Claster Television

Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = Claster Television Incorporated
company_
fate = Merged
foundation = 1953 in Baltimore, Maryland as Romper Room Inc.
defunct =
location =
subsid = Hasbro Inc.

Claster Television was a Baltimore, Maryland–based television distributor founded in 1953 by Bert and Nancy Claster as Romper Room Inc. It was originally a producer of the children's show "Romper Room". "Romper Room" was one of the first children's programs, predating "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood", "Sesame Street", and "Barney & Friends".

"Romper Room" was fairly successful in its early years. CBS offered to pick up the show, but the Clasters instead decided to syndicate it, by taping episodes and selling the tapes to local stations.

In 1969, Hasbro bought Romper Room Inc. and renamed it Claster Television Productions. Throughout the 1970s, Claster continued to make "Romper Room" and did not distribute anything else until 1978 when it brought the anime program "Star Blazers" into the United States. It also developed the television series "Bowling for Dollars".

In the 1980s, Hasbro formed contracts with animation studios to make cartoons that would promote the sale of Hasbro's toys. In 1983, Claster distributed the animated series "G.I. Joe", which was fairly successful. A year later, Claster distributed "Transformers", which was a major success for Hasbro and Claster.

Both "Transformers" and "G.I. Joe" ended in 1987. In 1989, Claster distributed another "G.I. Joe" cartoon that was made by DiC Entertainment. This ended in 1991. "Romper Room" finally was ended in 1994 due to loss of interest and popularity, giving the program a run of 41 years. "Romper Room" has been the longest-running children's show in history to date.

In 1996, Claster syndicated "ReBoot", the first all-CGI television show, for a short time after it was cancelled by ABC. At the same time, they distributed a CGI version of "Transformers" known as "Beast Wars" until 1999, and its derivative "Beast Machines" from 1999 to 2000. Claster released "The Mr. Potato Head Show" in 1998, which was another attempt to sell Hasbro toys.

All of Claster's shows ended in 2000, when Hasbro formed a central media division which merged Claster with other Hasbro media in that year.

Claster Television was also remembered for having a very distinctive logo.

List of shows

*""
*"Beast Wars"
*"Bowling for Dollars"
*"Bucky O' Hare"
*"Conan The Adventurer"
*"Catwalk (TV series)"
*"The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show"
*"Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos"
*"C.O.P.S."
*"Fred Flintstone and Friends"
*"G.I. Joe"
*"Grimmy"
*"James Bond Jr"
*"Jem"
*"Maxie's World"
*"Maya the Bee"
*"Mummies Alive!"
*"Muppet Babies" (syndicated re-runs only)
*"Mutant League"
*"My Little Pony and Friends"
*"The Great Space Coaster"
*"The Lionhearts"
*"The New Archies"
*"The Pink Panther (1993 TV series)"
*"ReBoot"
*"Richie Rich (1996 TV series)"
*"Romper Room"
*""
*"Star Blazers"
*"Sylvanian Families"

External links

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