La Piñata Loca
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''La Piñata Loca'' (
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
: ''"The Crazy Pinata"'') is an American children's programming block on
Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...
television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or multichannel video programming distributo ...
Univision, which debuted on March 30, 1996, and aired until February 26, 2000. The three-hour block aired Saturday-morning cartoon, Saturday and Sunday mornings from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, Eastern Time and Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Time and features animated series aimed at children between the ages of 6 and 11. Programs featured on the block consist almost entirely of Spanish language, Spanish-dubbed versions of series that were originally produced and broadcast in
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
. All shows featured on ''La Piñata Loca'' are designed to meet federally mandated educational programming guidelines defined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) via the Children's Television Act.


History

In April 1995, Univision test-marketed ''Plaza Sésamo'' ("Sesame Street"), Televisa and Children's Television Workshop's (now Sesame Workshop) Spanish-language adaptation of ''Sesame Street'' featuring a mix of original segments featuring characters based on its U.S.-based parent series and dubbed interstitials from the aforementioned originating program, on its owned-and-operated stations in Los Angeles, Dallas and Miami. The success of the test run led the network to begin airing the program nationally beginning on December 11 of that year; the program aired on Univision until 2002, when it moved to its newly created sister network TeleFutura as part of its "Toonturama, Mi Tele" ("My TV") block (the Univision network resumed its relationship with the now-Sesame Workshop when it debuted the U.S.-based Spanish language spin-off ''Sesame Amigos'' ("Sesame Friends") in August 2015). The network aired its children's programs on weekday and Saturday mornings until April 1997, when Univision relegated its children's programming exclusively to Saturday mornings to make room for its new morning news/talk/lifestyle program ''¡Despierta América!''.


La Piñata Loca

On March 30, 1996, Univision announced that it would launch a new Saturday and Sunday morning block, ''La Piñata Loca''. The block was hosted by George Ortuzar (''Lente Loco''; after he left the show in 1995). The block and network opted to fully program the block with shows acquired from various programming distributors and entered in partnership with Hanna-Barbera and World Events Productions (based on the product anime show, ''Voltron (TV series), Voltron: Defender of the Universe''). The block's initial lineup consisted mainly of Spanish-language and dubbed version of American, European and Japanese children's programs such as with ''The Flintstone Kids'' and ''Amigo and Friends, Cantinflas y Sus Amigos'' (among with the cartoon series was premiered in 1993).


Giorgiomania

On August 16, 1997, Univision launched a sub-block within the lineup, called ''Giorgiomania'', featuring dubbed version of the original series production by Film Roman during the first one-hour of the block on every Saturday morning such as ''Cro (TV series), Cro'' (based on ''Sesame Street'') were the show to air as part of the sub-block. In February 2000, after George "O" left from Univision, the block were discontinued. The following in few months, Univision entered launched as every Saturday morning, ''¡De Cabeza!''; among within featuring cartoon shows (''The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat'', ''Bruno the Kid'' and ''Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm''; as part of the ending in 2001, three cartoon shows returned to the Univision's sister-network, UniMás, Telefutura's children's block, Toonturama for the first time in nearly two-years).


Programming

All of the programs aired within the block featured content compliant with educational programming requirements as mandated by the Children's Television Act. Although the block was intended to air on Saturday mornings (such as Giorgiomania), some Univision affiliates deferred certain programs aired within the block to Sunday mornings, or (in the case of affiliates in the Western United States) Saturday afternoons due to select national sports broadcasts (especially in the case of 1998 FIFA World Cup soccer tournaments) scheduled in earlier Saturday timeslots as makegoods to comply with the E/I regulations.


Final programming


Former programming


Acquired programming


See also

*Univision y Los Niños - The Monday to Friday and Saturday morning block on Univision from 1989 to 1990. *Planeta U - The weekend morning block on Univision *Toonturama - The Saturday and Sunday morning cartoon block on UniMás (formerly known as TeleFutura). * Galamiguitos - The preschool block on Galavisión.


References

{{Univision programming Univision original programming Television programming blocks in the United States 1996 American television series debuts 2000 American television series endings