The 90s was
a decade of new beginnings—and some endings.
The syndication
market had become oversaturated and not as viable as it once was. However,
studios still found it preferable to networks as they were able to sidestep
many of the regulations networks had to adhere to. Especially since Congress
had passed the Children’s
Television Act in 1990. The act declared that networks had to air and keep
a record of educational content they broadcast for children, restrict the
amount of advertising in programs for children—especially if it was a product
related to the show—and ensure kids could tell the difference between the show
and the commercial. Cable channels were exempt from these rules, so stations
like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network could continue to
produce and show whatever kind of programming they wanted.
When Disney pulled DuckTales from a FOX-affiliated local station in favor of airing
it on an independent station it owned, FOX head Barry Diller removed the
show from the rest of their stations and began working on programming to
counter Disney’s upcoming The
Disney Afternoon. That was the Fox Children’s Network, a
joint venture between the Fox Broadcasting Company and its affiliates. Headed
up by animation veteran Margaret
Loesch, the block originally ran for half an hour on weekdays and 3 hours
on Saturday mornings. In 1991, it was renamed Fox Kids Network (or simply Fox
Kids) and expanded to 90 minutes on weekdays (3 hours in 1992) and 4 hours on
Saturdays. With Fox Kids came the first offerings of the all-new Warner Bros.
Television Animation: Taz-Mania,
Tiny
Toon Adventures, Animaniacs
and Batman:
The Animated Series. Loesch was even able to take care of some
unfinished business from her Marvel Productions
days and bring X-Men
to the air, followed shortly after by Spider-Man.
The biggest get, however, was the acquisition of Saban’s Mighty
Morphin Power Rangers that propelled FOX to become the #1 network.
In 1989, CBS began labeling their Saturday morning
programming as CBS Kid
TV, which introduced Fido Dido as its mascot in commercial bumpers. As
they entered the 90s, their schedule was still largely comprised of Muppet
Babies, Garfield
and Friends, Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles and Pee-wee’s
Playhouse. CBS would enter into a deal with Disney to air programming
provided by the studio, resulting in The
Little Mermaid: The Series, Timon
& Pumbaa and Aladdin: The
Series calling the network home while they also aired in syndication on
The Disney Afternoon. Between 1993-96, CBS rebranded their Saturday
mornings several times: CBS Saturday, CBS Toontastic TV, CBS
Saturday Morning and CBS Kidz. 1994 also saw the addition of the
sub-block, Action Zone,
which was designed to compete with other action-heavy programming. Ninja
Turtles was revamped to be less comical and was aired as part of it along
with WildC.A.T.s
and Skeleton
Warriors. Ninja Turtles was the only show to survive and the sub-block
was cancelled, although it retained the branding for the duration of its run.
ABC attempted to play off of the popularity of
its’ Friday night TGIF
block by introducing the similarly-structured MCTV
(More Cool TV). Live-action stars from the network’s Saturday
offerings would appear every half hour or so to host the day’s programming,
such as the cast from Land of the Lost or MC Hammer, who was starring
in Hammerman. The branding was abandoned in 1993. In 1996, Disney acquired
ABC and jettisoned all of the shows not made by the studio, with the exception
of The
Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show from rival Warner Bros., as it was under contract to
run, and Science Court, produced by Burns & Burns.
They began their own programming block, Disney’s
One Saturday Morning, and populated it with shows produced by them and
originally featured on The Disney
Channel or Toon Disney.
It beat out Fox Kids in the ratings for everything except Power Rangers.
Just before
Disney’s takeover of ABC, Warner Bros. entered into a partnership with the Tribune Company to form
their own network: The WB.
With it came the children’s programming block, Kids’ WB. They reclaimed
their shows from FOX (whose success, ironically, actually partially inspired
the creation of the network), airing Animaniacs and its spin-off, Pinky
and the Brain, along with the debut of Superman
and the revival of Batman: The Animated Series. The biggest break
for the block, however, was when they began airing the English dub of the
anime, Pokémon. It led the network to surpass FOX in the ratings and inspired
other networks to look into anime they could import not only to compete, but
because it was cheaper to do so than produce an entirely new show from scratch.
NBC had been struggling through a good portion
of the 80s with only a few real hits to its credit. One of those hits came in
1989: Saved
by the Bell, a sitcom that was a reworking of The Disney Channel’s Good Morning, Miss Bliss.
Despite harsh reviews, the series ended up becoming the highest-rated
series on Saturday mornings and the most popular teen-oriented series in
history. NBC made the decision to abandon cartoons in 1992 and focus entirely
on trying to duplicate Bell’s success with similar programming. They
renamed their programming block Teen
NBC (or TNBC) and debuted shows such as City Guys, Hang Time,
California
Dreams and Bell spin-off, The
New Class.
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| This blog is educational and informative (and hopefully entertaining). |
By
1996, events were set in motion that would further change network Saturday
mornings. The FCC strengthened the Children’s
Television Act, mandating that every network had to air at least a minimum of
three hours of educational and informational content per week. To alleviate the
burden on affiliates, most of the networks chose to schedule these programs
during the Saturday morning blocks and began heavily revamping them around
these new guidelines. CBS would launch Think CBS Kids in
1997, airing an entirely live-action line-up including Wheel
2000, Sports Illustrated for Kids, and The
Weird Al Show, along with older shows Beakman’s
World and Fudge. Like NBC, they would fill up the remaining time
with a news program. The move was met with low ratings, and in 1998 CBS
contracted Nelvana to provide their
programming in the block CBS Kidshow. Saban Entertainment merged with
Fox Children’s Network to become Fox Kids Networks Worldwide, later Fox Family
Worldwide after acquiring The
Family Channel. FOX would buy out affiliate interest in Fox Kids to finance
the network’s NFL package, and the block saw
its time reduced while Saban handled its programming. They largely left fulfillment
of the E/I requirements up to their individual affiliates, although would
eventually incorporate reruns of The Magic School Bus. The WB used Histeria!
to help meet the requirements, scheduling it on weekdays during the block. NBC’s
line-up was already designed to meet the requirements set forward by the FCC,
as their shows often dealt with social issues.
This would
mark the beginning of the end of network Saturday mornings going into the 21st
Century…
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