September 11, 1994(1994-09-11)– July 14, 2001(2001-07-14)
The Bozo Super Sunday Show is the final version of WGN-TV's 40+ year-old Bozo series, which aired on Sunday mornings for seven seasons. It was taped in Chicago. The lead star of the show was Bozo the Clown, played by Joey D'Auria. The last episode was taped on October 25, 2000 and featured a cameo appearance by Roy Brown as Cooky the Cook, Bozo's sidekick on WGN's previous Bozo series, Bozo's Circus and The Bozo Show.
In 1997, the show was retooled in an effort to make the show qualify for educational requirements.
The final Bozo television taping was the Bozo: 40 Years of Fun! special on June 12, 2001. It aired on July 14, 2001, featuring a guest appearance by singer Billy Corgan, a loyal fan of WGN's Bozo series, who performed Bob Dylan's "Forever Young."
The final rerun of The Bozo Super Sunday Show was broadcast August 26, 2001. Counting both of its predecessors, the Chicago Bozo was the longest-running television adaptation of the Bozo franchise, which was seen in numerous local versions throughout North America. The vast majority of Bozo stations had discontinued their Bozo franchises in the early 1970s, with the exception of a few stations that had revivals in the late 1980s.
WGN-TV's Bozo returned to the airwaves on a two-hour retrospective titled Bozo, Gar and Ray: WGN TV Classics on December 24, 2005. The primetime premiere was #1 in the Chicago market and is rebroadcast annually during the holiday season.
Segments
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WGN-TV is an independent television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister to the company's sole radio property, news/talk/sports station WGN. WGN-TV's studios are located on West Bradley Place in Chicago's North Center community; as such, it is the only major commercial television station in Chicago which bases its main studio outside the Loop. Its transmitter is located atop the Willis Tower in the Loop.
Bozo the Clown, sometimes billed as "Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown", is a clown character created for children's entertainment, widely popular in the second half of the 20th century. He was introduced in the United States in 1946, and to television in 1949, later appearing in franchised television programs of which he was the host, where he was portrayed by numerous local performers.
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.
Kids' WB was an American children's programming service and brand of The WB that aired on the network from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006. The block moved to The CW, where it aired from September 23, 2006, to May 17, 2008. After the block was discontinued, its Saturday morning programming slot was sold to 4Kids Entertainment and replaced by its successor block, The CW4Kids.
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.
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.
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.
The WGN Morning News is an American morning television news program airing on WGN-TV, an independent television station and national superstation in Chicago, Illinois owned by Nexstar Media Group. The program broadcasts every day from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m. Central Time.
The Bozo Show was a locally produced children's television program that aired on WGN-TV in Chicago and nationally on what is now NewsNation. It was based on a children's record-book series, Bozo the Clown by Capitol Records. The series is a local version of the internationally franchised Bozo the Clown format and is also the longest-running in the franchise. Recognized as the most popular and successful locally produced children's program in the history of television, it only aired under this title for 14 of its 40+ years: other titles were Bozo, Bozo's Circus, and The Bozo Super Sunday Show.
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.
Norbert Locke, better known as Ned Locke, was an American television personality and radio announcer, best known for the role of "Ringmaster Ned" on WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus from 1961 - 1976.
Don Sandburg was an American writer, actor, and producer who worked in television, most notably as producer of The Banana Splits for Hanna-Barbera as well as WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus.
Marshall Brodien was a professional magician who played Wizzo the Wizard, a wizard clown character which appeared on WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus and The Bozo Show from 1968-1994.
Several Major League Baseball teams have historically carried their games on superstations, which are broadcast television stations that are distributed on a regional or national basis on cable and satellite television.
Bozo, Gar & Ray: WGN TV Classics is a two-hour television special produced by WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois which focuses on children's programming which aired on the station from 1955 to 2001. It debuted in 2005 and has been featured on both WGN-TV and its former superstation WGN America. The program is hosted by WGN-TV personality Dean Richards.
The Museum of Classic Chicago Television is an online museum dedicated to the preservation of Chicago television broadcasts.
WGN Sports was the programming division of WGN-TV, an independent television station located in Chicago, Illinois, United States—which is owned by the Nexstar Media Group—that was responsible for all sports broadcasts on the station, some of which were previously also broadcast on its former national superstation feed, WGN America.
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".
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