The program followed the same format as its predecessor from 1974 to 1982, The Magic of Oil Painting, hosted by Ross's mentor Bill Alexander.

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.

By the early 1990s, nearly 300 episodes of The Joy of Painting were on the air in the United States on PBS and in Canada on CBC Television.

The Joy of Painting would later begin broadcasting in different places around the world, such as Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, the United Kingdom, Latin America, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Turkey, Iran, South Korea, Australia, and Japan.

Bob Ross Art Workshop and Gallery instructor Nicholas Hankins hosted the pilot, which was well-received that a full 13-episode run was filmed in March and June 2023.

The new series is distributed with PBS and American Public Television under the title The Joy of Painting with Nicholas Hankins: Bob Ross's Unfinished Season.

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, burnt umber (discontinued in later seasons), alizarin crimson, sap green, cadmium yellow, yellow ochre, Indian yellow and bright red (permanent red in earlier seasons).

Then, the show's theme song ("Interlude", a stock selection from Network Music, from season 2 onward) played, as the credits rolled over a shot of the finished and successful painting.

[20] The Joy of Painting has been licensed for merchandise, including a Chia Pet[21] and a breakfast cereal made by the makers of Flutie Flakes.

[24] In 2022, Goodfood Market released a parody Bob Ross TV commercial titled "Joy of Cooking".