DefunctTV: The History of Welcome to Pooh Corner
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In this episode, Kevin looks at the beginning of the Disney Channel and one of their original series, Welcome to Pooh Corner, a live-action full-body character iteration of A.A. Milne’s classic Winnie the Pooh.
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@Defunctland
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
A note on calling the costumes creepy: We here at DefunctTV rarely play into the trope that “look your childhood was weird let’s laugh at it.” We understand that a lot of people loved this show and didn’t find it creepy and we tried to respect that as much as possible. That said, with this show specifically, the audience that originally watched it was split between it being creepy and it being great, which put us in a difficult position of trying to put both of those sentiments in the video. It is not us making fun of it just for the sake of making fun. We apologize if it came across this way. Have a great weekend!
@JackalsIII
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
I used to love this, and Dumbo show
@mr.salami784
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
I had a pooh corner of my own…Mom grounded me because I'm "too old to shit in the living room"
@reddragonlegacy
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
I think every year, on the week of April 18th (or the following week if it's a Saturday), Disney Channel should just play old original shows. I know it's not the same due to the commercials, but I'm sure they could edit it for small banner ads or "picture in picture" ads
@osamaali2828
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
The costumes are creepy
@50percentGrey
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
Interesting how you labeled the Disney feature films from the 1970's as "mediocre". It's true that these films didn't perform well at the box office, but like most Disney feature films in the prior years, some of them have gained better appreciation by certain groups.
For instance, "Robin Hood" has been regarded as the primer to the Furry Fandom. Lots of people involved in that subculture will agree. Because nobody knows for sure why all the characters in that 1973 Disney classic were designed to be anthropomorphic animals before; like that choice wasn't justified. Zootopia, we can understand why. But not Robin Hood.
"The Rescuers" is another interesting 1970's Disney film. The two main mouse characters, Bernard and Bianca, proved that Disney wasn't limited to having Mickey & Minnie Mouse as a flagship rodent couple. Bernard and Bianca were tailored to be a more realistic couple involved in realistic dangers, which gave Disney movies at the time a more darker tone than most people expected.
"The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh", which came out a year before "The Rescuers", was perhaps Disney's last "bright" feature film before it dished out nothing but dark and dreary titles. This would go on until "The Little Mermaid" revived the animation studio in 1989 by resorting back to their brighter roots, in the form of the Disney Renaissance.
@Slingy908
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
"Too smart for strangers" is the knly peice of pooh media to imply piglet has genitals
@Noodlemonkey7
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
#PutPoohCornerOnDisneyPlus 😅 13:25
@JonathanLedbetter
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
I remember the intro to this show! I loved all the random toys that were shown off when I was a kid. I watched this on a VCR, so my parents must've had cable at some point at my old house in the '80s because they either subscribed or took advantage of preview periods to tape the show.
@triplebakaandluigi
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
fun fact:for some complicated reason one of biggest inside joke between my friend is the one really specific part of the vhs where pooh say ''step 2, run away!'' from the segment where pooh telling the kids how to stay safe when stranger did a uncomfortable thing. and when my friends mention that scene or say ''run away'', they will get reacted on discord with low quality badly cropped png of Winnie the pooh.
@sirdaveysockrocker
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
As a kid I loved this show and Dumbos Circus because the costumes were like the costumed characters at Disneyland. 👍
@1m0ws
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
it is interesting that both pooh corner and dumbo's circus seem to have heavy lore errors, like you mention in 5:40
@seastriker4437
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
Yeah the Book of Pooh looked Way better
@madlyhappy1242
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
I too have a poo corner
@Dj.MODÆO
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
Back in the mid 80s when I was like 4-6 years old, I would stay at my grandparents on the weekend who had a satellite dish that got god knows how many channels and watched this show, the animated Pooh show, wind in the williows, little koala, eurekas castle, David the gnome and, count duckula. I got such a huge nostalgia hit watching this and vids about count duckula. I’ve seen every 80s and early 90s movie both cult hits and flops on my grandparents satellite system which back then was a huge dish in the back yard until a hurricane in the mid 90s destroyed it.
@Sparty-pi3jq
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
The Winnie the Pooh show (that i loved) was The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. (i think, that was the name anyway🤔) lol ive always loved Eeyore most, I in fact, have an Eeyore on my right forearm😂.
@acecat2798
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
I watched this in elementary school, and "No, run away and tell" is the only thing I remember about it. It might've been the first time I ever saw anything that broached the subject? I definitely thought the video was creepy overall because I wasn't a fan of puppets, but in hindsight at least trying to bring up that you as a child have the right to set boundaries isn't a bad message.
@bigwig10171
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
I feel like Pooh Corner being one of Disney Channels most popular shows during the first few years of the networks existence says a lot more about the quality of its original lineup than it does the quality of Pooh Corner
@Dan-hd6rg
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
Should have been a puppet show
@arielcornell1588
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
I loved winne the pooh when I was really young. However, I only saw one episode of welcome to pooh corner. The only one I saw was too smart for strangers with winnie the pooh. My brother and I used to watch that one episode all the time.
@SuperDavidBrothers
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
Also, I wish both this show and Dumbo's Circus would release on Disney+ for sure! I also wish Mousercise, Adventures of Alice in Wonderland, and Sing Me a Story with Belle would all release on Disney+ also!!
@Baptism0Fire
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
WOWIE SANS! THAT ‘TIGER’ FELLOW LIKES SPAGHETTI ALMOST AS MUCH AS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS DOES.
@nerdy_kid_at_heart
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
I vaguely remember watching the live-action show, but I know I watched their special on school bus safety. It's funny, though, I actually don't find their designs creepy or uncanny in any way. I feel they did quite good for its time. But I can understand others may feel otherwise.
@movieforceofficial
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
Hal Smith was a wonderful voice actor. He was the main character in Adventures in Odyssey for like 18 seasons
@eliblanks9388
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
You know I just hope you talk about the rest of the winnie the pooh tv shows
@Nytephyre
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
What's most astonishing is that it seems Disney used to be against pedos.
@atroyz
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
While I applaud this show for some of the themes and topics it tackled, I genuinely hated it as a kid. It felt cheap and dated even when it was new. I was maybe 10 years old and maybe already too old, but the fact that the mouths barely moved was such a distraction that I could hardly follow the plot(s). The animatronics at Disneyland were far superior and realistic.
@ridleycombs
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
Jim Jimirro, presumable owner of the Jimsdale Jimmadome
@rocketpsyence
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
I always wonder why people my age all ended up weird and with anxiety and then I remember the stuff we watched as kids
@cousinted
April 13, 2026 at 9:38 pm
I love the mention of "Public restrooms" as an example of an "unsafe place" at 11:35. Remember kids: Always pee in public places with a lot of people around, for safety!