Children's programming on NBC

Children's programming has played a part in NBC's programming since its initial roots in television.

History

1947–1956

In 1947, NBC's first major children's series was Howdy Doody, one of the era's first breakthrough television shows. The series, which ran for 13 years, featured a frecklefaced marionette and a myriad of other characters and hosted by "Buffalo" Bob Smith. Howdy Doody spent most of its run on weekday afternoons.

1956–1992

In 1956, NBC abandoned the children's programming lineup on weekday afternoons, relegating the lineup to Saturdays only with Howdy Doody as their marquee franchise for the series' remaining four years. From the mid-1960s until 1992, the bulk of NBC's children's programming were derived from theatrical shorts like The Pink Panther Show and Looney Tunes, reruns of popular television series like The Flintstones and The Jetsons, foreign acquisitions like Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, original animated series (most notably The Smurfs and Alvin and the Chipmunks in the 1980s), cartoon adaptations of Gary Coleman, Mr. T, Punky Brewster, ALF and Star Trek, and original live-action series including The Banana Splits, The Bugaloos, and H.R. Pufnstuf.

See also

• 1960–1961 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1961–1962 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1962–1963 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1963–1964 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1964–1965 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1965–1966 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1966–1967 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1967–1968 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1968–1969 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1969–1970 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1970–1971 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1971–1972 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1972–1973 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1973–1974 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1974–1975 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1975–1976 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1976–1977 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1977–1978 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1978–1979 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1979–1980 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1980–1981 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1981–1982 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1982–1983 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)

1983–1989: The "One to Grow On" era

From 1983 to 1989, One to Grow On PSAs were shown after the end credits of every show or every other children's show. One to Grow On focuses on ethical and personal safety dilemmas and attempts to teach viewers how to solve them. The segments are hosted by the stars of NBC primetime series, including Michael J. Fox and Justine Bateman from Family Ties, Mr. T and Dwight Schultz from The A-Team, Soleil Moon Frye from Punky Brewster, David Hasselhoff from Knight Rider, Kim Fields, Nancy McKeon, Lisa Whelchel, and Charlotte Rae from The Facts of Life, Richard Moll from Night Court, Malcolm Jamal-Warner and Tempestt Bledsoe from The Cosby Show, Perry King from Riptide, Joel Higgins and Rick Schroder from Silver Spoons, Kadeem Hardison from A Different World, and Betty White from The Golden Girls. In an unusual move, René Enríquez from the adult oriented prime time show Hill Street Blues also hosted a segment.

The PSAs begin with an animated sequence that leads into an animated TV on which an actor appears. After the actor introduces himself or herself, a live-action sequence appears, in which a child faces an ethical dilemma. One to Grow On cuts back to the actor, who explains to the viewer how to solve the problem. The child then rectifies the situation. The actor ends the segment by saying, "And that's One to Grow On."

One to Grow On was replaced by The More You Know in September 1989.

See also

• 1983–1984 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1984–1985 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1985–1986 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1986–1987 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1987–1988 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1988–1989 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)

Final years with animated programming (1989–1992)

In 1989, NBC premiered Saved by the Bell, which originated at the Disney Channel as Good Morning, Miss Bliss. Saved by the Bell, despite bad reviews from TV critics, would become one of the most popular teen series in television history as well as the number one series on Saturday mornings, dethroning The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show in its first season.

See also

• 1989–1990 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1990–1991 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
• 1991–1992 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)

List of notable programs

See also: List of programs previously broadcast by NBC

• The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990–1991)
• ALF: The Animated Series (1987–1989)
• Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983–1991)
• Astro Boy (1966–1978)
• Beany and Cecil (1971–1976; 1979–1983; 1988–1992)
• Big John, Little John (1976–1977)
• The Bugaloos (1970-1972)
• Camp Candy (1989–1990)
• Captain N: The Game Master (1989–1992)
• Chip and Pepper's Cartoon Madness (1991–1992)
• Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series (1987–1988)
• The Gary Coleman Show (1982–1983)
• The Gummi Bears (1985–1989)
• I'm Telling! (1987–1988)
• It's Punky Brewster (1985–1987)
• The Karate Kid (1989–1990)
• Kid 'n Play (1990–1991)
• Kidd Video (1984–1987)
• Kissyfur (1986–1987)
• Land of the Lost (1974–1977)
• The New Adventures of Flash Gordon (1979–1980)
• The New Archie and Sabrina Hour (1977)
• The Pink Panther Show (1969–1978)
• Return to the Planet of the Apes (1975–1976)
• The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (1961–1964; 1981–1982)
• The Roman Holidays (1972)
• The Ruff and Reddy Show (1957–1958)
• Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (1973-1975)
• The Smurfs (1981–1990)
• Snorks (1984–1989)
• Space Kidettes (1966–1967)
• Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981–1986)
• Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975)
• Super Mario World (1991–1992)
• Yo Yogi! (1991–1992)

Saturday morning preview specials

Main article: Saturday morning preview specials

• 1973 – Starship Rescue (hosted by Kevin Tighe and Randolph Mantooth from Emergency!)
• 1974 – Preview Revue (hosted by Jimmy Osmond; featuring Johnny Whitaker)
• 1975 – Preview Revue (hosted by The Lockers; featuring Michael Landon, and Billy Barty and Johnny Whitaker from Sigmund and the Sea Monsters)
• 1976 – Smilin' Saturday Morning Parade (hosted by Freddie Prinze)
• 1977 – C'Mon Saturday (hosted by Andrea McArdle from Annie; featuring Arte Johnson, Leonard Nimoy, Muhammad Ali and Ruth Buzzi)
• 1978 – Saturday Superstars (hosted by Bay City Rollers; featuring Erik Estrada, Joe Namath and Scott Baio)
• 1983 – Yummy Awards (hosted by Ricky Schroder; special appearance by a live-action Spider-Man to promote his animated show)
• 1984 – Laugh Busters (featuring Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Kidd Video, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Snorks, Pink Panther and Sons, Mr. T and The Smurfs)
• 1985 – Back to Next Saturday (hosted by Keshia Knight Pulliam and Lisa Whelchel)
• 1986 – Alvin Goes Back to School
• 1987 – ALF Loves a Mystery (hosted by Benji Gregory from ALF)
• 1989 – Who Shrunk Saturday Morning? (hosted by cast of Saved by the Bell; featuring ALF, John Candy and Marsha Warfield)

TNBC (1992–2002)

NBC abandoned the animated series in August 1992 in favor of a Saturday edition of Today and more live-action series under the name TNBC (Teen NBC). Most of the series on the TNBC lineup were series produced by Peter Engel such as City Guys, Hang Time, California Dreams, One World and the Saved by the Bell spinoff, Saved by the Bell: The New Class.^[1] NBA Inside Stuff was also a part of the TNBC lineup during the duration of the NBA season. Even though the educational content was minimal to nonexistent, even detrimental, NBC labeled all the live-action shows with an E/I rating.

Discovery Kids on NBC (2002–2006)

On January 6, 2002, NBC began a deal with Discovery Communications' Discovery Kids channel to air their original FCC-mandated educational programming under the banner Discovery Kids on NBC.^[1] The schedule originally consisted of only live-action series, including a kid-themed version of Trading Spaces and J. D. Roth's Emmy-nominated reality game show Endurace, but later expanded to include some animated series such as Kenny the Shark, Tutenstein, and Time Warp Trio. This was a time-lease agreement for NBC to provide E/I-compliant programming to their affiliates rather than having any network input or production.

qubo (2006–present)

In May 2006, in order to replace the Discovery Kids Saturday morning block, NBC announced plans to launch a new children's block on Saturday mornings starting in September 2006 as part of the qubo endeavor teaming parent company NBC Universal with Ion Media Networks, Scholastic Press, Classic Media and Corus Entertainment's Nelvana.^[2] Qubo will include blocks to air on NBC, Telemundo (the Spanish-language network owned by NBC Universal), and Ion Media Networks's Ion Television, as well as a 24/7 digital broadcast kids channel, video on demand services and a branded website.

The "Discovery Kids on NBC" block aired for the final time on September 2, 2006.

Notable programming

On Saturday, September 9, 2006, NBC started airing the following qubo programs: VeggieTales, Dragon, VeggieTales Presents: 3-2-1 Penguins!, Babar, Jane and the Dragon, and Jacob Two-Two, and Postman Pat. Initially, the VeggieTales broadcasts did not feature the religious content that appears on the videos before and after the main feature, since the block is designed to educate all viewers. This has drawn criticism for the block and NBC in particular from the conservative watchdog group Parents Television Council, as well as VeggieTales co-creator Phil Vischer, who claims that he was unaware of the intent to edit out religious content when the program was acquired for qubo.^[3]

E/I requirements

All programming on qubo meets the FCC's "E/I" requirements using the same E/I bug used for PBS's programming (although they are not affiliated with PBS in any way). None of the partners has publicly explained why the name "qubo" was chosen, or why its logo is a cube, although in an interview with general manager Rick Rodriguez, he stated that the name was supposed to be something which sounded fun, and could easily be used in both English and Spanish.^[4]

Scheduling issues

Not all shows are seen on all stations. During the NBC block, the programming might be delayed or pre-empted because of local affiliates schedules, or delayed by the network to show sporting events such as Wimbledon, The French Open, and the USGA's U.S. Open. As with all Saturday morning programming it is advisable to check local listings for showtimes. Usually when there's a delay, a special notice is shown during commercial breaks to note the delays, as part of E/I compliance.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Bernstein, Paula (December 4, 2001). "Discovery set to kid around with Peacock". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117856766.html?categoryid=1201&cs=1&query=. Retrieved 2009-08-13. 
2. ^ Crupi, Anthony (2006-03-16). "Discovery, NBC to End Sat. Kids Block". Mediaweek. Archived from the original on 2008-02-07. http://web.archive.org/web/20080207021249/http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002198189. Retrieved 2008-03-25. 
3. ^ Associated Press (22 September 2006). "God references quashed; 'VeggieTales creator steamed". CNN.com (Los Angeles, California, United States: CNN). Archived from the original on 4 October 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061004173931/http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/22/veggietales.controversy.ap/index.html. Retrieved 22 June 2009. 
4. ^ "Qubo's Rodriguez: Offering a 'Building Block’ to Kids". http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6388422.html. Retrieved 2008-02-16. 

External links

• Saturday Morning Cartoons on NBC - Google Image Search
  • Google Video Search