Animation in the United States in the television era was a period in the history of American animation that gradually started in the late 1950s with the decline of theatrical animated shorts and popularization of television animation, reached its peak during the 1970s, and ended around the late 1980s. This era is characterized by low budgets, limited animation, an emphasis on television over the theater, and the general perception of cartoons being primarily for children.
Tiny Toon Adventures is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It originally aired from September 14, 1990 to December 6, 1992, airing in syndication before eventually settling at Fox's Fox Kids block. It was the first animated series by Warner Bros. Animation to be produced in association with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. The show follows the adventures of a group of young cartoon characters who attend Acme Looniversity to become the next generation of characters from the Looney Tunes series.
Robert Lewis Bell, better known as Bob Bell, was an American actor and announcer famous for his alter-ego, Bozo the Clown. He was the original portrayer of the character for Chicago superstation WGN-TV.
Garfield Goose and Friends is a children's television show produced by WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1955 to 1976. The show was known as Garfield Goose and Friend from 1952 to 1955 when it aired on WBKB and WBBM-TV. It was the longest running puppet show on television until Sesame Street broke that record. The host of the show was Frazier Thomas, who did all of the talking. The show centered on a clacking goose puppet named Garfield Goose, who considered himself "King of the United States." There were many other puppet characters such as Romberg Rabbit, Macintosh Mouse, Chris Goose and a sleepy bloodhound called Beauregard Burnside III. The show used a "Little Theater Screen", upon which the camera would zoom before cartoons such as Total Television, The Funny Company, Clutch Cargo, The Pink Panther, Jay Ward, Hanna-Barbera, Space Angel and The Mighty Hercules were broadcast.
Colonel Bleep is a 1957 American animated TV series which was the first color cartoon series made for television. It was created and written by Robert D. Buchanan and Jack Schleh on June 8, 1956, and was animated by Soundac, Inc. of Miami. The show was originally syndicated on September 21, 1957, as a segment on Uncle Bill's TV Club. One hundred episodes, of varying length of between three and six minutes each, were produced. Of these episodes, 45 episodes are known to exist in some form, eight of which are only available in monochrome.
Ray Rayner was an American television presenter, actor and author. He was a staple of Chicago children's television in the 1960s and 1970s on WGN-TV.
William Frazier Thomas was a Chicago television personality. Although Thomas wrote nine children's books, he was best known for creating, hosting, writing and producing the long-running children's television program Garfield Goose and Friends on WGN-TV.
The Fantastic Four is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. The program, featuring character designs by Alex Toth, originally aired on Saturday mornings on ABC from September 9, 1967, to September 21, 1968. It lasted for 20 episodes, with repeat episodes airing on ABC for three years until the network cancelled the program. It was also rerun as part of the continuing series Hanna–Barbera's World of Super Adventure.
Bill Ray Jackson was an American television personality, cartoonist, and educator. He was best known for having hosted the children's programs The BJ and Dirty Dragon Show and Gigglesnort Hotel.
Gigglesnort Hotel is a syndicated children's television program which ran for 78 episodes between 1975 and 1978. It was hosted by Bill Jackson, previously the host of several Chicago-based children's programs including Clown Alley and The BJ and Dirty Dragon Show. The program was set, as the title implies, at an old hotel, where Jackson's role was a desk clerk. The program featured many of the characters from the previous show, including Dirty Dragon, the Old Professor, Weird, Old Mother Plumtree, and several others who were created just for the program, such as the hotel's owner, Old Man Gigglesnort.
Roy Thomas Brown was an American television personality, puppeteer, clown and artist known for playing "Cooky the Cook" on Chicago's Bozo's Circus.
The BJ and Dirty Dragon Show is a Chicago children's television program that aired on WFLD and later WGN-TV from 1968 to 1974. It starred Bill Jackson and his puppets.
Casper the Friendly Ghost is a fictional character who serves as the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. He is a translucent ghost who is pleasant and personable, but often criticized by his three wicked uncles, the Ghostly Trio.
Bob Singer is an American animation artist, character designer, layout and background artist and storyboard director of animated television programs, most memorably of several Hanna-Barbera productions such as The Flintstones, Jonny Quest, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, Droopy, Tom and Jerry, The Jetsons, The Smurfs, Super Friends, Richie Rich and the Harlem Globetrotters cartoons.
Samuel Singer was an American animator and animation producer. He is best known as executive producer of The Adventures of Pow Wow, a cartoon which also later appeared as a segment in early episodes of Captain Kangaroo. He also directed The Adventures of Paddy the Pelican and produced Bucky and Pepito. Animation historian Jerry Beck has referred to Singer as "the Ed Wood of animation" for his low-budget and generally ill-reviewed cartoons.
Patrick Nolen McHale is an American animator, storyboard artist, screenwriter, director, and musician. He is well known for creating the animated television miniseries Over the Garden Wall.
Joe Jitsu is a fictional police officer, one of Dick Tracy's crimefighters in the 1961 syndicated animated cartoon series of the popular comic strip. He has since been criticised as a Japanese stereotype. He is named after Ju-Jitsu, a Japanese martial art. His method of subduing criminals was to grab them by the wrist, and exclaim "So solly!" and "Excuse, prease!" while repeatedly judo-flipping them on the ground violently. The voice for this character was provided by Benny Rubin.
Lego Unikitty! was a Lego theme based on the animated television series of the same name. It was licensed from The Lego Group and Warner Bros. Animation for Cartoon Network and the series starred the character of the same name from The Lego Movie and its sequel, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. The theme was first introduced in August 2018. The product line was discontinued by the end of December 2019.
My Magic Pet Morphle, also known as Morphle, is an animated children's television series created in 2011. Produced by YouTube channel Morphle TV, which was acquired by Moonbug Entertainment in 2018 and announced in February 2019, the series premiered on Netflix on January 10, 2019. The show is about a girl named Mila and her magic pet Morphle who can transform his appearance at Mila's will, and teaches themes of friendship, problem-solving and creativity to its preschool audience.
This is a list of American television-related events in 1952.
