JIM SHOOTER DEAD AT 73

 

You can read the full story here.

He began his career at DC Comics at just 14-years-old and went on to revitalize rival Marvel Comics as editor-in-chief. His adherence to absolute editorial control made him a polarizing figure to other creatives and he was eventually fired. He then found Valiant Comics and later Defiant Comics. Characters and concepts he created went on to be featured in various media, including Secret Wars and the Beyonder in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, with the latter also a central character in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur; Esper Lass, Ferro Lad, Karate Kid, Nemesis Kid, Controller, Grimbor the Chainsman, Mordru, Chemical King, The Dark Circle, The Fatal Five, and The Dominion alien race in Legion of Super Heroes; Parasite (Raymond Jensen) in Young Justice; Tabitha Smith in X-Men: The Animated Series, X-Men: Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men; and Henry Peter Gyrich in X-Men: The Animated Series.

75TH ANNIVERSARIES

 Finally, the granddaddy of them all--the O.G. national line-up. These are the shows turning a whopping 75!

65TH & 70TH ANNIVERSARIES

 It's the Golden Age of television, and these shows are turning 65 and 70 this year!

55TH & 60TH ANNIVERSARIES

 Believe it or not, these shows are turning 55 and 60 this year!

45TH & 50TH ANNIVERSARIES

 Along with our anniversary, these shows are turning 45 & 50 this year!

35TH & 40TH ANNIVERSARIES

 The anniversaries continue with the shows turning 35 & 40!

25TH & 30TH ANNIVERSARIES

 

Our anniversary celebration continues with the shows turning 25 & 30 this year!

15TH & 20TH ANNIVERSARIES

 Continuing our anniversary celebration by celebrating the shows turning 15 and 20 this year!

SATURDAY DISNEY

 

SATURDAY DISNEY
(Seven Network, 7TWO, 7flix, January 27, 1990-September 24, 2016)
 
Buena Vista International, Seven Network Australia

 

MAIN CAST:
Sofie Formica – Host (1990-92)
Jeniene Mapp – Host (1990-96)
James Sherry – Host (1990-94)
Lisa Barry – Host (1992-97)
Shelley Craft – Host (1996-2002)
Marc Buhaj – Host (1994-99)
Melanie Symons – Host (1997-2002)
Tim McDonald – Host (1999-2000)
Daniel Widdowson – Host (2000-07)
Shae Brewster – Host (2002-13)
Sara Groen – Host (2002-06)
Sally Stanton – Host (2006-11)
Jack Yabsley – Host (2007-11)
Nathan Morgan – Host (2011-16)
Candice Dixon – Host (2011-16)
Teigan Nash – Host (2013-16)

  

Before launching their international counterparts of The Disney Channel, Disney had an initiative to expand its programming to other countries under the unified name The Disney Club through their international production arm, Buena Vista International. Starting in 1989, these programming blocks aired on major free-to-air networks and mostly consisted of reruns of Disney shows supplemented by original content produced within those countries. As part of Australia’s Seven Network’s output deal and long-running relationship with Disney, they were to produce their own version of The Disney Club. However, the producers convinced Disney to allow them to rename it to Saturday Disney in order to avoid confusion with The Mickey Mouse Club—a title they felt was dated—due to the similar names and logo branding.

While the name may have been different, the format of Saturday Disney largely followed the ones employed by The Disney Club. Over the course of two hours, Saturday Disney aired three Disney programs on a rotating basis between original segments starring three hosts; always two girls and a boy. The only time they deviated from this line-up was when they would introduce the replacement for a departing host as a passing of the torch. The hosts lived in the “Disney House”, a set designed by Alan Olive and inspired by Queensland architecture to make viewers feel like they were visiting a friend’s house on a Saturday morning (it would see several revisions over the years). There, the hosts would engage in various imitable activities such as cooking, crafts or science that their audience could participate in; interviews with celebrity guests; interact with live animals; feature stories about places, activities and events reported as either themselves or characters; or star in recurring skits as various characters. Occasionally the show would leave their studio in Brisbane and film on location. The hosts not only worked on screen, but also served as writers and producers as well. A second similar, yet unrelated, Saturday Disney would debut in the United Kingdom in 1993; lasting only until 1996.

Two recurring segments each week were the Double Dog Dare and Letter of the Week. Double Dog Dare saw the hosts challenge each other to complete a ridiculous task; often a last-minute surprise to the one of them being challenged. If they were unsuccessful, they had to face an equally ridiculous punishment; such as consuming an unusual food concoction. Viewers got to participate by sending in ideas for punishments. Letter of the Week saw the hosts go through the various letters and artwork they were sent and select a winner. That winner would then get a selection of prizes and have their work displayed on the set.

The Disney House.

Saturday Disney debuted on Seven Network on January 27, 1990. The series was originally hosted by Sofie Formica, Jeniene Mapp and James Sherry and would air from 7:00 to 9:00. Throughout the 90s, the programs shown largely pulled from The Disney Afternoon and later One Saturday Morning programming blocks. Programming from The Disney Channel was also incorporated starting with the theatrical short anthology showcase The Adventures of Mickey & Donald. The series initially used an upbeat rendition of Leigh Harline and Ned Washington’s “When You Wish Upon a Star” for its theme before switching to the instrumental version of The Disney Afternoon’s,  composed by Tom Snow. From 1993 until 2001, Saturday Disney was expanded by an extra half hour to include programs such as The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and The Little Mermaid, Disney-distributed Sabrina: The Animated Series and Squiggle Vision/Science Court, and the Australian original Crash Zone. This extra half hour had minimal hosted content and would get its own separate entry in TV listings. In 1997, the series moved production to Sydney.

The first of many cast changes came just two years in when Formica was replaced by Lisa Barry in 1992. Shelley Craft, Marc Buhaj, Melanie Symons, Tim McDonald, Daniel Widdowson, Shae Brewster, Sara Groen, Sally Stanton, Jack Yabsley, Nathan Morgan and Candice Dixon would have their own respective tenures as hosts over the next decade. Following the addition of Hannah Montana in 2007 to the line-up, Saturday Disney began to incorporate more of Disney’s live-action programming into the mix. In 2009, the series was moved a half hour earlier for 3 months before returning to its regular timeslot. It also celebrated its 1,000^th episode by filming in Disneyland, as well as by airing a retrospective the week before. The following year it was moved to 9:00 to make room for infotainment news program Weekend Sunrise; which was an extension from its original Sunday timeslot.

In 2012, Saturday Disney was moved to station 7TWO at their original 7:00-9:00 timeslot to make room for talk show The Morning Show. That move came with an all-new look and opening sequence, as well as an eventual expansion to three hours that added two additional Disney programs to the rotation. That fall, those three hours were split between Seven, which aired it from 6:00-7:00, and 7TWO, which picked it up from 7:00 until 9:00. 2013 saw the final cast change when Brewster, the longest serving of all the hosts at just shy of 11 years, left and was replaced by Teigan Nash. In 2016, Saturday Disney moved again from 7TWO to 7flix and remained there until it broadcast its final episode that September. Marking the occasion, Symons, Widdowson, Brewster, Stanton and Yabsley returned for a guest appearance, as did Sherry via a video message. Ultimately, the program’s cancellation was attributed to a new executive producer in charge of children’s programming desiring to take things in a new direction.

Saturday Disney was the 20^th-longest-running program in Australia, and the country’s 5^th-longest-running children’s program that was consistently in the top 10 of children’s programs. It was nominated for a Logie Award in 2012 for “Most Outstanding Children’s Program”, which was co-presented by former host Craft, and for a TV Tonight Award in 2014 for “Best Kid’s Show”. While a couple of the hosts had disappeared from the public eye after the series’ end, many of them went on to have various careers in other shows or areas of broadcasting—some even with Disney again—and left a generation of Australian kids with fond childhood memories.

5TH & 10TH ANNIVERSARIES

As we enter our 11th year, let's celebrate the anniversaries of some Saturday morning programs! These are the shows turning 5 and 10 this year. 

REFLECTING ON 10 YEARS

 

            This past year was our 10^th anniversary. You may be wondering why there wasn’t much in the way of celebrating it beyond putting a “10” in the site’s logo, showcasing the characters from our first year in our title graphic, and an overall decline in the frequency of new entries. Well, it’s not that there wasn’t a desire to do it, it’s just that life doesn’t care if you have an anniversary or not.

These last two years were riddled with various health and family issues (nothing too serious, just time consuming), as well as increasing business at my day job. All of these combined left very little time to do the in-depth research and writing each entry requires to give you the very best. This very much is a one-man show. But I thank you for sticking around, for those who have been here before. And if you’re new, welcome! Plenty for you to see!

            And it’s not like I’ve been sitting idle. I’ve been going through and steadily updating entries with new information that has been coming out. Improving little things here and there, changing up older entries to match the style of newer ones. Basically a steady remastering of the entire site to provide the definitive experience.

            As we begin our 11^th year, I do have to reflect on how much things have changed since I started Saturday Mornings Forever. The nostalgia wave was just steadily growing into the apex that would inspire nothing but reboots, remakes and reimaginings across all media. Saturday morning programs had not yet been invited to that particular party. It was my own personal nostalgia that led to the site’s creation; inspired in large part by the classic programs that returned to television on the then-new network, The Hub (now Discovery Family).

Information, surprisingly, was difficult to come by early on. Only the bigger shows—your Ghostbusters, your Turtles, your Smurfs—had anything of note available about them. But then that nostalgia wave hit. Shows were beginning to get released onto home media; some for the first time, some for the first time in a long time. Continuations were happening in the form of comic books, as were collections of classic comics based on shows. Streaming services filled out their offerings with many shows not seen since their original airings. New merch was in stores thanks to companies like Funko, Mondo and Super 7. Disney, Discovery Family, and, for a time, Nickelodeon were keeping the tradition of Saturday morning cartoons alive by airing their new programs on that day. Even the latest Strawberry Shortcake, though relegated to YouTube before going to Netflix, was uploading new episodes on Saturday. And let’s not forget the new network MeTV Toons, which debuted just a year ago, being largely comprised of shows that lived on Saturdays over the last 60 years.

It has never been a better time to be a fan of Saturday morning television. If you loved those days and want to indulge your nostalgia, there’s something for you out there somewhere. If you’re experiencing something new that you might have missed? Even better—especially if you enjoy it.  

So, here’s to 10 years, Saturday Mornings Forever! Onward to the next 10!

GAILARD SARTAIN DEAD AT 81

 

You can read the full story here.

Best known for starring in Hee Haw and the Ernest franchise, including Hey, Vern, It’s Ernest! as Chuck, Lonnie Don and Matt Finish. 

BRIAN WILSON DEAD AT 82

 

You can read the full story here.

Best known as the co-founder of The Beach Boys, he played himself in an episode of Duck Dodgers.

DOUBLE UP (1992)

 

DOUBLE UP

(NBC, September 5-October 17, 1992)
 
Slam Dunk Productions, NBC Productions

 

MAIN CAST:
J.D. Roth – Host
Darius Farrelly – Announcer DJ Disco

 

            Double Up was one of two American game shows to use the name. The first, produced by Dick Clark Productions and hosted by Jamie Farr, never made it past the pilot episode. The second was created by Pat Jarvis and developed and produced by J.D. Roth and Kurt Brendlinger.

Roth with that day's contestants.

            The game was essentially a kid’s version of The Dating Game hosted by Roth, who was backed up by rapping announcer Darius Farrell, aka DJ Disco. Two siblings aged 13-16 were tasked with finding dates for each other out of a selection of three choices; with the prize being an all-expenses paid date chaperoned by a limo service. Neither could see their potential date or knew them beyond a nickname, but they could hear their answers to the sibling’s questions.  After two rounds of questions, the potential dates then had a few seconds to make the case for why they should be chosen.

The potential dates seated above the large trash cans where they could end up dumped.

            Once the questioning was done, the audience would choose who they would pick, place their name in a ball, and toss it on stage. Those votes would be tabulated and the results fired to Roth by Disco with a Nerf Bow ‘n’ Arrow. The siblings would then announce their choice and explain why they didn’t pick the other two; pulling a lever to dump them into the confetti-filled giant garbage cans they were perched over. If their choice matched one of the audience choices, they won $100 towards the date. Matching both audience picks upgraded the date to The Ultimate Double Up Night Out, which involved larger events like a concert or wrestling match. Reportedly, actor Jennifer Love Hewitt was one of the potential dates in an episode and ended up dumped.

DJ Disco in his booth.

            Double Up debuted on NBC on September 5, 1992, a week before the debut of the Teen NBC programming block it would then become a part of. The series was the first production for Roth’s newly-formed Slam Dunk Productions, making him the youngest executive producer after previously taking the title of youngest game show host with Fun House. TKD Animation handled the animation for the show’s intro—a poster of Roth advertising the show folding itself up into a paper airplane and flying into the studio—and on the TV in Disco’s booth that would illustrate what’s included in The Ultimate Night as Disco explained it. The series’ theme was done by Dis Style Productions with lyrics by Jonte Ray. Farrelly served as the show’s music supervisor.

The audience pelts the stage with their votes.

            The series failed to find any significant audience and was quickly cancelled within a month, replaced by NBA Inside Stuff on the schedule. Roth would continue to go on hosting and producing game shows and reality shows; however, Slam Dunk Productions only did one more show: the Disney Channel game show Mad Libs, based on the popular word fill-in books, co-produced by Dick Clark Productions. Roth would form another basketball-themed production company, 3 Ball Productions, with Todd Nelson in 2001.

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!