''UPN Kids'' was an American

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 younger ...

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

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

from September 10, 1995 to September 5, 1999. Airing on Sunday mornings, the block aired for one hour (10:00 to 11:00am), then two hours the following year (9:00 to 11:00 a.m., regardless of

time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...

History

UPN Kids launched on September 10, 1995 with a one-hour block of cartoons consisting of ''

Space Strikers ''Space Strikers'' (french: 20,000 Lieues dans l'espace, lit ''20,000 Leagues in Space'') is a 1995 animated television series based on the 1870 Jules Verne novel ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea''. Episodes center around the crew of the sp ...

'' and ''

Teknoman is a 1992 Japanese anime television series produced by Tatsunoko Production and Sotsu Agency. The series was directed by Hiroshi Negishi and written by Mayori Sekijima and Satoru Akahori. The story follows an organization called the Spa ...

''. It was a joint partnership between

and

Saban Entertainment Saban Entertainment, Inc. (along with Saban International; currently operating under the legal name is BVS Entertainment, Inc.) was a worldwide-served independent American-Israeli television production company formed in 1980 by Haim Saban and S ...

. Unlike

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

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 ...

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

and

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

(the latter of which debuted its own children's program block,

Kids' WB Kids' WB (stylized as Kids' WB!) was an American children's programming service and brand of The WB that aired on the network from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006. The block moved to The CW (a result of the merger of Time Warner's The WB ...

, the day before UPN Kids made its debut), UPN ran its weekend morning children's programs on Sundays instead of Saturdays. This was likely due to several UPN affiliates in large markets also dually carrying the

Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized as FOX KIDS) was an American children's block programming, programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channel ...

block for newer Fox stations (especially those of

New World Communications New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 197 ...

; the former Fox affiliates in those markets mainly also retained the Fox Kids schedule) on Saturday mornings, who is not carrying Fox Kids in order to instead expand Saturday morning newscasts or retain other local programming. This eventually proved to be a conflict for UPN, as the more well-known Fox Kids block was given primacy in advertising and promotions by those affiliates (including the continuation of the local children's Fox Kids fan clubs run by those stations) over UPN's unproven children's programming. On September 8, 1996, UPN Kids expanded the block to 2 hours with four new programs, which consist of ''

Jumanji ''Jumanji'' is a 1995 American fantasy adventure film directed by Joe Johnston from a screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh, Greg Taylor, and Jim Strain. Loosely based on Chris Van Allsburg's picture book of the same name, the film is the first i ...

'', ''

The Mouse and the Monster ''The Mouse and the Monster'' is a 1996–97 American animated series created by Jerry Leibowitz for Saban Entertainment. It centered around a mouse named Chesbro, and a beatnik monster named Mo. The show was originally part of the UPN network's ...

'', ''

The Incredible Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of '' The Incredible Hulk'' (May 1962). In his comic book a ...

'' and ''

Bureau of Alien Detectors ''Bureau of Alien Detectors'' (commonly initialized as ''BAD'') is a 1996 American animated series by Saban Entertainment that aired on the UPN network's weekend-morning cartoon block UPN Kids. It was touted as "X-Files meets the A-Team," and only ...

''. In 1997, UPN incorporated live-action series aimed at teenagers, along with the animated shows targeted at a younger audience, with the addition of reruns of the syndicated dramedy series ''

Sweet Valley High ''Sweet Valley High'' is a series of young adult novels attributed to American author Francine Pascal, who presided over a team of ghostwriters to produce the series. The books chronicle the lives of identical twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefiel ...

'' (based on the

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

novels by

Francine Pascal Francine Pascal ('' née'' Rubin, born May 13, 1938) is an American author best known for creating the Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. ''Sweet Valley High'' was the backbone of the collection, and was made into a popular television se ...

) and a new comedy series, ''

Breaker High ''Breaker High'' is a teen comedy-drama series that ran from 1997 to 1998, airing on YTV in Canada and on UPN's weekday "Kids" block in the United States. The series was created by Cori Stern, while David Winning directed the pilot and seven epis ...

'' (focused on a group of students attending a fictionalized

Semester at Sea Semester at Sea (SaS) is a study-abroad program which was founded in 1963 and managed by the Institute for Shipboard Education (ISE) in Fort Collins, Colorado. Colorado State University is the current academic sponsor and the program is condu ...

program, which featured a then-unknown

Ryan Gosling Ryan Thomas Gosling (born November 12, 1980) is a Canadian actor. Prominent in independent film, he has also worked in blockbuster films of varying genres, and has accrued a worldwide box office gross of over 1.9 billion USD. He has received ...

among its main cast). In January 1998, UPN began discussions with

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

(owner of rival network ABC) to have the company program a daily two-hour children's block for the network; however attempts to reach a time-lease agreement deal with Disney were called off one week later due to a dispute between Disney and UPN over how the block would be branded and the amount of programming compliant with 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 jurisdiction ...

's educational programming regulations that Disney would provide for the block. UPN then entered into discussions with then-corporate sister

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

(both were owned by

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...

). UPN had an agreement with

– the distributor of ''Sweet Valley High'' and ''Breaker High'' – to program the Sunday morning block for at least one year shows such as ''

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...

'', ''

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...

'', ''

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...

'', ''

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends may refer to the following shows: * ''Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends'' (1981 TV series), a 1981 cartoon series * ''Spidey and His Amazing Friends'' (2021 TV series), a 2021 Disney Junior cartoon {{Disam ...

'', ''

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

'' and ''

Beetleborgs ''Big Bad Beetleborgs'' (later ''Beetleborgs Metallix'') is an American live-action superhero television series by Saban Entertainment and was co-produced with Renaissance-Atlantic Films, Toei Company and Bugboy Productions. Two seasons aired on ...

'' soon joined the schedule. In March 1998, UPN resumed discussions with Disney and the following month, The Walt Disney Company agreed to develop a weekday and Sunday morning children's block for the network. A new lineup, which was developed as a companion block to ''

Disney's One Saturday Morning ABC Kids (originally titled Disney's One Saturday Morning until 2002) was an American Saturday morning children's programming block that aired on ABC from September 13, 1997 to August 27, 2011. It featured a mixture of animated and live-action ...

'' on

, was originally announced under the title "''Whomptastic''" (a title quickly discarded because it was used as an in-universe profanity replacement in Disney's animated series '' Recess''), before being retitled as ''

Disney's One Too Disney's One Too (later known as Disney's Animation Weekdays) was an American two-hour Sunday-to-Friday children's programming block that aired on UPN (and sometimes in syndication) from September 6, 1999 to August 31, 2003. A spin-off of the ''Di ...

''. UPN Kids aired for the last time on September 5, 1999, and was replaced by ''Disney's One Too'' the following day.

Programming

Former programming

Animated series

* ''

'' (1996–1997) * ''

'' (1996– 1999) *''Incredible Hulk & Friends'' (1998–1999)-Sunday, anthology series - mixed episodes of the following Marvel shows: **''The Incredible Hulk'' **''

'' **''

'' * ''

'' (1996– 1998) * ''

'' (1996–1997) * ''

'' (1998–1999) * ''

'' (1998–1999)

Live-action series

* ''

'' (1997–1998) * ''

'' (1998–1999)

Acquired series

* ''

'' (1997–1998) (live-action) * ''

'' (1995-1996) * ''

'' (1995-1996)

References

{{One Too Children's television networks in the United States Joint ventures Television channels and stations established in 1995 Television channels and stations disestablished in 1999 Television networks in the United States Television programming blocks in the United States