The Lookback: CW 4 KIDS +

Children's TV The Flashback The CW 

                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. 

The Lookback: Kids WB!

The Flashback 

             The door that FOX opened just by existing is something of a television historical note that, if not for television or the media around today, would not exist in its current form. In short, without FOX existing as a broadcast network, there would have been no The WB or UPN, and probably no major vertical integration mergers where a movie studio with a TV studio would be co-owned with a broadcast network. There would have been no Disney owning ABC.

   

             In 1993, well November 1993, Warner Bros. , a large movie and TV studio which would also be a a factor in many successful TV shows, including the soon to be big and popular "Friends" for NBC, was going to start their own broadcast network. Called The WB. Their primary partner, since WB didn't own local TV stations, compared to how Murdoch bought TV stations before launching FOX, would be Tribune Company. (Source)  Tribune owned major stations in  the top markets  and a few other locals. (like the owners of the local station in Denver KWGN)    They also owned a cable channel feed of Chicago's WGN, which would also be of help.  

   

       The WB was going to launch in January of 1995, and was coming a market that as different than FOX came in. There was way more cable competition, which was hurting local independent stations. Maybe having a network would help these stations, that was a theory. Even when though there was an explosion of new , mostly UHF, indie stations coming on in the 80's the market had worked for the content. Including weekday and non-Saturday children's programming. This gave us the Disney Afternoon , which birthed us FOX Kids.   FOX Kids history should be noted here benefited from Warner Bros. programming in their assent to a top spot. 

            The WB network launched January 11, 1995, the KIDS WB block didn't launch until September 9, 1995.  In theory, if anybody could launch a powerful kids with animation block would well Warner Brothers. Again, they had success on Fox with shows like "Animaniacs" , "Tiny Toon Adventures" , "Bat Man the animated series". If someone was to make up a theory that Warner saw how well their stuff was doing but not fully reaping the benefits and decided to go it on their own and here we go; that could make sense. 

     

          “People think networks produce shows and networks seem to take creative credit, when in fact, studios are the producers. Now people know who should take the bow, and that’s Warner Bros. Studios Animation.”

                                                                                                                            (source)  

      Those words from Jamie Kellner, the first head of The WB.   He was also the former Fox president. Maybe the magic of FOX would help the WB. Though our post is only about the Kids block.

   Kids WB, took FOX's model of being a Saturday Morning and Weekday block. When FOX came in there were 3 other blocks on Saturday morning, but NBC was bowing out,  but three's also Nickelodeon on cable to worry about.  In fact, cable is part of the WB more than FOX.  In many markets the WB didn't not exist, even in the early days. In some markets, the cable company would pipe in a close by one, especially like Colorado Springs already having KWGN-TV in Denver on cable systems. (Hometown talk)  Remember I also mentioned the WGN cable feed, which was also a WB network feed (unless a sports game took that out)  that means for a selection of people the WB was a cable network, not a broadcast network.  Of course, cable brings in local TV stations that do have over the air, but the WB might not be over the air in some areas.  FOX Kids would be accessible than Kids WB! in some markets.   In major top cities that wasn't a problem since the WB would even be on prime VHF stations like Channel 11 New York, Channel 5 LA, Channel 9 Chicago.  

more after the jump

The Lookback : TNBC

The Flashback  NBC 

    This another re-write edition, where I take an old post and re-do it to see how it can be improved. I originally did the the TNBC block post in back in 2014, but I also combined it with UPN Kids. This time,  I'm going to just focus on TNBC, and there's something  big to tell. TNBC, is not as well known, but it's place in history is important, not just for the block but what it was a sign of in the future.

            Our story begins in 1988, the idea of concept of giving up Saturday Morning cartoons was bubbling up. Even a rumor in 1987 about deciding to drop the concept themselves. The idea is that the ratings were slipping, or the real reason: business. NBC was #1 in ratings on Saturday Mornings, but being #1 doesn't matter if you aren't making money on that.  Around this time, syndication (so not really cable affecting anything just yet) was booming for kids programming.  Kids had more options beyond Saturday morning and also content that might have made it to NBC, CBS, and ABC weren't and showing up on UHF 53 or something instead.  Around that time, the average cost of a Saturday morning cartoon episode was $300,000.   

       Brandon  Tartikoff  was running NBC at the time, he was one of the most  successful NBC presidents in their history. He had said there was other potential for Saturday Morning, beyond cartoons. He was thinking about news  (more on that later) travel shows, and well anything else. A think of note here is that Saturday Morning , along with other day parts, were produced by outside companies. Hanna and Barbera, for example. Why not have NBC Studios make stuff instead, in house is cheaper than paying some cartoon to make a cartoon that'll last maybe 13 episodes. 

        

         (source:  https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/19/business/the-media-business-nbc-considers-scrapping-saturday-cartoons.html) 

           That didn't happen. Well, in 1988, or 1989, or 1990, but it was coming. Funny enough, Tartikoff left before TNBC was launched, but there is something we have to do before we get to TNBC. (This is a long story)   Tartikoff had tasked a man named Peter Engel (get used to him) to work on a new series for NBC primetime, back in 1986.  That brings us to a series that first pilot aired in 1987.   

        Let's take Hayley Mills and make her a teacher. (Wonderful!) That's fine enough but she needs some interesting students. Let's see, how about a boy who is kind of mischievous and scheming named Zach Morris. Let's  also have other characters named Lisa Turtle,  Samuel "Screech" Powers  and Mikey. Maybe some more to round it out. The pilot of this series aired in June of 1987 and NBC decided that no never mind we don't want it.  

          "Good Morning, Miss Bliss" was the name of this proposed series, but even though, NBC passed it over, it did get to have 13 episodes that aired on The Disney Channel (back when Disney Channel had a The like it thought it was better than everyone else)  Disney was going to air more, but the show was retooled and they passed up on it. 

    

        Now, the spark to help begin the TNBC story!  This is when Tartikoff felt taking this series and redoing it with new elements, new time slot, and different spot.  That's right this  is "Saved By The Bell" .  Saved by the Bell was launched in primetime in 1989, but it's main drive would be part of Saturday Morning as a way to get older kids who NBC felt they were losing in ratings.  This was new, usually any live-action on Saturday morning for kids would be those teen shows, or those specials programming.  

more after the jump

The Lookback: Disney's One Saturday Morning / ABC Kids (Rewrite Edition)

The Flashback  ABC  Children's TV 

      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

The Lookback: 1996: A Look at CBS' 1996-97 season Saturday Morning Programming

The Flashback CBS 

Had to cheat and use an image from 1995 

     Previously on the blog, we looked at ABC's 1996-1997 Saturday Morning programming. You can read that here. 

                  The idea here is to do a snap shot of a period of time in Saturday morning television history, by doing an overview of programming while mostly talking about them in a larger context.  The time being the 1996-1997 season.  The reason why I picked 1996 for this post (and the ABC post) is that 1996 was a transitional time for this network's morning programming. This would be the last year of their traditional programming block before adding news programming and focusing on E/I children's programming. NBC had started the ball rolling with "Saturday Today" and CBS was going to join in later.  

       

       There's another similar story to ABC: acquisition.  I'm going to keep it simple for this post because there's a larger context, but that's not really here for this post.  Westinghouse announced in 1995, they were wanting to purchase CBS.  This was announced about a day after Disney announced they were buying ABC, and Westinghouse got their network purchaused approved first.  Now, CBS had new owners, though Westinghouse wasn't really a company that was like Disney, it owned local stations and was an electric products company, so they didn't have anything to bring to Saturday Morning kids TV they way Disney would. 

        Let's get a look at this line up now.   In 1996, this would be the last year of a traditional block for CBS before mostly going to a) E/I programming  and b) later letting someone else program the time for them.  

         First, the second and final season of "The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat" This is a series that's a modern take on the character Felix the cat, (duh) this series has Phil Roman working on, you would know him from "Garfield" specials and some "Peanuts" specials as well. This season only had 8 episodes, and of course was the last for the series. In "Felix" history this was the first series since the 50's series that ended in 1962.  So far, the next series was the last one with "Baby Felix" which came out in 2001. (but that didn't air on CBS) 

        Next on CBS, was the 2nd season of "Timon & Pumbaa" yes, Disney's.   The Disney Afternoon by the mid 1990's was mostly faltering as a block , especially as local stations were changing around the country.  Disney decided to work with CBS on a few things, before well, buying ABC. Just because they bought ABC, doesn't mean contracts would change that easily. This though, was the final season of this show on CBS; it had one more season in 1999, airing on Toon Disney.  CBS didn't even finish airing the 2nd season, five episodes premiered in just syndication.  This series takes Timon and Pumbaa from "The Lion King" and sets them on their own adventures. 

more after the jump 

The Lookback: 1996: A Look at ABC's 1996-97 season Saturday Morning Programming

The Flashback  ABC 

        1996. You  might be wondering why we are looking at a random year (though in 2021, 1996 is 25 years ago, eek)  of programming on a random broadcast network, when we could be doing anything else. (Whatever that is)  Well, 1996, wasn't just some random year, in theory, for Saturday morning kids block there was some change.

 

    In 1995 (Nooo you can't do that... what are you doing, this is about 1996!),  one new block joined the big 3 Saturday morning kids  blocks and it joined the big 1 weekday race.  Joining ABC, CBS, and FOX was the WB's  Kids WB (on the WB) . UPN also launched a block, but they said, woah Saturday is crowded, we'll die so Sunday and Weekdays for them. (I'm sure they didn't say that line like that , but it's implied)  Anyway, we're talking about ABC.  We have to go back to 1993. (Oh come on!) 

  In 1993, the wise FCC decided, nah it's good for syndication and production companies to be owned with networks. Now, FOX and a few others had found ways around the rule, anyway, but this meant something. This is also how UPN and the WB were able to exist.  On July 31st, 1995 it happened, The Walt Disney Company announced it's intentions to buy Capital Cities/ ABC, this was approved by shareholders (duh money)  and later by the FCC (because sure why not, allow  bad decisions to happen?) ABC was now no longer a company it was now part of a larger company, it had been demoted from crown jewel to a piece of future in the house that exists next your fancy stuff.   (what?)  

        Sticking to the theme of this blog post, 1996-1997 season on Saturday morning would be a transition year.  February 1997, Peter Hastings joined Disney and decided that they needed to something different with this real estate on Saturday morning on ABC. (Meanwhile at CBS, we see them burning their Saturday morning down , and seeding to FOX , Kids WB, and the FCC)   That block would be called  Disney's One Saturday Morning, ( Disney buy Saturday Mornings in the future probably) (source: https://variety.com/1997/digital/news/abc-hopes-for-virtual-success-1116677612/) 

          1996-1997 would be the last year of what essentially was an unnamed block. It wasn't tradition to call these things names until like FOX Kids started. So we look at this block, a moment in time, a snap shot, a time , a piece. Let's get on with it. 

             First in the line up : Disney's Jungle Cubs.  This was the first year of Disney ownership of ABC, but before this Disney relied on syndication (Disney Afternoon) and selling programs to networks, like ABC and CBS. A model that had been the standard for decades like with Hanna and Barbera.   Disney didn't make their programs exclusive to ABC(yet,)  Disney Afternoon was dying at this point, but that's a different story.  On CBS this season there were still some Disney animated shows running there.   But this series was the first one to premiere on ABC with Disney ownership.     

    "Jungle Cubs" takes the making shows with characters but younger route. It's based off their "The Jungle Book" movie, but with the animals as "kids" and no human child. Now because this is more a snap shot look, I won't be going too deep into every show's plot, but mostly giving a look at this time period.

     In a weird twist, a Nickelodeon show. Alright, Disney had purchased "Doug" one of Nickelodeon's first Nicktoons. This has only happened once and Viacom will probably fight to the death than allow this to happen again.  Disney had acquired the studio that made "Doug" (Disney's rampage goes long) and it had already ended on Nickelodeon, and Disney thought to make their investment have a purpose, since they didn't own the original Nick episodes, they needed to make more Doug. (It's like Disney with Star Wars)  In September of 1996, here on the ABC line up, the "Brand New Sparking Doug" (what?) premiered.  It would last through the One Saturday Morning block as well. Confusing kids as to how Doug can run on two different channels at once.  (Jokes on Disney, Nick had their cash cow of Rugrats in their back pocket)   

more after the jump

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 Lookback: Discovery Kids on NBC

The Flashback NBC 

        I already did this one too, but I thought, if I could could clean up and make a new Nick on CBS post, might as well make a new Discovery Kids on NBC post. Many of my past ones were made at the time in 2014, when the final traditional network block was going off the air.  Now, I can add more details to a post and do more.  Compared to the Nick (jr) on CBS post, I really liked the Discovery Kids on NBC one, so some of the stuff from that one will end up here, but this post will be more hefty. (Anyway you can read the original one here)

            Our story takes us to 1996.  Discovery Communications (now known as Discovery Inc.) was expanding beyond just Discovery Channel. Then known as digital cable, the idea was to expand and add more serviced channels.  Discovery was going to give viewers their programs but on more promoted platforms.  Discovery was a channel that aired different aspects of programming.  Science programming would also get it's own channel so Science lovers (that's a term) would get their own channel: Science Channel (Good Name) , Discovery Travel and Living, and Discovery Civilization. (The Discovery part tells you who owns them)   Another market that they decided to get into was children's television.  Discovery, back then, was more educational and had many child viewers either willingly or for schools watching their programming.  This brings us Discovery Kids.

             Discovery Kids wasn't the biggest most carried cable network , at start. By 2001, Discovery Kids maybe had about 15 million homes much less than Nick, Disney, Cartoon Network, even Fox Family.

           Meanwhile, in 1992, NBC had jumped ship on children's TV.  The reasons range from "Hey Saved By the Bell is doing well, let's do more of that" , the changing market place, FOX Kids chipping away, and just an change in mood. So NBC went for Teens with TNBC (get it TeenNBC) TNBC was a 3 hour block: the other hours were given to adults to create the first network Saturday morning show , the Saturday Today Show.  (weee)    The teen block did kind of work and it did fit with the E/I rules placed on network TV.  NBC was on the forefront of knowing things were changing either by luck or really really good foresight. (Or it's their fault?)

               In 2001, NBC washed their hands off the TNBC block, it's death date was set for September 2002. Because September 2002, everything was going to change.   NBC, at the time, was owned by General Electric. It was also the only network (major) owned with a children's cable network or department or something.  (This is before even the concept of NBC Universal) Discovery had a little issue as well, that children's channel didn't have a large audience, NBC does.  Let's pop together!

              Discovery was given the 10am-1pmet slot (time zones vary, my Colorado markets aired it between 8am and 11am unless a sport came on) (and the other station was 9 to Noon ) The block was maybe going to be 2.5 hours if NBC renewed their NBA rights in 2001, and they didn't .(oops)  At least in 2001, NBC said the block for Teens wasn't working and something something E/I rules.. (source)

     NBC West Coast president Scott Sassa said the network couldn't reach thetarget teen audience through its primetime programming to help market and
promote its Saturday-morning schedule.
He added that he would have programmed the block with other content if not
for the Federal Communications Commission's network requirements for kids'
programming.

            This gave a small unheard network a chance to maybe grab new eyeballs (what?) I would actually think, Discovery Kids' biggest viewing in their history, was never their own network.  On October 5th, 2002 Discovery Kids on NBC first started.  (wonderful)

more after the jump

The Lookback: KOL Secret Slumber Party/ KEWLopolis/ Cookie Jar TV :

CBS The Flashback Saturday Morning 

         2006:  Viacom and CBS had given up on their marriage and divorced on January 1st, the old Viacom became CBS corp.and the new Viacom was formed. Nickelodeon on CBS was there lingering and waiting for its fate. 

          January 19th 2006:  Nick (Jr) on CBS was condemned to death  and was waiting for it's final date in September.   CBS had found someone else, like a recently divorced person rebounding to a new lover. (this is getting weird)  DiC (pronounced Deek) was brought on to work with CBS in running the 3 hour Saturday Morning block.  DiC was around doing children's programming for sometime. I even remember the syndicated block they had because it aired on 3 different local stations around  me. The new block was going to be called "CBS’s Secret Saturday Morning Slumber Party,” (the heck?) .  (SOURCE)

               2006 was an interesting turning year for network TV. A few days after January 19th,  Time Warner , the owner of the WB network, and CBS corporation, the owners of UPN decided that their networks were bad ideas and decided to mate and have a new network called the CW.    Going with our target for this post:  The Kids WB block had changed already in 2006, on December 31st 2005, the last broadcast of the daytime weekday Kids WB block was aired.  Stations wanted something more "adult"in their afternoon line up. Kids WB was the last non-PBS weekday children's block on broadcast TV.  (Minus any station airing the Dic Syndication block on weekdays at the time)  The Saturday morning block was expanded to run from 7am to Noon, all time zones the same.  That was going to continue on the CW since UPN didn't have a children's block. (UPN , yoUr Parent's Network)

            Over on NBC, Discovery Kids and NBC decided to not work together anymore even they probably were going to have less viewers watching than they had on NBC (Discovery Kids Network kind of died after the block ended and withered until the Hub was launched) NBC was going with Ion Televison , then known as "I" formally PAX TV (Feel the Spirit) where Telemundo, NBC, and I (get it?) were going to have a new block. Fridays on I , Saturdays on NBC, and Saturdays but in Spanish on Telemundo.   Over on ABC, that would be the last year of ABC Kids, I mean , the last year they did anything with ABC kids.    (Can we go back to CBS, Now?)

              Now enter AOL, (for the love of...) Aol had (hold on) yep, had a kids site called KOL ,( Kids Online) and they wanted to be part of this CBS and Dic action for some reason.  So instead of calling the block the CBS' Secret Saturday Morning Slumber Party  (rolls of the tongue like butter) it was to be called the KOL Secret Slumber Party. The name is still long but not as long. The name also may have been for stations that might air part of the block on Sunday, didn't want people to mass panic thinking it was still Saturday. (what?) That or they maybe saw the idea of a long name as bad thing.
         

more after the jump

The Lookback: Nick on CBS

The Flashback  Saturday Mornings 

            I have written about about this block before , as I was marking the end of commercial Saturday morning broadcast TV children's TV back in 2014.  This was the first block I wrote about then and thought maybe to give it another look and  see if anything can be said differently, and what can be added.   Let's take a look.

          By the year 2000, Saturday  Morning broadcast TV for kids was dead,  what was on the air was the buying of time , really.. Also the results of media consolidation were in full force by this point as well, and that has to do with this story as much as anything else. 

         Our story starts with CBS.  Due to changes in the Children's television act of 1990, more cable penetration, media consolidation, and the target audience's lifestyles changing, CBS had given up running their own children's block. By this time only FOX and The WB were still doing such.  (Disney on ABC doesn't count in a technical sense; NBC was producing but for teens)  CBS had given up a section of Saturday morning programming to their morning show. (CBS Saturday Morning) following what NBC had done in 1992, and giving an audience they could give more commercials , a program.  

           A condition of the children's television act is to limit advertising for children under 13 to  12 minutes  on weekdays and 10.5 minutes on weekends ( guess where Saturday falls)  this meant that some revenues would be gone but could be made up on a program for adults like CBS Saturday Morning.   The block for children was cut to  3 hours to match the legal requirement (at the time to have 3 hours of Educational children's programming.)  They decided to outsource that time to a company willing to have the commitment to the block they didn't want to have hands in. (In theory)   Nelvana ran a block called Think CBS , later CBS Kidshow.  (either that or its CBS Kids show or CBS Kids how or CBS kid show ) . 

              Now let's talk about UPN.  UPN was a broadcast network owned by Viacom and until 2000, Chris Craft as well. The name is UPN meant United Paramount Network.  Viacom owned children's cable network  Nickelodeon. It would make sense that after Disney bought ABC and made a Saturday block run by Disney, to have UPN have a block by Nick on UPN.  That didn't happen, they made a deal in 1998 to have Disney produce their block.  (Partly Viacom owned network including some local stations owned by Viacom were airing a block run by Disney while Viacom ran Nickelodeon , that's a funny story)   Nick and UPN was considered but Disney really must have wanted this.  (Source) 

      Viacom was able to purchase CBS in 2000.  In a twist, the original Viacom was once CBS Films and owned with CBS but in 1971 the laws made it where a company that owned a network couldn't own a film and syndication unit.( A good rule, that was also killed by bad decisions) .  Since our story is about one block (yeah you are taking forever)..     

          Nick....oh wait... Nick Jr. on CBS.  So, in actual fact, they decided to skew younger and have the block be a Saturday extension of  Nick Jr which didn't run on weekends. On September  16, 2000 the 3 hour block launched.  Maybe the idea was since, FOX, the WB, and ABC were going after kids above 7 and Nickelodeon already existing and targeting the same audience, that skewing younger would be a mission.  (Sad they didn't do Teen Nick on CBS and go after TNBC)   The block was also originally ad free, because sure. Nelvana wasn't fully out of the works because they had worked with Nick to bring shows including preschool shows.


More after the Jump

The Lookback : Children's Programs: CBS Saturday Mornings Part III

The Flashback  Children's TV

      We did Part II . Welcome to our next stab at Saturday Morning lookbacks with more at CBS fun. We take a look at shows that aired on CBS in the Saturday Morning time space, that aired between 1976 and 1995. (A wide space frame, don't you think?)  Let's take our leap.  

1.  Way Out Games 

    Not every Saturday Morning show for families (mostly Children ) were animated ,as evidenced in past posts. As you tell where we are going with this one was  not animated.   It's the oldest program we are looking back at this time ,from 1976.  Way Out Games (get it? The 70's things were way out, kind of like the 90's Were EXTREME)  It was an athletic  children's show were competitors from the 50 states and also Puerto Rico (why wasn't Guam included? , tisk tisk CBS).  The show worked where the kids would compete in different events  and earn some points, winner with most points at the end of the show would get to compete later with another winning team  Then after the regular competition   , there were quarter finals, semi finals, and the season finale episode of a Championship final.   

                     
                       Well the titles were animated so that's nice !
    The series began September 11th ,1976 and ran one season. The host was Sonny Fox , man who had done children's TV before starting with a local show in  Saint Louis  in 1954 a children's news and travelogue program.  He was later the host of a game show called The $64,000  challenge  where he was fired because they felt he wasn't funny enough, but lucky him he missed the great game show scandal from the 50's.  Mertromedia  picked him up to be host of a  show called Wonderama for WABD/WNEW (now WNYW)  in New York.
    Way Out Games first aired Saturdays at 12:30PM Eastern Time then moved to 1pm and later to Sunday Morning. Some stations didn't air the show because of sports ,local programs,or even Soul Train, so it never got that much traction and was not renewed for a season 2.

2.  Wildfire 
      This show has no relation to the song about the horse, besides the Name, Wildfire.  Wildfire is about a 13 year old girl  in the American west (ehhh could be alright ) , but she is not just any 13 year old girl living in the American west (ok) ,  she finds out that she is a princess from a different realm  who has to fight an evil witch. (Well that escalated quickly)

                           "I though the show had no relation to the song"/copyright Hanna and Babera
       The background story is that Sara is  a princess from a place called Thurinia , as a baby she was rescued by her talkign horse named Wildfire (you know what... maybe it was inspired by the song) from the  Lady Diabolyn, who is evil, after her mother died (well of course) the horse takes Sara from their planet to ours and leaves her at a farm in Montana.   For fun the evil lady isn't just some random evil lady , she's the evil stepsister of Sara's mother, (well of course)

           Now 12 years later she is ready to fight evil (fighting evil insurance doesn't kick in until you are 13) and Wildfire brings her back to Thurinia to get her kingdom back.  Each episode she and her friends  on the planet of  Dar-Shan  fight her evil step-aunt. (step-aunt?)  It is later found out that John, the man taking care of her  and adoptive on Earth, is actually a prince , and her real father. (what timing!)   

Darn dress code, I should really be wearing tights  or some pink/copyright Hanna-Barbera 

              The series was created by   Hanna-Barbera for CBS in 1986 , it ran 13 episodes and well , we never know if Sara did over take her evil (step) aunt.  

                                
   
 More after the Jump

A New Block of Children's Broadcast TV

NEWS   Children's TV

     This blog has written heavily about  former children's broadcast TV blocks and we've talked about the death of traditional broadcast TV blocks for children.  (Though Ion television kind of has one.)  So it's interesting and surprising to be writing about a new one coming July 1st.

Sinclair Broadcast Group  , the largest owner of local TV stations in the country is introducing a block of children's programming for 7 days a week called Kids Click. It will be airing on Tribune's network , This TV (Sinclair is also , as of this writing in the midst of trying to buy the Tribune company) airing Weekdays 6AMET to 9AMET and weekends 7amet-10amet  (To find out if you get THIS TV  go here)  It will also be airing on some Sinclair stations  (mostly CW or My Network  TV stations) and their schedules will vary by market.   For example WUCW in Minneapolis will be airing the block at these times   to find your Sinclair station to see if the listings show the block you can check here.

     The block first programming line up looks like this

Weekdays (all times ET)
6AM SONIC X
6:30   Max Steel
7AM  Angry Birds  (New to TV)
7:30    Miraculous : Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir
8AM   Rocket Monkeys
8:30AM Super 4   (New to the US )

Weekends
7AM  RoboCop: Alpha Commando
7:30  Sonic X
8AM   Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
8:30AM Scary Larry  (new to the US)
9AM   Pink Panther and Pals
9:30am Pac-Man and The Ghostly Adventures

  It was also announced they will be doing stuff online too (because this is 2017, so everyone is doing it)  at their website Kidsclicktv.com  they are on Twitter and Facebook 

The Lookback : Children's programming : NBC Saturday Mornings part III

NBC Children's programming   The Lookback 

    We did a part II so III comes after  as we delve back into our comfort zone in the lookback at  Saturday Morning network TV before it was killed by murder.
    Most of the shows in this lookback are from the 80's ,though there are a couple 70's in here (just like the real 80's).  So let's dive in.

1. Casper and the Angles
    Casper  the friendly ghost is a  guardian  angle for woman police motorcycle cops  in the year 2179.  (What?)   That's a description of this cartoon that came out in 1979 , produced by Hanna and Barbera .  There also was another ghost named Hairy Scary (who apparently lost his real name upon death) who liked to scare bad guys.  (Uh Judge, the cops used a ghost on me and I want my ticket canceled)

                                
                              I have a question , no wait make that a few/ copyright Turner
   Each episode had 2 segments and the series ran 13 episodes (lucky) From September to December 1979.   Though makes you wonder how much fun or worrying  Law and Order or other cop shows would be if they had ghosts helping them.
     

   2. Shirt Tales
      A magic shirt  goes on magic adventures  (psst , no  that's not the show) , oops  oh  A Tiger, A Panda, A Mole, a Raccoon , and an Orangutan  live together in Oak tree park  and wear shirts that flash words of their thoughts on them (why?). They bother a Janitor and also fight crime. (What?, ummm can we talk about Casper , please)
   Hallmark had a card line called Shirt Tales  which featured animals with words on their shirts.  Since the cards sold well, the natural thing was to made it a children's cartoon. ( Sounds logical) Hanna and Barbera decided to work with them and create the cartoon for NBC.  Since  TV shows have plots (well some of them do)  it seems the crime fighting thing was added on.   It started in 1982  and each episode had 2 half segments.  The first thirteen episodes did well so NBC renewed the show (yes? it did well)  for a 10 episode season 2. They added a Kangaroo (for some reason)  They also seemed to demote the Raccoon from leader to giving the Tiger that role (no comment) and episodes just didn't have him.   The Series ended in 1984 , after two seasons and 23 episodes.

                                 
                                     No comment / but it is on DVD now /  Copyright Warner
Also a fun note : the Voice of Bart Simpson , Nancy Cartwright voiced  the kangaroo.

3. Wish Kid
    We lied, there is one show from the 90's and from the last season of NBC doing kids shows before Teening it up. (that's a thing)
 Wish Kid staring  Macaulay Culkin (the actual  title of the cartoon)  came out in 1991 and is about named Nicholas /or Nick McClary  owned a magic baseball glove.  How was it magic ? It was struck by miniature shooting star. ( This show makes more sense than anything else)  It could grant wishes , though it had a limit (like a prepaid phone in the 2000's)  it could only be used once a week (meta ,aren't you show?) and each wish didn't last long.
             

                                 
                              I guess one temporary wish a week is better than none/ Copyright Dic.
  The series ran  13 episodes (today's number)  in 1991, as we said this was NBC's last year of doing general Children's programming.

4. Godzilla (also see #5 after 4)
      Ok , Godzilla , yeah let's get on right that.  Hanna and Barbera made the series for NBC it started in 1978.  The idea was  a cartoon version of  Godzilla.  The show was something Barbera wanted to do for awhile.  Now , also included  Godzooky, to have a father son thing going on. (Ummm)  Since this is network TV in the 1970's  the powers that be didn't want Godzilla to shoot flames , step on cars and buildings. (Or in other words , don't have a giant monster be a giant monster) We also have a team of scientists who call on Godzilla to help  when they are in peril.  Also predating E/I it PBS'd and gave you an educational segment in the middle of the show about something scientific.   The series ran from 1978-79 for 2 seasons of 13 episodes.
                           
   NOW see #5 it's kind of related.

5.  Jana of the Jungle.
      NBC ran Godzilla under the name "GodZilla Power Hour"  for a month, Godzilla was a half hour cartooon, so  what did NBC do the 2nd part ?  A new cartoon called "Jana of the Jungle"  Later on that  was called Godzilla Super 90 , but forget that for now.
   Jana of the Jungle was made by H&B (why not?) Jana was  lives in the Jungle because she got lost there. She is on the search for her father who vanished on the boating trip she was stranded on as a child. There are other humans there, to also help on the search for her father , though sadly she never does.  The series ran 13 (ugggh)  episodes  in 1978
 she also skinned one of her friends... / Copyright Warner

  That's our look back .. at  NBC Saturday Morning shows part III, tune in next time when NBC had  a show about a girl  who lived in the jungle , solves mysteries with her magic talking shirt and glove in the year 2179.

The Lookback: Children's TV : The Fox Box and Beyond

The Flashback Children's TV 

We will return to FOX post Fox kids in the future .

                                                                               - Joshuaonline 2014   

 
       Well it is the future (what it is?, where's the flying dolphins I've been hearing about?)  and time to tackle that Fox after Fox Kids thing.  Now we wrote that on Saturday, September 7, 2002 that FOX Kids  packed up and left .  What did FOX do on  Saturday Mornings?   Well much like the other networks were doing at the time, minus the WB , they leased out their mornings to another company, 4 Kids Entertainment.  4 Kids entertianment  was a company created by the creator of Thundercats  and the creator of G.I Joe series .   4 Kids got it's big break , it could be called when they brought the Pokemon Anime  to America. (more on that in our Kids WB article)  They started dubbing other anime and other programming for the American children's TV market , the other program of note , would be Yu-Gi-Oh, which was brought in 2001 to Kids WB.  FOX ending FOX Kids gave them an opportunity. FOX and 4 Kids entered into an agreement , they would get to control 4 hours of FOX programming  and they also got the ad money, (what a deal)

FOX BOX , or FB OX 

           The first programs on this block were:  Stargate Infinity (you know , this site seems to be attracted  to  animated versions of  Live action shows ) , Fighting Foodons, Kirby:Right back at ya , Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy, and Ultraman Tiga. (Apparently some shows got repeated twice in the 4 hour block, lazy lazy. )  

         Pretty much they were like a port for 4 Kids to take their licensing deals  of Anime and some European cartoons to import them into the U.S . Anyway in 2005, they decided that the FOX BOX name had too much lacking of the name 4 kids in it , so they renamed the block , 4 KIDS TV. 

   

    

        
         G.I Joe .... hmmm interesting.
        In 2006  , they lost rights to  dub Pokemon in English... going to umm  Pokemon itself,  Yu Gi Oh it's self did move to Fox from the WB.  They otherwise continued to their path of dubbing , they also worked a deal with MGA to make a TV show based off the Bratz toys, and a TV Show based off a video game called Viva Pinata, (remember this is company that was has half created by a guy who a made GI Joe a TV series)  Their other top series was Teenage Mutant Nijia Turtle related  , which they revived as animated series in 2003.

       This is where the story gets more ... beyond ish. In our Kids WB post  we noted how the block ended... the CW decided to sell it's Saturday Morning slot from outside the ownership structure...and that buyer was ... 4 Kids entertainment.  In 2007 ,it was announced that  Kids WB was ending in 2008. (sad isn't it?)
  Back to FOX ,,, you could maybe tell something was going to give , when the 4Kids block on the CW began in May 2008, a few programs moved networks.   Ironically , Yu Gi Oh, and the 2008 fall schedule on FOX was all repeats and show burn off. (sniffs the channel)
    Maybe Fox was unhappy about the CW thing , or the CW thing was  result of FOX being un happy with 4 kids , which ever way it was  (or some third thing)  4 Kids announced in November that FOX was going to end the block.   In 2009, the 4 hour block was broken up , where 2 hours were given to the affiliates. (to air things like news, infomercials, E/I shows , boring stuff ) and 2 hour networked (!) infomercial block , called Weekend Marketplace. (uhhhh)

"The New Action on Saturday Mornings"/ Copyright Oreck 

More after the Jump 

The Lookback : Disney Channel Edition

The Lookback   Disney Channel 

         Well , this is interesting  ... we taking a lookback somewhere where it hasn't been before. (Can we say somewhere where?, that's got to be improper)  Now  in this look we are not going for the shows that are talked about most when people lookback at Disney Channel shows.  Example : Lizzie McGuire and That's So Raven (which we did a lookback on in 2013) ,   So Join us  as we go somewhere.

      Disney Channel now a-days is know for  making sitcoms , mostly targeted to tween girls ( sometimes twenty)  but in the early days of original shows , they tried their hats at many other genres of TV shows one such example is this one.

1. So Weird 
   I remember this show , loved it  "So Weird" was  a Disney Channel show that began in the January of 1999  about a teenage girl named Fiona Phillips (no relation to the British TV presenter, for our UK audience)  who toured with her rock star mom , played by Mackenzie Phillips. (Wait this sounds like a current Disney Channel show premise would be ) Where they went there was paranormal goings on . ( I retract my last statement) Since it was a paranormal show it was a dark show, (for Disney Channel, I mean show a kid today and tell them that this was from Disney Channel , they would call you crazy)   Fiona also had a brother named Jack , he was a non-believer of paranormal (has to be one )  We also had the bus driver , Ned Bell, his wife and the manager , Irene Bell, and their kids  Carey Bell (season 2 starter)  and brother  Clu Bell. (Get it Clu?)
   The First season had an arch of  Fiona looking to communicate with her passed away father, as she encountered different paranormal subjects , such as aliens.  Season 2 continued , some changes were made as Clu was reduced so they brought in the other brother , Carey.  We had a lot more fantastic creatures like Vampires (before they were done to death, then not done to death or something ) , we the audience find out that Fiona's father also investigated paranormal activity  . (we get 5 ¢ per each time we say paranormal , oh 5 more)  The season was  a much darker one than 1 was ( even more darker compared to say, "Dog with a Blog" )
 Season 3 , was the final one  they decided to lighten it up a bit , also a change in actress happened as well   Carla DeLiza , the actress playing Fiona decided to leave and was replaced with Alexz Johnson and her charcter was Annie.  Annie  had a season arch where she was followed a by a spirit panther.    The series ended after 65 episodes (Disney Channel rule at the time , also a major number here in our lookbacks )  it ended in 2001.


2. The Jersey
   Sports... meet Quantum Leap or something....
   Disney Channel  had a TV series called , "The Jersey" it began in 1999, the premise of the show is about 4 friends who find a magical football jersey (so the show doesn't take place in Jersey?) it would transport the wearer to the body of an athlete of any sport, Quantum Leap style.  The series ran on Disney Channel from 1999 until 2004, with our magical number of 65 episodes.  Though , it's final running was shoved to early mornings and slowed to 3 years after production of the series ended



3. Bug Juice (not a cooking show)
     Think about this carefully,  Disney Channel had a reality show , Bug Juice was that show.  It started on Disney Channel in 1998. It was a summer camp based  reality show  that for kids ages 9-12 (Or Disney's Channel audience).  Each of the seasons took place at a different camp.
 It was  a more basic reality show   where the viewer would follow the drama, the fun , and interesting things that happened at this camp. (Or the fun of going to camp , but watching other people do it instead)
   It  ran 3 seasons and  ended in 2004.  Does make you wonder if  Disney Channel had taken a different path and this show was more popular than the sitcoms they were making , that kids TV could have been all  reality TV.

                                       
            Well...It was tried again , also Cartoon Network and real don't go together

4.  In a Heartbeat
    Kind of rarity,  Disney Channel along with Family Channel in Canada  made a TV drama (yes a drama on Disney Channel)  . It follows teenagers  who work as part time EMT's as they have to balance school life and work life.  The kids on the show were also football player, cheerleader, another football player, and a troubled teen. ( Ummm sure )   It ran 20 episodes for 1 season in 2000-01.  It's another show that makes you wonder  that if it did well in  Disney's eyes , Disney Channel could be the TNT for kids.  ( Law and Order Jr. coming soon)
                       
                      The theme was also called in Heartbeat
5. Totally Hoops/ Totally Circus
    Another Reality show, this one was about  a group  of girls on the Lady Hoopers Basketball team. The series premiered in 2001. Much like "Bug Juice" it was basic reality show  (more real than say  Real Housewives).  It was a spin off of another DC original reality show "Totally Circus" , which we think is about kids in a circus camp for the summer. (Bug Juice , circus edition) . It ran from June-September 2000.


That's our lookback at Disney Channel, and we did it , so thanks tune in next time when we find out Disney  Channel's  "Suite Life of Zack and Cody" was a reality show. (Not true)

The Lookback : Children's TV Shows : ABC Saturday Mornings Part 2

The Lookback 

 Our sequel of ABC Saturday Mornings continues this is part two , if you missed part one  you can read that here. 

 In this edition we are staying in the 70's ( go disco) , since our last one was in the 80's ( Disco died).  

1.  Hong Kong Phooey 

      You know what was hot in the mid 1970's? ( Charlie's Angels?)  Kung Fu movies and TV shows. So we  have this from 1974  , Hong Kong Phooey was  an Hannah and Barbera  animated series ( are you shocked?)  than began in September of the year. It was about a dog with double identity, he works a janitor at the police station (Mopping up after crime fighters) with the name Penry. His secret identity was  that he was  Hong Kong Phooey the wacky crime fighter. He has a cool car that can turn in a plane, boat and more. (Even a car!)  When he heard of a crime he would get into his cabinet  and turn into his alter ego.  Like Inspector Gadget, later , it was his "sidekick" , Spot, who would be instrumental of capturing the baddy.  The series ran for 16 episodes  and ended in December 1974.

                   
                   Who is this Hero?/  Copy right 1974 by H&B

2. Lassie's Rescue Rangers
   The "Lassie" TV series (live-action) ran from 1954-1973 after it was canceled  , there was still  love of the heroic Collie. In 1972 there was an hour long animated Movie called "Lassie and the Spirit of Thunder Mountain".  ABC must have liked it because they asked for more and thus we get "Lassie's Rescue Rangers"  It was made by Filmation.  Our hero . lives with the Turner Family (Not Ted). The Father is Ranger Ben  Turner  he has a wife and 3 kids , and works as for the Forest Force , whose Job is it to  protect and help. Lassie is the leader of the Rescue Rangers , a group of wild animals who also help keep the environment and also the park safe.


                  
                 What are the lyrics? I forgot   / Copyright  Filmation
 Anyway, it ran 15 episodes. (so way less than the real Lassie )

3. FangFace
    Now it's time for a Ruby-Spears show (this article is just filled with giants who made TV animation in the 70's) it premiered on  ABC in 1978. It's about a group of teenagers :  the leader is named Biff  (Biff?) , his girlfriend Kim, Puggsy  and Fangsworth (uhhh)  the last character  is Fang Face (why isn't he the leader, his name is on the show?)  he turns  into a werewolf whenever he sees the full moon, or the picture of the moon or moon like moon,  The four kids ride around in a dune buggy and fight crime. ( eh finally some good teenagers) Also interestingly enough they only want to use "FangFace" whenever it is really really needed.also Fangface doesn't know of his alter ego and vice-versa.   Pugsy's character also adds new words into each episode.  This show ran two seasons , the 2nd season had the name " FangFace and Fangpuss" There was a new character added , a baby  who is the cousin of Fangs . The Baby also can turn into a werewolf (which kind of breaks the fact that intro says that there  is only one Werewolf born into the family ever 400 years, but why I am I applying logic to a TV  show?)  the series ended after 2 seasons.


                  
                Yep.../ Copyright Ruby-Spears or Turner

4.  Spider-Woman (yes Spider Woman )
   Here's an Idea .. Spider Woman ...a woman named Jessica Drew was bitten by  a poisonous spider (while most would either have to go the hospital , or die) , she was saved by a special spider serum  (father of the year)  and one of the symptoms was super powers. Now Jessica is an adult , she writes for Justice Magazine ( the most read magazine ever) . When Jessica has to fight crime as Spider Woman she slips away and fights crime.
  As you may have guessed it was based of a comic book , called Spider Woman , the TV series came in 1979 , a year after the comic book started There is no supporting cast in the comic compared to the TV show , where you have  a photographer and her nephew.  The Cartoon is also much brighter than the comic could be .  The series ran 1 season of 16 episodes though and faded of ABC's line up.

                       
                   
                  Kids... don't open spider containers  and there are 33 other spider serums? / Copyright Marvel

5. Here comes the Double Deckers
    Hey Britain !    This was a live-action show  made by a UK television producer and 20th Century FOX. It premiered in 1970 on ABC  and 1971 on BBC One in the UK . It revolved around  7 children whose place was an old double decker bus.  Each episode had our heroes falling into different adventures like runaway hovercraft  , martian invasions ,  and more. (you know kid stuff) It ran 17 episodes which was shorter than the intended 26 episodes.

                 
                   Good Fun... and I will see you next week/ Thanks Fox

And that's our lookback at ABC Saturday Mornings (part 2) tune in next time when there's  a British show about Werewolfed Spider Kids,

The Lookback : Children's TV blocks : PBS Kids GO!

 PBS  The Flashback 


     This is our first ( first, means there is more coming?) delve into PBS as a lookback  , but they do children's programming, they are more  well,  the opposite. (Viewers like you)
    PBS's children's shows are either known for educational or preschoolers.  PBS deiced to make a new block (mostly aired in afternoon, but depended on your market as most PBS stuff does) it's target audience were children who were probably outgrown the needs of "Sesame Street"  and watching shows like "Arthur" , "Zoom" (the revived one from 1999 ) , and "CyberChase".   This bring us to PBS Kids GO! (shout the Go , or you are doing it wrong)  which was introduced in 2004   it was going to also be a new channel (a digital over the air channel) . Which sounds great.
 
     It's look was  the PBS  Kids logo but no face of a child thing .
                
        PBS Kids go! incorporated  two long running  PBS series :  Arthur (  1996-present)  and  Cyberchase  (which began in 2002 ) , and depending on your market  , Zoom (which began in 1999 and ended in 2005). They also introduced two new series to  PBS' fall line up, First , a spin-off of Arthur featuring Buster, the bunny.  Which featured , the character  in a series where  was video taping  different kids in his travels around the  United States with his Father. It was based off an episode of Arthur of the same name where Buster's Father takes him and Arthur's Family to New York . It was a mixture of live action and animation. (not live animation that would hurt the drawer's wrist)  
               
                    
                Meanwhile ... how many times can someone say Buster?

While another series was Maya and Miguel  , which  focused on twin brother and Sister 10 year olds and the things they get into.   Since this is PBS Kids and not some other thing ,  it had a focus on multiculturalism and  language learning.  Maya usually tries to help a family member or a friend but  her plans, which sometimes includes her friends  go wrong, It ran 65 episodes from 2004-2007 (some PBS stations repeat the show as of now )
    These were the first "core 4 "  series of PBS Kids GO!
  In 2006   they added a new series called "Fetch With Ruff Ruffman" which like Postcards from  Buster it was half animation  , half live-action.  A Game show where kids competed on challenges and the host was a cartoon dog named Ruff.    This series ran from 2006 to 2010.    With the challenges the contestants had the viewers at home were able to learn along with  the contestants.
  Also, in 2006  as a short at the end of  "Maya and Miguel" a  series called "Word Girl" started  airing  and it became it's own 30 minute show in 2007. (Still running today)   This series is about  a girl named Word Girl who has come to our world  and acts as a superhero  who also has a large knowledge of vocabulary. (Remember this is PBS)  She was adopted by an Earth couple , called the Boxfords and she is known as Becky Boxford  , because all great superheros have secret identities.
       The series  , features a word  each episode  that is repeated at times when need during  the 11 minute period. (Most episodes were two 11 minute segments)   Which makes it fit in that educational thing it has.

Now a word from some guy ... we don't have commercials thanks to you.

The lookback : Kids of Adult cartoons

The Flashback  Children's TV

      This time on the Lookback , we are looking at back at the kids of adult cartoons. Wait ,huh?
Oh well got an email   (which is not first)

     Hey Joshuaonline, 

    I like the lookback stuff your site does , but so far have not seen anything about  baby-feid  cartoons , you know the ones where famous characters are younger , like  Tom and Jerry Kids.  You should do that. 

     Yep, an email suggestion  which is nice , and thank you.  The point of this article is about those cartoons where  apparently  our favorite cartoons were given a younger make over. (Hollywood is always about age)
  1. Tom and Jerry Kids
  So, since  "Tom and Jerry Kids"  was already mentioned let's talk about that first.
   You know Tom and Jerry the cat and mouse who were trying to kill each other since the 40's  (longer than most cats and mice live). It was named in our Fox Kids piece  (which you can read here) but we didn't really in depth talk about it.   Well "Tom and Jerry Kids" was one of the many Tom and Jerry Movies and TV shows that came out over the years.
   Hannah and Barbera and Turner  got together (then Turner bought H&B in 1991, but that's another story)  and worked  together to make this series.  It was the last H&B series for Saturday Morning because they got purchased by Turner  and he used them to work for Cartoon Network.

                                
                              Tim and Harry Kids  / (c) 1990 H&B
        It was the First series to kick of the New Fox Kids block on Fox stations (most of them)  on September 8th ,1990 (once of the best dates in History)  The Series featured our favorite cat and mouse as well kids (though in our modern  90's times) it also featured the dogs from the Tom and Jerry Shorts,  Spike and Tyke , who like the regular series  they were still adult and puppy respectively (uhhhh). Also the series  even though called Tom and Jerry Kids had 3 segments that could make it seem like 3 different shows.  The First, was Tom and Jerry  kids , where you had the fun of Tom and Jerry chasing each other , though in kid form this time. (With less violence because it was the 90's  no violence on TV then) , Second , there was the Spike and Tyke segment  which was there to show family love. (or something) Third, we had Droopy dog   and he now had a kid ( nice he finally settled down and had a family).    The  series ran on Fox Kids from 1990 to 1993  with 4 seasons and the standard 65 episodes (because 65 is a good round number) , then repeats moved to Cartoon Network . (Ted Turner's personal cartoon channel )

  2.   The Flintstones Kids (Another show about Pebbles and Bam-bam?*, sigh)
    So , the Flintstones ever wonder how they would be as kids?  (No, I wanna see how the Jetsons were as kids)
        Hanna and Barbera ,owners of the Flintsones, made a new series for ABC (America's Biggest Channel)  in 1986.  "The Flintstone Kids".  We meet Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty, and also their  pet Dino. ( ummm a different dino or the same one meaning...?)
     As most cartoons had at the time , it had segments (kids couldn't handle 11 to 22 minute cartoons at the time ,attention spans were short in the 80's )   The Flintstone kids segment could be the whole show or a part (depending how much story they had)  it  was our main story.  Another segment (that was killed in season 2) is Flintstone Funnies  it was the characters dreams that we get to see.  Segment 3 , Captian Caveman and Son , was  a show with in the show , the characters of our show , watched them watch a show.  Also, Dino's Dilemmas  where we followed  Fred's pet, Dino.  

                        
                          Pocket sized Flintstones, can you catch them all? / Copyright HB
  The series ran  2 seasons of 34 episodes (shame, not even 65).

(*no wait , that was Cave kids)
more after the jump

The Lookback : Cartoon Cartoon Fridays

The Flashback 
 
    This time on Joshuaonline we take a lokback at  daytime sitcoms repeats because... (Wait! We got mail!)

   Hello authors of Joshuaonline , I was wondering if you could do a lookback of Cartoon Network's Cartoon Cartoon Fridays , that is something I grew up with but I hope maybe you could feature it.

   That was an email sent to us by a nice (we hope so) reader who thinks we should look back at Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. So thanks David for the idea.   (You can email us too mychiller@inbox.com)
      I too remember this program block well , so why not take a look back at it.  While most of the the network TV blocks we lookback at for Children's shows was  Saturday Morning. Cartoon Network had the freedom of a different time ,  Friday Night.   Nowadays, Friday TV is bleak nobody does anything anymore. (We mean it , besides Disney Channel)  The networks do put new programming on Fridays , but in many cases it's either shows they didn't have room for anywhere else or sometimes in Fox's case shows to kill.  But that wasn't always the case.
 Cartoon Cartoons were what they called their original series programming to difference it from  the repeats of shows they were airing.
    Cartoon Network carved 4 hours on a Friday  night starting at 7PM ET /PT and started on June 11th 1999.  Originally the interstitial segments were odd things like fake weather forecasts ,  It also  had live-action humans featured and it looked like a PBS station  during drives.
                                                     
          Either that or Cartoon Network has lost it / watch some of the first day bumpers here 
       I  don't remember this style of presention as much I as remember the next (which we will get to in a second) .
       Cartoon Cartoon Fridays featured new episodes of CN's originals meaning we started with "Dexter's Laboratory" , "The Powerpuff Girls" , "Edd,Ed, n' Eddy", "Johnny Bravo" , and a few other shows that the network made themselves.
  By 2000 the block change to presentation I remember more where a character or 2  from a Cartoon Network show would "host" the block.
                  
                 Makes sense , plus you get some cool intro and apparently other cartoons in background.
  Not every show on the block was created by Cartoon Network ,well if there was a special occasion (like the month of December referenced above)   or  a new Cartoon Network show made by a corporate partner.   If you noticed unlike when I talked about "Disney's  One Saturday Morning" for example I talked about their schedule , well technically  CCF didn't have that it was 4 hours a mash up of Cartoon Cartoons  and it was more an event of TV for a Friday Night.
    Every summer from before the block launched to 2002, they had   big weekend called Cartoon Cartoon Weekend. For the 1997 and 1998 it ran around Thanksgiving , while 1999-2002 it ran in August.   They had a "Big Pick" where viewers could pick which pilot they saw on the air they think should be a new CN show.
  In 2000 viewers picked  "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy" which then premiered in 2001.
In 2001 "Codename Kids Next Door " won.

                            
                          This is one of the shows that lost

    Though for as well as it did  changes were made (dun dun dun) with it renamed in 2003 to "Fridays" and hosted by humans.    In  May of 2003 , Cartoon Cartoon Fridays bowed out was replaced with Cartoon Cartoon Summer until October when the new format launched.  It did keep most of the spirit of the original and the whole point is the cartoons. (Yeah, I guess ....)
                             
                              That was one of the intros
  Fridays was hosted by  Tommy  Snider and Nzinga Blake, later on replaced by Tara Sands. They were featured between your cartoons with skits , guest stars and more. (Yay more!)  It ran 4 hours and then looped through out the evening. (As Adult Swim began take other nights) by it's end it was the only time of the week where Cartoon Network was broadcasting after 11PMET.  But as all things  in our lookbacks do .. it ended in February of 2007 ,after almost 10 years of Cartoon Cartoon and Fridays.   Fridays on Cartoon Network changed hands a few times before they gave up .

                               
                               We might not get into that...but don't say might.


But yes that's our lookback at what I think is great thing that  when networks on cable and broadcast still thought Friday was special. That hey  Friday Night could be the night to get new cartoons , not just Saturday Morning (which by 1999 was near death)  and that fun TV presentation could make a few hours of shows something special.
 
   Tune in next time when we try and make Wednesday the best night of the week for TV.   Thanks David.