Children's programming on TBS and TNT

Last updated

TBS and TNT, the first two cable television networks in the Turner Broadcasting System, aired children's programming for a period of over 20 years, beginning in the 1970s and continuing through 1998.

Contents

Background

In 1986, Ted Turner's cable-TV conglomerate acquired most of the pre-May 1986 MGM film and television library [1] In 1988, its cable channel Turner Network Television was launched and had gained an audience with its film library. [2] In 1991, it purchased animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions and acquired its large library as well as most of the pre-1991 Ruby-Spears library. [3]

TBS

Early programming included syndicated series such as The Flintstones , The Little Rascals , Spider-Man , Ultraman and Speed Racer .

In the 1980s, WTBS focused heavily on movies, running two during the day, and all movies after 8 p.m. with the exception of sports events. Other times, WTBS continued to run mostly classic sitcoms, and vintage cartoons. In 1986, with Ted Turner's purchase of MGM, WTBS now had the rights to the entire MGM library as well (including certain acquisitions by MGM). This gave WTBS many theatrical cartoons like Tom and Jerry . WTBS began to run The Little Rascals, Tom & Jerry, Looney Tunes / Merrie Melodies cartoons released prior to 8/1/1948, theatrical Popeye cartoons, and Three Stooges shorts under the banner Tom & Jerry and Friends between an hour and 90 minutes in the mornings and for an hour in the afternoons from 1986 to the mid-1990s.

In 1992, The Jetsons debuted on TBS and TNT due to Turner acquiring Hanna-Barbera. Original animated programming such as 2 Stupid Dogs , and SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron were added as well, as part of the Sunday Morning In Front Of The TV block.

In response to educational program mandates, TBS added a live-action educational program, Feed Your Mind in 1994. On February 20, 1995, TBS, TNT and Cartoon Network simulcasted the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode "1st Annual World Premiere Toon-In", which included the first World Premiere Toons short "The Powerpuff Girls in Meat Fuzzy Lumkins". Cartoon Planet premiered on TBS in July as a response to Ted Turner enjoying watching the Space Ghost episode on TBS.

TBS' children's programs became part of the Disaster Area block in March 1996. The block's branding featured an offscreen reporter inside a talking tornado of junk. [4] Turner was bought by Time Warner in 1996. Among the programming changes instituted after the merger was the addition of later Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons, released no earlier than August 1, 1948 (as previously mentioned); the change was promoted with the title of Super Looney Tunes on April 14, 1997. Also added were reruns of the WB Animation series Taz-Mania , which had recently ceased airing on Fox Kids.

Children's programs broadcast by TBS

TNT

Prior to the launch of TNT, it entered an agreement with The Jim Henson Company to air The Muppet Show (which Henson had just acquired from ITC Entertainment) and Fraggle Rock for four years. Both shows aired alongside cartoon shorts in a daily block called TNT Wild World of Shorts! The Muppets also appeared the following year in two PSAs for The Better World Society, founded by Ted Turner.

In 1992, TNT Wild World of Shorts! was rebranded as TNT Toons; Captain Planet and the Planeteers , The Jetsons , and other Hanna-Barbera shows joined the block. Later additions to TNT Toons included The Flintstones , Scooby-Doo , Dexter's Laboratory and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest . The Rudy and Gogo World Famous Cartoon Show was a TNT original show featuring classic Warner Bros., MGM, and Popeye shorts, hosted by marionettes and a nanny goat. TNT also aired episodes of Garfield and Friends on a separate syndication contract.

Children's programs broadcast by TNT

Demise

The eventual discontinuation of TNT and TBS cartoon programming was planned in mid-1992 with the debut of Cartoon Network. The first challenge for Cartoon Network was to overcome its low penetration of existing cable systems. When launched in October 1992, the channel was only carried by 233 cable systems; however, the channel benefited from package deals. New subscribers to sister stations TNT and WTBS could also get access to Cartoon Network through the relatively new practice of retransmission consent, which allows cable stations to dictate the terms of carriage on cable systems. TBS and TNT, two of the most popular cable networks of the time, arranged for deals that encouraged cable outlets to carry Cartoon Network, a move that gave the network a greater amount of leverage over competitors such as Nickelodeon. The high ratings of Cartoon Network over the following couple of years led to more cable systems including it. By the end of 1996, Cartoon Network had become "the fifth most popular cable channel in the United States". [5]

For the first several years of Cartoon Network's existence, TBS and TNT carried some of Cartoon Network's original programs as part of their lineups to cross-promote the new channel. Due to restrictions on children's advertising and educational programming mandates (an issue for WTBS, which was still a terrestrial station at the time, but not for TNT), as well as the greater establishment of Cartoon Network's distribution and the industry-wide move of better cartoons to cable, WTBS and TNT both dropped all their cartoons in the fall of 1998 and moved those exclusively to Cartoon Network. By the early 2000s, most of these cartoons were once again moved to Boomerang, a commercial-free digital cable channel, although a handful of TBS and TNT-era programs remain on Cartoon Network. TBS and TNT have both since specialized their programming: TNT to drama, and TBS to situation comedy; their carrying of other programs outside those genera is mostly limited to sporting events.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanna-Barbera</span> American animation studio

Hanna-Barbera was an American animation studio and production company, active from 1957 until it was absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation in 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's decision to close its in-house cartoon studio, and was formerly headquartered on Cahuenga Blvd from 1960 until 1998 and at the Sherman Oaks Galleria in Sherman Oaks, both in Los Angeles, California.

Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner on August 2, 1986. Purchased by Time Warner on October 10, 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing the TBS library for worldwide distribution. In recent years, this role has largely been limited to being the copyright holder, as it has become an in-name-only subsidiary of Warner Bros., which currently administers their library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boomerang (TV network)</span> American cable television channel

Boomerang is an American cable television network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cartoon Planet</span> Programming block on Cartoon Network

Cartoon Planet is an American television programming block that originally ran from 1995 to 1998 and 2012 to 2014 on Cartoon Network. A spin-off of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, the series centered on Space Ghost recruiting his imprisoned evil nemesis Zorak and his loud and dimwitted archenemy Brak to assist him in hosting a variety show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Mouse</span> Fictional mouse

Gerald Jinx "Jerry" Mouse is a fictional character and one of the two titular characters in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's series of Tom and Jerry theatrical animated short films and other animated media, usually acting as the protagonist opposite his rival Tom Cat. Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Jerry is an anthropomorphic brown house mouse, who first appeared as a mouse named Jinx in the 1940 MGM animated short Puss Gets the Boot. Hanna gave the mouse's original name as "Jinx", while Barbera claimed the mouse went unnamed in his first appearance.

Tom and Jerry is an American animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series centers on the rivalry between the titular characters of a cat named Tom and a mouse named Jerry. Many shorts also feature several recurring characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Hanna</span> American animator (1910–2001)

William Denby Hanna was an American animator, voice actor, and occasional musician who is best known for co-creating Tom and Jerry and providing the vocal effects for the series' title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Barbera</span> American animator and cartoonist (1911–2006)

Joseph "Joe" Roland Barbera was an American animator and cartoonist, best known as the co-founder of the animation studio Hanna-Barbera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">USA Cartoon Express</span> American television programming block

The USA Cartoon Express was a programming block consisting of animated children's series which aired on the USA Network from September 20, 1982 to September 15, 1996. Cartoon Express was the first structured animation block on cable television, predating Nickelodeon's Nicktoons and Cartoon Network by a decade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cartoon Network (Australian and New Zealand TV channel)</span> Australian and New Zealand television channel

Cartoon Network Australia & New Zealand is an Australian pay television channel launched on October 3, 1995 and owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pacific. It primarily shows animated programming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cartoon Network (Asian TV channel)</span> Pan-Asian pay television channel, targeted at children

Cartoon Network is a pan-Asian television channel that primarily broadcasts animated series. Operated by Warner Bros. Discovery under its International division, the channel is broadcast from its headquarters in Singapore and Jakarta, Indonesia to audiences in its country of location, as well as to Hong Kong and several areas in the Asian continent. It was launched on October 6, 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cartoon Network</span> American cable television channel

Cartoon Network is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Cartoonito, Adult Swim, and Toonami under its purview. The channel is headquartered at 1050 Techwood Drive NW in Atlanta, Georgia.

Tooncast is a Latin American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its International division. It was launched on December 1, 2008; its programming consists of classical animation, both from Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network. The channel is a commercial-free service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TBS (American TV channel)</span> American television channel

TBS, stylized as tbs, is an American basic cable television network owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). It carries a variety of programming, with a focus on comedy, along with some sports events, including Major League Baseball, Stanley Cup playoffs, NCAA men's basketball tournament and the weekly professional wrestling show AEW Dynamite. As of September 2018, TBS was received by approximately 90.391 million households that subscribe to a pay television service throughout the United States. By June 2023, this number has dropped to 71.3 million households.

<i>Hard Luck Duck</i> American TV series or program

Hard Luck Duck is a What a Cartoon! animated cartoon directed by William Hanna, produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, and broadcast as a part of World Premiere Toons on Cartoon Network on April 16, 1995. The cartoon involves Hard Luck Duck, after venturing away from Harley Gator 's watch, is a hungry fox 's target to be cooked.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cartoon Network, Inc.</span> American childrens entertainment company

The Cartoon Network, Inc. is an American multinational entertainment company that oversees Warner Bros. Discovery's channels for children, including its flagship service, Cartoon Network. It is a division of its domestic networks unit.

Cartoon Network is an American basic cable and satellite television channel that is part of The Cartoon Network, Inc. unit of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery which primarily focuses on animated programs.

References

  1. ↑ Delugach, Al (March 4, 1986). "Way Cleared for Turner's MGM Deal". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
  2. ↑ Hall, Jane (January 23, 1990). "Ted Turner's TNT Exploding Onto the Cable Scene". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
  3. ↑ Lippman, John (October 30, 1991). "Turner Is Buying Hanna-Barbera Film Library". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
  4. ↑ TBS Disaster Area Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Official Web site. Last updated 1999.
  5. ↑ Mittell (2004), p. 80
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.