Editing ABC Kids (TV programming block) (section)

===Disney's One Saturday Morning===
[[File: Disney's One Saturday Morning.png|thumb|right|Disney's One Saturday Morning logo used from 1997 to 2002]]
[[The Walt Disney Company]] purchased ABC corporate parent [[Capital Cities Communications|Capital Cities/ABC Inc.]] in 1995. The merger was completed the following year, and in the fall of 1996, ABC's Saturday Morning lineup debuted the [[List of Doug episodes|fifth season]] of ''[[Doug (TV series)|Doug]]'' (which had been acquired from [[Nickelodeon]] that year) the third season of ''[[Gargoyles (TV series)|Gargoyles]]'' (which had previously aired on [[The Disney Afternoon]]), ''[[Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series|Mighty Ducks]]'', and ''[[Jungle Cubs]].''<ref>{{cite web |author=Christopher Grove |date=August 29, 1997 |title=Webs roll out season geared to kids |url=https://www.variety.com/1997/tv/news/webs-roll-out-season-geared-to-kids-1116678415 |access-date=August 13, 2009 |work=Variety |publisher=Reed Business Information}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite magazine |last=Rice |first=Lynette |date=April 7, 1997 |title=ABC Shuffles Saturday |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-BC/Broadcasting-Magazine/BC-1997/BC-1997-04-07.pdf |magazine=Broadcasting & Cable}}</ref> The following spring, it debuted the original animated series [[Nightmare Ned (TV series)|''Nightmare Ned'']] and began airing reruns of ''[[DuckTales (1987 TV series)|Ducktales]]''.<ref name=":0" /> It was one of two networks at the time that prominently carried Disney programming on Saturday mornings, as [[CBS]] also carried Disney cartoons (which were mostly television spin-offs of [[Disney Renaissance]] films).

In February 1997, Peter Hastings left [[Warner Bros. Animation]] and joined Disney, where he was tasked with overhauling ABC's Saturday morning lineup. Disney head [[Michael Eisner]] sought to create a [[Saturday morning cartoon|Saturday morning]] block that was different from those carried by its competitors [[Fox Kids]] and [[Kids' WB]]. Hastings pitched an idea around the concept that Saturday is different from every other day of the week, and the representation of weekdays as buildings. Hastings also proposed the use of virtual set technology; although he knew a bit about it at the time and the technology used was just starting to be developed, Disney and ABC liked the idea. He hired [[Prudence Fenton]] as consultant manager and co-executive producer. Together, they sampled virtual set technology at the 1997 [[NAB Show]] and chose technology developed by [[Accom]] and ELSET. Rutherford Bench Productions, which had previously worked with Disney on other projects, hired Pacific Ocean Post (now POP Sound) to produce the virtual set. The building was initially a drawing of [[Grand Central Terminal]] with a roller coaster added but evolved into a towering mechanical structure. Even the interior has similarities such as a central high raised room, with two wings on the left and right sides and another on the south side.<ref>{{cite web|title=ABC hopes for virtual success|url=https://variety.com/1997/digital/news/abc-hopes-for-virtual-success-1116677612/|author=Michael Goldman|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|publisher=[[Reed Business Information]]|date=September 15, 1997|access-date=August 13, 2009}}</ref>

On September 13, 1997, Disney's One Saturday Morning premiered as a two-hour sub-block within the ABC Saturday Morning lineup.<ref>{{cite web|title=Webs roll out season geared to kids|url=https://www.variety.com/1997/tv/news/webs-roll-out-season-geared-to-kids-1116678415|author=Christopher Grove|work=Variety|publisher=Reed Business Information|date=August 29, 1997|access-date=August 13, 2009}}</ref> It was originally scheduled to premiere the Saturday prior on September 6, but coverage by all U.S. networks of the [[Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales|funeral of Princess Diana]] pushed back the premiere by one week to September 13. Disney's One Saturday Morning featured two parts: three hours of regularly scheduled cartoons and a two-hour flagship show that included feature segments, comedy skits, and the virtual world which Hastings had proposed, along with newer episodes of three animated series: ''[[Doug (TV series)|Doug]]'', ''[[Recess (TV series)|Recess]]'' and ''[[Pepper Ann]]''.

''Doug'', ''Recess'' and ''Pepper Ann'' were each nominally given 40-minute timeslots. The extended 10 minutes during each show's slot were for One Saturday Morning's interstitial segments and educational features. The live-action wraparound segments were originally hosted by Charlie (portrayed by [[Jessica Prunell]]) for the block's first season in 1997, and later by MeMe ([[Valarie Rae Miller]]) starting in September 1998 until 2000; the segments also featured an elephant named Jelly Roll (voiced by stand-up comedian and actor [[Brad Garrett]]), who served as a sidekick to the human host, while the eccentric Manny the Uncanny ([[Paul Rugg]]), host of his own standalone segment where he visited and observed different jobs, made occasional appearances outside that segment.

''[[Schoolhouse Rock!]]'', a longtime essential of ABC's Saturday morning block since 1973, also aired as an interstitial segment during ''[[The Bugs Bunny Show|The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show]]'' (along shorts airing on Nickelodeon until 1999), likewise a carryover from the pre-Disney era (it would continue until ABC's contract with then-[[AOL Time Warner]] expired in 2000).

Disney’s One Saturday Morning was initially a massive success, beating [[Fox Kids]] during its first season to be the most-watched Saturday morning block on broadcast television.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://variety.com/1998/tv/news/abc-kids-block-tops-fox-on-saturday-1117470615/|title=ABC kids block tops Fox on Saturday|last=Katz|first=Richard|date=May 8, 1998|work=Variety|access-date=July 14, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> It remained competitive in its second season, beating all of Fox Kids' shows except ''[[Power Rangers]]''.<ref name="lat99">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-mar-09-fi-15344-story.html|date=March 9, 1999|title=The One That Got Away : With 'Doug,' Nickelodeon's Loss May Be Disney's Gain|author=Claudia Eller|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=October 23, 2014}}</ref> The third season remained competitive with its broadcast peers on Fox and [[Kids WB]], with ''[[The Weekenders]]'' being a bright spot for the block; the new series dethroned  anime show ''[[Pokémon (TV series)|Pokémon]]'' to become broadcast television's most-watched Saturday morning cartoon, though all of the broadcast networks had fallen behind Nickelodeon.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://variety.com/2000/tv/news/the-weekenders-defeats-pokemon-1117781251/  |title='The Weekenders' defeats 'Pokemon' |publisher=Variety|date=2000-05-05 |first=Michael |last=Schneider}}</ref>

The block received a new brand identity in the fall of 2000; this was followed by the shorts and hosted segments being retired on December 16 in a reformatting of the ABC block. By this time, the interstitials within the block were relegated to bumpers and [[promo (media)|program promotions]]. The change proved to be disastrous; by February 2001, ratings had fallen to less than half of its competitors' on Fox, The WB and Nickelodeon.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2001-02-19/fox-kids-wins-broadcast-ratings| title=Fox Kids wins Broadcast Ratings| work=[[Anime News Network]]| date=2001-02-19| access-date=2018-11-02}}</ref> In Fall 2001, live-action series were added to the One Saturday Morning lineup with the addition of the "Zoog Hour," an hour-long sub-block featuring the [[Disney Channel Original Series|Disney Channel original series]] ''[[Lizzie McGuire]]'' and ''[[Even Stevens]]'' (the sub-block, advertised in promos for Disney’s One Saturday Morning promoting the two programs as "powered by Zoog," was named after Disney Channel's weekend programming block at the time, Zoog Disney).

A spin-off of Disney's One Saturday Morning, [[Disney's One Too]], premiered on [[UPN]] on September 6, 1999; produced through a time-lease agreement between Disney and UPN, the block aired each weekday (either in the morning or afternoon, depending on the station's preference) and on Sunday mornings, and featured many of the programs shown on One Saturday Morning (including ''Recess'', ''Pepper Ann'' and ''[[Sabrina: The Animated Series]]'').<ref>{{cite web|title=Mouse brands UPN kidvid|url=https://variety.com/1999/tv/news/mouse-brands-upn-kidvid-1117743063/|author=Chris Pursell|work=Variety|publisher=Reed Business Information|date=July 19, 1999|access-date=August 13, 2009}}</ref>