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, and Japan.