The ''CBS Kidshow'' (originally known as ''Think CBS Kids'') was an American
Saturday morning children's
A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person young ...
programming block
Block programming is the arrangement of programs on radio or television so that those of a particular genre, theme, or target audience are united.
Overview
Block programming involves scheduling a series of related shows which are likely to attra ...
that aired on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
from September 13, 1997 to September 9, 2000. Originally a network-programmed block,
Nelvana took over programming responsibilities on October 3, 1998.
History
''Think CBS Kids''
In 1997, taking advantage of the tightened
Children's Television Act
The broadcast of educational children's programming by terrestrial television stations in the United States is mandated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under regulations colloquially referred to as the Children's Television Act (C ...
regulations instituted the previous year by the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
that required broadcasters to carry three hours of educational programming each week, CBS launched an all-"
educational/informational" Saturday morning lineup for the 1997-98 season, known as ''Think CBS Kids'' (which served as both the block's branding and tagline). The block consisted entirely of live-action series (marking the first time that CBS did not feature animated series within its children's program lineup) – including the youth-oriented
game show
A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...
''
Wheel 2000'' (a spin-off of the syndicated game show ''
Wheel of Fortune''), which aired simultaneously on the
Game Show Network; ''
Sports Illustrated for Kids
''Sports Illustrated Kids'' (''SI Kids'', trademarked ''Sports Illustrated KIDS'', sometimes ''Sports Illustrated for Kids'') is a monthly spin-off of the weekly American sports magazine ''Sports Illustrated''. ''SI Kids'' was launched in January 1 ...
'' (a series based on the youth-oriented magazine spun off from ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...
''); ''
The Weird Al Show
''The Weird Al Show'' is an American television show hosted by "Weird Al" Yankovic. Produced in association with Dick Clark Productions and taped at NBC Studios, it aired on Saturday mornings on the CBS TV network. The show ran for one season, fr ...
''; ''
Fudge
Fudge is a type of confection that is made by mixing sugar, butter and milk, heating it to the soft-ball stage at , and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency. In texture, this crystalline can ...
''; ''
The New Ghostwriter Mysteries'' (a reboot of the popular public television series); and ''
Beakman's World
''Beakman's World'' is an American educational children's television program. The program is based on the Universal Press Syndicate syndicated comic strip ''You Can with Beakman and Jax'' created by Jok Church. The series premiered on Wednesday, ...
''. The one-minute youth-oriented series of segments, ''
In the News'', was also briefly revived as part of the new block, hosted by Dan Raviv, a
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
-based correspondent for
CBS Radio News
CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...
. ''Think CBS Kids'' suffered from low ratings as a whole, resulting in the network canceling most of the block's shows after four months. ''
Fudge
Fudge is a type of confection that is made by mixing sugar, butter and milk, heating it to the soft-ball stage at , and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency. In texture, this crystalline can ...
'' was subsequently replaced by reruns of ''
CBS Storybreak'' (the show and ''Beakman's World'' were both carried over from the network's previous children's block ''CBS Kidz'').
Relaunch as the ''CBS Kidshow''
In January 1998, CBS entered into a programming agreement with the Canada-based animation studio
Nelvana to program the Saturday morning time slot allocated to children's programming. ''Think CBS Kids'' was planned to relaunch as the ''CBS Kidshow'' on September 19 of that year, but CBS delayed the block's relaunch to October 3. The new block featured several first-run series co-produced by Nelvana, CBS and
Scottish Television
Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is th ...
such as ''
Anatole'', ''
Mythic Warriors
''Mythic Warriors'' (also known as ''Mythic Warriors: Guardians of the Legend'') is a 1998-2000 anthology animated television series, which featured retellings of popular Greek myths that were altered so as to be appropriate for younger audiences, ...
'', ''
Rescue Heroes
Rescue Heroes are a line of action figures targeted towards Preschool age children, released by Fisher-Price. The line was first introduced in 1997, depicting various rescue personnel, such as firefighters, police officers, and construction work ...
'' and ''
Flying Rhino Junior High''. The premiere of ''
Mythic Warriors
''Mythic Warriors'' (also known as ''Mythic Warriors: Guardians of the Legend'') is a 1998-2000 anthology animated television series, which featured retellings of popular Greek myths that were altered so as to be appropriate for younger audiences, ...
'' was further delayed due to its complicated animation techniques; reruns of ''
Tales from the Cryptkeeper
''Tales from the Cryptkeeper'' is an animated horror children's television series made by Canadian studio Nelvana. The series was broadcast on YTV in Canada and on ABC in the United States, and on ITV in the United Kingdom.
It was based on ...
'' aired in ''Mythic Warriors time slot until it premiered on November 7.
In June 2000, a few months after Viacom (which CBS founded in 1952 as
television syndication
Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States wher ...
distributor CBS Films, Inc., and later
spun off in 1971 after the then-recently implemented
Financial Interest and Syndication Rules
The Financial Interest and Syndication Rules, widely known as the fin-syn rules, were a set of rules imposed by the Federal Communications Commission in the United States in 1970. The FCC sought to prevent the Big Three television networks from mon ...
barred networks from holding financial interest in syndicated programming content) completed its $37 billion merger with CBS Corporation (which was the original
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...
that purchased CBS in 1995), CBS reached an agreement with new corporate cousin
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...
to air programming from the cable channel's preschool-oriented block
Nick Jr.
Nick Jr. (known on-air as the Nick Jr. Channel) is an American pay television channel spun off from Nickelodeon's long-running programming block of the same name. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Gr ...
beginning that September.
Prior to the deal, former Nick Jr. series ''
Rupert'' moved to the ''CBS Kidshow'' block in January 1999, as part of an agreement in which both it and another animated series, ''
Franklin'', swapped networks (with ''Franklin'' moving from CBS to the Nick Jr. block on Nickelodeon).
The ''CBS Kidshow'' block ended its run on September 9, 2000, and was replaced the following week on September 16 by ''
Nick Jr. on CBS'',
which featured two Nelvana series - the aforementioned ''Franklin'' and ''
Little Bear''; several other Nelvana series from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. continued to air on CBS until September 9, 2006, after which, the Nickelodeon block was replaced with ''
KOL Secret Slumber Party
Cookie Jar TV was an American children's programming block that aired on CBS, originally premiering on September 16, 2006, as the KOL Secret Slumber Party; the block was later rebranded as KEWLopolis ( ) on September 15, 2007, and then as Cookie ...
'' as a result of Viacom and CBS demerging earlier that year. Prior to that, Nelvana then proceeded to create a new Saturday morning cartoon block, the
Bookworm Bunch
The PBS Kids Bookworm Bunch was a preschool television block produced by Canada-based animation studio Nelvana Limited (now Nelvana Enterprises) that aired on PBS from September 30, 2000 to September 5, 2004. It typically aired on weekend mornings ...
(so named because all of that block's series were adaptations of children's books), for CBS' non-commercial rival,
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
, which premiered two weeks later. Several of the series were also rerun in Scotland as part of co-producer STV's
wknd@stv
''wknd@stv'' was a short-lived children's programming strand on Scottish television channel, STV. The block aired on Saturdays and Sundays, usually starting at 9:25am (the first ever edition began at 9:55am). It began on Saturday 17 January 20 ...
block in the early 2010s.
Programming
Scheduling variances and pre-emptions
Although the block was intended to air on Saturday mornings, some CBS affiliates deferred some programs over the course of the ''Think CBS Kids/CBS Kidshow'' block's run to Sunday or early Saturday morning time slots or
tape delayed the entire block in order to accommodate local weekend morning newscasts, ''CBS News Saturday Morning'' (which debuted alongside ''Think CBS Kids'', and was later replaced in 1999 by the Saturday edition of ''
The Early Show
''The Early Show'' is an American morning television show that aired on CBS from November 1, 1999 to January 7, 2012, and the ninth attempt at a morning news-talk program by the network since 1954. The program aired Monday through Friday from ...
'') or other programs of local interest (for example, then-affiliate
KTVT
KTVT (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States, broadcasting CBS programming to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...
in
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...
– now
owned-and-operated by CBS – aired the ''Think CBS Kids'' block from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. on Saturdays and 7:00 to 8:00 a.m. on Sundays from 1997 to 1998). Other stations pre-empted some programs outright for these same reasons, as well as due to professional and college sports telecasts scheduled by
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
(especially in the case of
college football and
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
games) or its stations (primarily through sports syndication services), although most affiliates aired the block in its entirety.
Former programming
''Think CBS Kids''
* ''
Beakman's World
''Beakman's World'' is an American educational children's television program. The program is based on the Universal Press Syndicate syndicated comic strip ''You Can with Beakman and Jax'' created by Jok Church. The series premiered on Wednesday, ...
'' (1997–1998)
* ''
CBS Storybreak'' (1998)
* ''
Fudge
Fudge is a type of confection that is made by mixing sugar, butter and milk, heating it to the soft-ball stage at , and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency. In texture, this crystalline can ...
'' (1997; reruns of
ABC series)
* ''
The New Ghostwriter Mysteries'' (1997)
* ''
The Sports Illustrated for Kids Show'' (1997)
* ''
The Weird Al Show
''The Weird Al Show'' is an American television show hosted by "Weird Al" Yankovic. Produced in association with Dick Clark Productions and taped at NBC Studios, it aired on Saturday mornings on the CBS TV network. The show ran for one season, fr ...
'' (1997–1998)
* ''
Wheel 2000'' (1997–1998)
''CBS Kidshow''
*''
The Adventures of Shimajiro'' (1999–2000) (scrapped)
* ''
Anatole'' (1998–2000)
* ''
Birdz'' (1998–1999)
* ''
Blaster's Universe
''Blaster's Universe'' is an animated television series, made by Nelvana and Hong Guang Animation, that ran for one season from September 1999 to January 2000 on CBS and in 2000 on Teletoon. It was based on Knowledge Adventure's '' Blaster Lear ...
'' (1999–2000)
* ''
Dumb Bunnies
The ''Dumb Bunnies'' is a series of books created by Dav Pilkey, the author of ''Captain Underpants,'' under the pseudonym "Sue Denim". They involve the adventures of a dumb family of bunnies. The Dumb Bunnies did everything in reverse, including ...
'' (1998–1999)
* ''
Flying Rhino Junior High'' (1998–2000)
* ''
Franklin'' (1998–1999)
* ''
Mythic Warriors
''Mythic Warriors'' (also known as ''Mythic Warriors: Guardians of the Legend'') is a 1998-2000 anthology animated television series, which featured retellings of popular Greek myths that were altered so as to be appropriate for younger audiences, ...
'' (1998–2000)
* ''
Rescue Heroes
Rescue Heroes are a line of action figures targeted towards Preschool age children, released by Fisher-Price. The line was first introduced in 1997, depicting various rescue personnel, such as firefighters, police officers, and construction work ...
'' (1999–2000)
* ''
Rupert'' (1999)
* ''
Tales from the Cryptkeeper
''Tales from the Cryptkeeper'' is an animated horror children's television series made by Canadian studio Nelvana. The series was broadcast on YTV in Canada and on ABC in the United States, and on ITV in the United Kingdom.
It was based on ...
'' (1998; 1999–2000)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cbs Kidshow
Television programming blocks in the United States
Kidshow
Children's television networks in the United States
1997 American television series debuts
2000 American television series endings