Out of the Box (TV series)


Out of the Box is an American children's television series which premiered on Playhouse Disney on October 7, 1998, and ended its run on September 27, 2004, with reruns until June 2005. The series takes place in "The Box", a playhouse made entirely of cardboard boxes, where two hosts, Tony James and Vivian Bayubay McLaughlin, make crafts, sing songs, and act out plays.
Two special episodes were released on VHS by Walt Disney Home Video, Out of the Box: Trick or Treat, and Out of the Box: Happy Holidays. Trick or Treat is also available on the DVD entitled Rolie Polie Olie: A Spookie Ookie Halloween.
The series was created and executive produced by Douglas Love and was based on his series of books from HarperCollins. Three seasons were filmed at Lifetime Studios in New York City. The series earned three Parents' Choice Awards for excellence in television and an Emmy nomination.
The show was believed to be lost due to the lack of home-video releases. This rumor was discredited when the entire series became available to stream on Disney+ on November 12, 2019.

Overview

Every day, a small group of neighborhood children come and play in "The Box", an imaginary clubhouse made entirely out of painted cardboard boxes. Tony James and Vivian Bayubay McLaughlin play games, do crafts, sing songs, and act out stories in the box. The singing is usually in the beginning of the episode, while the crafts are in the middle, and the stories are at the ending. The show ends with either Tony or Vivian walking the kids home, then coming back to sing the Goodbye Song. The song is either sung a cappella by Vivian and with Tony tapping on a pumpkin or some other object, but in three episodes Tony plays it on his guitar In two episodes the kids join in to the Goodbye song after they finished they wave to the viewers and the camera would move out as a piano ending of the goodbye song plays in one episode Vivian told the viewers that she will tell tony they are thinking of him.

Cast

The series comprises 86 episodes in total.
Unless otherwise stated, the source of production codes and airdates is the United States Copyright Office.

Season 1 (1998–1999)

Season 2 (1999–2000)

Season 3 (2001–04)