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Children's programming on NBC

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

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 afternoonsband Meet The Press airing Little League World Series in 1949.

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, Lalabel, The Magical Girl, Machine Robo: Battle Hackers Skyers 5 Hello Sandybell, Adventures of Pepero the Andes Boy, Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos, Nobody's Boy Remi, Doraemon, Gatchaman, Fairy Princess Minky Momo, Heidi, Girl of the Alps, Ogon Bat, Mazinger Z, (later on FOX) Dragon Ball, The Bugaloos, and H.R. Pufnstuf.

See also

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, Rene Enriquez 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

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

List of notable programs

See also: List of programs previously broadcast by NBC

Saturday morning preview specials

Main article: Saturday morning preview specials

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, Samurai Pizza Cats, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT Hang Time, California Dreams, Doraemon, Ghost Sweeper Mikami, 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.

TNBC lineup history

Season 10:00 AM 10:30 AM 11:00 AM 11:30 AM 12:00 PM
One (1993-1994) Name Your Adventure Running the Halls California Dreams NBA Inside Stuff none
Two (1994-1995) Name Your Adventure Saved by the Bell: The New Class Saved by the Bell: The New Class California Dreams NBA Inside Stuff
Three (1995-1996) Saved by the Bell: The New Class Hang Time Saved by the Bell: The New Class California Dreams NBA Inside Stuff
Four (1996-1997) Saved by the Bell: The New Class Hang Time Saved by the Bell: The New Class California Dreams NBA Inside Stuff
Five (1997-1998) Saved by the Bell: The New Class City Guys Saved by the Bell: The New Class Hang Time Hang Time
Six (1998-1999) Saved by the Bell: The New Class Hang Time One World City Guys Hang Time
Seven (1999-2000) Saved by the Bell: The New Class Hang Time City Guys One World City Guys
Eight (2000-2001) City Guys Hang Time Just Deal One World City Guys
Nine (2001-2002) City Guys All About Us Just Deal City Guys Sk8

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, Machine Robo Rescue 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, Dragon Ball GT, VeggieTales Presents: 3-2-1 Penguins!, Babar, Jane and the Dragon, and Jacob Two-Two, Magical Doremi, Magical Doremi#, More Magical Doremi, Magical Doremi Do the Six, Little League World series, Machine Robo Rescue, Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure 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 Little League Baseball World Series. 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. 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. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
  3. ^ Associated Press (22 September 2006). "God references quashed; 'VeggieTales creator steamed". CNN.com. Entertainment News. Los Angeles, California, United States: CNN. Archived from the original on 4 October 2006. Retrieved 22 June 2009.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  4. ^ "Qubo's Rodriguez: Offering a 'Building Block' to Kids". Retrieved 2008-02-16.
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