Classic Saturday Morning Cartoons/shows that were preempted/delayed in your area

[Tim from Springfield IL]

This has been alluded to in previous threads, but what classic Saturday morning cartoons and other children's shows were preempted in your market throughout TV history?

A few cases from the two markets I grew up in/near (Peoria, IL and Quad Cities IA/IL):

--In Peoria during at least the late 80s until when NBC ended Saturday toons in 1992, NBC affiliate WEEK-25 either completely bumped or tape-delayed the network children's shows that aired during the 11AM CT hour. Sometimes one of the shows was tape-delayed to 6:30 AM the following Saturday--I remember distinctly that the 1987-88 kids' game show "I'm Telling" was among those (during the season that NBC used the casts of shows like "Valerie's Family," "Facts of Life," "Family Ties," "Cosby Show," etc. to introduce shows and commercial breaks--so in Peoria you saw the end of the previous week's cast intros before the rest of the Saturday NBC toon schedule began). Instead, WEEK opted for syndicated shows in that slot like "Puttin' on the Hits," "Remote Control" (when it was syndicated circa 1989-90), "RollerGames," "Not Just News," and maybe infomercials.

And in checking a classic western Illinois TV schedule from June 1984 that was posted on this board a few years ago, the NBC showing of "Flintstone Funnies" at 7AM CT Saturdays was bumped by WEEK in favor of "Uncle Waldo."

--In the Quad Cities, WQAD-8 was among the ABC stations that bailed out on "Bugs Bunny and Tweety" during the mid-90s, opting instead for shows like "Gladiators 2000" during that hour. And in the summer of 1984, WQAD bumped "Scooby and Scrappy Doo" for "Jackson 5ive" when the latter returned to syndication on the heels of Michael's "Thiller" album and the Jacksons' reunion tour that summer.

In addition, another (former) Illinois ABC affiliate, WAND-17 Decatur (NBC since Labor Day 2005) also cast aside part of the "Elmer Fudd and Puddy Tat Show" ;D for "Bill Nye the Science Guy" around 1994.

I also recall seeing a Springfield State Journal-Register TV listing from October 1982 that showed KHQA-7 (CBS) in Quincy bumping the short-lived CBS cartoon "Meatballs and Spaghetti" (anyone remember that one) one Saturday for either a public affairs or religious show (but this may need more confirmation and I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to check this further at my public library). By the way, here's the intro to the forementioned forgotten "classic" that may have gone unseen in the Tri-States (IL, MO, IA) at least one week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSKwP5p7qeU

What 'toons have fallen victim to preemptions in your markets?

 

[CrankyYankee]

IIRC, here's a case of just the opposite thing happening.

The Western/comedy music group, "Riders In The Sky" had a short-lived (1991–92) CBS Saturday morning program that was pre-empted on Hartford's channel 3, WFSB for the (IMHO, awful) "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" cartoon show from TBS and DIC.

 

[azumanga]

--In Peoria during at least the late 80s until when NBC ended Saturday toons in 1992, NBC affiliate WEEK-25 either completely bumped or tape-delayed the network children's shows that aired during the 11AM CT hour. Sometimes one of the shows was tape-delayed to 6:30 AM the following Saturday--I remember distinctly that the 1987-88 kids' game show "I'm Telling" was among those...

In Tampa Bay, WXFL / WFLA routinely bumped NBC's Saturday morning shows altogether after 12 Noon -- I never saw "I'm Telling" until reruns started to appear on The Family Channel.

Slightly off-topic, WTVT bumped "Press Your Luck" locally for a syndicated game or talk show, at 10:30AM (when WTVT also didn't carry its predecessor at that tome, "Child's Play") or at 4PM (when they carried "Hour Magazine"). Ironically, when PYL moved to 4PM on CBS, WTVT did carry its replacement at that time -- "Card Sharks". It wasn't until reruns came to USA that I saw PYL.

I also recall seeing a Springfield State Journal-Register TV listing from October 1982 that showed KHQA-7 (CBS) in Quincy bumping the short-lived CBS cartoon "Meatballs and Spaghetti" (anyone remember that one) one Saturday for either a public affairs or religious show (but this may need more confirmation and I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to check this further at my public library).

WTVT also bumped "Meatballs & Spaghetti" for something else when it first started, but began carrying the show later on at its time.

 

[ShawnHill1]

This has been alluded to in previous threads, but what classic Saturday morning cartoons and other children's shows were preempted in your market throughout TV history?

A few cases from the two markets I grew up in/near (Peoria, IL and Quad Cities IA/IL):

--In Peoria during at least the late 80s until when NBC ended Saturday toons in 1992, NBC affiliate WEEK-25 either completely bumped or tape-delayed the network children's shows that aired during the 11AM CT hour. Sometimes one of the shows was tape-delayed to 6:30 AM the following Saturday--I remember distinctly that the 1987-88 kids' game show "I'm Telling" was among those (during the season that NBC used the casts of shows like "Valerie's Family," "Facts of Life," "Family Ties," "Cosby Show," etc. to introduce shows and commercial breaks--so in Peoria you saw the end of the previous week's cast intros before the rest of the Saturday NBC toon schedule began). Instead, WEEK opted for syndicated shows in that slot like "Puttin' on the Hits," "Remote Control" (when it was syndicated circa 1989-90), "RollerGames," "Not Just News," and maybe infomercials.

Up the road from Peoria, Rockford's WTVO (back when they were NBC) would too bump-off the final hour of the network's Saturday lineup for syndicated product--one of them was Casey Kasem's America's Top 10, the other was either the Ebony-Jet Showcase (based off the magazines) or something else, dependent on the year. I had left Rockford for Los Angeles in 1988, but my grandmother would send TV Guides every so often, and if I remember right, just prior to WTVO's switch to ABC, they cleared the NBC Saturday morning lineup, which by 1992 was just Saturday Today and the TNBC shows--they gave a hour or two back to the affiliates. Rockford's two network affiliates, WREX and WIFR, virtually cleared their all of their respective networks' lineups.

The network affiliates in near-by Madison and Milwaukee, with the exception of WISN, would normally take out a hour of the Saturday morning lineup for local and/or syndicated shows; for examples, WKOW in Madison didn't clear American Bandstand (a country music program aired instead), In Milwaukee, WITI didn't show CBS from 9:30-10:30am (Small Wonder and another program aired in its place), WTMJ didn't clear NBC from 10:30 to noon (bowling and other programming was instead offered).

 

[anotherguyTN]

From the mid-70's well into the 90's WMC NBC 5 in Memphis pre-empted all NBC programming, whether it was cartoons or sports, from 11 AM to 12:30 PM on Saturdays for Memfus Rasslin', and they would come into Major League Baseball in progress. If there had been a major national disaster on a late Saturday morning WMC would probably carry rasslin' instead of the news bulletins. :

 

[hipman2]

Here in San Diego, KFMB usually carried all of the cartoons on Saturday Morning from the 1960s-80s, but that was during the years when CBS's Pacific Time Zone feed aired the shows with the Eastern Time Zone pattern (8am-2pm). When CBS's Pacific Time Zone feed bumped the shows up one hour to follow the Central Time Zone pattern, KFMB, which was running public affairs programming from 7-8am from the 60s, ended up pre-empting the first hour of the CBS Saturday Morning block until I don't know when. The first hour was usually fare aimed at the youngest TV watchers (Muppet Babies, Strawberry Shortcake, etc.)

The one known exception to KFMB's perfect Saturday Morning clearance, however, was during the year when CBS had Jeannie and My Favorite Martians, and KFMB opting to pre-empt them for Chester the Jester, a local kid show host, showing old Yogi Bear and Friends cartoons.

XETV when it was an ABC affiliate pre-empted a half hour of toons around 9:30am in favor of "Tijuana, Window to the South".

KGTV (KOGO-TV until 1972) bumped one hour of NBC's early Saturday Morning shows (I remember Heckle and Jeckle Hour moved to Sundays at 7am) in favor of Uncle Russ, a local kid show host. That was for about a year or two. KOGO in 1970 carried the daily reruns of The Flintstones, which at the time didn't include a dozen episodes in syndication because they were embargoed to air on NBC's Saturday Morning sked; oddly, KOGO pre-empted the NBC airings of Flintstones in favor of Kool McKool for reasons unexplained. When NBC had the Saturday Baseball Game of the week, KOGO/KGTV (through June 1977 when it was the last month it was an NBC station) pre-empted the 11am-NOON (hour 5) of the Saturday Morning sked, but the hour of toons returned once baseball season ended. KNBC 4 aired the fifth hour on Sunday mornings during the season.

When KCST (now KNSD) got the NBC affiliation KGTV discarded in favor of ABC, it ran the fifth hour of the Saturday morning toons Sunday mornings from 11am-NOON in 1977, but I can't recall if the practice continued after that year. KCST was clearing the Sunday morning ABC toons from 10 or 10:30-NOON. KGTV didn't carry the Sunday ABC toons from July 1977 onwards. KGTV did carry the 10:30-12:00 Sunday ABC lineup in Sep 1978 until ABC ended Sunday morning kids programming in c. 1982(?)

XETV delayed several ABC Sunday toons to run weekdays at 8am or so around the second half of the 1960s, but quit carrying them altogether afterwards. CBS's Sunday morning lineup (all one hour of it) was carried by KFMB initially, but by the 1970s, never carried it again. Most of the toons were last year's toons rerun for the second or third year. CBS ran Tom and Jerry for many years, while ABC had Bullwinkle in its lineup until 1973. I guess "Mission: Magic" did so bad on ABC in 1973 that it didn't even make it to ABC's Sunday morning burnoff sked (reruns ran in syndication instead).

Some schedule geeks may notice that the first hour of CBS, ABC, and NBC's Saturday morning schedules are shows at least a year old. I'm guessing that many affiliates bumped the first hour of it in favor of syndicated or public affairs programming.

 

[cd637299]

I am going a fur ways back, but WCKT 7 Miami, known for pre-empting a LOT of NBC shows, had this thing in the 60s of bumping late Saturday cartoons when the season started in September, usually around 11 am to 12:30 or whatever, to show what I guess were public affairs shows for kids & college-age folk. One was called "Youth and the Issue," and there may have been a University of Miami-approved roundtable show........Gradually the NBC 11am stuff would ease back over the spring/summer, then back to the public affairs stuff in the fall. Obviously based on the school year. (I remember being so happy seeing "Secret Squirrel" finally on WCKT one year. Anyway.....)

I have been looking at the online newspaper archives, and seeing the NBC program "Exploring" (in the early 60s) definitely shown on WCKT. This was usually around 12:30pm-1:30pm on Saturdays. I was not even aware of the show, and wouldn't have bet money that it was an NBC show, apparently! I knew how WCKT dealt with NBC!

cd

 

[nomadcowatbk]

IIRC, here's a case of just the opposite thing happening.

The Western/comedy music group, "Riders In The Sky" had a short-lived (1991–92) CBS Saturday morning program that was pre-empted on Hartford's channel 3, WFSB for the (IMHO, awful) "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" cartoon show from TBS and DIC.

KCTV also pre-empted some CBS Sat morning shows for Captain Planet (it wasn't the original Ninja Turles), they would eventually begin pre-empting more CBS Sat morning shows for news around the mid-90s.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

From the mid-70's well into the 90's WMC NBC 5 in Memphis pre-empted all NBC programming, whether it was cartoons or sports, from 11 AM to 12:30 PM on Saturdays for Memfus Rasslin', and they would come into Major League Baseball in progress. If there had been a major national disaster on a late Saturday morning WMC would probably carry rasslin' instead of the news bulletins. :

Why didn't they air Memfus Rasslin' in primetime if it was that important? The ABC station pre-empted the Miracle on Ice (itself on tape delay) for a church service

 

[bpatrick]

WSB, WAGA, and (for two years, 1972-74) WXIA had noon
newscasts on Saturdays. WSB would not come back to NBC
at 12:30 (as an ABC affiliate they would carry only the second
half of "American Bandstand" after a local public-affairs show at
12:30). 5 and 11, OTOH, usually did go back to their networks
at 12:30, especially when "Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids" was
on CBS and "American Bandstand" was on ABC. After a while,
5 began delaying everything from 11 AM on (they put what was
then WWF wrestling at 11), and 11 (by now NBC) would carry "Star
Trek" from 12-1.

What took the cake in Atlanta was WSB's showing "The Bugs Bunny
And Tweety Show" at 6 AM in order to carry "Star Search" at 11.

And I think we all know about Dallas and WFAA's refusal to carry
"American Bandstand."

 

[CrummyVision]

This one is going back to my days as a kid where the memory might be faulty, but I do remember KVIQ channel 6 out of Eureka running Funky Phantom in the later part of the afternoon, like maybe 4 or 4:30. Thing is, I'm not sure if this was done every single week or if it just happened every so often, perhaps to make way for a ball game from either ABC or NBC earlier in the day.

 

[SteveRichards]

From the late 1970's thru the mid-1980s, KHQA/7 in Quincy, IL pre-empted whatever cartoon show CBS showed at Noon (Central) so they could air "U.S. Farm Report." Initially, unless there was a conflict with CBS Sports programming, KHQA would tape-delay the pre-empted show to 1PM. The tape-delay to 1PM became kind of sporadic later on (even when there wasn't a conflict with CBS Sports) until it was ditched altogether. I think it was in 1985 or '86, KHQA moved "U.S. Farm Report" to 6:30AM and began clearing CBS at noon. However, a few years later, "U.S. Farm Report" returned to Noon. At some point, CBS truncated its morning cartoon block so that it ended at Noon (Central), so it wasn't much of an issue, unless there was a sports conflict.

also recall seeing a Springfield State Journal-Register TV listing from October 1982 that showed KHQA-7 (CBS) in Quincy bumping the short-lived CBS cartoon "Meatballs and Spaghetti" (anyone remember that one) one Saturday for either a public affairs or religious show (but this may need more confirmation and I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to check this further at my public library).

KHQA never regularly pre-empted "Meatballs & Spaghetti." I remember it being on (I never really watched it). According to "The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television," "Meatballs" aired on CBS at 10:30AM Central in the fall of 1982. However, CBS would occasionally have sports programming that started at noon or earlier. When that would happen, KHQA would air "U.S. Farm Report" early, right before the sports program. So if there was a CBS Sports program at 11, KHQA would have aired "U.S. Farm Report" at 10:30. I'm guessing that was the case in the particular set of listings you saw.

 

[anotherguyTN]

That reminded me that when Memfus Rasslin' was on WHBQ 13 (At that time ABC) in the early 70's American Bandstand was pre-empted. I don't know what the hold was that rasslin' had on Memphis TV on Saturday mornings, other than falling in line with WMC's tendency toward pre-emptions in that period (anything that made more money), and it may have actually gotten better ratings than NBC's usual Saturday morning lineup.

 

[hipman2]

This one is going back to my days as a kid where the memory might be faulty, but I do remember KVIQ channel 6 out of Eureka running Funky Phantom in the later part of the afternoon, like maybe 4 or 4:30. Thing is, I'm not sure if this was done every single week or if it just happened every so often, perhaps to make way for a ball game from either ABC or NBC earlier in the day.

Now that you mentioned it, the Pacific Time Zone affiliates had some Saturday Morning shows bumped to later times after the live baseball or football games aired if they chose to carry them at all. Many Pacific network affiliates simply pre-empted the delayed Saturday Morning programming after the sports games in favor of local programming.

What you may have seen is that ABC's Pacific affiliates aired Funky Phantom following one or two College Football games in the fall

Example: If ABC ran a College Football at 10:30am Pacific Time, the shows that would have aired from 10:30am-12:30pm would air following the game on some ABC stations (KABC 7 carried them for one) from 2-4pm. NBC's Baseball Game of the Week aired at 11am to about 2:30pm, so NBC would feed the last hour (11am-NOON) of the Saturday Morning lineup after the game at 2:30

KFMB (CBS) never carried the delayed Saturday Morning toons after the sports games ended. KOGO (ABC, then NBC in 1977) also didn't carry them either. I don't recall XETV (ABC until 1973) carrying the delayed toons either, but I know that KCST (ABC 1973-1977) carried the delayed toons after the football games ended. 1976: Almost Anything Goes would air at 4pm, then Krofft Super Show at 4:30, then the Weekend Special at 5:30. In case more information is needed, if American Bandstand was pre-empted when sports started at 9:30 Pacific Time (AB aired at 12:30 Eastern), then AB is not available for Pacific stations either, and neither is ABC's Wide World of Sports if football aired from 12:30-4pm Pacific Time (WWoS aired at 5:30 Eastern)

 

[onairb]

This one is going back to my days as a kid where the memory might be faulty, but I do remember KVIQ channel 6 out of Eureka running Funky Phantom in the later part of the afternoon, like maybe 4 or 4:30. Thing is, I'm not sure if this was done every single week or if it just happened every so often, perhaps to make way for a ball game from either ABC or NBC earlier in the day.

Now that you mentioned it, the Pacific Time Zone affiliates had some Saturday Morning shows bumped to later times after the live baseball or football games aired if they chose to carry them at all. Many Pacific network affiliates simply pre-empted the delayed Saturday Morning programming after the sports games in favor of local programming.

What you may have seen is that ABC's Pacific affiliates aired Funky Phantom following one or two College Football games in the fall

Example: If ABC ran a College Football at 10:30am Pacific Time, the shows that would have aired from 10:30am-12:30pm would air following the game on some ABC stations (KABC 7 carried them for one) from 2-4pm. NBC's Baseball Game of the Week aired at 11am to about 2:30pm, so NBC would feed the last hour (11am-NOON) of the Saturday Morning lineup after the game at 2:30

KFMB (CBS) never carried the delayed Saturday Morning toons after the sports games ended. KOGO (ABC, then NBC in 1977) also didn't carry them either. I don't recall XETV (ABC until 1973) carrying the delayed toons either, but I know that KCST (ABC 1973-1977) carried the delayed toons after the football games ended. 1976: Almost Anything Goes would air at 4pm, then Krofft Super Show at 4:30, then the Weekend Special at 5:30. In case more information is needed, if American Bandstand was pre-empted when sports started at 9:30 Pacific Time (AB aired at 12:30 Eastern), then AB is not available for Pacific stations either, and neither is ABC's Wide World of Sports if football aired from 12:30-4pm Pacific Time (WWoS aired at 5:30 Eastern)

I can remember KGO in San Francisco delaying ABC's cartoons(and 'Bandstand') in the fall of '81, due to college football, airing anywhere from 2-5 PM.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

During the 1967-68 TV season here in Boston, the old WHDH-5 didn't clear the latter portion of the CBS Saturday morning cartoon schedule ("Superman/Aquaman" at 11:30 A.M. ET, "Jonny Quest" at 12:30 P,.M. ET, "The Beagles" at 1 P,.M. ET; and "Road Runner" at 1:30 P.M. ET).

I believe that between them, WKBG-56 and/or WSBK-38 picked up these series.

 

[AKA]

Due to outcry from overprotective moms with too much time on their hands, KREM-TV planned to pre-empt Garbage Pail Kids before CBS pulled the plug shortly ahead of the show's scheduled premiere.

 

[Mr Tony]

From the mid-70's well into the 90's WMC NBC 5 in Memphis pre-empted all NBC programming, whether it was cartoons or sports, from 11 AM to 12:30 PM on Saturdays for Memfus Rasslin', and they would come into Major League Baseball in progress. If there had been a major national disaster on a late Saturday morning WMC would probably carry rasslin' instead of the news bulletins. :

Why didn't they air Memfus Rasslin' in primetime if it was that important?

it was LIVE and in studio...thats why

from wiki
Wrestling returned to Channel 5 in 1977, after some years on WHBQ-TV, and for many years the very popular live in-studio professional wrestling program was broadcast live on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Some of the wrestlers became regional celebrities from their exposure on the program, perhaps most notably Jerry "The King" Lawler, whose fame earned him his own locally-produced TV sports show, seen on channel 5 on Sundays during the 1980s.[3] The wrestling show eventually became the last remaining program of its kind in the U.S., before its cancellation in the 1990s.

 

[cwf1701]

Looking at some late 1960s TV schedules from the Toledo Blade, WWJ (WDIV) delayed "Super 6" until 1:00PM (12:00 in Detroit). in the late 1960s-early 1970s, Michigan did not go on daylight time and followed for the most part, the Central time pattern for Saturday Morning. in 1970, WWJ (WDIV) didn not clear the 8:00AM cartoon, but joined the network at 9:00AM and followed again the Central time pattern for saturday morning. in 1971, WWJ (WDIV) again pushed back the 8:00AM cartoon to 1:00PM (12:00PM in Detroit) and again aired the rest of the cartoons in the Central time pattern. it should be noted that WWJ(WDIV) was airing Oospy at 7:30AM(EST) and that always knocked out the 8:30AM(EDT) network show in summer.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Due to outcry from overprotective moms with too much time on their hands, KREM-TV planned to pre-empt Garbage Pail Kids before CBS pulled the plug shortly ahead of the show's scheduled premiere.

With what did they plan to pre-empt it with?