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Thursday, August 06, 2020

The Lookback : Qubo but on NBC (and Telemundo and I/ Ion)

The Flashback  Children's TV NBC 






              2006 was a change year in network television in general.  UPN was going away, the Wb was going away. The parent company of CBS and UPN had broken away from Viacom (or the old Viacom became CBS Corp and a new Viacom was formed). CBS and Warner the owners of UPN and the WB  created a new network called  the CW.  Also Fox created a new network for their UPN stations called  My Network TV.  Our story takes us the broadcast networks children's TV broadcast block.

             This is a story of three networks... this is a story of a block that has a stranger, maybe slightly positive ending.  We have to go back to 1998 for a moment. PAX TV was launched it was named after it's creator Lowell Bud Paxson, the creator of HSN.  It was a collection of UHF tv stations and brought in religious and family programming it's viewers. They had a block for kids called PAX Kids which was programmed by DiC.  (Source) The block died in 2001.  It's not that PAX TV didn't find ways to run E/I programming after this it was probably the first network to just take random shows and say yeah they're educational. 
       
           In 2005, PAX TV became known as the worst named network ever, I, or the long name of I: Independent television. Or I we only air 5 hours of programming and 19 hours of infomercials. (I: Infomercials)  Later in 2005, NBC ended up owning a legal 32% stake (just enough not to be too much and illegal) of the now named Ion Media Networks. Mr. Paxson would step down.
           
              2006: Discovery Kids and NBC were to part ways this left NBC needing to find something else. (Return of TNBC people were hopin')   Also NBC owned Spanish network (still do) Telemundo.  There was no Disovery Kids on Telemundo.  Instead, Telemundo aired "Dora the Explorer" (yes) but in Spanish, pay attention, they also aired Jacob Two-Two, and "Rugrats".  At least in 2005. (Did our Nick on CBS post end up in here?)

              In May 2006, something was announced.  NBC, Telemundo, and I (not me) were coming together to create a new children's TV block.  Fridays on I , Saturdays on NBC, and Saturdays on Telemundo but in Spanish.  ( Sábado en Telemundo en español)  It was marketed as "A Smart Place for Kids" I'm glad that wasn't the name, KOL Secret Slumber Party was too much for me. The block  was more than just a block.  Ion Media had seen that digital television with the idea of having extra channels on a feed, had thought to launch a children's channel in the space, using their large amount of channels to do it.  This was back when Digital sub channels were either My Network TV/ CW stations, weather, a channel that tried to be MTV for the new times, and Retro TV.  A Children's channel on Free  To Air was a good idea, PBS wanted one for PBS Kids GO, but this post is already getting long to mention more about that.  (source)

            A name was announced , a creative name, that also could work in Spanish: Qubo. (It took us this long to make our point, and me pointing it out here is not helping)

           We need programs, I wasn't a program making channel (I the network, not me) and NBC didn't have a children's department making shows anymore. So whom could they get to help?  Canadian company, Corus, wanted their programs in the US and Qubo needed shows so they popped together, but wait there's more! Scholastic and Classic Media joined in. (In the future, or our present, NBC owns Classic Media now)  The block was going to be targeted towards 4 to 12 year olds. (That narrows it down) 

              More after the jump

 


          The initial line up was going to take same slots that Discovery Kids had on NBC, same slots on Telemundo that the other stuff had.  I was going to air it on a 6 day delay , Friday afternoons before I's programming came on the air at 6/5c. The block on I aired from 3/2 to 6/5c.   Meaning , in a way, afternoon children's programming was kind of back, at least one day a week.   The block launched on NBC and Telemundo on September 8th , 2006 and on September 15th on I.

         The name is kind of interestingly creative being something unique and memorable and short.The logo is creative as it something that looks like a cube, but also has it's own shape and and not off putting. It works well in both a 3D space, and a 2D space. (the bug is 2D).  In 2006 NBC moved their logo bug from the right of the screen to the left, so the logo was also there during Qubo.  Ion Television (or I) would move their logo to the left for Qubo programming.

    Each network had the block in the same order, starting with "Veggie Tales" yes Veggie Tales. Veggie Tales hadn't really aired on TV before, and it would have fit in on PAX in the old days. Oh they edited out the religious stuff, the creator of the series wasn't aware they had done so.  I'm not sure why they picked up Veggie Tales, if they were going to edit out religious stuff , that's a little weird.
       
            They also had another Veggie Tales series called : Veggietales Presents : 321 Penguins!  and Larryboy Adventures.  This a combo of two video series. 

         Next show, was a show called "Dragon" this is going be confusing in a few paragraphs from now.  It's a show from Scholastic about a Dragon named Dragon. It's based off a book series by the guy who did "Captain Underpants". (What?)
     
            After that, "Jacob Two Two"; for the first in English to the US audience. It did air on Telemundo as "Jacob Dos-Dos" get it?  This was a Canadian series  from Corus' division Nelvana. See Nevlana is just everywhere.  A series about a boy named Jacob is the youngest in a family of 5 kids, who is the youngest in a family of 5 kids, and has to say things twice to get their attention, and has to say things (stop it!). 

            Also from Nelvana, it's "Jane and the Dragon" not be confused with "Dragon" and it's not a crossover, good work Qubo, let's confused the kids. They also aired the old HBO series "Babar" (source)   In January of 2007, Ion media launched their 24 hour children's network Qubo.  Again I won't talk to much about the channel, except for interesting and relevant things.  The 24 hour channel , at start aired programming in 6 , 4 hour blocks: repeating the same episode 4 times. (eg: Show 1, Show 2, Show 3, Show 4, Show 5, Show 6, Show 7, Show 8.  Then repeat the same episodes of each show again 3 more times)  (source)  The 24 hour network did air shows that weren't on the block.



            With Scholastic and the original idea of being a "Smart Place for Kids" was that they were also promoting literacy.  Like how Nickelodeon wanted kids to go outside and ...not watch Nickelodeon?  Or CBS promoting good eating.    "Hey Kids, uh go read a book" but not during your favorite qubo shows.

             To keep the block more kind  of it's own world they had child voices do the promos,  to maybe make it feel like it was place just for kids and run by kids and not by some people in suits who program these things.(I assume they wear suits, either that or it was really run by children...or children in suits)


           In Fall of 2007, they picked up "Postman Pat", a British series, giving it, it's first U.S TV airing and a show called "My Friend, Rabbit." ( I don't even know him)  Also I can say Ion Television instead of I now, because of the name change in 2007.

              In 2008, Ion Television went through a change, and even increased their programming to start at an earlier time. This meant the block moved from 3 hours on Friday airing at 3/2c to 6/5c to a 1 hour a day from Wednesday to Friday at 3/2c. The overall schedule for the block across the three networks were still the same.  They added "Zula Patrol" which aired on some PBS stations, and "Turbo Dogs". "Postman Pat" , "Jacob Two-Two" were on the 24 hour channel and the channel had shows didn't air the block.   I have to point out that most of the programming for the block was now mostly targeted on ages 4-8.

          Let's talk about 2008 on network TV kids programming in general.  Over on the CW, the Kids WB block was put out to pasture after 13 years and replaced by  a block run by 4 Kids Entertainment, called  CW4Kids (get it?) 4 Kids TV block on Fox was also still running  This got messy as Fox was wondering where their money was from 4 Kids and the idea of them going out and creating a block on another network at the same time, they announced a split and FOX was getting out of the Children's Television business.  The time slots were given back to affiliates and 2 hours of infomercials, that would make more money anyway.  FOX stations had to find most of their own E/I programming anyway, since 4 Kids wasn't really fully in that idea.  (Though some shows were E/I certified)  In January 2009 for the first time since the early Fox network days there was no networked children's TV.

         It's kind of writing on the wall that FOX walked away, and the CW had decided to do what other networks had done years ago.  ABC Kids was dead anyway, just running as a zombie block.   Back to Qubo. 

        By 2009, there seemed to be more investment by Ion Media into the digital sub channel of Qubo than the three network block. 2009 was the year American Television had gone full digital and people who lived in areas where Ion owned a station were going to be able to see Qubo.  The idea of investing in the channel with exclusive shows was smart.  They probably knew that the Saturday (Three days on Ion ) block was never going to be a main commitment , even though you'd have more viewers on NBC , in theory. 

          The block did get a revamp of new series and line up. Besides, CW4 Kids, they seemed the be at least invested into the block as CBS' block was limping in there, and (Insert what we said about ABC kids 953 times already here)  It also seems by the point that Ion was the premiere home and NBC was the same week repeat home.  Telemundo was exclusive Spanish.  They added a new show called "Shelldon" which isn't a "Big Bang Theory" show about just Sheldon. (Not even spelled the same, this joke was bad. )  They also added a  show called "Willa's Wild Life" a show about a girl who likes collecting animals, like too many animals.  Babar had "new" episodes , 3-2-1 Penguins moved to the 24 hour channel.  Jane the Dragon was still going. (Source)  "Veggie Tales" was gone.

            By some point, Ion Television had expanded their daytime line up a little more , and the block was moved to mornings on the network.  Running Thursday mornings 8-11am. (7 to 10 Central/ Mountain)  Good thing they were going for the Preschool audience or something there, because that'd be silly.  This the 2010 section of the post. 2010 was an interesting year for all of Qubo. They expanded their reach by going to markets that had Ion on cable for years like Colorado Springs and put Qubo and Ion Life on Comcast systems in markets like that.  The 24 hour channel was given more investment to of programming and even launched a late night block of older children's shows like "She-Ra". 


      Scholastic had a little series to put on the block and also by fun the 24 hour channel. This is show that ran on PBS, then on FOX Kids, over to TLC and Discovery Kids, and then it made it back to broadcast TV and on NBC, Ion and Telemundo.  That is the popular series "The Magic School Bus". That's right they dug up the 1994-1997 series that was on Discovery's channels and put it on network TV once again. I'm amazed.  It also ran, like I said, 7 days   a week on Qubo the channel.

          Willa's Wildlife returned, so did Shelldon.  The added "Pearlie" about a fairy who keeps order. That's  a weird description. The only show from the original line up lingering on the block was "Babar".  That's amazing.  Jane and The Dragon moved to the 24 hour channel.  (source)
         
    Meanwhile not much else was happening on the other networks of note in 2010, the CW4Kids block was re branded as Toonzai.  That happened in April , two years after the CW went with 4Kids.  4Kids, the company wasn't doing too well.  The ratings weren't  too bad though.  Let's go to 2011, that's where things happen.  ABC had finally decided to put that ABC Kids block out of its misery.  Sadly, if you were missing your reruns of season 1 "Hannah Montana" every Saturday, I understand. 
           Qubo got to keep on trucking, looking over the shoulder and wondering maybe something is up.   The first sign that something was up , the block didn't change it's line up.  Over on Ion, the block went back to Wednesday through Friday line up, one hour each morning at 8am/7c.

                Comcast, the cable company, had gone through a massive purchase of NBC in 2010, after all the legal stuff was done the deal was done.  Comcast had owned a pre-school children's channel with PBS called PBS Kids Sprout.  In March of 2012, they announced that Sprout would program NBC and Telemundo's Saturday Morning blocks from July of that year.  They took the old CBS idea from 2000 and the Disney idea and combined it.  Having a cable network produce the block and calling it NBC Kids and Mi Telemundo. (Source

                 This is where the story goes differently than say ABC Kids, or Nick on CBS or most others.   June 30th  2012 was the last time Qubo aired on NBC and Telemundo. That wasn't the end of Qubo.   The 24 hour network was owned by Ion and wasn't affected. The block ran on 3 networks, so Ion still needed it on their main network for E/I purposes. This is weird for this blog that we get to do this.

             The block stayed on it's Wednesday-Friday 8am/7c line up.  Weird that Ion didn't move it too Saturday mornings, but Ion is Ion that way or something.  The line up  went to a comfort zone with a close mixture of the old line up.  "The Zula Patrol",  "Pearlie" , "Jane the Dragon", "Willa's Wild Life", "Jacob Two Two" and "Babar" (the only show to be on the block constantly) two shows airing each day.  The main investment with these shows , plus more shows were on the Qubo Channel. 


           In 2013, the block moved completely to Fridays running 8am to 11amet.  The line up changed only keeping "The Zula Patrol" and "Babar" because that show was their favorite or something. Qubo, by default as a block, ended up out lasting CBS's Saturday Mornings in Fall of 2013 after selling their space to Litton, the company who had ABC's block.  In 2012, the CW had given the block space they had to Saban, (I use given meaning that they let Saban buy the space)  after 4 Kids died. By 2013, Vortexx (the name of the block) was looking around and seeing that it was in danger.  (It was, but you know) NBC Kids was existing still.   By this point the joint venture thing was over. Ion had taken over the block and worked with companies to provide programming, but there was no-co-ownership anymore.   Classic Media was picked up by Dreamworks in 2012, ironic in the sense that it's owned by NBC.  Everything is weird.

                The 2014 line up was : Dragon (that came back) , Guess with Jess , Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs (that's a name) , Timothy Goes to School (also a long name)  , My Friend Rabbit, and Babar. (What?)   Ion, maybe was like "hey we have Qubo and we have Qubo. I'm confused"  (Me too!)  In December of 2014 they announced that Qubo on Ion would be known from January 2015 as Qubo Kids corner.  They moved the block to Sunday Mornings  from 9am/8c to 12/11c.  Instead of having six shows they went to three shows.  "Harry and Bucket Full of Dinosaurs" , "Doki"  and "Dive Olly Dive".  Babar was gone!  (My life is ruined!)  (source)
         


           
         I could go on mentioning every year like a mad man, but that would be silly because, unless this blog is cursed, Qubo is still running as a children's broadcast channel thought they did reduce hours over night for infomercials. (Ion loves those) The Kids Corner continues running as of 2020. In 2019, due to E/I rules being changed where a station could move count their DT2 or whatever stations as their third hour of E/I, the block on Ion was cut to two hours running Fridays 7am/6c to 9am/8c. They could count Qubo , the channel, as part of their E/I quota, which they are above and beyond anyway.  (Genius)  It's kind of weird to end it this way because these are posts about former blocks. Qubo still exists. 
   
          Qubo came out when the networks went through change. The writing was already on the wall for these blocks, and NBC knew this in 1992, but they tried again anyway.  Qubo the block has out lasted anything CBS did from 1997 to 2013,  The ABC 1997 to 2011 blocks,  the replacement block on NBC and Discover Kids, the block and channel (knock on wood) It out lasted Kids WB, Fox Kids, 4 Kids on FOX and CW.   The one thing I will say, staying focused on the 3 networs days, they at least tried something interesting and didn't feel like stagnating or being a weird ABC Kids zombie state (ding) and it deserves memory.

           That's our lookback (with a current) tune in next time, when we launch a 3 network block , one in French, and wonder what the heck we are doing now.  

 Update January 2021:  The E.W Scripps company purchased Ion Media and Qubo along with Ion Plus closed on February 28th 2021. 
       

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