Children's programming on the American Broadcasting Company
ABC's children's programming history from 1950 to present.
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) has primarily relied on outside producers such as Walt Disney Television, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Nelvana, and DIC Entertainment for its children's programming. This entry covers the history of ABC's children's television offerings, including its programming blocks and notable series.
Quick Facts
- Schoolhouse rock! run
- 1973 to 1985
- returned 1992
- fifth season 1994 to 1996
- America's funniest kids segments
- 1992 to 1995
- Abc saturday superstar movie
- 1972–1974
- Abc weekend specials
- 1977–1997
Facts from the source article.
History
ABC produced and aired its first Saturday morning children's shows, Acrobat Ranch and Animal Clinic, in August 1950. From 1973 to 1985, the network aired the award-winning Schoolhouse Rock! series of educational shorts as interstitials, which mixed original songs and animation with lessons on mathematics, science, and history; it returned to Saturday mornings in 1992, and a fifth season aired from 1994 to 1996. Other animated interstitials included Time for Timer and The Bod Squad, both discontinued in the 1980s.
In 1986, ABC shifted its block toward younger audiences with shows like Little Clowns of Happytown and The Care Bears Family, heavily influenced by the consulting firm Q5, which sanitized scripts. By 1988, the network had fallen to third in ratings, a decline ABC executives blamed on the people meter, which they believed young children could not operate. ABC responded by eliminating most preschool programming and replacing it with family-oriented shows such as The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.
At the start of the 1991–92 season, executive producer Jim Janicek brought the hosted programming block concept, previously used for TGIF on Friday nights, to Saturday mornings under the brand More Cool TV, with stars from live-action series hosting interstitials. From 1992 to 1995, short segments from America's Funniest People, branded as America's Funniest Kids, ran within commercial breaks during the Saturday morning lineup.
Programming
Programs on the current Litton's Weekend Adventure lineup are designed to meet federally mandated educational programming guidelines. As with earlier network-programmed blocks, programs may be deferred to Sunday daytime slots or, for affiliates in the Western United States, Saturday afternoons due to breaking news, severe weather, or regional sports telecasts, especially college football games, as makegoods to comply with E/I regulations. Some stations air the entire Weekend Adventure block on tape delay to accommodate local news or other local-interest programs.
Honolulu affiliate KITV aired programs from the former ABC Kids and current Weekend Adventure lineups over three weekdays (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday), with two programs each day from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., preceding the ABC Daytime lineup. This scheduling is used only when Saturday afternoon sports telecasts—due to the time difference between Hawaii–Aleutian Time and the mainland—may air live as early as five hours behind the Eastern Time airtime, or six hours during Daylight Saving Time, effectively pre-empting ABC Kids programs and forcing them to air elsewhere on the station's schedule, particularly for late morning and primetime college football games in the fall.
During the college football season, ABC affiliates in the Western U.S. often realign programming for 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time starts; some affiliates moved ABC Kids programming to Sunday mornings, which until 2010 usually pre-empted the pre-race show ESPN NASCAR Countdown. Notable programs include 101 Dalmatians: The Series (1997–1999), The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie (1972–1974), ABC Weekend Specials (1977–1997), Acrobat Ranch (1950–1951), The Addams Family (1992–1995), and The Adventures of Gulliver (1968–1970).
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