The Joy of Painting

The Joy of Painting is an American half-hour instructional television show created and hosted by painter Bob Ross which ran from January 11, 1983, to May 17, 1994. In each episode, Ross taught techniques for landscape oil painting, completing a painting in each session. The program followed the same format as its predecessor, "The Magic of Oil Painting", hosted by Ross's mentor Bill Alexander. During its run, it won three Emmy Awards.
Production.
The show was aired and produced by non-commercial, public television stations. The first season aired in early 1983, and it was initially produced by WNVC in Falls Church, Virginia. Starting in the second season in late 1983, the show was produced by WIPB in Muncie, Indiana until its end in 1994, and later by Blue Ridge Public Television in Roanoke, Virginia. The show is now currently distributed by American Public Television. Reruns began syndicating to PBS stations in the United States in 1992, under the moniker "The Best of The Joy of Painting", featuring a collection of Bob Ross's favorite paintings from past seasons. By the early 90s, nearly 300 episodes of "The Joy of Painting" were on the air in the United States, and then, in Canada. Soon "The Joy of Painting" began broadcasting and dubbed in different languages around the world, such as Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, the United Kingdom, Europe, Latin America, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Turkey, Iran, South Korea, Japan, and The Philippines.
Format.
Each episode began with Ross standing in front of a blank canvas, usually coated with white or black paint. The show has featured many guest appearances from other painters, who paint alongside Ross, such as Dana Jester, Ross's son Steve, John Thamm, Audrey Golden, Joyce Oytner, Ben Stahl, Dorothy Dent, his longtime friend Annette Kowalski, pet squirrel Peapod, his animal Bobett, and Diane Andre. Within 30-minutes, Ross graphically ran the colors across the screen, this was not done in the first season, with Ross instead going it over on his palette onscreen, as he turned the blank canvas into an imaginary landscape, as well as a seascape, and winter scenery, using the wet-on-wet technique, in which the painter adds still-wet paint, rather than waiting for each layer of paint to dry. Combining this method with the use of two-inch and other types of brushes, as well as painting knives, which allowed him to paint trees, water, clouds, mountains, seascapes, and winter scenery in a matter of seconds.
The paintings featured colors that Ross had on the show, such as titanium white, phthalo green, phthalo blue, Prussian blue, midnight black, dark sienna, van dyke brown, alizarin crimson, sap green, cadmium yellow, yellow ochre, Indian yellow, and bright red. Only in the show's early seasons, Ross used "burnt umber", and "permanent red".
Each painting started with criss-cross strokes, that appeared to be nothing more than the smudges of color. As he added more criss-cross strokes, the blotches transformed into intricate paintings. While painting, he instructed viewers regarding the techniques that he was using, he was telling stories about the "happy little clouds", and "happy little trees", that he was creating. He would occasionally present home video footage of himself with a baby deer, a raccoon, and another small animal. Each program was shot in real time with two video cameras: a medium shot of Ross and his canvas, and a close-up shot of the canvas or palette. 
Ross created three versions of each painting. The first, done prior to taping, sat on an easel off-camera and was used as a template to create a second, which the viewers actually watched him paint. After taping, he painted a more detailed third one for inclusion in his instructional books. All three versions were then donated to various PBS stations, the Smithsonian Institution, or kept by Bob Ross, Inc.
Episodes.
Season 1 (1983).
The first season of "The Joy of Painting" was mostly aired on PBS stations across the East Coast, as a result, the initial audience was small. Season1 is the only season that played background music as Ross was painting, and was the only season produced at WNVC in Falls Church, Virginia.
Season 2 (1983–84).
Now with a national audience, "The Joy of Painting" was produced by WIPB in Muncie, Indiana. WIPB continued producing "The Joy of Painting" until the show's ending in 1994.
Season 12 (1993–94).
The 31st and final season of "The Joy of Painting" aired on PBS from 1993 to 1994, before the death of Bob Ross on July 4, 1995.
Legacy.
In 1994, Bob Ross appeared on "Bill Nye the Science Guy", where he did a self-parody segment entitled "The Artistic Eye with Bob Ross.”
As part of its launch of Twitch Creative, Twitch streamed every episode of "The Joy of Painting" over a nine-day period starting on October 29, 2015what would have been Ross's 73rd birthday. Twitch reported that 5.6 million viewers watched the marathon, and due to its popularity, created a weekly rebroadcast of all 31 seasons of "The Joy of Painting" to air on Twitch each Monday from November 2015 onward, and will have a marathon of episodes each October 29. A portion of the advertising revenue has been promised to charities, including St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. This event was also repeated on October 29, 2016, for his 74th birthday.
During the 1990s Mexican comedian Eugenio Derbez regularly played a character called "Bob Atroz" ("Atrocious Bob") in his comedy TV show "Derbez en Cuando". It imitated "The Joy of Painting", but with humorous drawing utensils, drawing stick figures, the names of the colors used, and awkward Spanish translations to the English dialogues.
In 2015, all 403 episodes of "The Joy of Painting" were added to the official Bob Ross YouTube channel.
In June 2016, Netflix repackaged several 1991–1992 episodes of "The Joy of Painting" under the moniker "Beauty Is Everywhere". A second package of episodes titled "Chill with Bob Ross" was added in December. In 2020, Tubi added 30 seasons of "The Joy of Painting", totaling nearly 400 episodes, to its platform for free.
In November 2017, the first teaser trailer for the 2018 film "Deadpool 2" was released, featuring a parody of "The Joy of Painting" with Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool.
"The Joy of Painting" has been licensed for merchandise, including a Chia Pet and a breakfast cereal made by the makers of Flutie Flakes.
In 2020, it returned to television on BBC Four as part of Culture Quarantine Programming with its first broadcast on 20 April 2020.