibit on CalArts students show best color designs for their Martin the Martain's and for an treat to enjoy the party at the lot with an free Flintstones Ice Cream plus feel free to purchased an Warner Bros. item at the gift shop.

Enjoy the party at the Get Animated Invasion experience.
(Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.)

Toons On Toons!
(Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc./Cartoon Network)

Bugs and Lola of The Looney Tunes Show.
(Warner Bros. Entertainment/Cartoon Network)

The "Get Animated Invasion" experience here in New York City was an huge success for Warner Bros. Animation for its Looney friends, something to enjoy while spending the weekend at the Comic Con is an recipe to Acme's success. We may see another one real soon, until then as the sign says as I leave the event.

(Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.)

Harvey Relief

By Josh Albarran

(American Red Cross)

NEW YORK - On Friday, August 25th, Hurricane Harvey hit the Southeast coast of Texas and making it the most devastating landfall on the U.S. homeland since Hurricane Wilma back in 2005. That strongest storm left some represents dead, most injured and in damaged many homes & businesses destroyed. With an help they need to survive, it was responded by all Americans across the county to get what they deserved.

(American Res Cross)

The American Red Cross is receiving millions of dollars in donations from the American people including communities, schools, celebrities, athletes and the commercial television networks from the entertainment industry to help the victims of Harvey. The Red Cross is one of the oldest non-profit humanitarian organizations in the United States, has been offering services and programs in relates to national disasters since its formation in 1881.

(Disney/ABC)

As an reporter through an request from my workers at my local art studio in 18th street at downtown, we announced an $10 donation Thursday morning to the Red Cross to the help the Texans from this catastrophic storm that had been on an multi-day basis in the past few days. You can donate too, just visit the American Red Cross website at RedCross.org, call the toll-free phone number at 1-800-999-GIVE or text HARVEY on your cellphone to 90999.

Our prayers are with everyone at Southeast Texas.