The History and Problems of the 65 episode curse began when Michael Eisner initially took over control of Disney in 1984. Disney was on the verge of becoming bankrupt and in fact initially Michael Eisner had a Way of Promoting the Quality Animation that Disney was known for. By introducing Afternoon cartoons made by Disney for the Masses. And it was in this way that the a number of Quality Shows Like Talespin, Ducktales, Darkwing Duck and others were brought to the masses. By putting these shows on for Syndicated purposes.

Eisner's Plan was simple yet in a lot of ways would come back to haunt Disney shows after Disney rallied back from the verge of Oblivion in 1984. He would let shows run on a policy that he created wherein the Show would run for only 65 episodes, or 3 Years or television Seasons, and after which time the show would be retired.. This was the initial basis of his "Disney Afternoon Series that was seen on a lot of syndicated Television channels and the public Reveled in the idea of having Disney Animation on to enjoy...

But like all things Time Changes everything and with the Advent of low cost Cable in the late 1980's and Early 1990's Disney looked for Other venues to take their animation to, and one of them was Cable Television.. Eisner created two Channels for Disney, One the original Disney Channel, where new shows could be put out for the public to enjoy, the other was Toon Disney, a Channel where these shows could also be put on after their run on Syndicated Channels was over...

However, Eisner wasn't looking with Quality in mind... He was looking at the economics of the company... and with that he kept a simple formula. Run a show till it reached 65 Episodes, then if Need be, sell it to syndication channels or allow the show to retire...

This idea was sound on paper, however after Disney started to turn over a Profit, did Eisner see a different purpose for this policy to be in place... the ability to rotate out shows that were not doing so well in ratings, yet saving the company the cost of extending a show provided there was enough ratings..

At this point, no one really complained... that was until 1996...

In 1994, a new show came into the Syndication and was released by Disney and at first no one really worried about the show, but then something happened...

People liked the show ... and it became popular...

What show was this? It was a show that was produced by Disney Animation and was called Gargoyles

However, Eisner thought Gargoyles was risky even though the ratings on Syndicated Television Channels said otherwise... so Eisner at this point did allow the show to go on to a third season on ABC Broadcasting, Which He had acquired in 1994, and this third Season is now known as The Goliath Chronicles.. However ABC Executives complained vehemently to Eisner and eventually after one season and 13 episodes later, was this show cancelled...

Eisner however had changed tactics at this point, he no longer cared about Quality and in fact within 2 years a New Medium for Television Marketing came out...Namely Video Tape and within a Year after that.. Digital Video Discs... or DVD's came out...)

And Eisner found a new medium to exploit by producing shows that were limited to just 65 Episodes, Eisner realized that he could cut costs of producing the shows, while allowing them to be mass produced for later released on DVD's and video..

And it was at this point the Dollar signs flashed in Eisner's Eyes . . . and Greed Set in.

And sure enough Eisner didn't care at this point Ratings, of a Show or who was watching... He thought of one thing... Mass Production... and release of numerous shows...

And between the end of 1997 and now Eisner has been on average cranking out shows at a rate of 1 a year... and just in 2000 the policy yet changed again so that now on Disney Channel Eisner Cranks out 2 New shows that carry the Disney Logo...

And things would have remained the norm...