"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 was a tradition from broadly the mid-1960s to mid-2010s; over time its popularity declined, in the face of changing cultural norms, increased competition from formats available at all times, and heavier media regulations. In the last years of the genre's existence, Saturday-morning and Sunday-morning cartoons were primarily created and aired on major networks to meet "educational and informational" (E/I) requirements. Minor television networks, in addition to the non-commercial PBS in some markets, continued to air animated programming on Saturday and Sunday while partially meeting those mandates.
The Disney Afternoon, sometimes abbreviated as TDA, was a created-for-syndication two-hour programming block of animated television series. It was produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and distributed through its syndication affiliate Buena Vista Television. Each show from the block has aired reruns on Disney Channel and Toon Disney. Disney Channel reaired four shows on "Block Party," a two-hour block that aired on weekdays in the late afternoon/early evening.
DIC Entertainment Corporation, branded as the Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production company that was mostly associated as an animation studio. As a now former division of The Walt Disney Company, DIC produced live-action feature films and licensed numerous anime series.
ABC Kids was an American Saturday morning 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 6 and 14. This was the only time Disney Channel content aired on over-the-air television in the United States.
Fox Kids was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a joint venture between the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox) and its affiliated stations, it was later owned by Fox Family Worldwide.
Little Shop is a 1991 animated fantasy comedy television series that aired on Saturday mornings on the Fox Kids TV network, about a teenage boy and his giant talking plant. Based on Roger Corman's 1960 comedy horror film The Little Shop of Horrors, the concept is credited to Ellen Levy and Mark Edward Edens, and the series was produced by Tom Tataranowicz, with Corman as a consultant. The horror elements in previous versions of the story, in which characters are eaten by the plant, are toned down for children in this series.
Marvel Productions, later known as New World Animation Ltd., was an American production company owned by the Fox Entertainment Group subsidiary of News Corporation which was founded in 1981 as the television and film studio subsidiary of the Marvel Entertainment Group, based in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It later became a subsidiary of New World Entertainment and eventually of News Corporation.
Disney Television Animation (DTVA) is an American animation studio that serves as the television animation production arm of Disney Branded Television, a division of Disney General Entertainment Content, which is a division of Disney Entertainment. The studio was originally established in 1984, by Gary Krisel during the reorganization and subsequent re-incorporation of Disney following the arrival of then CEO Michael Eisner that year.
Disney's One Too was an American two-hour Sunday-to-Friday children's programming block that aired on UPN from September 6, 1999 to August 31, 2003. A spin-off of the Disney's One Saturday Morning block on ABC, it featured animated series from Disney Television Animation aimed at children between the ages of 6 and 11.
A weekday cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated series programming that was typically scheduled on weekday mornings and afternoons in the United States on many major television networks and in broadcast syndication since the 1960s.
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.
Silver Surfer, also known as Silver Surfer: The Animated Series, is a 13-episode animated television series based on the Marvel Comics superhero Silver Surfer, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The series aired for one season on the Fox Kids Network in 1998.
Rude Dog and the Dweebs is a 1989 Saturday morning cartoon television series developed by Sun Sportswear, based on the Rude Dog character featured in clothes advertising. The series was produced by Marvel Productions and animated by AKOM.
Mad Jack the Pirate is an American animated comedy-adventure television series. The show was created by Bill Kopp and was directed by Jeff DeGrandis. On American television, the show was broadcast on Fox Kids.
Bureau of Alien Detectors is a 1996 American animated series by Saban Entertainment that aired on the UPN network's weekend-morning cartoon block UPN Kids. It was touted as "X-Files meets the A-Team," and only lasted for one season.
Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series is an American animated children's television series based on the original live-action version of the same name created by Jim Henson. NBC aired this spin-off program on Saturday mornings at 10:00 AM for one season during 1987. It was later shown in reruns on Disney Channel from May 5, 1990 to June 1995.
Piggsburg Pigs! is a Fox Kids animated comedy series from Ruby-Spears Productions, which originally aired in 1990.
Saban's Around the World in Eighty Dreams is a French animated series that first premiered on Canal+ on November 13, 1992, and later aired on TF1 in December 1993.
Stuart M. Rosen was an American voice director and voice actor.
Saban's Adventures of Oliver Twist is a children's animated series created by Saban Entertainment. The series first aired in the United States from 1 February 1996 to 12 February 1997 through the company's syndicated "The Saban Network for Kids!" strand, totaling 52 episodes. The series began airing in France on TF1 on September 1, 1997, and on Fox Kids on internationally.
