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Saturday AM Kids Shows from the 70's

D

dmargalotti

I remember (long before cable and whole networks devoted to kids programming), the big 3 networks would have a full line-up of original kids shows that aired on Saturday mornings. I even remember as the fall season approached, some of the networks would offer a prime-time preview (usually on a Friday Night) of their new Saturday morning kids shows.

Hopefully some of these will spark some memories...please share your comments and memories:

SIGMUND & THE SEA MONSTERS

THE BANANNA SPLITS

HR PUFF & STUFF

THE BUGALOO'S

SHAZAM & ISIS HOUR
 
Here's the Saturday-morning schedule from
Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point November
18, 1972. Some of these shows, particularly on
NBC, didn't last very long, but maybe there are
some memories here:

WFMY Ch. 2 (CBS)

7:30 Harlem Globetrotters
8 AM Bugs Bunny
8:30 Sabrina, The Teenage Witch
9 AM Amazing Chan And The Chan Clan
9:30 New Scooby-Doo Movies
10:30 Josie And The Pussycats
11 AM Flintstones Comedy Hour
12 N Archie's TV Funnies
12:30 Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids
1 PM CBS Children's Film Festival

WGHP Ch. 8 (ABC)

7:30 Captain Noah And His Ark
8 AM H.R. Pufnstuf
8:30 Jackson Five
9 AM The Osmonds
9:30 Saturday Superstar Movie
10:30 Brady Kids
11 AM Bewitched
11:30 Kid Power
12 N Funky Phantom
12:30 Soul Train (Normally Lidsville aired at
this time, followed by The Monkees
at 1 and American Bandstand at 1:30,
but on this Saturday ABC had a regional
telecast of Duke-UNC, when UNC had a
decent football team, at 1:30, pre-empting
Bandstand. In order to make some money from
the syndicated show, Ch. 8 ran Soul Train at
12:30 rather than its normal 2 PM.)

WXII Ch. 12 (NBC)

7 AM William Tell
7:30 McHale's Navy
8 AM Underdog
8:30 Jetsons
9 AM Pink Panther
9:30 Houndcats
10 AM Roman Holidays
10:30 The Barkleys
11 AM Sealab 2020
11:30 Runaround (kids' game show)
12 N Around The World In 80 Days
12:30 Talking With A Giant
 
From 1974, The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show. I found the opening of it on You Tube.
 
The Bay City Rollers had a show on NBC around 1978 or so that I remember watching. It featured a segment with Witchiepoo from H.R. Pufnstuf always trapping the guys and the guys singing a song or two on each show.

I remember watching Shazam when it was on in reruns on CBS around 1980 too. Pretty good show,I was only a toddler when the show first aired in the mid 70's.

Sigmund and the Sea Monsters is the only show that I watched out of the shows that were mentioned in the first post. It was in reruns on NBC in 1977 whenever I watched it. The other shows premiered before I was born. The Family Channel showed reruns of H.R. Pufnstuf,Lidsville and The Bugaloos on Saturday mornings back about 1994 or 1995. All were great shows especially The Bugaloos in which all of the members were British.
 
...NBC fed the Bay City Rollers' show to affiliates as late as the Spring of 1980 before the start of their official Saturday morning schedule, mainly for an additional year's usage of the show after it was cancelled from the official schedule in January 1979. (WFRV/5 in Green Bay and WJMN/3 in Escanaba were two affiliates that took that "unofficial" feed from NBC.) I believe NBC had made a commitment to producers Sid & Marty Krofft for a full year's use of the show but officially cancelled it after five months (it started out as "The Krofft Superstar Hour" in September 1978), and the "unofficial" feed was a way to burn off the contract before the Kroffts began to sic their lawyers on the network. Interestingly enough, before the show even took to the air, Bay City Rollers frontman Les McKeown was suing the band's manager, Tam Paton, to quit the outfit; immediately after the NBC cancellation, South African musician Duncan Faure replaced McKeown...not long after all that, USA cable's "Night Flight" would rerun the British-made syndicated special first released to U.S. stations in 1975...
 
bpatrick said:
WXII Ch. 12 (NBC)

11:30 Runaround (kids' game show)
Click to expand...

I remember that one. Paul Winchell hosted it, and Kenny Williams announced. The host asked a group of kids a question - and they'd all run toward one of several numbered stalls corresponding with an answer. Any with the wrong answer were out of the game, and the one remaining won the round.

Perhaps the most memorable thing about the show wasn't the format, but one of the prizes given most often: PUPPIES! I seem to recall a close-up shot of a little puppy, followed by Kenny Williams' booming voice: "Aaaaaaaand you'll feed (him/her) with a year's supply of PURINA DOG CHOWWWWW!!"

My 8-year-old self was envious (my brother was allergic to dogs), but looking back, geeeez........

Otherwise, I was never that fond of NBC's Saturday morning lineup in general.

--Russell
 
I remember watching Shazam when it was on in reruns on CBS around 1980 too. Pretty good show,I was only a toddler when the show first aired in the mid 70's.

SHAZAM was my all time favorite in the 70's. I don't know why people were all upset by shows like that. Those shows were educational and informative long before that phrase became a "requirement" by the FCC. Each show had a relevant story and a "lesson" or "moral" at the end of each episode. Much better than the crap put on by the 3 networks today.
 
dmargalotti said:
I even remember as the fall season approached, some of the networks would offer a prime-time preview (usually on a Friday Night) of their new Saturday morning kids shows.
Click to expand...

And the prime-time preview usually featured kid stars that the kids would recognize. I remember one year the CBS preview show featured the brother and sister from Family Affair, along with their butler.
 
Three prime-time preview specials that I fondly remember:

1. ABC's 1974 Saturday morning preview, which was hosted by Lee Majors as "The Six Million Dollar Man"; this introduced their infamous "Funshine Saturday" lineup (Lee even sung its theme with the special's costars at the end).

2. NBC's "First Annual Yummy Awards" from 1983 (I think); this was a Saturday morning preview in the guise of an awards show -- all winners had Saturday morning shows (or were connected to them) on NBC, and the awards were ice cream cones that really melt.

3. CBS's 1984 special, which was hosted by Ted Knight (star of "Too Close For Comfort" on "another network"); this special introduced the "Muppet Babies" in their animated form.

These Saturday morning preview specials were designed to be both memorable (for the shows they previewed) and forgetable (for the juvenile comedy, especially since they were never seen again).
 
Although this doesn't quite count as a "show" but a segment instead, with the passing of CBS Radio's Christopher Glenn today, don't forget CBS's "In the News" segments that he narrated from 1971-86. I have fond memories of watching those features.
 
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