Nickelodeon is an American pay television channel which was first tested on December 1, 1977, until it eventually launched on April 1, 1979 as the first cable channel for children. It is owned by ViacomCBS through its domestic networks division and is based in New York City. The network's programming is primarily aimed at children aged 2–17, while some of its program blocks target a broader family audience.
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production studio of The Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit, and is based at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. Animated films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios are also released under this brand. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributes and markets the films produced by Walt Disney Pictures.
Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. is a Canadian animation studio and children's media company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded in 1971, it was named by founders Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith after a Canadian comic book superheroine created by Adrian Dingle in the 1940s. The company's production logo is a polar bear looking at the North Star, although a design featuring multiple stars was in use from 1985 to 2004. Most of their films, shows and specials are based on licensed properties, mainly children's literature but also comic books and novels, however original programming is also part of its roster. It ventured into the world of live action from its establishment in 1971 and continues to do so.
Thomas & Friends is a British children's television series. Based on The Railway Series of books by Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher, English writer and producer Britt Allcroft arranged a deal to bring the stories to life as the TV series. In the United Kingdom, it had its first broadcast on the ITV network on October 1984. In the United States, it had its first broadcast on Shining Time Station in 1989.
Blue's Clues is an American live-action/animated educational children's television series that premiered on Nick Jr. on September 8, 1996. Producers/creators Angela Santomero, Todd Kessler, and Traci Paige Johnson combined concepts from child development and early-childhood education with innovative animation and production techniques that helped their viewers learn. The show was originally hosted by Steve Burns, who left in 2002 and was replaced by Donovan Patton as Joe until 2006. The show follows an animated blue-spotted dog named Blue as she leaves a trail of clues/paw prints for the host and the viewers, in order to figure out her plans for the day. Blue's Clues became the highest-rated show for preschoolers on American commercial television and was critical to Nickelodeon's growth. It has been called "one of the most successful, critically acclaimed, and ground-breaking preschool television series of all time." A spin-off called Blue's Room premiered in 2004.
ABC Kids was a Saturday morning American 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 7 and 17.
Step by Step is an American television sitcom that aired for seven seasons. It ran on ABC as part of its TGIF Friday night lineup from September 20, 1991 to August 15, 1997, then moved to CBS, where it aired from September 19, 1997 to June 26, 1998. Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Somers star as single parents Frank and Carol, each with three children, who spontaneously marry during a Jamaican vacation after developing a budding relationship while Frank is Carol's client, resulting in their becoming the heads of a large blended family.
Bernard Whalen "Bert" Convy was an American actor, singer, game show host and panelist known for hosting Tattletales, Super Password and Win, Lose or Draw.
Robert Alan Morse is an American actor and singer, best known as the star of both the 1961 original Broadway production and 1967 film adaptation of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and as Bertram Cooper, from 2007 to 2015, in the critically acclaimed AMC dramatic series Mad Men. Throughout his long and varied career he received two Tony Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and worked on a Grammy Award-winning album.
Robert Hays is an American actor, best known for his roles in film as pilot Ted Striker in Airplane! and its sequel, and for his role as Robert Seaver in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993). In television, he starred as the title character in 22 episodes of the science fiction series Starman (1986–1987) and as the voice of Tony Stark on Iron Man (1994) and as Bud Hyde on That '70s Show (2000).
Gregory Neale Harrison is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Chandler in the 1987 film North Shore, as Dr. George Alonzo "Gonzo" Gates, the young surgeon assistant of Dr. Trapper John MacIntyre on the CBS series Trapper John, M.D.(1979–86), and as ruthless business tycoon Michael Sharpe in the CBS series Falcon Crest (1989–1990). Since 2015, he has played Joe O'Toole, father of Oliver, in the Hallmark Channel expansion films of Signed, Sealed and Delivered.
Christine Helen Lakin is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Alicia "Al" Lambert on the 1990s ABC/CBS sitcom Step by Step. She also played Joan of Arc on Showtime's Reefer Madness, was the sidekick on Craig Kilborn's 2010 Fox talk show The Kilborn File, and provides the voice of Joyce Kinney in Family Guy.
Miller-Boyett Productions is an American television production company that mainly developed television sitcoms from the 1970s through the 1990s. It was responsible for family-oriented hit series such as Bosom Buddies, Happy Days, Full House, Perfect Strangers, Mork & Mindy, Laverne & Shirley, Family Matters and Step by Step.
Golden Book Video was a line of children/family animated and live-action videos marketed by Western Publishing, beginning in the holiday season of 1985. They featured characters and stories from Western's print publications, such as Little Golden Books, and were originally released on VHS video cassette for under $10.
Bickley-Warren Productions was a production company established in 1991, that was started and run by William S. Bickley, Jr. and Michael Warren. It first started to produce Family Matters and Step by Step, which were both created by Bickley and Warren. It was originally aimed at Lorimar Television until 1993 when Warner Bros. Television took over Lorimar. By 1997, Bickley-Warren ceased to exist when Michael Warren joined Miller-Boyett Productions, rebranding it Miller-Boyett-Warren Productions.
Christopher Eugene Parsons OBE was an English wildlife film-maker and the executive producer of David Attenborough's Life on Earth, widely regarded as one of the finest and most influential of nature documentaries. As a founding member and a former Head of the BBC Natural History Unit, he worked on many of its early productions and published a history of its first 25 years in 1982. Besides television, he was also passionate about projects which helped to bring an understanding of the natural world to a wider audience, notably the Wildscreen Festival and ARKive.
Nickelodeon is an American basic cable and satellite television network that is part of the Nickelodeon Group, a unit of the ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks division of ViacomCBS, which focuses on programs aimed at children and teenagers; it has since expanded to include four spin-off digital cable and satellite networks in the United States, and international channels in six continents.
For most of the network's existence until 2011, 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.
TV Asahi Corporation, also known as EX and Tele-Asa, is a Japanese television network with its headquarters in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company also owns All-Nippon News Network.
