"Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series and live-action programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre's popularity had a broad peak from the mid-1960s through the mid-2000s; over time it declined, in the face of changing cultural norms, increased competition from formats available at all times, and heavier regulations. In the last two decades of the genre's existence, Saturday-morning and Sunday-morning cartoons were primarily created and aired to meet regulations on children's television programming in the United States, or E/I. Minor television networks, in addition to the non-commercial PBS in some markets, continue to air animated programming on Saturday and Sunday while partially meeting those mandates.
Raw Toonage is an American animated series that aired on CBS. It premiered on September 19, 1992. The show was cancelled on December 5 after 12 episodes had been broadcast.
Blue's Clues is an American live-action/animated interactive educational children's television series, created by Angela C. Santomero, Todd Kessler, and Traci Paige Johnson, that premiered on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block on September 8, 1996, and concluded its run on August 6, 2006, with a total of six seasons and 143 episodes. The original host of the show was Steve Burns, who left in 2002 and was replaced by Donovan Patton for the rest of the series. 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 to figure out her plans for the day.
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids is an American animated television series created, produced, and hosted by comedian Bill Cosby, who also lent his voice to a number of characters, including Fat Albert and himself. Filmation was the production company for the series. The show premiered in 1972 and ran until 1985. The show, based on Cosby's remembrances of his childhood gang, focused on Fat Albert, and his friends.
The Woody Woodpecker Show is a 30-minute American television series mainly composed, of the animated cartoon shorts of Woody Woodpecker and other Walter Lantz characters including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, The Beary Family and Inspector Willoughby all released by Walter Lantz Productions. The series was revived and reformatted several times, but remained popular for nearly four decades and allowed the studio to continue making theatrical cartoons until 1972 when it shut down. It also kept the Walter Lantz/Universal "cartunes" made during the Golden Age of American animation a part of the American consciousness. The Woody Woodpecker Show was named the 88th best animated series by IGN.
Vegetable Soup is an American educational children's television program produced by the New York State Education Department that originally ran on PBS from September 22, 1975, to December 14, 1978. NBC concurrently broadcast the series on Sunday mornings, with at least some affiliates showing it along with NBC's regular Saturday morning cartoon lineup; this was a rare instance of a television program seen on both commercial and public television at the same time.
King Koopa's Kool Kartoons is a local, American live-action children's television show broadcast in Southern California during the Autumn of 1989. The show was produced by DIC Entertainment in association with Fox Television Studios for the Fox television station KTTV - 11 Los Angeles by Gerry Pass – who developed and rolled out the Fox Kids Club – and DIC Animation City, in association with Nintendo. It was a live-action spin-off to The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, a popular animated show based on the Super Mario video games. The show was discontinued after 65 episodes.
The Flintstone Comedy Show is an American animated television series revival and spin-off of The Flintstones produced by Hanna-Barbera that aired on NBC from November 22, 1980, to October 24, 1981. Outside North America, the show was released under title of Flintstone Frolics.
ABC Weekend Special is a weekly 30-minute American television anthology series for children that aired Saturday mornings on ABC from 1977 to 1997, which featured a wide variety of stories that were both live-action and animated. Similar to both ABC Afterschool Special and The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, the ABC Weekend Special differed in that it was primarily aimed at younger viewers following ABC's Saturday-morning cartoon lineup, whereas the ABC Afterschool Special was known for its somewhat more serious, and often dramatic, storylines dealing with issues concerning a slightly older teen and pre-teen audience. The main focus of ABC Weekend Special was to encourage children to read.
Big Bag is an American live-action/animated children's television series created by Nina Elias-Bamberger for Cartoon Network and Children's Television Workshop. It was targeted at preschool viewers. The show was co-produced by Cartoon Network and CTW, with Muppet characters created by the Jim Henson Company. It aired from 1996 to 1998, with reruns airing through 2001, alongside another program titled Small World. Localized versions of Big Bag aired on Canal J in France and Yorkshire Television in the UK.
The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an American live-action and animated fantasy television series that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1968, through February 23, 1969. Produced by Hanna-Barbera and based on the classic Mark Twain characters, the program starred its three live-action heroes, Huck Finn, Becky Thatcher, and Tom Sawyer, navigating weekly adventures within an animated world as they attempted to outrun a vengeful "Injun Joe". After the show's original run, the series continued to air in reruns as part of The Banana Splits and Friends Show syndication package.
Kid 'n Play is a 1990 animated cartoon series based on the real-life hip hop duo Kid 'n Play. It ran for one season on NBC from September 8 to December 8, 1990. On the show, Kid 'n Play were portrayed as teenagers, along with their friend Jazzy, their producer Hurbie and their DJ Wiz, but their recording careers remained the same as in real life, as did their character traits. Production was by Marvel Productions and Saban Entertainment.
Animaniacs is an American animated comedy musical television series created by Tom Ruegger for Fox's Fox Kids block in 1993, before moving to The WB in 1995, as part of its Kids' WB afternoon programming block, until the series ended on November 14, 1998. It is the second animated series produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Animation, after Tiny Toon Adventures. It initially ran a total of 99 episodes, along with a feature-length film, Wakko's Wish. Reruns later aired on Cartoon Network from 1997 to 2001, Nickelodeon from 2001 to 2003, Nicktoons from 2003 to 2005, and Discovery Family from 2012 to 2014.
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.
Mad is an American animated sketch comedy television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The series was based on Mad magazine, where each episode is a collection of short animated parodies of television shows, films, video games, celebrities, and other media, using various types of animation instead of the usual animation style that Warner Bros. Animation is known for. The series premiered on the evening of September 6, 2010 on Cartoon Network at 8:30 P.M. right after the series premiere of Regular Show. The series ended its three-year run on December 2, 2013.
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, including limits on ad time, and prohibiting the airing of advertising for products related to the program currently airing.
How to Eat Like a Child – And Other Lessons in Not Being a Grown-up is an original musical comedy television special that aired on NBC on September 22, 1981. Based on Delia Ephron's best-selling book of the same name, and adapted for television by Judith Kahan with music and lyrics by John Forster, the one-hour special, through a series of comedy skits and songs, lampoons the adult world through the eyes of children. The musical variety stars Dick Van Dyke as the resident "grown-up" alongside 15 children ranging in age from 7 to 13. Several of the special's young performers would subsequently go on to achieve child stardom in their own right, most notably Corey Feldman, Billy Jacoby and Georg Olden.
"G.I. Jeff" is the eleventh episode of the fifth season of Community, and the 95th episode overall in the series. It originally aired on April 3, 2014 on NBC. The episode was written by Dino Stamatopoulos, and directed by Rob Schrab. The episode was completed in the animation style of the popular 1980s children's television animated series, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.
Fabulous Funnies is a 1978–1979 American Saturday morning animated TV series produced by Filmation. The show aired for one season from September 9, 1978, to December 1, 1978, on NBC, airing 13 episodes.
