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Children's programming on the American Broadcasting Company

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For most of the network's existence, in regards to children's programming, ABC has aired mostly programming from Walt Disney Television or other producers (most notably, Hanna-Barbera Productions and DIC Entertainment).

1973-1997 (the Schoolhouse Rock! era)

The crown jewel of its children's programming lineup was the award-winning Schoolhouse Rock! which aired beginning in 1973 and was finally retired in 1999.

List of notable programs

Main article: List of shows previously aired by American Broadcasting Company

Disney's One Saturday Morning (1997-2002)

Following ABC's sale to Disney, the network's content produced by its new owners would increase; this also included the animated and/or live-action children's programming.

On September 13, 1997, Disney's One Saturday Morning was created as a two hour block on the ABC Saturday Morning lineup, and originally featured some of the shows that had aired on it.[1] It was originally scheduled for September 6, 1997, but due to ABC and all the other networks airing Princess Diana's funeral that day, It was pushed back a week later. In 1999 it was extended to 5 hours. On September 6, 1999 a spin-off, Disney's One Too, aired on UPN and in syndication every weekday in the morning or afternoon and Sunday morning.[2] One Saturday Morning' was last aired on September 7, 2002 (by this time it had simply become bumpers and promos, they had dropped the segments and hosting in 2000). Since Fox Kids was bought by Disney, 4Kids Entertainment took over the block as: "Fox Box" and Disney changed the block from: Disney's One Saturday Morning, to ABC Kids, at the exact same day when Fox Kids was taken over.[3]

During the introduction to One Saturday Morning as well as other introductions on the block, a tiny lightbulb icon would appear in a bottom corner of the screen and an announcer would say, "Illuminating Television," stating the programming block's educational programming. The lightbulb's chain would be pulled by a hand and the lightbulb would have an animation (turning into a rocket, falling into a garbage can, jumping in a pool) etc.

List of programs

ABC Kids (2002-present)

In 2001, ABC began a deal with sister network Disney Channel to air its original programming. On September 14, 2002, One Saturday Morning was rebranded as ABC Kids. The block formally contained new programs, but in the present, most ABC Kids programming are reruns of Disney Channel originals (excluding Power Rangers).[3], such as Lizzie McGuire and Even Stevens but has since grown to take up the entire lineup. None of Disney Channel's current first-run offerings (other than Hannah Montana, though episodes of that show are only reruns from its first season) air on the ABC Kids block.

Power Rangers

Power Rangers was previously aired on Fox Kids until midway through Wild Force. Starting with the Power Rangers Wild Force episode "Unfinished Business", Power Rangers moved to ABC Kids for the 2002 Fall season following of the Fox Family Channel/Saban Entertainment purchase by Disney, and Power Rangers has since aired on ABC. The remainder of the Wild Force season and all of the following Ninja Storm season were premiered on ABC Kids and then re-run later on Jetix. The Dino Thunder, S.P.D., Mystic Force, Operation Overdrive and Jungle Fury seasons all were premiered on Jetix and then re-run later on ABC Kids. The final Disney season, RPM, aired exclusively on ABC Kids. Currently broadcasts of the first season of Mighty Morphin, newly re-versioned, airs exclusively on ABC Kids. With the rise of federally-mandated E/I programming guidelines, some of the network's affiliate groups, mainly Hearst Television and Allbritton Communications, refuse to carry the Power Rangers series in order to instead free up time to air locally slotted programming. However, some stations air Power Rangers episodes time shifted either to very early in the morning Saturday, before that week's "live" block begins, or to Sunday, often before local news or Good Morning America. Power Rangers will end airing on ABC Kids in 2010 after it was announced that Saban bought back the rights to the franchise from Disney and has plans to premiere a new season (not yet named) on Nickelodeon with encores of that new season and the older seasons airing on Nicktoons.[4]

Aside from counting the yearly changes to Power Rangers, the block has not refreshed its lineup for three seasons, making it the only block to not order a new package of shows for its fall Saturday morning season.

Other scheduling issues

  • KITV (Channel 4), the ABC affiliate in Honolulu, and in turn the entirety of the state of Hawaii, airs the first six shows of the ABC Kids lineup over three weekdays (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday). Two shows are aired each day from 11 a.m.-12 Noon, preceding ABC's soap opera lineup. This is because of ABC's Saturday afternoon sports coverage, which due to Hawaii-Aleutian Time, airs live five hours behind Eastern Time (six hours during Daylight Savings Time; Hawaii is on Standard Time year-round) in the late morning (for instance, a 3:30 p.m. EDT college football game kicking off at 9:30 a.m. HAST) and early afternoons for the primetime game, thus pre-empting ABC Kids and forcing the shows to air elsewhere on the schedule.
  • During the college football season, ABC affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone will often realign programming if there is an ESPN College Football game that starts at 9 AM PT, as a noon ET game is often scheduled. Some affiliates will move the ABC Kids programming to Sunday mornings, but ESPN NASCAR Countdown is usually pre-empted; starting in 2010, ABC's schedule on Sunday mornings will have ESPN NASCAR Countdown at 9 AM PT (except for the Fontana (PT), Phoenix (MT), and Charlotte (Saturday) races) as all non-MT/PT races will start at 10 AM PT; the Fontana and Phoenix broadcasts start at 11 AM PT.

References

  1. ^ "Webs roll out season geared to kids". Variety. August 29, 1997. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
  2. ^ "Mouse brands UPN kidvid". Variety. July 19, 1999. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
  3. ^ a b "Kid skeds tread on joint strategy". Variety. September 29, 2002. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
  4. ^ "Saban re-acquires rights to 'Rangers' - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety". 2010-05-12. Retrieved 2010-05-12.

[[Category:History of children's television programming|

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