When I started doing these posts about former network children's blocks, it was inspired by the end of the CW's block in 2014. That marked the real full end of a traditional children's network block as ABC, CBS, FOX, and later NBC (but at the time was doing pre-school based shows) all decided to move away from the market. The only reason why any network airs anything on Saturday that's "for kids" is because of government rules.
Our story here will take us to the last era of the CW's children's traditional children's programming blocks. This means we will be looking at the block , who's ending inspired these series of posts in the first place and even the rewrites I did later on for some. (Not this one, this one is new fully). This is a look at CW 4 Kids, Toonzai, and Vortexx.
But First, Kids WB!
In 2006 a big shake up happened where CBS Corporation which owned CBS and UPN and gained UPN after a split with Viacom decided to not have that anymore and work with Warner Bros. meaning Time Warner, to make a new network called the CW. For the purposes of our post, the children's programming would still be Kids WB! , a carry over of the WB network block.
In fall 2006, ironically, Kids WB! was the most stable thing about networked children's programming besides 4kids TV on FOX, and what was left of ABC Kids on ABC. This was going to be a short lived thing, even though Kids WB was renewed for the 2007-08 season, a month into that season an announcement was made.
On October 2, 2007, CBS and Warner announced that in fall 2008 KIDS WB would be going away and being replaced by a block produced by 4 Kids Entertainment. (source) They made a 5-year deal (highly confident weren't they?) to give over the 5 hours of Saturday morning to the company. It was announcement of the last in-house network children's department. They blamed the softening ad market and competition from cable networks. (Probably the CW's own half sister networks too) Ironically, this would be the 2nd time a network children's programming block that launched in the 1990's would be replaced by a block from 4 Kids Entertainment.
The original intention was to launch the block in fall of 2008, but for whatever reason they moved it to start on May 24, 2008.
It's the CW, but 4 KIDS!
Kids WB! signed off on May 17, 2008, which was way before it was supposed to, and that feels like of they were in a hurry or something. The next week, The CW 4 Kids launched. Which is a name, the other block was called 4 Kids TV. But if you look at May 24, 2008, there's not much difference to it versus Kids WB, the week before. This wasn't just a random arrangement between CBS and Warner and 4 Kids. 4 Kids had been the licenser the Pokémon anime which aired on Kids WB! and a few other anime that aired both FOX and the WB. Funny enough, Pokémon had been moved to Cartoon Network by the time Kids WB washed their hands and went to 4 Kids.
The summer 2008 line up was some hold overs of the KIDS WB line up "Johnny Test" aired for a bit, before making a move to Cartoon Network and soon a new company would be making that series. Will and Dewitt reruns ran, Tom and Jerry Tales.
On the 4 Kids side, this gave them 9 hours of Saturday morning TV real estate to work with. In that summer season they took shows from FOX Yu-Gi-Oh GX, a return for the former WB space, Chaotic ,and moved them over to the CW block. They also went for redundant by having Teen Mutant Ninja Turtles on both networks, but different series. (ok then)
By August, the only vestigial tails of Kids WB were Will and Dewitt, Magi-Nation , and Tom and Jerry Tales.
Which one is which? Don't be surprised
Now we can get into the fall and into the 2008-2009 season. Will and Dewitt got the 7am slot. An interesting holdover from when Kids WB picked up, a show not made or worked on by 4 Kids at all. It was Cookie Jar show from Canada. A show about a boy named Will and a frog named Dewitt. The reason this show is airing is that Kids WB and now CW 4 Kids were using it for E/I programming. CW affiliates did outsource some time for kids programming that was government Educational and Informational compliant. The rule being noted for 3 hours a week of children's programming. The whole CW 4Kids line up wasn't E/I compliant, but having at least one show be E/I at least means the CW station doesn't have to find a full 3 hours of E/I themselves.
The next show, in the line up, most stations airing at 7:30am , was another import and holdover from Kids WB! That's Magi-Nation , this series was also run for E/I purposes. Though, it's funny that the show is based off a card game and was airing as educational filling programming, but ok then. (Will note that ABC carried Hannah Montana as E/I) A boy from Earth named Tony Jones is called the final dreamer and has to save the world from evil. That's the simplest way of putting it. This show didn't last that long on CW 4 Kids. The second season didn't even come out in the US until 2010 airing on This TV.
Good, but what channel am I on now?
Another (another one! oh come on!) Kids WB holdover was "Skunk Fu!" This series is about anthropomorphic animals in different stories about protecting their area with the power of martial arts. This was an Irish series, also not worked on anything to do with 4 Kids. It did have some Cartoon Saloon involvement.
That's 1.5 hours of holdover from Kids WB. Now here's another... no I'm kidding (don't do that) instead we get a transfer show. This is a show 4 Kids had involvement in and aired on FOX, they decided to move it to their CW block. Before, I mention the show I do wonder if they had any idea on how to run the two different blocks somewhat differently to benefit themselves. This show is Viva Piñata a show based off a video game. It's also in mid -2000's CGI so it's kind of horrifying. Piñatas live on Piñata Island, they eat candy and do stuff in 11 minute story form. The show also makes sure to not be more horrifying on the concept of what Piñatas are for. You can just put them back together. (what?)
The show moving from FOX to the CW apparently didn't do anything for it, it was pulled from the line up pretty early in that fall. Anyway, I'm not saying, I refuse. We do have have The Spectacular Spider-Man where CW4 Kids just re ran the first season that already on Kids WB [I said it]. This would be the last new Spiderman series to air on broadcast networks since Disney was starting their If we can't make it, we'll buy it instead thing and the 2nd season of this show would air on Disney XD later on. It's about Spiderman and his real identity Peter Parker. Again, these posts have so much, I won't be able to just deep dive a show. (We'd be here all week)
They aired seventh and final season of the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series here, moving it from FOX. (CW: Gee, thanks for the scraps) I'm not even sure what the logic of moving it was for, and FOX was just rerunning season 6. The audience that was used to watching on FOX probably would have rather it stayed on FOX. (Well, you'll find out why very soon)
Up next, another show that moved from FOX, because 4 Kids was being weird is Dinosaur King another card-based game anime. A boy named Max (sure Jan) and his friend Rex (there are kids named Rex right?, right) are in Africa with Max's father. Max finds a slab (return the slab) and finds that dinosaurs need help. ( A bit late, should have used priority shipping) Also some evil guys use time travel to get dinosaurs to use them to take over the world. Bro, you have time travel, just use that , over thinking things. Anyway Max and Rex travel the world to defeat Dr.Z. Cards are involved somewhere.
Well, I'm scared. Here's actually a show that didn't air on FOX before, at least this version, and a homecoming of sorts. Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's was another spinoff series for Yu-Gi-Oh and it aired on CW 4 Kids, marking a return of new Yu-Gi-Oh to the space it used to be before 4 Kids moved it to FOX.
Chaotic ,like it's name, did air on CW 4 Kids, it also aired on FOX at the same time. Time meaning the same season, not the exact hour minute. It also aired on Jetix. It would also later air on Cartoon Network. The South Korean and Canadian series is about a boy named Tom (sure Jan) and his friend Kaz, they play the game the show is based on. Tom receives a special password (was it ABC 123 ?) enters it and gets transported to the world of Chaotic (roll credits). There's two parts in the world and in the part called Perim the stuff from the game is real. There's scanners are used to scan. There's bunch of stuff going on again we'd be here all week.
This time, a Russian series. The series is called Kikoriki or GoGoRiki for the US 4 Kids CW airing. The show first aired in Russia in 2004, 4 Kids acquired the rights and aired on the CW in 2008. The series was aired in 30 minute bites with about 3 of the original airings episodes being combined. It's a show about little animals getting into adventures and learning something. (I'm guessing this fit an E/I thing too) The show still runs in Russia.
Coming up in winter of 2009, they added Huntik: Secrets & Seekers from the creator of Winx Club which was airing in the US on 4Kids TV on FOX, this series aired on the CW 4 Kids. If that series could be said to be targeting girls this one targets boys. It's an Italian series about Lok Lambert and he's looking for things about his missing father. His father was part of a secret foundation and world of magic. Lok and some other friends go on a journey and also fight against evil. (Evillll)
Also coming in later int he line up was Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight it's an American adaptation of Kamen Rider Ryuki and them dubbing a series. It's also a live-action series. Putting it basically: It's about a boy named Kit Taylor who is looking for his missing father (sure a lot of Fathers missing around here, we have one here too, come collect him he's scared and smells like Doritos) and he finds a card deck where he can turn into a Kamen Rider. He becomes Dragon Knight. I'm not prepared to go deep into anything Kamen Rider related so.. that's the best for those fans.
Meanwhile, 2 Becomes 1
There is some good reason for them taking shows from FOX and putting them on the CW, and this would continue because.... 4Kids TV on FOX was ending. FOX said that company hadn't paid them and the long running from the FOX Kids days where the network had a hard time keeping 90% clearance for the block because the affiliates were being annoying. [my words, not theirs] The announcement was made on November 10, 2008 and on December 27, 2008 it ended. FOX totally washed their hands of children's programming.
Now CW4 Kids was the only 4 Kids block on network TV.
Shows that were running on the FOX block did make their way over at some point. Sonic X , Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, and Chaotic : M'arllian Invasion (the second season of the main series) all moved over. Sorry to the fans of Di-Gata Defenders and Biker Mice from Mars, they didn't make it.
We head to fall 2009 for the 2009-2010 season. They started the line up on Saturday mornings with GoGoRiki and bringing the Winx Club over to the network. That series ran on FOX until the break up. The show is about a group of girls known as the Winx students. They go to a college for Fairies and they fight villains at night. (daytime villains are free to go) This would be the last time the series would air on broadcast TV, eventually a revival series was made and Nickelodeon is involved.
Also new to the block and new for 4Kids as a Canadian animated series Rollbots It takes place somewhere called Flip City and about a group of robots who work for the fire department.
The rest of the line up, in fall, was pretty much the same programming from the past season. Shows like Magi-Nation, Will & Dewitt, The Spectacular Spider-Man, are Kirby: Right Back at Ya! are all gone. It's also a very repeat heavy line up.
In spring 2010 they added Ojamajo Doremi , under the name Magical DoReMi. A magical girl anime series with elementary girls, with our main character, Doremi, who finds a magic shop and ends up turning the owner, who is a witch into a witch frog because curse reasons. The witch makes Doremi her apprentice so she can eventually turn the woman back into a human form. She's also joined by her friends later on and they do magical girl stuff. 4 Kids did air the series before on FOX in 2005. (It's time for another 4 Kids edit)
Also, in that season, over the summer, they added Cubix . Which was a throwback, because it aired on KIDS WB in 2001.
4 Kids isn't feeling so good
I think there's a good reason there's all these repeats and not much energy being put into this block. Around the time they pulled from FOX in 2008, they announced they were cutting their workforce by 15%. Losing the FOX line up was probably a blow to them, while the economic times weren't very strong as well. (source) It doesn't seem they were licensing new shows to dub either.
New Name, but at what cost?
On April 27, 2010, 4 Kids announced that their CW block would be getting a new name. That name would Toonzai. (source). Though the CW4 Kids name didn't disappear fully. They also acquired the rights to Dragon Ball Z Kai. That wasn't a full exclusive deal as Nicktoons was also going to air it.
Even though, they were launching a new name, the block didn't chnage much, except it aired more anime series. The only series that remained were Cubix, Dinosaur King, Sonic X, Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds, and the return ...of reruns... of Magi-Nation. They also went for a structure of doubling up the line up. 2 episodes of Cubix, Sonic X, etc. They really just put a coat of new name paint of a bucket of rust.
A few things were replaced like Dinosaur King was removed and eventually so was Cubix, so they could have reruns of Magi-Nation instead. They did pick up the next Yu-Gi-Oh! series Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal.
Meanwhile, things weren't going well for 4Kids either. In March of 2011, they were sued by TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems who said the company made illegal agreements over the Yu-Gi-Oh anime. TV Tokyo claimed 4 Kids was collecting royalties and not giving some of that to them. They also terminated their deal with 4 kids. A week later, in April 2011, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (source) They had announced in 2010, that there were buyers interested in their company, which never came up again, and their CEO stepped down in January 2011.
The judge in their case did rule that the Yu-Gi-Oh! was still under effect due to the way the deal was not terminated properly. (source) But the road for 4Kids on the CW was over. On June 26, 2012, the deal that Saban Capital Group made under their Kidsco Media Ventures to purchase some 4Kids assets, including the CW block was finalized. On July 2, 2012 Saban announced they were going to rebrand the block and add some new programming.
This is kind of a funny circle thing going on here. In the FOX Kids history, there was Saban that eventually merging with FOX Kids, and eventually going down with FOX Kids when it was sold to Disney. Saban was coming back and this was part of that.
On July 12, 2012, they announced the name of the new block: Vortexx. (Source) In the quickest fashion, Toonzai ended on August 18, 2012 and the newest block: Vortexx would launch the next week.
On the other networks, for a second.
The world CW 4 Kids entered was different to the one 4 Kids entered when they did the FOX deal, and the world Saban was entering was different than when CW 4 Kids had started, and way different than when Saban was with FOX Kids. The part about me talking about CW 4kids/Toonzai airing lots of reruns wouldn't have been out of place. ABC Kids was running on zombie mode a corpse since 2006. The CBS block was mostly reruns from the DIC library.
In 2011, Disney put ABC kids out of it's misery, and gave its time to Litton Entertainment to produce a block. The Litton Block, Weekend Adventure, wasn't cartoons or really children's programming in the same sense as ABC Kids was. It mostly airs unscripted programming for people ages 7-17 to fit with E/I requirements. Disney had already moved their focus to Disney Channel... and Disney XD, and that was the last bit for ABC's normal Saturday morning after decades. IN 2012, NBC dropped working with QUBO and decided to use their new sister channel, Sprout to provide a block. NBC Kids was a preschool block. CBS was still running Cookie Jar TV, which wouldn't be around much longer. 
Careful, this is a Vortexx.
The last weeks of Toonzai were filled with marathons of shows they aired. Then it was time for for Vortexx to take over. I do have to comment about the logo, the V looks like they were going for Power Rangers energy... more on that soon.
Some of the programing was a carry over, because of course it was, (yay) like Cubix had made it through. Dragon Ball Z Kai, and the Yu-Gi-Oh! shows : Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal. For the E/I slot, they brought in the series Rescue Heroes. Rescue Heroes first aired in 1999. It ran on CBS in the United States, then later The WB, that's right Kids WB! carry-over. It also aired on Qubo. (the show is owned by Nelvana)
Saban had gotten their rights to Power Rangers back from Disney and they made a deal with Nickelodeon to air the series. They also aired it here on Vortexx, keeping a linear broadcast network airing as part of the history at least for a bit longer.
Hey look, a Marvel show somehow escaped Disney. This would be repeats of a show from 2009 that had just ended before Vortexx launched. Iron Man: Armored Adventures originally aired in the US on Nicktoons. This was also a series put together before Disney purchased Marvel. It's an 3D computer animated series about Iron Man. (really now?) It was the first Iron Man series since 1996 and was airing around the time the popular movie had come out. The reruns on Vortexx lasted until November 24, 2012.
From the Warner Bros. library, they aired Justice League Unlimited. JLU originally aired from 2004-2006 on Cartoon Network. Yeah, we're kind of breezing here through the series they aired here.
Saban had made a deal with the WWE to have a Saturday Morning programming for kids but with wrestling. WWE Saturday Morning Slam. It was taped before Smack Down on Tuesdays, back when Smack Down was on Tuesdays. It'sTV G or TV Y7 wrestling. The WWE has always gone for a younger audience to get them into watching the main product, even doing colabs with Scooby Doo and The Flintstones (which sounds weird to say). The show was one of the Vortexx launch shows, but it didn't last past the first season, ending on May 11, 2013.
Not sure why we are slamming the CW.
Later on, they replaced the Iron Man show with Transformers, a show called Transfromers Prime. This is also repeats. It was a The Hub show, a network that was 50% owned by Hasbro which owns Transformers. This series focuses on the adventures of Team Prime led by Optimus Prime. By the time, the CW aired it, the was as near ending on the Hub. It was interesting that most of Vortexx was airing stuff that aired somewhere at the same time. That wasn't a new thing by this point in Saturday Morning history.
In spring 2013 they added one more series called The New Adventures of Nanoboy a series that wasn't airing anywhere else in the US. It's about a boy named Oscar, who can shrink himself into the the nano world and becomes Nano Boy who fights things in the nano world. It's kind of fun concept there. I have feeling they used this for E/I.
Seems they liked to pick August as their month to do changes, when the block turned 1 year-old (It made it!)
"Nanoboy" didn't make it to the line up after August and was replaced by The Adventures of Chuck and Friends. This is another show that ran on the Hub first, and was produced by Hasbro Studios and Nelvana, this was made for the preschool block on that network. This was on in the 7AM slot, so it was another E/I offering. It's a computer generated animation series with a dump truck named Chuck who wants to be a race truck. It's filled with other vehicles and about learning life lessons. This series would run on the CW until February 2014.
Power Rangers didn't make it to July and was replaced with a show called Bolts and Blip , a series that was new to American TV. It's a computer-animated series that takes place on the moon in 2080. (There's still time) Our main characters are robots named Blip and Bolts. (duh) There are other robots too and our main duo is placed in a last place team and use the power of friendship and team work to make a better team in the intergalactic sports thing. I'm guessing all the humans were wiped out.
While, Sonic X, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal were the anime they were airing, they did add a new series to their line up. This was B-Daman Crossfire. This was the seventh B-Daman series and first in the Cross Fight version. It aired on the CW starting August 17, 2013. It's another toyetic anime series based on B-Daman toys. Animal looking toys that shoot marbles. (Don't look at me like that) Our main character is a boy named Riki Ryugaski ends up getting interested in B-Daman and starts competing in tournaments. The series would run on the CW until January 18, 2014.
Another Brief Stop around the other networks
In fall of 2013, CBS and the Cookie Jar block were over. Cookie Jar, the media company, was in the process of being bought by DHX and this could have mean that Cookie Jar wasn't in the funding mood anymore CBS wasn't going to get back into their own programming, there's no Nickelodeon sister channel, so they followed ABC's idea of working with Litton. This left NBC with NBC Kids, produced by Sprout. Vortexx was the last traditional Saturday morning children's block. But, since this post exists you know what's coming up soon.
If this is it...
Saban had gone to a reliable friend: Digimon. Saban first brought the series into America on FOX in the late 90's. When Disney purchased FOX Family, they ended up with Digimon. The last time a Digimon series aired on broadcast US TV was in 2003 on the Disney UPN block. Toon Disney under the Jetix named aired Digimon for a while. The last series to air was "Digimon Data-Squad" which ran from October 2007 to November 2008.
Saban had gotten the rights again to work on the newest series called Xros Wars or in the US as Fusion. (Because wars or something) Like the other Saban homecoming series "Power Rangers" this aired on Nickelodeon first, then moved to Nicktoons because Nickelodeon. The first airing was September 7, 2013. The CW aired it starting January 25, 2014.
Fusion/ Xros Wars is about a boy named Mikey Kudo who gets sucked in the digital world (typical) with his friend and a rival. He with Shoutmon and other Digimon form a team. The show had three seasons, with different arcs. though I mention that the series wasn't dubbed full way through. Keeping it line with our topic, it will be there for the rest of block's history. This show replaced "B-Daman" in the line up.
They also re-added reruns of The Spectualar Spiderman , a show that aired on late stage Kids WB, for the first season, moved to Disney XD for it's 2nd season and then ended up rerunning on the CW under Vortexx because flat circle time.
But we know where this is going. I didn't mention Litton going to ABC and CBS , just because, it was context. In June 2014, the CW announced that Vortexx and the whole Saturday Morning thing they've done since the WB days would be over. They sold the 5 hours to Litton to create a block called "One Magnificent Morning" It was going to be fully E/I which might have been helpful to the local stations since the syndication E/I market was drying up. (source)
Vortexx was given its death date: September 27, 2014.
It was the death of the network Saturday morning children's , really defined for children, block. This announcement was the original reason why I made this series of posts back in 2014. Going through the histories of blocks, that had names. Then I even decided to remake some of those posts, while also going further in time. I didn't do the history of post KIDS WB , CW because it wasn't old yet. There were/are so many other blocks to talk about.
Something that arises is time. Looking over these blocks, not just the ones in this post, gives an interesting sense of the story of how the networks were coping and how things were changing that might have not been too noticed then, but with time can be seen. The idea of "What killed the Saturday Morning" or in my way of saying the "What killed the networks doing children's programming?" was probably fully never clear, but also clear enough.
The Education and Informational rules do get some blame by big fans of the Saturday Morning cartoon concept. I was one of those for awhile, but looking over trends, the idea might not been so clear cut, if anything E/I might have made the concept last longer than it did. When NBC pulled the plug on TNBC in 2001, they explicitly said when they made the deal with Discovery, if it wasn't for the rule they would have given up Saturday Morning children's programming altogether.
...he would have programmed the block with other content if notfor the Federal Communications Commission's network requirements for kids'programming.
(source- Multi Channel News)
I can hypothesize that ABC Kids wouldn't have existed in 2002, if Disney was already willing to move their focus to their Disney Channel (and Toon Disney/ ABC Family) for content, and that sticking reruns on ABC was to just commit to E/I rules. Only a couple shows on the block weren't E/I shows. (Odd That Kim Possible wasn't, but Hannah Montana was)
CBS used Nick Jr. because it was an easy way to provide some E/I content and it allowed Nick to fill a gap when they didn't have Nick Jr. on weekends.
The WB decided to pair back Kids WB to just Saturday in 2006, then that network went off the air the later. It's interesting to see how long the CW kept on having sort of traditional children's block- eight years. Its other predecessor, UPN, had left the market in 2003. It's interesting to see the commitment to the idea last longer than maybe what the market was doing.
Vortexx didn't end in a big way, I don't think it had some strength. It was around for 2 years. The news reports that came out at the time mentioned more that the concept was ending. The network children's block had been around for decades and this was the end of that. It was sad the concept ended, but not a surprise by the point it did, it might be more a surprise how long the CW kept something going.
That's our lookback... tune in next time when we buy 3 hours of CW Saturday Morning and bring back Digimon, that we also bought the rights to...hmm.
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