"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 media regulations. In the final 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.
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.
WCIU-TV is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is the flagship television property of locally based Weigel Broadcasting, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to two low-power stations: independent outlet WMEU-CD and MeTV/Heroes & Icons flagship WWME-CD. The stations share studios on Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood, while WCIU-TV's transmitter is located atop the Willis Tower in the Chicago Loop.
KOKI-TV is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Imagicomm Communications alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYT-TV. The two stations share studios on East 27th Street and South Memorial Drive in the Audubon neighborhood of southeast Tulsa; KOKI-TV's transmitter is located on South 273rd East Avenue in the western city limits of Coweta.
WAGA-TV is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, serving as the market's Fox network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Briarcliff Road Northeast in the Druid Hills area of unincorporated DeKalb County, just outside the Atlanta city limits.
The Lighter Side of Sports is a syndicated American sports blooper program produced by Steve Rotfeld Productions. The series, at the time of its cancellation, was hosted by Mike Golic. Lighter Side is the first and longest-running of Rotfeld's productions, utilizing Rotfeld's extensive collection of stock footage.
Steve Rotfeld is an American television producer and writer. He is the principal founder of two independent broadcast and syndication production companies: Steve Rotfeld Productions (SRP) and The Workshop, which he co-founded with Tom Farrell. Through SRP and The Workshop, Rotfeld has produced and distributed programming that has been syndicated on national broadcast and cable networks and sold throughout the world.
This TV is an American free-to-air television network owned by Allen Media Broadcast Networks, LLC, part of the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios. Originally formed in 2008 as a joint venture between Amazon's Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Weigel Broadcasting, the network maintains a large programming emphasis on films, but also airs other limited general entertainment content in the form of classic television series and children's programming.
Bellum Entertainment Group, formerly LongNeedle Entertainment, was a Burbank, California based television production and distribution company. Bellum developed, produced, and distributed TV projects for broadcast, cable, digital, and ancillary markets. Bellum Entertainment began creating E/I programs in 2004 with the release of Animal Atlas. In 2012, Bellum entered into a deal with Tribune Broadcasting to license a two hour E/I program block and two-weekend series, Unsealed Alien Files and Unsealed Conspiracy Files.
Weekend Marketplace is a two-hour block of paid programming airing on Fox that debuted on January 3, 2009, replacing the 4Kids TV cartoon block due to the termination of the network's time lease agreement with 4Kids Entertainment. The block, which airs on Saturday mornings, is programmed solely with infomercials, which usually air on networks and broadcast television stations during late night and early morning timeslots; such programming, however, has not previously been scheduled on a regular basis by a major broadcast television network.
The Hearst Media Production Group is an American media and production company based in New York City, New York as a division of the Hearst Television subsidiary of Hearst Communications, with three additional offices in Boston, Washington, D.C., and Burbank, California. Many of HMPG's programs comply with federally mandated educational and informational requirements.
Chat Room is a 2012 American educational television series. Produced by Steve Rotfeld Productions (SRP), it consisted consisting of a panel young people that discusses teen-oriented issues, with panelists giving their opinions, and advising kids on how to deal with potential problems. The series was broadcast in syndication.
Independence USA is a reality series that follows Frank Belcastro and his family as they prepare to live life "off the grid," in the event of a potential catastrophe. On January 18, 2012, the series premiered on GBTV, Glenn Beck's live streaming video network. The show lasted one season.
Xploration Station is an American syndicated programming block that is programmed by Steve Rotfeld Productions, distributed by Fox, and debuted on September 13, 2014. It airs weekends, primarily on Fox-affiliated stations. Aimed towards teenagers, the block consists of six half-hour shows focusing on the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. All of the programs in the three-hour block are produced to meet federally mandated educational programming guidelines. Boat Rocker Rights owns the shows' international rights.
The 2015–16 daytime network television schedule for four of the five major English-language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers the weekday daytime hours from September 2015 to August 2016. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, and any series canceled after the 2014–15 season.
KidsClick was a daily children's programming block distributed by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which premiered on July 1, 2017. The block, which primarily consisted of long-form animated series as well as some short-form content, was carried in the U.S. on terrestrial television network TBD, and on Sinclair-owned/operated television stations in several markets. At launch, the block was available in 75 million households. The block marked the return of traditional weekday cartoons and Saturday morning cartoons to terrestrial television, as well as the first children's programming block on U.S. free-to-air television not to comply with Children's Television Act regulations since the Saban Brands-produced Vortexx was discontinued on September 27, 2014.
The 2018–19 daytime network television schedule for four of the five major English-language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers the daytime hours from September 2018 to August 2019. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, and any series canceled after the 2017–18 season.
The 2019–20 daytime network television schedule for the five major English-language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers the weekday and weekend daytime hours from September 2019 to August 2020. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series; no new series or series canceled after the 2018–19 season are included at present, as the daytime schedules of the four major networks that offer morning and/or afternoon programming is expected to remain consistent with the prior television season.
The 2020–21 daytime network television schedule for the five major English-language commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers the weekday and weekend daytime hours from September 2020 to August 2021. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series; no new series, but only one series is canceled after the 2019–20 season are included at present, as the daytime schedules of the four major networks that offer morning and/or afternoon programming is expected to remain consistent with the prior television season.
WGN America was an American subscription television network that operated from November 9, 1978 to February 28, 2021. The service was originally uplinked to satellite by United Video Inc. as a national feed of Chicago independent station WGN-TV, making the station's programming available to cable and satellite providers throughout the United States as the second nationally distributed "superstation".
