Line #51 Main/SaturdayMorningKidsShow


1	The types of hybrid shows that were done in both the US and UK for years -- the UK variation is essentially a VarietyShow aimed at kids. Broadcast US television used to have a milder variety of this kind of program -- and some were actually run five times a week, on weekdays -- but they have almost entirely been phased out in favor of shows that are cheaper to produce and which have higher profit margins. (And most US networks have actually phased out ''all'' Saturday-morning children's fare entirely.) The genre seemed to be dead in the UK, ''Toonattik'' was the last real example and it dumped its presenters and become just a cartoon block before being axed at the end of 2010. However, Creator/TheBBC brought back the format as ''Saturday Mash-Up!'' in 2017.
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3	They frequently include the following elements:
4	* Cartoons, often recycled theatrical shorts.
5	* Two or three noticeable presenters/hosts.
6	** On UK television, at least one of these will be a puppet character.
7	* Satires of popular TV shows (especially common with the UK variation -- ''{{Series/Taggart}}'' appears to have been done once, ''Series/DoctorWho'' has been done far too many times to count).
8	* [[CelebrityStar Celebrities being interviewed and/or singing]].
9	* A live audience of young and old kids.
10	* Phone-in competitions (often involving things that require you to watch the cartoons).
11	* People getting CoveredInGunge.
12	* Childish humour.
13	* ParentService.
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15	For Saturday Morning cartoons as shown in the US, rather than variety shows, see SaturdayMorningCartoon. Compare and contrast SundayEveningDramaSeries, an unobjectionable, family-friendly series meant to air on Sunday night.
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17	!!Notable examples:
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20	[[folder:Argentina]]
21	* Dibujuegos, hosted by musician Manuel Wirtz and Sesame Street's Big Bird. No, [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer seriously]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfEtU5GHLb0 Big Bird was a co-host]]. Ran in 1991, was full of late 80s cartoon goodness.
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24	[[folder:Australia]]
25	* Australia also has a lot of these, the longest running being Saturday Disney.
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28	[[folder:Brazil]]
29	* An infamous example from the nineteen-eighties is Xuxa, hosted by an oversexed (and not very smart) former model that inspired the wrath of MoralGuardians and produced a few short-lived imitators. Xuxa is also infamous for the fire on the set of her later show ''Xuxa Park''.
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32	[[folder:Canada]]
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34	* ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision'' started out as one of these (with live-action sketches instead of cartoons); the call-in segments were dropped as soon as the show was repackaged for sale to markets outside Ottawa and the music segments phased out after the first couple years while the ShowWithinAShow aspects of the link segments were played up, until what was left was a SketchComedy.
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37	[[folder:France]]
38	* The [[TheNineties 1990s]] ''Series/ClubDorothee'' show is the quintessential example in the history of French TV. For [[GatewaySeries better]] or [[AnimationAgeGhetto wo]][[{{Macekre}} r]][[DubNameChange se]], this show more-or-less introduced France to Anime (and ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' years before ''Franchise/PowerRangers''). It ran for nearly a decade ('87-'97) before its somewhat speculated-about[[note]]One suspected reason being a dispute between [=TF1=] and the show's financial backers AB Productions, whose new cable/sat TV service competed with [=TF1=]'s.[[/note]] cancellation.
39	* ''Hanna Barbera Dingue Dong'' (1990-1996), was just a collection of HB cartoons (''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'', ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'', etc.) interspersed with the live-action host's antics. Based on the American ''The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera''.
40	* ''La Planète de Donkey Kong'' (1996-2001), which featured cartoons interspersed with skits featuring the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' cast's antics (in the show's earlier days, they were joined by the TV presenter Mélanie Angélie). Spun off the more well-known ''WesternAnimation/DonkeyKongCountry''.
41	* ''Televisator 2'' (1993-1994) was a show about video games and cartoons (''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'', etc.)
42	* In fact, France had a quite bunch of such shows which alternate cartoons and inane jokes involving live-action hosts. This may have had some legal causes (laws requiring homeland-produced original content, etc.)
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45	[[folder:Mexico]]
46	* Two famous examples: ''Chabelo'', which was actually aired on Sunday mornings, and ''Caritele'', which was a Saturday morning show interspersed with other shows and mostly {{shounen}} anime.
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49	[[folder:United Kingdom]]
50	* On Creator/TheBBC: ''(Multi Coloured) Swap Shop'' (1976-1982), ''Saturday Superstore'' (1982-1987), ''Going Live'' (1987-1993), ''Series/LiveAndKicking''[[note]]Presented by Creator/ZoeBall[[/note]] (1993-2001) - [[SameCharacterButDifferent which were all essentially variations of the same format]].[[note]]Well, mostly. ''Swap Shop'' was perhaps memorable as, like the name suggests, kids of the era could literally bring items such as toys they didn't want to a live swap event and exchange it for others they did, proving to be one of the most popular aspects of the show according to Website/TheOtherWiki. These days, of course, we have eBay, Freecycle and such...[[/note]]
51	** ''Series/DickAndDomInDaBungalow'' (2002-2006)
52	** During the summer months the regular Saturday morning show took a break. Replacements (usually from the BBC Regions, unlike the London-based main show) included ''On the Waterfront'', ''[=UP2U=]'', ''8:15 from Manchester'', ''Parallel 9'' (set on a alien planet of the same name), and ''Fully Booked'' (set in a fictional Scottish hotel). ''Fully Booked'' would initially air on Saturdays, but then move for a spell over to Sundays, with the Saturday strand taken over by ''The Saturday Aardvark'', which was more of a generic studio-based CBBC programming strand hosted by Kristian O'Brian and the puppet Otis The Aardvark. It nevertheless still achieved something of a cult following.
53	** 2017's ''Saturday Mash-Up!'' saw the format return over a decade after ''Dick and Dom''.
54	** Arguably the UrExample for the BBC was ''Crackerjack'', a children's variety show that aired from 1955 to 1984 (most prominently on Friday nights), which typically featured a mixture of music performances, game segments, and sketch comedy by a cast of regulars (though by its final years on-air, its prominence had degraded in favour of the aforementioned Saturday shows at the peak of their popularity, and the focus on comedy sketches steadily decreased).
55	* On Creator/{{ITV}}: ''Series/{{Tiswas}}'' (1974-1982, starting as a regional series in UsefulNotes/TheMidlands before it went nationwide by its final series)
56	** ''No. 73'' (1982-1988), notable for its SitCom elements; it was supposedly set in an ordinary suburban house, where the residents just happened to be showing cartoons, interviewing celebrities, and organising The Sandwich Quiz.
57	** ''Get Fresh'' (1986-1988), a road show where the location was different every week. Notable for launching the career of future ''How2'' presenter Gareth Jones and also contributed to a short high profile career for the puppet Gilbert the Alien, who had a habit of GettingCrapPastTheRadar. A pre-recorded version of the show aired on Sundays.
58	** ''Motormouth'' (1988-1992): Notable for it's live-action adaptation of the famous board game ''Mouse Trap''. Started off as an informal variety show but delved more and more into sketches and eventually comedy drama not unlike ''No.73''.
59	** ''What's Up Doc?'' (1992-1995) which as its title implies had a lot of Creator/WarnerBros-related content along with the usual ingredients. Notable for introducing UK audiences to ''Animaniacs'' and ''Batman: The Animated Series'' as well as two memorable puppet wolves in Bro and Bro, who would receive their own spin-off programme ''Wolf It'', before their pupeteers defected to BBC's ''Live & Kicking'' to perform as the Leprechauns.
60	** ''SM:TV Live'' (1998-2003), notable for launching the mainstream careers of Creator/AntAndDec and Cat Deeley, and for having an ''extremely'' high amount of {{Parental Bonus}}es.
61	** ''Ministry Of Mayhem'' and ''Holly and Stephen's Saturday Showdown'' (2004-2006)
62	** ''Toonattik'' (2005 to 2011) - broadcast as part of the breakfast service GMTV, it fired its presenters in May 2010. Ended completely on New Years Day 2011, as part of the changeover from GMTV to Daybreak.
63	** ''Scrambled!'' (2014 to 2021)- Simulcast on both ITV during it's breakfast hours and the CITV Channel. It also would air on Sundays. Unlike most other shows on the list, the programme was pre-recorded for ''both'' days of the weekend. Only two of the original presenting line-up stayed for the duration of the programme.
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66	[[folder:United States]]
67	* In 2003, Cartoon Network turned their all animated Cartoon Cartoon Fridays block into a block hosted by Tommy and Nzinga (later replaced by Tara) called "Fridays". In addition to cartoons, there were two puppet characters, celebrity interviews, and musical guest performances. It ended in 2007, and was replaced by Friday Night Premiere Thunder.
68	* Late lamented examples include ''Series/{{Wonderama}}'', ''Series/GeneLondon'', and ''Series/CaptainKangaroo''. (None of which were literally speaking ''Saturday'' fare, but it's the format, not the broadcast time that counts.) Also, ''Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse'' was equal parts straight and subvertive of the genre. And then there's all the regional variations of ''Series/TheBozoShow''.
69	** The ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Krusty The Klown Show]]'' is a parody of these; Creator/MattGroening and others [[TwoDecadesBehind acknowledge the anachronism]].
70	* Probably one of the originators of the genre was ''The Howdy Doody Show'' (1947-1960).
71	* Jim Varney, as his Film/ErnestPWorrell character, briefly revived the genre with ''Hey Vern, It's Ernest!'' in 1988.
72	* Creator/{{CBS}} attempted a plethora of these types of shows in the '80s and '90s, including both ''Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse'', ''Series/PryorsPlace'' and ''Hey Vern It's Ernest!'' along with ''Series/TheWeirdAlShow'' and the acquisition of ''Series/BeakmansWorld'' from Creator/{{TLC}}.
73	* ''Series/TheAquaBatsSuperShow'' is a sort of half-{{Homage}}, half-parody of these types of kids' shows.
74	* Creator/MeTV added ''Toon In With Me'', a weekday morning variant with a puppet co-host, on the first weekday of 2021.
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77	[[folder:Venezuela]]
78	* Thanks to deals RCTV had with Creator/{{Disney}}, they had Club Disney during the 80's and 90's, while its rival Venevisión had El Club de Los Tigritos. Both shows were phased out around early 00's, though Venevisión still has cartoon hosts presenting cartoon hosts, but nothing else.
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Context Main / SaturdayMorningKidsShow