The Lookback: ABC Afterschool Special: Rookie of the Year

The Flashback 

           We dip into the ABC Afterschool  specials because we can and since we really love baseball here, might as well talk about a special that talks about baseball.  From 1973 we  have "Rookie of the Year" starring Jodie Foster.  This the first episode of the 2nd season of specials that first aired on October 3rd 1973.  

       For those that don't know, ABC After school Specials was an anthology series  that would air a few episodes a season on ABC in the afternoon. (Before broadcast TV went down hill).  The series ran from 1972 to 1997.   The idea was to present stories to children and teenagers to present stories that would be of interest to them.  The afternoon special became a joke line in TV series for series because of the note for dramatic and controversial story lines.               

      The episode we are looking is presented, in the scope of time, when girls were just started to be allowed to play little league baseball by 1974.  Many of these plotlines were based off books, in this case "Not Bad for a Girl" by Isabella Taves from 1972. The plot being an eleven-year old girl plays little league experiences hatred  for being a girl and playing baseball. 

             As I mentioned, this came out the same time as girls were allowed into little league.  From our wheelhouse talking about Peanuts, people would see girls on Charlie Brown's team and later with Peppermint Patty, as  well, having girls play sports like baseball way before 1974. In 1950, there was a girl named Kay Johnston who wanted to  play baseball.  She faked being a boy and played in little league, but told her coach later on that she was a girl, he liked how she played  and kept her on the team. Though, he wasn't the complete thought as many were angered that she was playing baseball.  Eventually, Little League officials said she couldn't play.  They named a rule of the nick name she used and for nearly 25 years that rule was place.  (source)  Lawsuits were coming into play by the late 60's and early 70's as new wave feminism had become the way of the times  and by 1974 things had buckled. (source)  I'm keeping that simplified as I want to go the special now, but wanted to provide historical context. 

      more after the jump 

CBS announces their plans for September and October 2020

TV News TVLookFall2020  CBS Primetime 

       With Covid-19 restrictions still affecting filming , CBS has found that they needed to do a plan b as programming for fall will be delayed , for some time.     They are tapping into programs they've held over, or from CBS All Access, expect other networks like NBC and ABC to figure out their crumbs as well.  Their hopes are for regular series to able to air starting in November.


      Their crime investigation news magazine, "48 Hours" will have a special Wednesday edition on September 9th at 10pm/9c and its new season starts on September 12th at 10pmet.


   "60 Minutes" returns on September 20th airing at its normal 7pmet, or after football.   Also from CBS News, there's  "The FBI Declassified" which premieres October 13th at  10/9c. 

      Series from CBS All Access make their way to CBS, to fill in gaps as well.  This includes, "Manhunt: Deadly Games", makes it's broadcast premiere on September 21st at 10/9c, airing Mondays.  the first season of "Star Trek : Discovery" airing  Thursdays at 10/9c  starting  September 24th. 

   "Love Island" has its 2nd season finale on September 29th.   The 22nd Season Finale of  "Big Brother" will air on October 28th.   "The Amazing Race" which was a holdover from airing last season, will start on on Wednesday, October 14th  at 9pmet ; with a it's new time slot of 8pmet, Starting October 28th.

    The series that ran on sister network, Pop TV, "One Day at Time" will re air it's 4th season on CBS starting  October 12th in an hour long slot from 9-10pmet.

 
Full details in Press release, after the Jump

CNBC's the News With Shepard Smith Stars September 30th

Cable TV news  CNBC

image CNBC

          The previously announced CNBC news program , "The News with Shepard Smith" has received a launch date.   The program was set to start in the fall after being announced in July

         CNBC announced on Monday that the program will start on Wednesday September 30th at 7PMET.

Mark your calendar. Don't miss the premiere of The News with Shepard Smith! Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. ET on @cnbc. 📺 👀 📅 https://t.co/sUcW9AKhYU pic.twitter.com/GwEncBZTCL

— The News with Shepard Smith (@thenewsoncnbc) August 24, 2020

             The program will air live at 7pmet, weeknights,  and repeating at 12am and 4amet.

Press release after the jump

Those PSA (not episodes): 9 out of 10 Dentists Recommend Charlie Brown

Peanuts PSA

        We look at another Peanuts based educational film.  This is one of two films about dental stuff because sure why not?  This 5 minute film came from the year 1978 and is created with the American Dental association.   Let's talk here about "Tooth Brushing with Charlie Brown". (So just the one tooth then)

          Charlie Brown walks awkwardly of a Dr. Jones office, Dr. Jones  is a dentist, a dentist is he. (oh gee) He got some things from the dentist and brags he's going to have the cleanest teeth in town, though really all we are going to see is his frown. (negative Charlie Brown)  Charlie Brown is happy the dentist gave him some tablets and an instruction book on how to brush his teeth. He tells Snoopy and Linus in hopes they seethe. (That's my guess)  Charlie Brown asks Linus if he wants to try it out with him so they go inside Linus' house.  Linus grabs the Linus tooth brush because the Linus tooth brush is for Linus  and the other is for the grouse. (Lucy)

Linus and Lucy don't respect toothpaste at all 

                I'm not going to ask how in one shot the cups are empty of water , then the next shot Lucy's is full of water, after Linus started filling his with water in the sink. I just don't have the time to think. Since they are practicing they don't need to use the actual toothpaste which is good, you don't want to waste.  The short makes a point to say ,you should use just any brush.  (What?) Snoopy is using Lucy's tooth brush and Linus' face is priceless but I won't tell her that the dog used it, I'll just hush.

Linus is grossed out  and so am I 

      Snoopy tries to be a wild man , but Charlie Brown corrects and tells him the right way to brush. There's a zoom into Snoopy's teeth that look strangely human; the main point is to not be in a rush.  Linus and Snoopy brush teeth , there's not much else to say about that action.  The point of Snoopy brushing his tongue with Lucy's brush makes me bristle at what will be her reaction. (Some of you might join her faction)  Charlie Brown gives them tablets that show what they missed and talk about plaque. (Charlie Brown spits out fact)

Instruction for a good life 

        Lucy shows up and wonders what everyone is doing. (She might soon be stewing)  Lucy says she knows all about brushing teeth and so far nobody tells her about the brush being used by a dog.  The faces are great , they look as green as a frog. (not really green, but play along with us)   Lucy  repeats the actions she already knows and wonders why they have such strange faces.  Good thing Snoopy got away with it , because he doesn't know social graces. Oh yeah, they mention flossing, we don't want to know Snoopy keeps it.  It ends with out Lucy having a fit. Charlie Brown does wish his dog was normal like everyone else's.

 Mad dog ! Help!

              It's a simple educational film. I can't say it doesn't do anything that it  is not supposed to do. The short gives you  educational info with Peanuts humor and fun.   There's really nothing else to say,but you should check your teeth , something swimming around there, I won't tell any one though. 

 Tune in next time when find a dentist to recommend Aqua Fresh, the best toothpaste.

TVLookfall2020: CW Sets Fall Premiere Dates

The CW  TV Look Fall 2020 

           The CW network, which was able to set their fall programming, around the Covid-19 slowdowns,  and are able to announce their fall premiere dates.

        The CW's fall season starts on September 18th, with the season premiere of "Masters of Illusion"  at 8 et,  and  a new series "World's Funniest Animals" with back to back episodes at 9et.

        On October 4th, Season 2 of Pandora premieres at 8pm.  The TV premiere of the DC universe series "Swamp Thing" gets an hour and half  premiere on October 6th at 8 et.   On October 7th,  "Devils" premieres and the second season of "Coroner"  after that. 

    In  theory (One of two  times we say this for this post) "Supernatural" hasn't  resumed production as of this writing but they are hoping to  have the final episodes made before the premiere set date of October 8th.   That same date,  "The Outpost"  premieres its 3rd season. 

   "Swamp  Thing" takes its regular slot on October 13th airing at 8pmet, followed by "Tell Me A Story" Season 2 at 9pmet.


            In theory,  "Supernatural" finale airs on November 19th with a special at 8pmet then the finale at 9pmet.

 
Here are the details in form

     Friday, September 18th  (all times ET)
8-8:30pm  Masters of Illusion (Original Episode)
8:30-9pm   Masters of Illusion (Encore)
9-9:30pm    World's Funniest Animals (Series Premiere)
9:30-10pm  World's Funniest  Animals (Original episode)



  Sunday September 27th and Monday, September 28th 
8-10pm   I Heart Radio Music Festival

Sunday, October 4th
8pm   Pandora (Season 2 Premiere)

 Tuesday, October 6th
8-9:30pm  Swamp Thing (Broadcast Premiere)

Wednesday, October 7th
8pm Devils (Series Premiere)
9pm  Coroner (Season 2 Premiere)

Thursday, October  8th
8pm  Supernatural  (season returns)
9pm   The Outpost (Season 3 Premiere)

Tuesday, October 13th
8pm  Swamp Thing (Original Episode)
9pm  Tell Me A Story (Season 2 Premiere)


Thursday, November 19th
8pm Supernatural : The Long Road Home (Finale Special)
9pm  Supernatural (Series Finale)


Full Press release 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

2020 Primetime Emmy Nominations

Awards  Emmys 

          It's still somehow that time, the 72nd Primetime Emmys nominations have been announced. The award show airs on ABC on Sunday, September 20th; hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. 



Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Anthony Anderson, black-ish

Don Cheadle, Black Monday

Ted Danson, The Good Place

Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method

Eugene Levy, Schitt's Creek

Ramy Youssef, Ramy

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Christina Applegate, Dead to Me

Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Linda Cardellini, Dead to Me

Catherine O'Hara, Schitt's Creek

Issa Rae, Insecure

Tracee Ellis Ross, black-ish

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Jason Bateman, Ozark

Sterling K. Brown, This is Us

Steve Carell, The Morning Show

Brian Cox, Succession

Billy Porter, Pose

Jeremy Strong, Succession

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show

Olivia Colman, The Crown

Jodie Comer, Killing Eve

Laura Linney, Ozark

Sandra Oh, Killing Eve

Zendaya, Euphoria