As the final traditional children's television Saturday Morning block ends in October , here at
Joshuaonline we are taking a look a different Children's television blocks on network tv from the past.
Nick on CBS started in 2000 as Nick Jr. on CBS then became Nick on CBS , then became Nick Jr. on CBS (again) . Why was Nickelodeon programming a block on CBS?
3 easy reasons 1.) Viacom who owned/owns Nickelodeon merged with CBS in 1999 (they divorced in 2005 ) so why not put Nick Jr/Nick programming on CBS's kids slot to pretty much promote Nickelodeon? 2. Children's Television Act of 1996 mandated 3 hours of educational /informational children's television per week. What's more educational than 3 hours of Nick Jr. programming ? 3. It's easier than making programs yourself or buying them from somewhere.
The Original line up with Nick Jr. had pre-school programs that were airing on the weekday (there was no 24- hour Nick Jr. or is it 20 hours?) on Nickelodeon. "Little Bear", "Little Bill" , "Dora the Explorer " and more . So for the first couple years Nick Jr. was on CBS .
video from youtube
When it started in 2000 , the competition was Disney on ABC ( Disney owned ABC so why not?) , Kids WB ( on the WB ) , Fox Kids ( on Fox) , and the hip and cool T-NBC for Teens . Preschoolers had PBS' preschool programs though many PBS stations air quilting , cooking , etc. on Saturday Mornings. Eventually though a switch came , in 2002 CBS and Nickelodeon switched to Nickelodeon's programming because ... why not ?
In 2002, ABC's Saturday Morning block was renamed ABC Kids when the Disney Channel programming that was added was shown to be popular , either that or a great way to promote a channel some of that audience didn't get. So why not have some Nickelodeon programs compete ?
Now if you don't remember this block or were to old to care. You maybe thinking the block aired Spongebob Squarepants alot because the show was hot and kids loved it. Well.. No you see , Spongebob Squarepants was only aired a few times as a special occasion. Why? was Nickeloden being selfish and telling kids to badger their parents to buy cable to watch Nick to watch Spongebob ? While that sounds like a great idea it's something more simple ... the program was not educational and informational ,neither was the other flagship show "Rugrats", which also aired on special occasions. Though it did air "Rugrats" spinoff "All grown up" (which are the Rugrats as boring teenagers) as a regular scheduled program. You could say both shows taught imagination is good or something. A funny thing (scary?) is that "Hannah Montana" was considered E/I.
from youtube . see no Spongebob / Rugrats in the block promoted
So the block included 4 nickelodeon shows that were considered E/I all of toons too ,and 2 Nick Jr. shows lingered "Dora the Explorer" and "Blue's Clues" (They are educational)
Shows were swapped and changed around to keep things fresh for the next 3 years ... then in 2005 it reverted back to Nick Jr. Programming and that's how it died in September 2006.
from youtube
So why did the block end ? Was it because all the children hated it ? , Was it because Nickelodeon wanted to be selfish? It wasn't educational enough ? Well no... Viacom and CBS decided that their marriage wasn't working anymore so they split, the Old Viacom became CBS corp and owned CBS and UPN (later half of the CW. the C half of the CW. The New Viacom owns Nick , VH1 , MTV etc... the block continued for 9 months after the break up and was then replaced by KOL Secret Slumber Party ( that's a name?)
The block was not that memorable as many post 2000 children's broadcast TV blocks aren't ( besides 4 KIDS ) . It aired popular shows from Nick Jr / Nickelodeon so it didn't have any programs that make it memorable because those are Nickeloden Programs so the memory goes to Nick.
