Publications ranging from The Los Angeles Times to TV Guide gave the series extremely positive reviews for its resemblance to the earlier Disney efforts and its high production quality, receiving praise for its wholesome tradition.

[5] The series depicts the everyday lives of Christopher Robin and his 9 companions Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, Eeyore, Owl and Gopher.

[23] Two years earlier, Michael Eisner and Krisel had set up meetings with all three major networks in hopes to sell rights to their two cartoon series: Disney's Wuzzles and Adventures of the Gummi Bears.

[35] At the time, Saturday morning cartoons were viewed as a place with dry, repetitive storylines, shallow characters, clichéd narratives, and cheap animation.

A. Milne and E. H. Shepard's childhood favorite to the small screen with a mixture of skepticism and dismay, fearing the show could not top the original featurettes.

[12] They had hoped to set a new standard of excellence in Saturday morning television, one with "storytelling rich in language and values, as well as delightful well acted characters" that would appeal to audiences of all ages.

[43] A consulting company based in Glendale, California advised the team on how the characters should speak, look, and act in order to better appeal to the target demographic.

[45][34] Early episodes were completed by TMS Entertainment in Tokyo, Japan and later by Walt Disney Animation UK Ltd. in London, England, Hanho Heung-Up in Seoul, South Korea[19] and Wang Film Productions in Taipei, Taiwan.

[55] Paul Winchell, John Fiedler and Hal Smith, the original voices for Tigger, Piglet, and Owl respectively, returned for the series.

[33] The studio began to develop and retool preexisting characters and shows, ones that they hoped could attract older children and their parents into watching the program.

[65] Part of the reason this was done was to fill airtime, as the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike had caused production to be halted on prime time television shows.

Advertisements for The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh were played during adult shows such as thirtysomething and Moonlighting using the tag line "Now you can share your childhood heroes with your children".

[70] Sears & Roebuck and Honey Nut Cheerios partnered to host a nationwide premiere party to celebrate the series coming to ABC.

[31] In the end, a compromise was reached with Disney Channel President John F. Cooke, who agreed to "pay" Krisel's division a certain price if he could get first run rights.

The writers made a point of not copying from Milne, but instead drawing the essence of him for the modern day; keeping the same charm and style as the original stories.

[67] Episode plots ranged from the simple, such as Winnie the Pooh searching for honey (stylized as hunny), to the more dramatic, such as Christopher Robin becoming trapped under his bed.

[98] Episodes focused on socioemotional issues,[99] dealing with topics such as teamwork, resourcefulness, how to triumph over challenges, the power of positive outlook, and the value of friendship.

[101] Innumerable children's-expert panels continued throughout its lengthy network run to highly commend and recommend the series to the three-to-ten-year-old crowd, even growing tolerant enough to be amused by the "hunny/honey" spelling controversy.

[19] Only a few program even approach the quality of ABC's four-season-old New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, the most artfully written and drawn kids' series on the air.

[38] Months later, he claimed it as "not only the classiest new show of the season, but also one of the best-looking series ever animated for television",[103] and gave an similarly positive review the next year.

[105] TV Guide said the show had "theatrical-grade animation, sprightly stories, conscientious eschewing of laugh tracks and best of all, the willingness to let the visual jokes speak for themselves".

[96] Lee Winfrey of Knight-Ridder says the writers successfully maintained the integrity of Milne's characters and praised the animators for Ernest H. Shepard's illustrations.

[109] DVDVerdict.com called the show "perfectly respectable imitations that still rank as stellar, sweet-natured children's entertainment", going on to write "Kids should enjoy this stuff and adults should feel comfortable leaving their young ones in the care of this of this good-hearted programming for an hour".

Evan Levine, writing for the Philadelphia Daily News, gave the program a mixed review, saying "the characters are all true to form, but the colors are overly bright, and the whole look is harsh" but adding "this series is certainly better than a lot of other cartoons that we've seen".

[112] Jan Crain Rudeen, writing for the Scripps Howard News Service, described the series and the resulting video releases as "awful", which she felt lacked imagination.

During his acceptance speech, Mark Zaslove praised the actors and animators for their dedication to the series and specifically thanked Jymn Magon and Karl Geurs for the humanity they brought to the program.

Joan Lunden, co-host of Good Morning America, hosted the opening session which included United States Congressional and Cabinet wives as well as their children and grandchildren.

[147] Eric Schulz, Vice President of Marketing at Disney, recalled an incident one Friday afternoon at Kmart where parents were shopping: "We noticed that no Winnie the Pooh characters were available.

[158] The program caused a resurgence of popularity of Winnie the Pooh that continues to this day, to the point of the character being Disney's second largest animated franchise, only behind Mickey Mouse & Friends.

[160] To promote the opening of Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation, the production released a recording of Corbin Bleu covering the show's theme song.