Weekday cartoon


A weekday cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated television programming that was typically scheduled on weekday mornings and afternoons in the United States on many major television networks and in broadcast syndication since the 1960s.

History

1960s and 70s

Weekday cartoons began as far back as the early 1960s on commercial independent stations in the major U.S. television markets. On such stations, cartoon blocks would occupy the 7-9 a.m. and the 3-5 p.m. time periods, with some stations running cartoons from 6-9 a.m. and 2-5 p.m. In smaller markets, network affiliates sometimes filled the 3 or 4 p.m. hour with such programming. In the 1970s, additional independent stations signed on running such programming in Boston, Massachusetts; WKBS-TV, WTAF-TV. The programs were distributed on various television stations through broadcast syndication.
A number of these weekday cartoons, especially the early ones such as Colonel Bleep, Batfink and Clutch Cargo, were serials that aired in daily, five-minute segments. A glut of such shows were produced in the late 1950s and through the 1960s, then syndicated continuously for the next two decades. These programs were usually distributed to local stations to air within their locally produced children's program showcases – which in addition to cartoon shorts, also included games, locally produced or franchised costumed characters, and entertainment to form a variety show. This program model slowly died out during the 1980s.

1980s

In the 1980s, independent stations signed on in many mid-sized and small markets. This market was meant for made-for-television cartoons which had grown as a result. Many of these stations started running cartoon blocks on weekdays as early as 6 in the morning and as early as 2 in the afternoon. There were some stations that had aired cartoons as late as 6 p.m. on weekdays. Most large and mid-sized markets had at least two local stations running such programming in the 6 to 9 a.m. and the 2:30 to 5 p.m. timeslots. Some markets had as many as three. Traditionally, the local stations had been airing reruns of either old theatrical cartoons or TV cartoons produced for the nationwide channels. However, this was soon to change as producers realized the potential of selling their cartoons directly to the independent stations. The first cartoon series to be produced for first-run syndication were He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Inspector Gadget, both premiering with 65 half-hour episodes in the fall of 1983.
The 1981 deregulation of children's programming made it permissible for animated series to be used to promote toylines and merchandise, and the many series that were created as a result would come to define much of the landscape of mid-1980s children's cartoons. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe kickstarted this trend, and was followed in subsequent years by properties such as , The Transformers, ThunderCats, My Little Pony, and Voltron. The Children's Television Act of 1990 was instrumental in ending this practice and setting limits to the amount of advertising time which were allocated to children's programs. Currently, any advertisement for a tie-in product within the show, elsewise the entire program will be classified automatically as a violating half-hour program length commercial according to the FCC's definition, even if one second of a show's character or reference is seen in an advertisement; this clause in Children's Television Act puts the station at risk of paying large fines should the program violate this rule.
In 1987, The Walt Disney Company tried its luck at syndication, through its animation production unit Walt Disney Television Animation; DuckTales debuted that September, experiencing major success and eventually lasting for 100 episodes. The success of DuckTales paved the way for a second series two years later, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. In 1989, the two shows aired together as part of a syndicated daily block called The Disney Afternoon. In 1991, Disney added another hour to the block; The Disney Afternoon ran until August 29, 1997, when it was replaced by an unnamed block on September 1, 1997, until 1999, which was then replaced by Disney's One Too - and Disney's One Too had only lasted for four years on UPN and syndication, until it had died in 2003. Since then, there are only a handful of local networks in the United States for ABC that broadcast children's programming. Otherwise, it has been replaced by reality shows, court shows, tabloid television, talk shows, and among other programming which are meant for adults.

1990s

In 1990, Fox began running a weekday afternoon cartoon called Peter Pan and the Pirates. In 1991, the network added another hour of children's programming; this block would be known as Fox Kids. In some markets, Fox stations ran one show in the morning hours and the other two on weekday afternoons, while other stations carried the entire block in the mid-afternoon hours only.
In 1992, Fox Kids added Warner Bros.-produced cartoons, such as: , Merrie Melodies reruns, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Tom and Jerry Kids Show to its schedule. Fox stations also carried other syndicated cartoons in addition to those offered by the Fox Kids weekday block, while independent stations aired Disney-produced cartoons, including The Disney Afternoon block, and other syndicated animated series. By this point, many markets had three independent stations running these animated programs. In 1993, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers premiered on Fox. By this point, the Fox Kids block had expanded to three hours in length.
After Fox signed an affiliation agreement with New World Communications to switch several ABC, CBS and NBC-affiliated stations to the network in 1994, the network's new affiliates under New World opted to decline carriage of the Fox Kids lineups, replacing them either with talk and reality shows or additional local newscasts. In the affected markets, the local rights to Fox Kids programming went to an independent station, and eventually an affiliate of either The WB or UPN.
The popularity of the weekday cartoon lineup increased from the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s. The upstart minor network, The WB, launched Kids' WB, in September 1995, which had initially carried an afternoon block of animated series. At that point, shows such as Tiny Toon Adventures that featured Looney Tunes and other classic Warner Bros. animated characters migrated from Fox Kids to Kids' WB. The weekday Kids' WB block initially ran for one hour, before expanding to three hours in late 1996 – two hours in the afternoon and one hour in the morning. By that point, The Disney Afternoon was airing largely on UPN affiliates, along with some WB and Fox stations.

Decline

In 1996, the United States Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 – which was signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton; among the changes to broadcast regulation incurred by the passage of the law included the relaxing of radio and television ownership limits, and it would also regulate children's television substantially. All broadcast television stations would be required to air three hours of educational and informative children's programming on a weekly basis. With a few exceptions; however, the weekday cartoons were then not considered to meet the requirements set by the federal mandates. The Federal Communications Commission also placed new regulations on advertising content, making selling commercial time during entertainment-based children's programming difficult on over-the-air stations. The decline of the weekday cartoons began in 1997, as the FCC's new regulations on children's programming resulted in complaints from local stations regarding the ability to make airing cartoons financially viable.
Regardless of the new regulations, UPN attempted to run a teen sitcom block in 1997. It only lasted one year. Warner Bros. would stop syndicating its vintage theatrical and made-for-TV cartoons to local stations that year, relegating them to cable television. The WB, though, continued to air the Kids' WB block and commissioned the daily cartoon Histeria! to meet the E/I guidelines.
Starting in 1998, some UPN- and WB-affiliated stations would scale back their reliance on syndicated cartoons in morning timeslots in favor of airing family sitcoms, weekday morning local newscasts, and/or court, talk or reality series; many Fox affiliates also started running morning newscasts around this time. The Disney Afternoon ended its run in syndication, in September 1999. Disney would then enter into a time-lease agreement with UPN, replacing the UPN Kids block with Disney's One Too. Disney's One Saturday Morning was on from 1997 until 2002, which it was replaced by ABC Kids - however, ABC Kids had run until August 27, 2011; when it was replaced by a teen-oriented block ran and operated by Litton Entertainment entitled "Litton's Weekend Adventure," which is a block that is family-oriented. Still, there was a decent number of cartoons that were available in syndication in the 1990s. And in 1999, Fox Kids trimmed its weekday block to two hours while adding The Magic School Bus, which occupied an hour of the lineup to meet the E/I quotas for its local stations.

2000s

Beginning in 2000, an increasing number of television stations stopped airing cartoons on weekday mornings and/or afternoons. By now, UPN's stations mainly ran cartoons through the Disney's One Too block. Some WB and UPN stations continued running an hour or so of syndicated cartoons each weekday. Fox affiliates for the most part had used the morning time period to run local newscasts or infomercials and only ran children's programs during the afternoon hours. Some Fox affiliates began dropping the afternoon block; in contrast, UPN, WB and independent stations ran their children's programs only either during the morning or afternoon time slots.
In 2001, the Kids' WB block was trimmed down to two hours, removing the one-hour morning block altogether. Syndicated cartoons started to lack station clearances. Fox also ended its weekday afternoon Fox Kids block at the end of that year, with the Fox stations that had been carrying the network's children's block replacing it with talk and reality shows. By 2002, most UPN stations ran Disney's One Too from 7 to 9 a.m. or from 3 to 5 p.m., while WB stations ran Kids' WB from 3 to 5 p.m. In most of these television markets, these were the only cartoons available on local television stations. Some stations ran a syndicated cartoon or a live action program to meet the E/I guidelines that were necessary. Still, stations lost revenue running such programs.
On August 29, 2003, UPN discontinued the Disney's One Too block after it chose not to renew its contract with Disney, resulting in the network dropping children's programming entirely. This had left Kids' WB as the only children's program block to air weekdays on broadcast network television. UPN-affiliated stations owned by Fox, as well as UPN's parent company, Viacom, continued to run cartoons syndicated by DiC Entertainment, for two hours each weekday in the 7 to 9 a.m. timeslot. The majority of UPN affiliates still ran only one children's program per day, if that. By 2003, The Daily Buzz, a three-hour syndicated morning news and lifestyle program, would replace weekday morning cartoons on WB- and UPN-affiliated stations in certain markets.
In 2005, then Fox-owned UPN stations decreased weekday cartoons to one hour. In January 2006, The WB network's Kids' WB block was relegated to Saturday mornings only after the conclusion of their weekday cartoon block on December 30, 2005, which had replaced the two hours of network programming time on weekday afternoons with Daytime WB, a two-hour block of sitcom and drama reruns; which continued after The WB ceased operations in September 2006, and were replaced by The CW with that block being renamed The CW Daytime. That fall, Fox's UPN affiliates, which became owned-and-operated stations of the News Corporation-owned MyNetworkTV, dropped cartoons from their weekday schedules, with some stations only running an educational children's program each day to meet E/I requirements.

2010s

By the start of the 2010s, the traditional entertainment-based variety of children's programs that had been popular for years had vanished from broadcast television, which was now being replaced by mostly unscripted E/I-compliant programs; however, the decreasing number of more entertainment-based children's shows - due largely to tighter regulations on educational and advertising content has led to a substantial erosion in the audience for children's programs on commercial broadcast television overall due to its limited creative options for producers. The weekday time periods that were traditionally reserved for children's programming are now ceded to courtroom-based litigation shows, talk shows, reality series, tabloid shows, newsmagazines or off-network syndicated reruns of network television programs. Many of these local stations still have to air a bare minimum of the weekly three-hour requirement of E/I rated programming that was be reported by the federal government to qualify for their license; mostly in the early morning periods, or once-a-week on Saturday mornings just to have the bare minimum of content that needs to be set. Or, the local networks air these specific programming when children have no realistic ability to watch the programming presented to them, because they're at a timeslot when they're at school, an example of working to the rule or at worst malicious compliance.
PBS, which has historically carried educational children's programming as part of its lineup for several decades prior to it being mandated, airs a variety of children's programming from 6 a.m. to approximately 2 p.m. local time. Cable television channels specializing in children's programming such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney Channel as well as on demand streaming and download services such as Netflix, Hulu, iTunes and Amazon Video, RedBox, television video on demand services and other video rental outlets that also provide alternative ways of distributing children's programming at any time of day or week, without restrictions placed on such programming that an FCC-licensed broadcast station must honor to stay in business or the need for advertising to fund it.
KidsClick was an attempt by Sinclair Broadcast Group, one of the United States' largest owners of broadcast television stations, to re-establish a market for entertainment-based children's programming and cartoons on broadcast television. Launching July 1, 2017, KidsClick was carried on stations owned by Sinclair and by This TV, as Sinclair was attempting to purchase This TV's parent company Tribune Media at the time. It consisted mostly of rerun and imported programming from the past decade, none of which had any educational content. KidsClick ended its run March 31, 2019, 21 months after its launch.

Cable television

Numerous early cable networks that began in the 1970s and 1980s followed a similar full-service approach to their programming to their broadcast counterparts; this included children's programming blocks, both on weekdays and Saturday mornings. The number of cable channels began to increase rapidly in the 1990s, allowing the diverse full-service networks to split their programming onto specialized networks. In the fall of 1996, the USA Network discontinued its long-running animation block, the USA Cartoon Express; its sister block, the USA Action Extreme Team, which began in 1995, continued until 1998. TNT followed in the fall of 1998, replacing its cartoons with drama series; TBS also followed suit in the fall of 1999 to focus on sitcoms. In September 2006, ABC Family dropped its Jetix lineup, making it exclusive to Toon Disney. "Ready Set Learn" ended its run on TLC in 2008 and became exclusive only to Discovery Kids. Also, in 2014, Disney Channel phased out their weekday cartoons, choosing to exclusively focus on its live-action sitcoms geared towards teen audiences.
Today, weekday cartoons are relegated to basic cable networks such as Nickelodeon and Disney Channel for much of the day; along with educational and family-oriented programs ; and Cartoon Network airs children's programming until 8 p.m. Eastern Time, when the network switches to the teen- and adult-oriented block Adult Swim, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Eastern Time. Other channels focusing on children's programs that are available through digital cable as well as satellite television that feature animated series on weekdays include Boomerang ; Disney XD ; Nicktoons ; and educational-oriented channels such as Universal Kids, Disney Junior and Nick Jr.

Current

Since The WB dropped its weekday block on December 30, 2005, there has not been any other major American commercial broadcast network that has aired animated series on weekdays. PBS is the only network that still runs weekday animated series, but it is a non-commercial network. Neither The CW nor MyNetworkTV have aired cartoons on weekdays - aside from early morning, or rules given from the E/I rule, or any of the Big Three television networks, most of which have opted to lease out children's programming time to other production companies. Other cable networks specializing in family-oriented and children's programming have similarly cut back on animated series on weekdays, though nowhere near the level of that done by broadcast television in the 1980s and 1990s. Even if they were to air such programming, they would have to air it at times in which children are not even awake, or they air it directly when they are in school in the morning, and only on certain channels and on local affiliates which choose to opt for cartoons; however - if they have to air E/I programming because of the federal government's rule on the minimal number of hours that are needed and required. Even if they were to have afternoon programming from the 3pm-5pm, or 2pm-4pm time slots, they will still need to be required to program E/I programming just as in the morning time slots, or on every network that has cartoons.
In September 2006, Ion Television launched Qubo, which was a three-hour block of programming that originally aired on Wednesday through Friday afternoons – the E/I-compliant block has since moved to other time periods, and since settling on Friday mornings, in October 2012. However, on November 1, 2008, This TV launched airing a daily children's program block called Cookie Jar Toons ; the three-hour block aired on Monday through Friday mornings as well as weekend mornings in most markets. This block was discontinued when Tribune Broadcasting assumed partial-ownership of This TV on November 1, 2013, leaving Ion Television's Qubo as the sole remaining weekday children's block on American commercial broadcast television. Besides Qubo, there are only certain markets and syndicated channels that broadcast on weekday cartoons and broadcast it in the United States. The weekday cartoon came to an end on January 4, 2015 when the last-remaining weekday children's block on broadcast television, But - Qubo moved from Friday mornings-to-Sunday mornings under a new name, "Qubo Kids Corner". This had marked the end of a long era in weekday children's programming going back to the early 1960s. Eventually "Qubo Kids Corner" discontinued thus returning on the weekday block, unlike its traditional schedule which ran Monday-Friday - it airs only on Wednesday-Fridays mornings. MundoMax airs one cartoon during late weekday afternoons in Spanish making the only two commercial networks to air cartoons while adhere the mandates, and the only Spanish network that is non E/I though it broadcast its E/I programming during weekday mornings and weekends. Due to the network closure of MundoMax this leaves only Qubo along with some local low power independent TV stations to air cartoons during the weekdays while adhering to mandates.
In 2016 a new sub-channel network Light TV began airing cartoons on weekday mornings full time for the first time since This TV dropped the format in 2013 after Tribune gained full ownership of the network from Wiegel Broadcasting. It is the 3rd network and the second commercial on the minor network in 3 years to air cartoons while adhering to the mandates without any major sponsorship from food and toy companies.