Network | ABC |
---|---|
Launched | September 13, 1997 |
Closed | August 27, 2011 |
Country of origin | United States |
Owner | The Walt Disney Company |
Formerly known as | Disney's One Saturday Morning (1997–2002) |
Sister network | Disney's One Too |
Format | Defunct Saturday morning children's program block |
Running time |
|
Original language(s) | English |
ABC Kids (originally titled Disney's One Saturday Morning until 2002) was an American Saturday morning children's programming block that aired on ABC from September 13, 1997 to August 27, 2011. It featured a mixture of animated and live-action series from Walt Disney Television Animation and Disney Channel, aimed at children between the ages of 6 and 14. [1] This was the only time that Disney Channel content aired on over-the-air television in the United States, but first being Nickelodeon on CBS (owned by Viacom [now Paramount]) two years earlier.
The block regularly aired on Saturday mornings, though certain programs within the lineup aired on Sundays in some parts nationwide due to station preferences for non-educational programming or scheduling issues with regional or network sports broadcasts.
After five years of mainly reruns of programs introduced onto the block prior to the 2007–08 season, ABC decided it would cease to provide children's programming during the Saturday morning timeslot, and entered into an agreement with Litton Entertainment to program that period; [2] [3] the block that resulted from this deal – Litton's Weekend Adventure, which is structured as a syndication package distributed with virtual exclusivity to ABC's owned-and-operated stations and affiliates – replaced ABC Kids on September 3, 2011. [4]
After The Walt Disney Company purchased ABC corporate parent Capital Cities/ABC Inc. in 1995, the network's children's program block ABC Saturday Morning, aired such Disney-produced series as The Mighty Ducks , Jungle Cubs and Gargoyles ; it was one of two networks at the time that prominently carried Disney programming on Saturday mornings, as CBS also carried Disney cartoons (CBS' were mostly television spin-offs of Disney Renaissance films, whereas ABC's were mostly other Disney properties). After Disney formally took over ABC's operations, Disney head Michael Eisner sought to create a Saturday morning block that was different from those carried by its competitors at the time.
In February 1997, Peter Hastings left Warner Bros. Animation and joined Disney, where he was tasked with overhauling ABC's Saturday morning lineup in order to compete against Fox Kids and Kids' WB. He pitched an idea around the concept that Saturday is different from every other day of the week, and the representation of weekdays as buildings. Hastings also proposed the use of virtual set technology; although he knew a bit about it at the time and the technology used was just starting to be developed, Disney and ABC liked the idea. He hired Prudence Fenton as consultant manager and co-executive producer. Together, they sampled virtual set technology at the 1997 NAB Show and chose technology developed by Accom and ELSET. Rutherford Bench Productions, which had previously worked with Disney on other projects, hired Pacific Ocean Post (now POP Sound) to produce the virtual set. The building was initially a drawing of Grand Central Terminal with a roller coaster added but evolved into a towering mechanical structure. Even the interior has similarities such as a central high raised room, with two wings on the left and right sides and another on the south side. [5]
On September 13, 1997, Disney's One Saturday Morning premiered as a two-hour sub-block within the ABC Saturday Morning lineup. [6] It was originally scheduled to premiere the Saturday prior on September 6, but coverage by all U.S. networks of the funeral of Princess Diana pushed back the premiere by one week to September 13. Disney's One Saturday Morning featured two parts: three hours of regularly scheduled cartoons and a two-hour flagship show that included feature segments, comedy skits, and the virtual world which Hastings had proposed, along with newer episodes of three animated series: Doug (which had been acquired from Nickelodeon in 1996), Recess and Pepper Ann .
Doug, Recess and Pepper Ann were each nominally given 40-minute timeslots. The extended 10 minutes during each show's slot were for One Saturday Morning's interstitial segments and educational features. The live-action wraparound segments were originally hosted by Charlie (portrayed by Jessica Prunell) for the block's first season in 1997, and later by MeMe (Valarie Rae Miller) starting in September 1998 until 2000; the segments also featured an elephant named Jelly Roll (voiced by stand-up comedian and actor Brad Garrett), who served as a sidekick to the human host, while the eccentric Manny the Uncanny (Paul Rugg), host of his own standalone segment where he visited and observed different jobs, made occasional appearances outside that segment.
Schoolhouse Rock! , a longtime essential of ABC's Saturday morning block since 1973, also aired as an interstitial segment during The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show (along shorts airing on Nickelodeon until 1999), likewise a carryover from the pre-Disney era (it would continue until ABC's contract with then-AOL Time Warner expired in 2000).
Disney’s One Saturday Morning was initially a massive success, beating Fox Kids during its first season to be the most-watched Saturday morning block on broadcast television. [7] It remained competitive in its second season, beating all of Fox Kids' shows except Power Rangers . [8] The third season remained competitive with its broadcast peers on Fox and Kids WB, with The Weekenders being a bright spot for the block; the new series dethroned anime show Pokémon to become broadcast television's most-watched Saturday morning cartoon, though all of the broadcast networks had fallen behind Nickelodeon. [9]
The block received a new brand identity in the fall of 2000; this was followed by the shorts and hosted segments being discontinued on December 16 in a reformatting of the ABC block. By this time, the interstitials within the block were relegated to bumpers and program promotions. The change proved to be disastrous; by February 2001, ratings had fallen to less than half of its competitors' on Fox, The WB and Nickelodeon. [10] In Fall 2001, live-action series were added to the One Saturday Morning lineup with the addition of the "Zoog Hour," an hour-long sub-block featuring the Disney Channel original series Lizzie McGuire and Even Stevens (the sub-block, advertised in promos for Disney’s One Saturday Morning promoting the two programs as "powered by Zoog," was named after Disney Channel's weekend programming block at the time, Zoog Disney).
A spin-off of Disney's One Saturday Morning, Disney's One Too, premiered on UPN on September 6, 1999; produced through a time-lease agreement between Disney and UPN, the block aired each weekday (either in the morning or afternoon, depending on the station's preference) and on Sunday mornings, and featured many of the programs shown on One Saturday Morning (including Recess, Pepper Ann and Sabrina: The Animated Series ). [11]
On July 23, 2001, the Walt Disney Company purchased Fox Family Worldwide, primarily for its Fox Family Channel, which was included in the sale as well as Saban Entertainment, a company in which Fox purchased a 50% interest in 1994. [12] [13] On September 14, 2002, ABC rebranded its Saturday morning block, as a subtle nod to the Fox Kids brand acquired by Disney through its purchase of Fox Family Worldwide, to ABC Kids (as a result of the sale, Fox Kids ceased to exist; Fox's children's program lineups would be handled from that point onward by 4Kids Entertainment until 2008). [14]
The renamed block originally contained a mix of first-run programs exclusive to the block, as well as reruns of several original series from both Disney Channel and Toon Disney. NBA Inside Stuff also began airing on the block as a result of ABC's acquisition of the broadcast television rights to the NBA from NBC (where the series originally premiered in 1990), starting with the 2002–03 season's Christmas Day game; Inside Stuff continued to air on ABC Kids until 2004. The series premiere of Disney Channel's Lilo & Stitch: The Series was also held on ABC Kids on September 20, 2003, with a delayed premiere on Disney Channel on October 12, 2003. The new block ditched the imagery of the One Saturday Morning era in favor of a sports stadium motif, which, in 2006, was changed to a rock concert design that remained throughout the last five years of ABC Kids.
Through Disney's acquisition of Saban Entertainment, the Power Rangers series moved from Fox Kids to the ABC Kids block. All first-run episodes from the franchise premiered on ABC Kids starting with the second half of the show's Wild Force season (starting with the episode "Unfinished Business"), with the entirety of the Wild Force and Ninja Storm seasons subsequently airing in reruns on ABC Family (the former season aired in part both before the introduction of and during the ABC Family Action Block). However, when Toon Disney and ABC Family jointly launched the action-oriented Jetix block in 2004, Jetix handled all first-run episode debuts of subsequent seasons from Dino Thunder to Jungle Fury , while ABC Kids aired these seasons in reruns. Due to the low ratings of the Jungle Fury season, as well as the merger between Jetix and Toon Disney to form Disney XD in 2009, the RPM season aired exclusively on ABC Kids. After production on RPM had concluded, instead of producing a new season, Disney produced a re-version of the first 32 episodes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers , which included a new logo, an updated title sequence, comic book-referenced graphics, and extra alternative visual effects. The re-version aired from January 2 to August 28, 2010 (the 17th anniversary of Power Rangers), after which Haim Saban bought the franchise back and Nickelodeon acquired broadcast rights to the series.
In the 2004–05 season, ABC Kids dropped its two remaining original series, Fillmore! and Recess (the latter of which was airing in reruns on the block since it ended in 2001). With the transfer of Walt Disney Television Animation to Disney Channels Worldwide, ABC fulfilled the FCC's three-hour quota by carrying select episodes of Disney Channel live-action comedies and animated series (anywhere between 9 and 13 episodes from a given season) featuring moral lessons and/or educational anecdotes. The episodes were selected by both the "Standards and Practices" division of the network and any educational consultants who were attached to the shows. The Replacements and Hannah Montana were the last two Disney Channel series to be added to the block in Fall 2006. Beginning with the 2007–08 season, ABC Kids programming (with the exception of Power Rangers) became fully automated, putting the same handful of episodes of each show (The Emperor's New School, The Replacements, That's So Raven , Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody ) on a permanent rotation for the block's remaining four years.
In March 2010, ABC made the decision to cease providing a three-hour block of E/I-compliant, repurposed Disney Channel programming sent to its own stations and ABC affiliates. The network chose to lease out the three-hour timeslot and seek other programmers for an agreement to produce a syndicated block, not for the network, but for each ABC station as the network was turning the E/I responsibility back to local ABC stations.
A month later, ABC's affiliate board announced that it had reached a deal with Litton Entertainment, a production company which produced syndicated programming (including educational programs aimed at youth), to produce six, all-new, original half-hour E/I series exclusively for ABC stations for the 2011–12 season. [15]
The block aired for the last time on August 27, 2011 without any announcement of its closure, and was quietly replaced by Litton's Weekend Adventure the following week on September 3. [2] [3] [4]
Title | Premiere date | End date | Source(s) |
---|---|---|---|
101 Dalmatians: The Series 1 | September 13, 1997 | September 4, 1999 | |
Disney's Doug 1 | September 8, 2001 | ||
Recess † | September 7, 2002 | ||
Pepper Ann | January 27, 2001 | ||
Jungle Cubs 1 | September 5, 1998 | ||
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 1 | September 7, 2002 | ||
Hercules: The Animated Series 1 | September 12, 1998 | April 24, 1999 | |
Mickey Mouse Works | May 1, 1999 | January 6, 2001 | |
The Weekenders 2 | February 26, 2000 | January 12, 2002 | |
Teacher's Pet 2 | September 9, 2000 | September 7, 2002 | |
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command | October 14, 2000 | September 8, 2001 | |
House of Mouse 2 | January 13, 2001 | August 31, 2002 | |
Lloyd in Space 2 | February 3, 2001 | September 7, 2002 | |
Teamo Supremo 2† | January 19, 2002 |
Title | Premiere date | End date | Source(s) |
---|---|---|---|
The Proud Family † | August 31, 2002 | September 7, 2002 |
Title | Premiere date | End date | Source(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Lizzie McGuire † | September 15, 2001 | September 7, 2002 | |
Even Stevens † |
Title | Premiere date | End date | Source(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Schoolhouse Rock! 1 | September 13, 1997 | September 2, 2000 | |
The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show 1 | |||
Science Court / Squigglevision | |||
Sabrina: The Animated Series | September 11, 1999 | October 13, 2001 | |
Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action! | October 20, 2001 | August 3, 2002 |
Title | Premiere date | End date | Source(s) |
---|---|---|---|
NBA Inside Stuff † | September 7, 2002 |
† - Program transitioned to ABC Kids
Title | Premiere date | End date | Source(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Recess † | September 14, 2002 | August 28, 2004 | |
Teamo Supremo 2† | September 13, 2003 | ||
Fillmore! 2 | February 19, 2005 |
Title | Premiere date | End date | Source(s) |
---|---|---|---|
The Proud Family † | September 14, 2002 | September 2, 2006 | |
Kim Possible | January 8, 2005 | ||
April 2, 2005 | September 2, 2006 | ||
Lilo & Stitch: The Series | September 20, 2003 | ||
W.I.T.C.H. | January 15, 2005 | March 26, 2005 | |
The Buzz on Maggie | September 17, 2005 | January 21, 2006 | |
The Emperor's New School | January 28, 2006 | August 27, 2011 | |
The Replacements | September 9, 2006 |
Title | Premiere date | End date | Source(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Power Rangers [a] 2‡ | September 14, 2002 | August 28, 2010 | |
Lizzie McGuire † | September 10, 2005 | ||
That's So Raven | September 20, 2003 | August 27, 2011 | |
Phil of the Future | September 25, 2004 | September 2, 2006 | |
Even Stevens † | February 26, 2005 | September 10, 2005 | |
The Suite Life of Zack & Cody | September 17, 2005 | August 27, 2011 | |
Hannah Montana | September 9, 2006 |
Title | Premiere date | End date | Source(s) |
---|---|---|---|
NBA Inside Stuff † | September 14, 2002 | August 28, 2004 |
‡ - Program transitioned from final schedule of Fox Kids/4Kids
The following programs were planned to air on Disney's One Saturday Morning/ABC Kids, but they were pulled.
Title | Planned premiere date | Source(s) |
---|---|---|
Digimon [b] ‡ | November 30, 2002 | [16] |
Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! | September 17, 2005 | [17] |
Title | Planned premiere date | Source(s) |
---|---|---|
Cory in the House | Fall 2007 | [18] |
† - Program transitioned from Disney's One Saturday Morning
‡ - Program transitioned from last schedule of Fox Kids
The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries's subsidiary, United Television, & Viacom's subsidiary, Paramount Television, then became solely owned by Viacom in 2000 after subsequently purchasing Chris-Craft's remaining stake. On December 31, 2005, UPN was kept by CBS Corporation, which was the new name for Viacom when it split into two separate companies. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Time Warner jointly announced that the companies would shut down UPN and competitor The WB to launch a new joint venture network later that year. UPN ceased broadcasting on September 15, 2006, with The WB following two days later. Select programs from both networks moved to the new network, The CW, when it launched on September 18, 2006.
Disney Channel is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment division of The Walt Disney Company.
The Disney Afternoon, sometimes abbreviated as TDA, was a created-for-syndication two-hour programming block of animated television series. It was produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and distributed through its syndication affiliate Buena Vista Television. Each show from the block has aired reruns on Disney Channel and Toon Disney. Disney Channel reaired four shows on "Block Party," a two-hour block that aired on weekdays in the late afternoon/early evening.
The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats. The program's current title, The Wonderful World of Disney, was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 onward. The program moved among the Big Three television networks in its first four decades, but has aired on ABC since 1997.
4Kids TV was an American television programming block and Internet-based video on demand children's network operated by 4Kids Entertainment. It originated as a weekly block on Saturday mornings on the Fox network, which was created out of a four-year agreement reached on January 22, 2002, between 4Kids Entertainment and Fox to lease the five-hour Saturday morning time slot occupied by the network's existing children's program block, Fox Kids. It was targeted at children aged 7–11. The 4Kids TV block was part of the Fox network schedule, although it was syndicated to other broadcast television stations in certain markets where a Fox affiliate declined to air it.
Kids' WB was an American children's programming block that originally aired on The WB from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006, and later on The CW from September 23, 2006, to May 17, 2008. Initially launched as a competitor to Fox Kids, Kids' WB aired primarily during the Saturday morning and weekday after-school time slots, although airtimes for the block's programming varied at the local affiliate's discretion.
Fox Kids was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a joint venture between the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox) and its affiliated stations, it was later owned by Fox Family Worldwide.
Disney's One Too was an American two-hour Sunday-to-Friday children's programming block that aired on UPN from September 6, 1999 to August 31, 2003. A spin-off of the Disney's One Saturday Morning block on ABC, it featured animated series from Disney Television Animation aimed at children between the ages of 6 and 11.
A weekday cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated series programming that was typically scheduled on weekday mornings and afternoons in the United States on many major television networks and in broadcast syndication since the 1960s.
UPN Kids was an American children's programming block that aired on UPN from September 10, 1995 to September 5, 1999. Airing on Sunday mornings, the block aired for one hour, then two hours the following year.
American cable and satellite television network Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes during its history. This article details the network's existence from its founding by the Christian Broadcasting Network to its current ownership by The Walt Disney Company, which renamed the network to Freeform on January 12, 2016.
The 1999–2000 daytime network television schedule for the six major English-language commercial broadcast networks in the United States in operation during that television season covers the weekday daytime hours from September 1999 to August 2000. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series canceled after the 1998–99 season.
A teen situation comedy, or teen sitcom, is a subgenre of comedic television program targeted towards young people. In general, these type of programs focus primarily on characters between 10 and 18 years of age and routinely feature characters involved in humorous situations, and often focus on the characters' family and social lives. The primary plot of each episode often involves the protagonist(s) the program centers on, while secondary plotlines often focus on the character(s') parents, siblings or friends, although the secondary characters may sometimes also or instead be involved in the episode's main plot.
In regard to children's television programming, CBS has aired mostly animated series, such as the original versions of Scooby-Doo, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, Jim Henson's Muppet Babies, Garfield and Friends and the 1987 incarnation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This article outlines the history of children's television programming on CBS including the various blocks and notable programs that have aired throughout the television network's history.
In regard to children's programming, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) has aired mostly programming from Walt Disney Television or other producers. This article outlines the history of children's television programming on ABC including the various blocks and notable programs that have aired throughout the television network's history.
Toonzai was an American Saturday morning cartoon children's television block that aired on The CW from May 24, 2008 to August 18, 2012. The block was created as a result of a four-year agreement between 4Kids Entertainment and The CW. The original name for the block from May 24, 2008 to August 7, 2010, The CW4Kids, was retained as a sub-brand through the end of the block's run in order to fulfill branding obligations per 4Kids Entertainment's contract to lease The CW's Saturday morning time slots. The name is a portmanteau of "toon" and the Japanese term banzai, reflecting the majority of anime programming on the block.
The broadcast of educational children's programming by terrestrial television stations in the United States is mandated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under regulations colloquially referred to as the Children's Television Act (CTA), the E/I rules, or the Kid Vid rules. Since 1997, all full-power and Class A low-power broadcast television stations have been required to broadcast at least three hours per-week of programs that are specifically designed to meet the educational and informative (E/I) needs of children aged 16 and younger. There are also regulations on advertising in broadcast and cable television programming targeting children 12 and younger.
Weekend Adventure is an American syndicated programming block that is produced by Hearst Media Production Group, and airs weekend mornings on the owned-and-operated stations and affiliates of ABC. The block features live-action documentary and lifestyle series aimed at a family audience that meet educational programming requirements defined by the Children's Television Act. Announced on May 24, 2011, Litton's Weekend Adventure premiered on September 3, 2011, replacing the ABC Kids block.
Disney XD was a British and Irish pay television channel. First launching in October 1996, it originated from the United States block of the same name. and was operated under a joint-venture between Fox Television Entertainment and Saban Entertainment, before moving along to the Euronext-operating Fox Kids Europe. It rebranded itself to Jetix in January 2005 after The Walt Disney Company's prior-purchase of Fox Family Worldwide in October 2001, and then reached its final name in August 2009 after Disney acquired Jetix Europe.
Freeform is an American basic cable channel owned and operated by Disney Entertainment business segment and division of the Walt Disney Company. Freeform primarily broadcasts programming geared towards young adults – with some skewing toward young women – in the 18–34 age range, a target demographic designated by the channel as "becomers". Its programming includes contemporary off-network syndicated reruns and original series, feature films, and made-for-TV original movies. Also a household can watch movies during seasonal programming blocks, like 31 Nights of Halloween, 30 Days of Disney, & 25 Days of Christmas.