Saturday morning cartoon
Encyclopedia
A Saturday morning cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated television programming that has typically been scheduled on Saturday mornings on the major American
television network
s from the 1960s to the present; the genre's peak in popularity mostly ended in the 1990s while the popularity of cable and satellite television, as well as the internet, has provided 24 hour access to cartoons for children. In the United States
, the generally accepted times considered to be Saturday mornings are 8 a.m. to noon Eastern. In addition, until the late 1970s, American networks also had a schedule of children's programming on Sunday mornings, though most programs at this time were repeats of Saturday morning shows that were already canceled, out of production or both. Cable television
networks have since revived the practice of debuting their most popular animated programming on Saturday mornings, and most of the broadcast networks maintain a limited animated presence to meet federal educational-informational children's programming mandates
.
In some markets, some shows were pre-empted in favor of syndicated or local programming
.
may use 24 different drawings per second
of finished film, sometimes even more, if several characters are on the screen simultaneously. Due to lower budgets, Saturday morning cartoons are often produced with a minimum amount of animation drawings, sometimes no more than 3 or 4 per second. In addition, the movements of the characters are often repeated, very limited, or even confined to mouths and eyes only. An exception to the 24-frames-per-second rule is when animation is "shot in twos" in which 12 drawings per second are used and the switch to 24 frames per second is for quick events like explosions or "wild takes
".
. Furthermore, limited animation
, such as that produced by such studios as Filmation Associates
and Hanna-Barbera Productions, was economical enough to produce in sufficient quantity to fill the four hour time slot, as compared to live-action programming. The experiment proved successful, and the time slot was filled with profitable programming.
Some Saturday morning programming consisted of telecasts of older cartoons originally made for movie theatres, such as the Bugs Bunny
and Road Runner
cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons
.
appeared in the late 1960s. They voiced concerns about the presentation of commercialism, violence, anti-social attitudes and stereotypes in Saturday morning cartoons. By the 1970s, these groups exercised enough influence that the TV networks felt compelled to lay down more stringent content rules for the animation houses.
In a more constructive direction, the networks were encouraged to create educational spots that endeavored to use animation and/or live-action for enriching content. Far and away the most successful effort was the Schoolhouse Rock series on ABC
, which became a television classic. Just as notable were CBS
's news segments for children, In the News
and NBC
's Ask NBC News and One to Grow On
, which featured skits of everyday problems with advice from the stars of NBC primetime
programs.
-mandated regulations that began in the mid-1990s, broadcast stations were required to program a minimum of three hours of children's educational/informational
("E/I") programming per week.
To help their affiliates comply with the regulations, broadcast networks began to reorganize their efforts to adhere to the mandates, so its affiliates would not bear the burden of scheduling the shows themselves on their own time. This almost always meant that the educational programming was placed during the Saturday morning cartoon block. NBC
abandoned its Saturday morning cartoon lineup in 1992, replacing it with a Saturday morning edition of The Today Show and adding an all live-action teen-oriented block, TNBC, which featured Saved by the Bell
, California Dreams
, and other teen comedies. Even though the educational content was minimal to nonexistent, NBC labeled all the live-action shows with an E/I rating.
CBS
followed NBC's example by producing a Saturday edition of The Early Show
in the first two hours of its lineup and an all live-action block of children's programming. The experiment lasted a few months, and CBS brought back their animated CBS Storybreak
series.
In 2004, ABC
was the last of the broadcast networks to add a Saturday morning edition of their morning news program, Good Morning America
, in the first hour of its lineup. Prior to that, especially through the early 1990s, it was not uncommon for ABC affiliates to preempt part or all of ABC's cartoon lineup with local news programming.
Fox carried little or no E/I programming, leaving the responsibility of scheduling the E/I shows to the affiliates themselves; as of 2010, Fox (which opposes the E/I regulations) carries no children's programming at all. The WB
was far more accommodating; for several years, they aired the history-themed Histeria!
five days per week, leaving only a half-hour of E/I programs up to the local producers to program.
Boomerang
, a spin-off channel of Cartoon Network, currently specializes primarily in rerun
s of Saturday morning cartoons from the 1960s and 1970s (the majority of which come from Hanna-Barbera, which, like Boomerang, is owned by Time Warner
). It is not unusual to see the major networks rotate reruns of older series (usually less than ten years, because of E/I content) instead of airing a new production, since the children who watched them the first time are not the same children who are currently watching Saturday morning cartoons; Cookie Jar Group's programming blocks have made extensive use of this strategy, as do channels that are intended for digital subchannels (e.g. qubo
).
in 1996, which began airing all Disney-made programming by 1997 and canceled non-Disney made productions (with the notable exception of The Bugs and Tweety Show
, which continued to air until Warner Bros. ended the show in 2000). After being purchased by Disney, ABC began airing their Saturday morning cartoons in a programming block titled Disney's One Saturday Morning before switching to a block of live-action and animated programs titled ABC Kids. Many of the block's shows were produced by Disney and also aired on Disney Channel
or Toon Disney
. At one point, only two animated shows aired ABC Kids, while the rest were live-action entertainment shows. By late 2008, all shows featured on ABC Kids were in rerun
status, and remained so for the next three years. On September 3, 2011, ABC outsourced its Saturday morning programming and E/I liabilities to Litton Entertainment
; Litton now provides ABC affiliates with Litton's Weekend Adventure, a live-action block aimed at teens, marking the end of children's programming (animated or otherwise) on the ABC network itself. In conjunction with the move, ABC sister network Disney Channel
launched a Saturday morning block of its popular animated programming, entitled Toonin' Saturdays
, in June 2011.
and CBS becoming a part of CBS Corporation
. The two parties ended the Nick Jr.-branded block, which was be replaced by the DIC Entertainment
(now Cookie Jar Entertainment) produced KOL's Saturday Morning Secret Slumber Party on CBS in fall 2006. A reimagining of the block, KEWLopolis, with a greater amount of animation, premiered in fall 2007. On September 19, 2009, KEWLopolis was re-branded as Cookie Jar TV. On September 17, 2011, Cookie Jar TV was rebranded as Team Toon.
Fox Kids
From 1990 until 2008, smaller networks like Fox
aired child-friendly programming, former ones are Fox Kids
and Fox Box (later 4Kids TV
), both animated and live-action, on weekday afternoons in the hours after most American children were let out of school (outcompeting the syndicated afternoon children's programming on the remaining unaffiliated channels in the process). Several animated series of note, such as Taz-Mania
, Batman: The Animated Series
, Eek! The Cat
, Bobby's World
, and Animaniacs
, came out of these afternoon programming blocks, and some later appeared on their networks' Saturday morning programming blocks. Live action shows like Power Rangers
, Goosebumps
and Big Bad Beetleborgs
also aired on the Fox Kids Network
. Fox sold its children's division to ABC in 2001, outsourcing its programming to 4Kids from 2001 to 2008.
On December 27, 2008, 4Kids TV ceased airing, and Fox no longer airs Saturday morning cartoons. Fox became the third broadcast network, following PAX and UPN
, to completely abandon kids' programming, and has replaced the programming with a two-hour block of infomercial
s called Weekend Marketplace
; several stations, like they did for 4KidsTV, have been allowed by the network to decline to carry it and allowed them to shop it to another station in the market, especially those stations which had never carried Fox Kids to begin with in the Fox affiliate switch of 1994. They plan to also fight the FCC mandated rule of showing E/I programming, in hopes of a repeal. All children's programming on Fox affiliates is currently arranged by local affiliates (usually through syndication) and not through the network.
Kids' WB
Every weekday afternoon since 1995, and sometimes mornings, too, until 2001. During the era of weekday blocks, Histeria!
was usually included to provide E/I content. Kids' WB
moved, name intact, to The CW
when The WB
merged with UPN
. Kids' WB aired Saturday mornings on The CW, and it aired on Sunday mornings on WUPA
in Atlanta. The block ended its run on May 17, 2008, and on WUPA it ended on the next day. A block of programming from 4Kids Entertainment
, separate from the Kids block on Fox called: The CW4Kids
, replaced it one week later. Toonzai added on to The CW4Kids
on August 14, 2010.
Discovery Kids on NBC
NBC, which had a partnership with the Discovery Kids
network to broadcast the channel's original programming, reentered the Saturday morning arena with new, original programming in September 2006 as part of the qubo
"edutainment
" partnership, which involves numerous parties, including parent company NBCUniversal, ION Media Networks
, Scholastic Press
, Nelvana
, and Classic Media
, all of whom providing the programs for the Saturday morning block. qubo also airs on Ion Television. A Spanish-language version airs on NBC-owned Telemundo
on weekends.
Cookie Jar Toons
On November 1, 2008, This TV
launched airing a daily children's programming block called Cookie Jar Toons
. Cookie Jar Toons is programmed by Cookie Jar Entertainment. In addition, non-E/I programming is aired on This TV
called This is for Kids.
, MyNetworkTV
, and Independent station
s to provide them with a source of Educational/Informational (E/I)
programming required by federal law.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
s from the 1960s to the present; the genre's peak in popularity mostly ended in the 1990s while the popularity of cable and satellite television, as well as the internet, has provided 24 hour access to cartoons for children. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the generally accepted times considered to be Saturday mornings are 8 a.m. to noon Eastern. In addition, until the late 1970s, American networks also had a schedule of children's programming on Sunday mornings, though most programs at this time were repeats of Saturday morning shows that were already canceled, out of production or both. Cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
networks have since revived the practice of debuting their most popular animated programming on Saturday mornings, and most of the broadcast networks maintain a limited animated presence to meet federal educational-informational children's programming mandates
E/I
E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...
.
In some markets, some shows were pre-empted in favor of syndicated or local programming
Local programming
The term Local Programme, Local Programming, Local Content or Local Television refers to a television programme made by a television station or independent television producer for broadcast only within the station's transmission area or television market...
.
Technique
An animated feature filmFeature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
may use 24 different drawings per second
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
of finished film, sometimes even more, if several characters are on the screen simultaneously. Due to lower budgets, Saturday morning cartoons are often produced with a minimum amount of animation drawings, sometimes no more than 3 or 4 per second. In addition, the movements of the characters are often repeated, very limited, or even confined to mouths and eyes only. An exception to the 24-frames-per-second rule is when animation is "shot in twos" in which 12 drawings per second are used and the switch to 24 frames per second is for quick events like explosions or "wild takes
Wild takes
The term Wild Takes describes facial expressions in cartoon physics and its origins credited to artists of Warner Bros. Cartoons as it commonly appeared in Looney Tunes shorts; particularly in many of the Tex Avery shorts. Other American Animation studios soon followed suit. These techniques soon...
".
Early Saturday morning cartoons
Although the Saturday morning timeslot had always featured a great deal of children's fare before, the idea of commissioning new animated series for broadcast on Saturday mornings caught on in the mid-1960s, when the networks realized that they could concentrate kids' viewing on that one morning to appeal to advertisersAdvertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
. Furthermore, limited animation
Limited animation
Limited animation is a process of making animated cartoons that does not redraw entire frames but variably reuses common parts between frames. One of its major trademarks is the stylized design in all forms and shapes, which in the early days was referred to as modern design...
, such as that produced by such studios as Filmation Associates
Filmation
Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live action programming for television during the latter half of the 20th century. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1963...
and Hanna-Barbera Productions, was economical enough to produce in sufficient quantity to fill the four hour time slot, as compared to live-action programming. The experiment proved successful, and the time slot was filled with profitable programming.
Some Saturday morning programming consisted of telecasts of older cartoons originally made for movie theatres, such as the Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
and Road Runner
Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner
Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The characters were created by animation director Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Bros., while the template for their adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese...
cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
.
Watchgroup backlash
Parents' lobby groups like Action for Children's TelevisionAction for Children's Television
Action for Children's Television was founded by Peggy Charren and Judy Chalfen in Newton, Massachusetts in 1968 as a grassroots organization dedicated to improving the quality of television programming offered to children...
appeared in the late 1960s. They voiced concerns about the presentation of commercialism, violence, anti-social attitudes and stereotypes in Saturday morning cartoons. By the 1970s, these groups exercised enough influence that the TV networks felt compelled to lay down more stringent content rules for the animation houses.
In a more constructive direction, the networks were encouraged to create educational spots that endeavored to use animation and/or live-action for enriching content. Far and away the most successful effort was the Schoolhouse Rock series on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, which became a television classic. Just as notable were CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's news segments for children, In the News
In the News
In the News was a series of two-minute televised video segments that summarized topical news stories for children and pre-teens. The segments were broadcast in the United States on the CBS television network from 1971 until 1986, between Saturday morning animated cartoon programs, as were the...
and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Ask NBC News and One to Grow On
One to Grow On
One to Grow On is an educational public service announcement that broadcast during NBC's Saturday morning line-up from 1983 to 1989 when the network ran cartoons. One to Grow On focuses on ethical and personal safety dilemmas and attempts to teach viewers how to solve them...
, which featured skits of everyday problems with advice from the stars of NBC primetime
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
programs.
Decline
The decline of the timeslot began in the late 1980s for a variety of reasons, including:- The rise of first run syndicationTelevision syndicationIn broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
animated programs, which usually had a greater artistic freedom, and looser standards (not mandated by a network) such as G.I. Joe, TransformersThe Transformers (TV series)The Transformers is an animated television series depicting a war among giant robots who could transform into vehicles, other objects and animal-like forms. Written and recorded in America, the series was animated in Japan and South Korea...
, ThunderCatsThunderCatsThunderCats is an American animated television series that was produced by Rankin/Bass Productions debuting in 1984, based on the characters created by Tobin "Ted" Wolf. The series follows the adventures of a group of cat-like humanoid aliens...
and He-Man and the Masters of the UniverseHe-Man and the Masters of the UniverseHe-Man and the Masters of the Universe is an American animated television series produced by Filmation based on Mattel's successful toy line Masters of the Universe...
. - Increasing regulation of children's programming content, including educational requirements and advertising restrictions, which limited the creative options for such shows.
- An overreliance on common tropes, which, although it has been common since the early days of animation, became more pronounced by the 1980s; many of the longstanding Saturday morning franchises that had aired since the 1960s were beginning to age and decline in popularity.
- The rise of cableCable televisionCable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
TV channels like NickelodeonNickelodeon (TV channel)Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
, Disney ChannelDisney ChannelDisney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
, and Cartoon NetworkCartoon Network (United States)Cartoon Network is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting which primarily airs animated programming. The channel was launched on October 1, 1992 after Turner purchased the animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1991...
which provided appealing animated entertainment throughout the week at nearly all hours, making Saturday morning timeslots far less important to viewers and advertisers. Cable channels also have the additional advantage of being beyond FCC content regulations, meaning they do not have to abide by educational or advertising regulations. Currently, there are at least ten channels specializing in kids programming. This development notwithstanding, cable networks directed at children have used the Saturday morning time slot as its version of prime timePrime timePrime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
for its animated series; Cartoon Network (with an action-oriented Saturday morning block), Nickelodeon (with the "Morning of Premieres") and Disney ChannelDisney ChannelDisney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
(with "Toonin' SaturdaysToonin' SaturdaysToonin' Saturdays is a program block on the Disney Channel in the United States, consisting of Saturday morning cartoons. The block, which debuted June 18, 2011, airs Fish Hooks, Phineas and Ferb and Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil...
") have emphasized their Saturday morning cartoon programming. - The increase of VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s which allow children to watch cartoons anytime. - Increased awareness of childhood obesityObesityObesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
and lethargy which was centered around Saturday morning cartoons. - The proliferation of the commercial toyToyA toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...
or toyline-oriented animated program in the 1980s also led to advocacy group backlash and a decline in such programming. Many of these programs implemented public service messages at their conclusion to address these criticisms. - Increased popularity of video game consoles and, by the late 1990s, the World Wide WebWorld Wide WebThe World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
. - Many of the same networks that often showed Saturday morning cartoons began airing similar programs in the afternoons during the weekdays, usually when most children were out of school already. This practice has been discontinued as of late, but it was common throughout the 1990s.
- An increase in children's participation in Saturday activities outside the home.
- The success of live action Saturday morning programming for kids and teens (such as NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Saved by the BellSaved by the BellSaved by the Bell is an American television sitcom that aired between 1989 and 1993. The series is a retooled version of the 1988 series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which was itself later folded into the history of Saved by the Bell...
) which led to the development of more live action shows and teen programming, squeezing out cartoons. - The gradual loss of most of the American companies which were at one time, iconic and prolific producers of children's television shows. For example: FilmationFilmationFilmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live action programming for television during the latter half of the 20th century. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1963...
, Hanna Barbera, Ruby-Spears, Sunbow ProductionsSunbow ProductionsSunbow Entertainment was an animation studio, founded in 1980 and owned up until 1998 by Griffin-Bacal Advertising in New York. The first animation efforts by Griffin-Bacal were producing the animated commercials for Hasbro's G.I...
, DIC EntertainmentDiC EntertainmentDIC Entertainment was an international film and television production company. In addition to animated television shows such as Ulysses 31 , Inspector Gadget , The Littles , The Real Ghostbusters , Captain Planet and the Planeteers , and the first two seasons of the English adaptation of...
, Saban Entertainment, Marvel ProductionsMarvel ProductionsMarvel Productions Ltd. , last called New World Animation, was a television and film studio subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment Group , based in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, then New World Entertainment and News Corporation/Fox...
, and Rankin/BassRankin/BassRankin/Bass Productions, Inc. , also known as Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, was an American production company, known for its seasonal television specials, particularly its work in stop-motion animation. The pre-1974 library is currently owned by Classic Media,while the post-1974 library is...
, all of which are now either defunct or now non operating subsidiaries of larger companies. Other noted producers such as Sid and Marty KrofftSid and Marty KrofftSid Krofft and Marty Krofft , are a sibling team of television producers who were influential in children's television and variety show programs in the USA, particularly throughout the 1970s and early 1980s....
, while not officially defunct, are much less active in recent years due to their advanced age. - Beginning in the late 1990s, the offshoringOffshoringOffshoring describes the relocation by a company of a business process from one country to another—typically an operational process, such as manufacturing, or supporting processes, such as accounting. Even state governments employ offshoring...
of animation production to other countries. Currently, one of the leading producers of Saturday morning cartoon programming is CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's NelvanaNelvanaNelvana Limited is a Canadian entertainment company founded in 1971 known for its work in children's animation. It was named by founders Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith after a Canadian comic book superheroine created by Adrian Dingle in the 1940s...
, a division of Corus EntertainmentCorus EntertainmentCorus Entertainment Inc. is a publicly traded Canadian media and entertainment conglomerate.Corus is a leading Canadian specialty television and radio producer, with additional assets in pay television, advertising services, television broadcasting, children's book publishing and children's...
. The earlier popularity of imported Japanese animation such as RobotechRobotech (TV series)Robotech is an 85-episode adaptation of three different anime television series made between 1982-1984 in Japan, the adaptation was aired in 1985. Within the combined and edited story, Robotechnology refers to the scientific advances discovered in an alien starship that crashed on a South Pacific...
also contributed to this. - Beginning in the late 2000s, decisions by breakfast cerealBreakfast cerealA breakfast cereal is a food made from processed grains that is often, but not always, eaten with the first meal of the day. It is often eaten cold, usually mixed with milk , water, or yogurt, and sometimes fruit but sometimes eaten dry. Some cereals, such as oatmeal, may be served hot as porridge...
companies and fast foodFast foodFast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
restaurants to reduce their advertising to children. Breakfast cereals were a major advertiser on Saturday morning cartoons; however, nutrition advocacy groups criticized the companies for advertising cereals with high sugar content and low nutritional value, leading to groups such as Kellogg's and Quaker Oats to either stop or scale back their advertising to children. Similar pressures on fast-food restaurants' high-calorie meals (along with the denouement of the Burger WarsBurger WarsThe Burger Wars is series of off and on comparative advertising campaigns consisting of mutually-targeted advertisements that highlight the intense competition between hamburger fast food chains McDonald's, Burger King and others in the United States...
) led advertisers such as McDonald'sMcDonald'sMcDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
and Burger KingBurger KingBurger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
to pull back their advertising toward children.
Current state of Saturday morning cartoons
While animated production is still present on most broadcast networks on Saturday mornings, it has been noticeably reduced. Because of FCCFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
-mandated regulations that began in the mid-1990s, broadcast stations were required to program a minimum of three hours of children's educational/informational
E/I
E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...
("E/I") programming per week.
To help their affiliates comply with the regulations, broadcast networks began to reorganize their efforts to adhere to the mandates, so its affiliates would not bear the burden of scheduling the shows themselves on their own time. This almost always meant that the educational programming was placed during the Saturday morning cartoon block. NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
abandoned its Saturday morning cartoon lineup in 1992, replacing it with a Saturday morning edition of The Today Show and adding an all live-action teen-oriented block, TNBC, which featured Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell is an American television sitcom that aired between 1989 and 1993. The series is a retooled version of the 1988 series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which was itself later folded into the history of Saved by the Bell...
, California Dreams
California Dreams
California Dreams is an American teen-oriented sitcom that aired from 1992 to 1996 on Saturday mornings during NBC's TNBC programming block. It was created by writers Brett Dewey and Ronald B. Solomon and executive produced by Peter Engel, all known for their work on Saved by the...
, and other teen comedies. Even though the educational content was minimal to nonexistent, NBC labeled all the live-action shows with an E/I rating.
CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
followed NBC's example by producing a Saturday edition of The Early Show
The Early Show
The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...
in the first two hours of its lineup and an all live-action block of children's programming. The experiment lasted a few months, and CBS brought back their animated CBS Storybreak
CBS Storybreak
CBS Storybreak is a Saturday morning anthology television series that originally aired on the CBS network during the 1985 season. Hosted by Captain Kangaroo's Bob Keeshan , the episodes are half-hour animated adaptations of some of the most beloved children's books published at the time of airing,...
series.
In 2004, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
was the last of the broadcast networks to add a Saturday morning edition of their morning news program, Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
, in the first hour of its lineup. Prior to that, especially through the early 1990s, it was not uncommon for ABC affiliates to preempt part or all of ABC's cartoon lineup with local news programming.
Fox carried little or no E/I programming, leaving the responsibility of scheduling the E/I shows to the affiliates themselves; as of 2010, Fox (which opposes the E/I regulations) carries no children's programming at all. The WB
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
was far more accommodating; for several years, they aired the history-themed Histeria!
Histeria!
Histeria! is a 1998 American animated series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Unlike other animated series produced by Warner Bros. in the 1990s, Histeria! stood out as the most explicit edutainment program in order to meet FCC requirements for...
five days per week, leaving only a half-hour of E/I programs up to the local producers to program.
Boomerang
Boomerang (TV channel)
Boomerang is a 24-hour American cable television channel owned by Turner Broadcasting System, a division of Time Warner. Boomerang specializes in reruns of animated programming from Time Warner's extensive archives, including pre-1986 MGM, Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises...
, a spin-off channel of Cartoon Network, currently specializes primarily in rerun
Rerun
A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. There are two types of reruns—those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Reruns can also be, as the...
s of Saturday morning cartoons from the 1960s and 1970s (the majority of which come from Hanna-Barbera, which, like Boomerang, is owned by Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
). It is not unusual to see the major networks rotate reruns of older series (usually less than ten years, because of E/I content) instead of airing a new production, since the children who watched them the first time are not the same children who are currently watching Saturday morning cartoons; Cookie Jar Group's programming blocks have made extensive use of this strategy, as do channels that are intended for digital subchannels (e.g. qubo
Qubo
Qubo is a multi-platform children's television specialty channel endeavor operated as a joint venture between ION Media Networks, NBCUniversal, Nelvana, Scholastic Corporation, and Classic Media...
).
Disney's One Saturday Morning/ABC Kids/Litton's Weekend Adventure
By the mid-1990s, broadcast networks were now becoming units of larger entertainment companies. ABC was bought by The Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
in 1996, which began airing all Disney-made programming by 1997 and canceled non-Disney made productions (with the notable exception of The Bugs and Tweety Show
The Bugs Bunny Show
The Bugs Bunny Show is a long-running American television anthology series hosted by Bugs Bunny, that was mainly composed of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons released by Warner Bros. between August 1, 1948 and the end of 1969. The show originally debuted as a primetime half-hour program on...
, which continued to air until Warner Bros. ended the show in 2000). After being purchased by Disney, ABC began airing their Saturday morning cartoons in a programming block titled Disney's One Saturday Morning before switching to a block of live-action and animated programs titled ABC Kids. Many of the block's shows were produced by Disney and also aired on Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
or Toon Disney
Toon Disney
Toon Disney was an American cable television channel owned by The Walt Disney Company. A spinoff of Disney Channel, it mostly aired children's animated series and some live action programming. Its format had similarities to those of Cartoon Network and Nicktoons...
. At one point, only two animated shows aired ABC Kids, while the rest were live-action entertainment shows. By late 2008, all shows featured on ABC Kids were in rerun
Rerun
A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. There are two types of reruns—those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Reruns can also be, as the...
status, and remained so for the next three years. On September 3, 2011, ABC outsourced its Saturday morning programming and E/I liabilities to Litton Entertainment
Litton Entertainment
Litton Entertainment is a media company based in Charleston, South Carolina, with offices in New York City; Burbank, California; Chicago, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia and Raleigh, North Carolina.The company was founded in 1987 by President and CEO Dave Morgan....
; Litton now provides ABC affiliates with Litton's Weekend Adventure, a live-action block aimed at teens, marking the end of children's programming (animated or otherwise) on the ABC network itself. In conjunction with the move, ABC sister network Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
launched a Saturday morning block of its popular animated programming, entitled Toonin' Saturdays
Toonin' Saturdays
Toonin' Saturdays is a program block on the Disney Channel in the United States, consisting of Saturday morning cartoons. The block, which debuted June 18, 2011, airs Fish Hooks, Phineas and Ferb and Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil...
, in June 2011.
Nick Jr. on CBS/Cookie Jar TV/Team Toon
CBS was purchased by Viacom in 2000 and thus aired Nickelodeon-made programming from 2000 until 2006, a year after Viacom was split in two with Nickelodeon going to ViacomViacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
and CBS becoming a part of CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
. The two parties ended the Nick Jr.-branded block, which was be replaced by the DIC Entertainment
DiC Entertainment
DIC Entertainment was an international film and television production company. In addition to animated television shows such as Ulysses 31 , Inspector Gadget , The Littles , The Real Ghostbusters , Captain Planet and the Planeteers , and the first two seasons of the English adaptation of...
(now Cookie Jar Entertainment) produced KOL's Saturday Morning Secret Slumber Party on CBS in fall 2006. A reimagining of the block, KEWLopolis, with a greater amount of animation, premiered in fall 2007. On September 19, 2009, KEWLopolis was re-branded as Cookie Jar TV. On September 17, 2011, Cookie Jar TV was rebranded as Team Toon.
Fox KidsFox KidsFox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
/4Kids TV4Kids TV4Kids TV was a Saturday morning television programming block on the Fox Broadcasting Company. The block was part of the Fox Network schedule...
From 1990 until 2008, smaller networks like FoxFox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
aired child-friendly programming, former ones are Fox Kids
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
and Fox Box (later 4Kids TV
4Kids TV
4Kids TV was a Saturday morning television programming block on the Fox Broadcasting Company. The block was part of the Fox Network schedule...
), both animated and live-action, on weekday afternoons in the hours after most American children were let out of school (outcompeting the syndicated afternoon children's programming on the remaining unaffiliated channels in the process). Several animated series of note, such as Taz-Mania
Taz-Mania
Taz-Mania is a American cartoon sitcom produced by Warner Bros. Animation from 1991–1993, broadcast in the United States on Fox from 1991-1995...
, Batman: The Animated Series
Batman: The Animated Series
Batman: The Animated Series is an American animated series based on the DC Comics character Batman. The series featured an ensemble cast of many voice-actors including Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Arleen Sorkin, and Loren Lester. The series won four Emmy Awards and was nominated...
, Eek! The Cat
Eek! The Cat
Eek! The Cat is an American and Canadian animated series, created by Savage Steve Holland and Bill Kopp and produced by Fox Kids and Savage Studios with animation by Nelvana, that ran from September 11, 1992, to August 1, 1997.-Premise:Eek! the Cat is about a purple cat named Eek whose motto is...
, Bobby's World
Bobby's World
Bobby's World is an American animated television series, which ran from 1990 to 1998, on FOX Kids. It was about the daily life of Bobby Generic and his very overactive imagination on how he sees the world. The show was created by Canadian actor-comedian Howie Mandel...
, and Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
, came out of these afternoon programming blocks, and some later appeared on their networks' Saturday morning programming blocks. Live action shows like Power Rangers
Power Rangers
Power Rangers is a long-running American entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live action children's television series featuring teams of costumed heroes...
, Goosebumps
Goosebumps (TV series)
Goosebumps is a Canadian children's horror anthology television series based on R. L. Stine's Goosebumps books.-Networks:...
and Big Bad Beetleborgs
Big Bad Beetleborgs
Big Bad Beetleborgs is an American television series produced by Saban Entertainment. It aired for two seasons on Fox Kids between September 7, 1996 and March 2, 1998. Reruns later aired on UPN Kids during 1998-1999...
also aired on the Fox Kids Network
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
. Fox sold its children's division to ABC in 2001, outsourcing its programming to 4Kids from 2001 to 2008.
On December 27, 2008, 4Kids TV ceased airing, and Fox no longer airs Saturday morning cartoons. Fox became the third broadcast network, following PAX and UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
, to completely abandon kids' programming, and has replaced the programming with a two-hour block of infomercial
Infomercial
Infomercials are direct response television commercials which generally include a phone number or website. There are long-form infomercials, which are typically between 15 and 30 minutes in length, and short-form infomercials, which are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds in length. Infomercials...
s called Weekend Marketplace
Weekend Marketplace
Weekend Marketplace is a two hour Saturday morning block of paid programming airing on Fox that began airing on January 3, 2009, replacing the 4Kids TV Saturday morning cartoon block that aired using time leased by 4Kids from Fox from 2002 until the last Saturday of 2008...
; several stations, like they did for 4KidsTV, have been allowed by the network to decline to carry it and allowed them to shop it to another station in the market, especially those stations which had never carried Fox Kids to begin with in the Fox affiliate switch of 1994. They plan to also fight the FCC mandated rule of showing E/I programming, in hopes of a repeal. All children's programming on Fox affiliates is currently arranged by local affiliates (usually through syndication) and not through the network.
Kids' WBKids' WBKids' WB! was Warner Bros. American childrens programing division brand for The WB Television Network. In September 2006, the block moved to The CW Television Network. The CW is the result of The WB's merger with UPN in 2006...
/The CW4KidsThe CW4KidsThe CW4Kids is a Saturday morning cartoon block on The CW Television Network that premiered on May 24, 2008 in the place of Kids' WB...
/Toonzai
Every weekday afternoon since 1995, and sometimes mornings, too, until 2001. During the era of weekday blocks, Histeria!Histeria!
Histeria! is a 1998 American animated series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Unlike other animated series produced by Warner Bros. in the 1990s, Histeria! stood out as the most explicit edutainment program in order to meet FCC requirements for...
was usually included to provide E/I content. Kids' WB
Kids' WB
Kids' WB! was Warner Bros. American childrens programing division brand for The WB Television Network. In September 2006, the block moved to The CW Television Network. The CW is the result of The WB's merger with UPN in 2006...
moved, name intact, to The CW
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
when The WB
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
merged with UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
. Kids' WB aired Saturday mornings on The CW, and it aired on Sunday mornings on WUPA
WUPA
WUPA, channel 69, is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia. An owned and operated station of the The CW Television Network, it identifies itself as "CW 69". It is owned by CBS Corporation, which is half-owner of The CW. Founded November 10, 1980, the station is broadcast locally in...
in Atlanta. The block ended its run on May 17, 2008, and on WUPA it ended on the next day. A block of programming from 4Kids Entertainment
4Kids Entertainment
4Kids Entertainment is an American film and television production company in bankruptcy since April 2011. It is known for English-dubbing Japanese anime and specializing in the acquisition, production and licensing of children's entertainment around the United States...
, separate from the Kids block on Fox called: The CW4Kids
The CW4Kids
The CW4Kids is a Saturday morning cartoon block on The CW Television Network that premiered on May 24, 2008 in the place of Kids' WB...
, replaced it one week later. Toonzai added on to The CW4Kids
The CW4Kids
The CW4Kids is a Saturday morning cartoon block on The CW Television Network that premiered on May 24, 2008 in the place of Kids' WB...
on August 14, 2010.
Discovery Kids on NBCDiscovery Kids on NBCDiscovery Kids on NBC was a six-hour block of Saturday morning television children's programming broadcast by NBC from September 14, 2002 to September 2, 2006. The block featured programming from the Discovery Kids cable network, and all of its programming met the FCC's "E/I" requirements...
/quboQuboQubo is a multi-platform children's television specialty channel endeavor operated as a joint venture between ION Media Networks, NBCUniversal, Nelvana, Scholastic Corporation, and Classic Media...
NBC, which had a partnership with the Discovery KidsDiscovery Kids
Discovery Kids is an American website owned by Discovery Communications, Inc. created for children. Until October 10, 2010, it was an American digital cable specialty channel, owned by Discovery Communications with television programming for education of children. It was launched in October 1996...
network to broadcast the channel's original programming, reentered the Saturday morning arena with new, original programming in September 2006 as part of the qubo
Qubo
Qubo is a multi-platform children's television specialty channel endeavor operated as a joint venture between ION Media Networks, NBCUniversal, Nelvana, Scholastic Corporation, and Classic Media...
"edutainment
Edutainment
Edutainment is a form of entertainment designed to educate as well as to amuse.-Overview:...
" partnership, which involves numerous parties, including parent company NBCUniversal, ION Media Networks
ION Media Networks
ION Media Networks is an American television broadcasting company that owns and operates over 60 television stations in most major American markets. It is now a privately owned company.-History:...
, Scholastic Press
Scholastic Press
Scholastic is a global book publishing company known for publishing educational materials for schools, teachers, and parents, and selling and distributing them by mail order and via book clubs and book fairs. It also has the exclusive United States' publishing rights to the Harry Potter book...
, Nelvana
Nelvana
Nelvana Limited is a Canadian entertainment company founded in 1971 known for its work in children's animation. It was named by founders Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith after a Canadian comic book superheroine created by Adrian Dingle in the 1940s...
, and Classic Media
Classic Media
Classic Media, LLC, is an American production company and distributor of family programming. It was founded in 2000 by former Marvel Entertainment CEO Eric Ellenbogen and former Broadway Video executive John Engelman in hopes of acquiring mismanaged classic properties and giving exposure to...
, all of whom providing the programs for the Saturday morning block. qubo also airs on Ion Television. A Spanish-language version airs on NBC-owned Telemundo
Telemundo
Telemundo is an American television network that broadcasts in Spanish. The network is the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world, and the second-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, behind Univision....
on weekends.
Cookie Jar ToonsCookie Jar ToonsCookie Jar Toons is a daily children's programming block on the This TV digital broadcast network. The block is programmed by Toronto based Cookie Jar Entertainment...
/This is for Kids
On November 1, 2008, This TVThis TV
This TV is a United States general entertainment television network, with a large emphasis in its programming on movies....
launched airing a daily children's programming block called Cookie Jar Toons
Cookie Jar Toons
Cookie Jar Toons is a daily children's programming block on the This TV digital broadcast network. The block is programmed by Toronto based Cookie Jar Entertainment...
. Cookie Jar Toons is programmed by Cookie Jar Entertainment. In addition, non-E/I programming is aired on This TV
This TV
This TV is a United States general entertainment television network, with a large emphasis in its programming on movies....
called This is for Kids.
Cookie Jar Kids Network
The Cookie Jar Kids Network (formerly DiC Kids Network) is a syndicated children's programming block that airs selected Cookie Jar Entertainment programs on various local FoxFox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
, and Independent station
Independent station
An independent station is in the category of television terminology used to describe a television station broadcasting in the United States or Canada that is not affiliated with any television network....
s to provide them with a source of Educational/Informational (E/I)
E/I
E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...
programming required by federal law.
See also
- United States network television schedules (Saturday morning)
- Saturday morning preview specialsSaturday Morning Preview SpecialsSaturday morning preview specials were aired on television annually to present previews of each network's fall lineup of Saturday morning children's programming....
- AnimationAnimationAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
External links
- The Disappearance of Saturday Morning
- Saturday morning grid of 1967, year of debut of Fantastic Four and Spider-Man
- TVparty presents the schedules and program profiles for every series the networks broadcast on Saturday Mornings from the mid-Sixties all through the Seventies.
- St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture: Saturday Morning Cartoons