Another one of our rewrites of a previously done post, continues with us looking at Disney's One Saturday Morning and ABC Kids once again. You can read our original post here. So let's see if we can improve upon that one and see what happens.
Disney's One Saturday Morning in sense starts the final trend of Saturday morning network kids programming. This is also an example of how media was changing and ownerships were part of that. On July 31, 1995, The Walt Disney Company announced it wanted to buy Capital Cities/ABC. (In hindsight, this may have been a bad idea) Thus this eventually allowed in early 1996. I'm going to keep this to the block's relvantacy, or we'd be here all day. (Yes, thankyou) Disney's children's tv focus was The Disney Afternoon, but that block was dying. It had everything going against it in 1995, that would now both the WB and UPN having a kids block in the afternoon. These were stations that used to air the Disney afternoon; Fox Kids was also running. It was dying, first the name then later the whole block. Meanwhile, Disney was also offering its programming on ABC and CBS already, along with The Disney Chanel, which comes into our story soon.
1996 was the setting year, like Disney bought ABC and was trying to figure out things. The Fall 1996 line up on ABC Sat AM was including some Disney made stuff, already. They had plans in the works. Enter, Peter Hastings, he had left Warner Bros and came to Disney and one of the things to bring in was a new concept of a Saturday Morning block.
“Disney and ABC had been looking for a way to frame Saturday morning to make it look different and set it apart from programming on other networks,” explains Hastings. “I thought of basing the show on the concept that Saturday mornings were different from the rest of the week, with each day represented by a special building...
----Peter Hastings, 1997
more after the jump
ABC had 5 hours of Saturday Morning space, and unlike CBS and NBC they didn't jump into the weekend morning edition of a weekday morning show space,yet. One Saturday Morning wasn't the full five hours it was 2 hours. This didn't mean Disney stuff only aired during this 2 hour space. They had other shows like "101 Dalmatians: the Series" which premiered on the NOT Disney Afternoon block also in September of 1997. They also still aired reruns of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and a new season of Jungle Cubs to air. Finishing out the morning, was The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show and Schoolhouse Rock! (This is not the line up in order ) This block started on September 13, 1997, it had to be delayed a week because of Princess Diana's funeral.
Oh this is also 1997( yes we know) the E/I (educational television rules) were updated in the 1996 Children's' TV act update. Some had a problem with a network calming things were E/I if they weren't educational. Disney felt this block would fit for at least 2 of the 3 required hours of programming. One Saturday Morning was 2 hours but filled with 3 programs, how can that be?
OSM was more than just a block name stuck on to some programming they put effort into this. The block would air the three shows in 40 minute slots (the shows would be in 30 minute w/ ad s length) Adding to these programs were interstitial segments, educational content, ads(which are limited due to E/I rules) and warp-around segments with a host.
Let's talk about the meat. Three new programs were launched, let's call them the big 3. "Doug" or "Brand New Sparking Doug" or "Disney's Doug". This is a strange case, that doesn't happen much, but Nickelodeon had let Doug slip away from them after the series ended on their network, after Disney acquired the studio that made the show. (Disney being Disney) Nick still owns the rights to their own version, but Disney owns the IP and could do anything they want with it presently. Now, ACTUALLY, the show had returned in 1996 with a new season on ABC, but they integrated into the block. It also worked as an E/I show, I guess.
"Doug" was about a middle school named Doug, living and doing middle school boy stuff. Next, was a new series called "Recess". This series actually premiered two weeks earlier than the block to sneak peak it, and it seems Disney had some faith that would be a hit. "Recess" also fits the block in theme. The block was the idea that Saturday was the one day of week where kids were free (Sunday loses that zest because of the evening and going to school; for context for those in the back) and Recess at school is the same thing, and "Recess" was a series that took it's main six characters, plus a bunch of others, out of the classroom for the best time of day in the school day.
Disney's faith in the series wasn't misplaced,it became a big animated series for them, and reran probably the longest of OSM programming on their cable channels in the US. The third program was "Pepper Ann" , which was one of my personal favorites, was a series about a 12-year-old and her life with friends and family. It was the first Disney animated series to be created by a woman, Sue Rose. The series also was a moderate hit for Disney as well.
Those were the big three programs. Now, in between these programs were the other features that filled in the spaces. (Reminder: the Children's TV act also limited advertising lengths, even kids' networks these days still follow this rule.) Disney could have just stuck in "School House Rock" which they acquired from the ABC purchase, into the block and have called it a day, They did air it in the Sat Am, as mentioned above but they do the work as well.
There were hosted segments, but also included were interstitial programs, that would either educatate or just be there for added fun or whatever. (yes) "Mrs. Munger's Class" is where we start. This 90 second series premiered with the block on September 13, 1997. The concept was a yearbook page showing a class with their teacher talking. It was kid photos "talking" with the teacher photo. They were directed by Tim Maloney, and used a computer software to play with the photos. This series lasted 2 seasons and was killed by a lawsuit. Disney was used because the photos were allegedly real year book photos and were used with out permission. (Ironic, Disney being sued for IP stuff) So they washed their hands and settled and the class was dismissed.
They also had, "The Monkey Boys" which I can't find too much about. It was five minutes long per the 13 episodes it had. So it would fit like one 60 minute time combined. "Manny the Uncanny" was a series that had a man wearing a funny jacket and speaking in annoying voice going around and doing stuff for like 3 minutes. This would also fit well into the E/I rules since the show was like Manny was learning about different things and the audience would be too like the weather service or the mint. "Great Minds Think 4 Themselves" was also another E/I thing. The Genie from Aladdin tells the audience historical facts. They ran from 1997 to 2002. Also I hate how this is spelled but "How Things Werk" was another one that told kids how things uh..worked.
There are more, and probably some that aren't as well known but you get the point.
Oh we forgot something else from the first year, might as well get to that before I continue. This was called a center piece to the E/I part of ABC's Saturday morning, it didn't run during the OSM segment but was part of the way of feeling the 3 hr. commitment. "Science Court" This series was developed my animator, Tom Snyder, who was the co-creator of "Dr. Katz" which is also why the animation of this series would look like it. "Science Court" was done like a courtroom drama about difference science topics. (Kids do love courts) This series ran 3 seasons and amassed 29 episodes.
You can watch this here
This seemed to work as this block, in the first season, topped Fox Kids on Saturday morning. (Source: https://variety.com/1998/tv/news/abc-kids-block-tops-fox-on-saturday-1117470615/ ) You should also take note that it mentions Nickelodeon as well, think about what that means in the context of SAT AM blocks. The good ratings meant ABC didn't think to change too much with the Saturday Morning and the inner block called One Saturday Morning.
They did cycle in "Hercules" based off their movie, to be the starter program before OSM. "Hercules" like 101 Dalmatians (which changed time slots this season) was also airing in syndication. Everything else was the same, they did rebrand "Science Court" to "Squigglevision" because that's something. In 1999 they did add a segment of Micky Mouse shorts in a 30 minute block called "Mickey Mouse Works" which is funny in the context of them airing Disney shorts with Warner Bros shorts. Second season did well, they beat Fox Kids some more. (source: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-mar-09-fi-15344-story.html)
This is where I cut for second to widen some context, we are going to UPN right now. (What , you can't do that, this is about ABC not UPN , what are you doing!?)
I wrote in our Nick on CBS piece that Nickelodeon was the logical choice to have a block on UPN since they were co-owned, but instead, that never happened. Somehow, through a miracle and witchcraft (possibly) Disney got to program the UPN weekday and Sunday block. This also works in the full death of the Disney Afternoon. (This is going to be a long story short to not take up this whole thing) Disney's One Too launched as 2 hour weekday and Sunday block on September 6, 1999. They weren't going to set the world on fire with this block, it basically aired 2 hours of Disney shows.
This block had 4 shows on it so there was no other features minus little bumpers that they had run.
Let's talk about the 1999 season on ABC (UPN had the same Disney shows minus Squigglevision) Pepper Ann was doing well, so why not have Pepper Ann lead into the block. This episode was a rerun while new episodes would air in the OSM segment, which didn't change...yet (more on that soon) The following needs context. So in 1993, Capital Cities/ABC had purchased DIC entertainment. Therefore this meant Disney owned DIC. DIC kind of still got to own thing, but here was something from them on ABC, an animated Sabrina the Teenage Witch series called "Sabrina: The Animated Series" that premiered in 1999 on ABC.
This is an animated series about not teenage witch Sabrina, but using the voice cast from the ABC live-action series, kind of, and she has an uncle taking care of her because her aunts were turned into teenagers and Sabrina is 12 so that's something
The contract with Warner Bros on the Looney Toons was coming up and this would be the last season on ABC, the end of a era of any Warner Bros. content on a big three network. The rest of the block was the same as well. (Someone really loved reruns of the New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh) "Doug" would run it's final episode in the summer of 1999, but stayed in reruns until winter 2001.
Some on at Disney said, what if we had four series? They laughed and said sure.(I'm kind of joking) On February 26,2000, they introduced a new series called "Weekenders" which is a show about 4 middle schools celebrating the best time of the week, the weekend. Which fits well on a Saturday morning block.
Copyright Disney
In the 2000-01 season, they re-formatted things, no more hosts, no more interstitials, and the whole block was rebranded as One Saturday Morning. Also, the Warner Bros hour was gone. (The contract was up and Disney didn't have to air their mortal enemy any more and Warner Bros didn't have their enemy airing their stuff anymore)
"PepperAnn's " Run had finished on November 18,2000, but it didn't get removed from the line up until a little later. (It would still air on the UPN block as reruns) Sabrina ended in February of 2000 , but rerun this season. Recess was being loved, so much they gave it two airings.
"Teacher's Pet" was a new series that premiered on September 9,2000. This is a series about a boy and his dog. His dog wants to be a boy so he dresses up as one and goes to school with his human. This series ran 1.5 seasons on ABC then was dumped to Toon Disney, not even Disney Channel, to finish it's run in winter of 2002. It did rerun on Toon Disney for couple years.
From UPN, where yes they aired a show first, was "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command" then had a short run on ABC, combined both networks ran all 65 episodes in about 4 months. (Ok then) ABC /Disney probably wanted to have room for "Lloyd in Space" which premiered February 3, 2001. This series was from the "Recess" creators. It's aliens in space the series but also having relatable to the audience problems , to put it simple. This show had 4 seasons, but it did not complete it's run on ABC; After season 2, it was bumped to Toon Disney in 2002. (This is becoming a common answer) They also replaced "Mickey Mouse Works" with "House of Mouse" a series that had the fun of Disney shorts with a wrap around of Mickey and friends running a club house. It had Disney characters all in one world. It ran it's first two seasons on ABC, while guess what? Toon Disney in 2002.
This might be a canary in the mine thing, but I'll mention that later.
Over on FOX KIDS (What are you doing?) So, 2001 turned out to the best last year that FOX would own a Children's block or Fox Family. This would be the first time, Disney buys something from Fox and apparently wouldn't be the last time. Fox announced the sale of Fox Family Worldwide, which included FOX Kids networks around the world, the Fox Family Movie Channel, and Haim Saban programming to Disney on July 23, 2001. (Source) They didn't get the operation of the FOX block, that'd be weird to run 3 blocks, right? The deal was approved months later, and Disney now owned Fox Family, which became ABC Family (now Freeform)
Over on Disney Channel.... in 1997, Disney moved Disney Channel from being like a Disney HBO channel to being on par with Nickelodeon and that meant it was now more viewable. They had started investing in TV shows, they were live-action and they in 2001 had two hit series "Even Stevens" and "Lizzie Mcguire"from their popular Zoog block.
This brings us back to One Saturday Morning.In 2001, they dumped the reruns of "Sabrina", "Doug" , and "Pepper Ann". Which were now doing reruns on Toon Disney and later it made it to Disney Channel. "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" , on the other hand, was still rerunning on ABC. (This like how the show re ran for years on Disney Channel) This season, would be the end of Recess, which aired it's final episode on November 5th,
Meanwhile, DIC, wasn't owned by Disney anymore, but they still wanted something so they added a new series. "Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action!" the final series that was milking a Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen craze that was mostly dying down by then. It ran one season and yeah, that's it.
That was ONLY new series added to the line up that year. Not the season, because we'll get to that.
Back to the Disney Channel thing, their two biggest series made it to ABC as a mini block called One Saturday Morning Powered by Zoog,
Watch some bumpers here
So yes, Disney Channel series were now airing on ABC's block. Kind of like how , at the time, Nick Jr stuff was airing on CBS. This is showing a change that was upcoming. This same time, Disney channel has launched it's first original animated series, "The Proud Family". That meant the Disney was now seeing cable as the main outlet for their kids' programs. A change that was subtle but make an impact.
On January 19th 2002 , the final new animated series for OSM premiered, that would be "Teamo Supremo" This is a series about 3 pre-teens who fight crime as superheros. I will make this mentioned right here, right now. This series, "Weekenders" and the ones I mentioned in the 2000 section will finish their runs on ABC , they were all eventually moved to Toon Disney. 
Fall 2002 was a pivot season across the neworks. Fox Kids was dead, replaced by 4Kids TV, Fox washed their hands of doing their own block, TNBC ended and re was replaced by Discovery Kids on NBC, Nick Jr on CBS switched to Nick on CBS. Only Kids WB was there being Kids WB. Let's talk about ABC (and UPN)
Disney's one Saturday Morning was dead, and rebranded as ABC Kids. On September 14, 2002, the same date as everything else kicking off. They cleansed the 5 hours of "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" the first time in nearly a decade it wasn't airing on ABC. "Weekenders", "Lloyd in Space" , and "Teacher's Pet" were bumped to Toon Disney. Disney Channel was rebranded (To my least favorite logo they had) and Zoog was gone, so that brand was also removed from ABC.
"Lizzie Mcguire" and "Even Stevens" stayed on the line up. Now, they added "The Proud Family" and 2002 new animated Disney Channel Original series, "Kim Possible". Meaning Disney Channel shows now had 2 hours of the line up. They did have a new show that wasn't on Disney Channel first, "Fillmore!" which was series that parodied 70's cop shows with school (and is a pretty good series) aired. Say it with me, "Fillmore!" didn't finish its run on ABC and went to toon Disney later on.
That Disney acquiring Fox Family thing is part of the story. "Power Rangers" moved from Fox to ABC. This would be a series that local stations wouldn't care if they dropped to random times because of it not being E/I. By default of NBC losing the NBA, ABC sports and ESPN got the rights and so they picked up the program "NBA: Inside Stuff".
There's no Disney's One Saturday Morning anymore, so there' s no more Disney's' One Too, instead the UPN block was unbranded. Their line up was still airing "Buzz Lightyear," "Tarzan" ,and "Recess" they also added "Digimon Frontier" from the Fox purchase, Disney had rights. This would be the last year UPN network (local stations had E/I stuff ) would air kids programming. Not One too , aired the final time on August 31, 2003. --Digimon would still be on ABC Family and Toon Disney.
The 2003-04 season was the same for ABC. "Lilo and Stitch" the series premiered on ABC but then it did on Disney Channel after that. "That's So Raven" was added, the pattern became adding Disney Channel shows that had some time airing then add it starting in the fall to ABC. "Recess" reruns lasted one last season , show as on Disney Channel and Toon Disney as well.
In 2003, there was the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, ABC was the last network to get on the air to cover the breaking news because they had no networked morning show on Saturday. So in Fall of 2004, they had ,years after NBC and CBS, expanded their morning show "Good Morning America" into weekends. Meaning ABC kids was cut an hour. "Fillmore!" was the last non Disney Channel series (besides Power Rangers). They added "Phil of the Future" and "W.I.T.C.H" (this one didn't last long on either Disney Channel or ABC).
In 2005, Lizzie Mcguire and Even Stevens were removed (both series had ended on Disney Channel already), and replaced with newer shows The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and The Buzz on Maggie, later placed with The Emperor's New School. Now, comes thing I mentioned in other posts. In fall of 2006, they gave up. I do mention how NBC switched, CBS switched, KIDS WB was on the CW now, but ABC just gave up.
Let me explain, so they did replace "Phil of the Future" , "Lilo and Stitch: The Series", "The Proud Family" with "Hannah Montana", "The Replacements", another episode of "That's so Raven", and another episode of "Power Rangers." (Power Rangers also aired on Toon Disney) This was the line up for the next 5 years. The only change would be "Power Rangers" series they aired, and then dropping the show when they lost rights. Also, they didn't add later seasons of shows like "The Suite Life", "Hannah Montana" , "The Replacements" , etc. They just kind of gave up. It continued to be running the same as it ever was, to the point almost every show they were airing by 2011 had already ended on Disney Channel years before. (Hannah Montana ended that year, but ABC only aired season 1 )
ABC and Disney mercy killed the block in 2011 and on August 27, 2011 it aired the final time. It was already dead before this , but they were putting it out of its misery. I have to say in 2001, I think Disney must have noticed this Saturday Morning block thing was going the way where it wasn't going to be a thing anymore. They had already started ramping up Disney Channel Originals, tried to bolster Toon Disney. The Fox Kids stuff were moved to Toon Disney along with airing on ABC Family until 2006.
The Lizzie Mcguire and Even Stevens airings must have been a test for them to say , "Yeah we could just do that". Disney's One Saturday Morning was a fun short time that it existed. It brought some good series and continued Disney's Television animation to the next level going beyond just syndication. It was good that it existed, it's hard to tell if it came at a good time or a bad time.
While on the other hand, if had started earlier, it would died probaly around 2002, maybe, but it might have had harder time against Fox Kids, who by 1997, was getting weaker. (Minus Digimon, also ABC kids should have aired Digimon) It's hard to tell with the past and sequences.
On one hand, it came out the time CBS had given up, NBC was focused on teens , so they only had to focus on Fox Kids and Kids WB as direct competition. (Calm down, person yelling they Watched UPN!, it didn't do Saturdays!)
The block set out to make Saturday Morning feel speical, because it is a special day to a kid. It was a day where there was no school, no worries, a balence of fun seeing your TV shows and just have a good time. The spirt of the day lived in the block and the programs. They also did a good job of making eduacational stuff without it feeling forced. "Science Court" was a good example of that. It's kind of sad that these things end, and the way ABC kids went it kind of felt worse. Of course, we attach the memories of these blocks to our own period of life and that gives us great sentiement, but there's something special about a time of it being on a big network airing programs set just for you. It existed, and that's what counts .
Anyway, that's it from me, tune in next time, when Toon Disney finishes our ....{}
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