Talkback: 4Kids TV Final Broadcast 12/27/08

Checked my affiliate (Fox66, WSMH). Although, it looks like most of the block will be payed programming and something called "Weekend Market", atleast the first hour (7:00AM - 8:00AM) will be used for kids material. Seems they're planning on airing The Littles (YES!) and ...Marty's Stouffer's Wild America (which seems to always go out of sync.).

I suppose it's better than nothing, especially since it sounds like no one elses affiliates so far have any cartoon material. Although, on the flip side, atleast most of it isn't Paid Programming for you guys. Ah well. God though, I haven't watched The Littles in ages...
 
Interesting. My affiliate for Fox, WSJXLP, starting Jan. 3 will be showing Digi Gata Defender at 9:00 am, Biker Mice from Mars at 9:30am, an hour of Sonic X at 10 am and Weekend market for the rest of the morning.
 
They aired a holiday bump before the normal opening that showed a couple gingerbread men talking and then a bump wishing us a happy new year....kinda cool...
 
KTVU-2 San Francisco

7:00 AM: Whats Up! Que Pasa: "A Multicultral show for Children"
7:30 AM: Gladiators 2000
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM To be Announced :ack:

Darn, I'll have to wait. I've been interested what they'd replace it with. Knowing KTVU, probably Rated R movies.
 
Yeah that's definitely how it'll be in my area, even though I live right outside of NYC. Oh well. At least I'll have TMNT: Back to the Sewear and Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight to save my Saturday mornings.
 
This is a rundown of what WPWR My 50 Chicago will carry on Saturday mornings starting January 3, 2009 in place of the now gone FOX 4 Kids TV block:
7 AM: Animal Atlas
7:30 AM: Malcolm in the Middle
8 AM: LatiNation
8:30 AM: American Latino TV
9 AM: Weekend Marketplace (2 hours - It's airing on the My Network Chicago station instead of the FOX Chicago station).

Meanwhile, for WFLD FOX 32 Chicago their Saturday morning lineup effective January 3, 2009 is:
7 AM: Awesome Adventures
7:30 AM: Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures
8 AM: Jack Hanna's Into the Wild
8:30 AM: Whaddyado
9 AM: Real Winning Edge
9:30 AM: Sports Stars of Tomorrow
10 AM: Paid Programming (1 hour's worth)
 
Well, 4Kids has been plugging the hell out of their website since the days of the Fox Box. (I have a DVD of Cubix that has a Fox Box promo on it, saying something like, "The Fox Box is only on once a week, but you can catch it any time at FoxBox.tv!") And when they got their new video player in September 2007, they've been making numerous references to it on the block, even before the announced demise of 4Kids TV. I remember when Sonic X left the lineup, before the show in its former slot, a promo said, "Looking for Sonic X? You can catch him online at 4KidsTV.com!" Hell, I've even seen promos for the site's video player during FOX's primetime lineup, namely, the Sunday night. It had an IM window with some guy saying "What's up?" "Watching TMNT" "But that's not on TV now!" "I'm watching it on the computer." or "What's up?" "Watching Chaotic don't bother me" Huh? I though that was only on Saturdays! "Watching Sonic X" "That hasn't been on TV in months!" "It's at 4KidsTV.com" "Can't talk, watching Winx Club". So, it doesn't really surprise me that they're talking so much about their website now with the demise of the lineup. I'm slightly surprised that they're announcing the end of the block, though I do think Fox Kids did something like that too.

As for the move to CW, I'm kind of surprised and kind of not surprised. I mean, I remember when Yu-Gi-Oh! GX moved to the CW, and they could not blatantly say that on TV, so on a promo before Kirby, they said, "Go to our website to find out what's going on." But back then, the demise of 4Kids TV was not announced, and FOX was going to keep the block for longer. At that point, FOX might not have liked 4Kids advertising the CW because they still were airing a children's block, and advertising other blocks like that would be harmful for competition's sake. But now that FOX has no more childrens' programming, they don't care anymore. CW4Kids is no competition to them anymore.
 
I won't get to see the block until tomorrow as my local station aired the block on Sundays.

WMOR-TV 32 here in the Tampa Bay area seems to have a little different schedule than most--not better, just different:

Starting Jan 4:

8:00 am Sports Stars
8:30 am Teen Kids News
9:00 am Ultimate Choice
9:30 am - 12:00 pm - Degrassi: Next Generation (5 eps)

At least we seem to have one of the few stations that isn't airing Weekend Marketplace. Yay...
 
And so, after nearly 20 years, Saturday morning cartoons on Fox are officially dead. I've never watched 4Kids TV, but its sad to see it go.
 
WTXF Fox 29 in Philly has this:
8AM: Wild About Animals
8:30AM: Awesome Adventures
9AM: Animal Rescue
9:30AM: Animal Atlas
10AM: Weekend Marketplace

Yes, essentially they're airing two hours of animal shows (actually three, as they have an hour of Awesome Adventures and Jack Hanna at noon). And I know at least one of them - Animal Rescue - used to be the time filler at late nights when the schedule ran over.
 
One of the first Fox Box ads: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuHhXUYXwOA

I wonder if anyone bothered to record the Fox Box preview show with the Spy Kids. It'd be really interesting to look back on now (I may have taped it, but it's probably wherever I put my recording of the final Fox Kids broadcast)...



Actually, I also saw it during Fast Forward (it may have also shown up during Winx Club, but my parents were in the room, so that was the only show I didn't watch. I'll check my recording later).

Overall, I felt this block ending wasn't nearly as depressing as the Kids WB and Toonami finales from earlier this year (or even the finale of Fox Kids). For one thing, as Light Lucario said, the spirit of 4KidsTV won't vanish from the spotlight because they have their online video player and CW4Kids. True, Kids WB and Toonami also have this, but 4Kids will still promote the hell out of it for a long time to come.

And I appreciate that they actually acknowledged the death of the block. Kids WB basically did the same thing that Fox Kids did when Fox Box came along and just avoided ever clearly saying goodbye. Obviously Toonami acknowledged their death too, but here we got a CGI snowman shooting himself in the head and a CGI gingerbread man being eaten alive to cheer us up as opposed to suicidally depressed CGI robots. :sweat:

The one thing that makes this depressing is, yes, this ends a legacy started by Fox Kids over 18 years ago, but it just...doesn't feel that sad of a thing.

And as a reflecting note, here's every show that ever ran on Fox Box/4KidsTV, including the lengths their runs were for (BIG thanks to TV IV, who's links are at the end of this long spoiler tag):

1. Stargate Infinity (September 14 2002 - March 29 2003)

2. Ultraman Tiga (September 14 2002 - March 1 2003)

3. Kirby: Right Back At Ya! (September 14 2002 - August 23 2003, September 6 2003 - January 1 2004, May 28 2005 - July 2 2005, July 30 2005 - August 6 2005, July 8 2006 - August 19 2006, September 2 2006 - January 6 2007, June 21 2008 - December 27 2008)

4. Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy (September 14 2002 - August 16 2003, August 30 2003 - May 22 2004, June 10 2006 - August 19 2006)

5. Fighting Foodons (September 14 2002 - August 30 2003)

6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (February 8 2003 - August 27 2005, September 10 2005 - July 22 2006, March 3 2007 - May 19 2007, February 9 2008 - September 6 2008)

7. The Cramp Twins (February 8 2003 - August 9 2003, September 13 2003 - November 15 2003, September 18 2004 - December 18 2004, January 1 2005 - February 12 2005, June 10 2006 - August 19 2006)

8. Pirate Islands (March 8 2003 - August 2 2003)

9. Back to the Future (April 5 2003 - August 30 2003)

10. WMAC Masters (July 5 2003 - August 30 2003)

11. Sonic X (August 23 2003, September 6 2003 - May 15 2004, May 29 2004 - December 18 2004, Jan 8 2005 - March 18 2006, April 1 2006 - June 3 2006, May 5 2007 - November 17 2007, June 21 2008 - December 27 2008)

12. Funky Cops (August 23 2003, September 6 2003 - October 23 2003, December 20 2003, May 1 2004 - May 29 2004, June 12 2004, June 26 2004 - July 3 2004)

13. Shaman King (August 30 2003 - December 13 2003, December 27 2003 - April 30 2005, July 2 2005 - September 3 2005)

14. Cubix (September 6 2003 - June 12 2004)

15. Martin Mystery (May 8 2004 - June 19 2004)

16. Winx Club (May 22 2004 - May 29 2004, June 19 2004 - September 22 2007 (seriously, it didn't have a single break for over 3 years), April 12 2008 - December 27 2008)

17. The Menu (June 5 2004 - September 11 2004, July 9 2005 - August 27 2005)

18. F-Zero GP Legend (September 4 2004, September 18 2004 - March 5 2005)

19. One Piece (September 18 2004 - August 27 2005, September 10 2005 - November 12 2005 (a promo aired announcing a 2006 run, but it never happened))

20. Mew Mew Power (February 19 2005 - November 12 2005, December 31 2005 - January 21 2006, July 8 2006 - July 22 2006)

21. Alien Racers (May 7 2005 - May 21 2005, July 9 2005 - July 23 2005)

22. Magical DoReMi (August 13 2005, September 10 2005 - July 1 2006, July 29 2006 - August 19 2006)

23. Bratz (August 20 2005, September 10 2005 - April 7 2007)

24. G.I. Joe Sigma Six (August 27 2005, September 10 2005 - June 3 2006, September 9 2006 - December 30 2006)

*Special Event #1* "Hope Rocks: A Concert With A Cause" (September 3 2005)

25. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fast Forward (July 29 2006 - August 26 2006, September 9 2006 - February 16 2008, September 13 2008 - December 27 2008)

26. Viva Pinata (August 26 2006, September 9 2006 - August 2 2008)

27. Yu-Gi-Oh! (September 2 2006, November 4 2006 - August 25 2007)

28. Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters (September 9 2006 - November 25 2006)

29. Chaotic (October 7 2006 - October 28 2006, February 17 2007 - February 24 2007, March 10 2007 - June 14 2008)

*Special Event #2* "Celebrity Moments" (December 23 2006 - December 30 2006)

*Special Event #3* "Quest for the Invisibles" (January 13 2007)

30. Di-Gata Defenders (July 29 2007 - August 25 2007, August 9 2008 - December 27 2008)

31. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (September 1 2007 - June 14 2008)

32. Dinosaur King (September 8 2007 - September 6 2008)

33. The Adrenaline Project (September 29 2007 - April 5 2008)

34. Biker Mice From Mars (August 9 2008 - December 27 2008)

35. Chaotic: M'arillian Invasion (September 13, 2008 - December 27, 2008)

http://tviv.org/Fox_Box/Previous_Schedules
http://tviv.org/4Kids_TV/Previous_Schedules

In short, this block was the most loved, the most hated, the most retro, and the most modern saturday morning block of this decade...all at the same time.

We shall close out the final day of this block with something everyone can look back on and laugh about now...the 4Kids National Anthem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfJuJrqFhXM

Fox Box/4Kids TV
September 14th, 2002 - December 27th, 2008
 
Hey, I wrote that! Well, not all of it (Joltman was a big help too). I was about to not plug it here b/c I've talked about it twice before... one in the "Goodbye 4Kids TV 2002-2008" thread and once in the main 4Kids thread.

But I did want to mention... someone and I are making the history of the schedules for Fox Box and 4Kids TV, including what episode aired when, even the reruns. I've been looking at past records and the Internet Archive (been editing that thing as I find things out, didn't watch Fox Box much before Sonic X and Shaman King premiered, and I recently added that day January 4, 2003 where Ultraman Tiga aired four times in one day)... but I'm at a standstill. I can't find January 11, 2003's schedule anywhere! Even the Internet Archive is useless! Hope I find it eventually.

Also, someone dubbed over the Toonami final broadcast with FOX Kids words:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGHNC9Z2kwQ

I'll do a YouTube video of this, maybe a voice video, or a text video... it's a semi-tribute and semi-rant.

And btw, I'm not surprised Winx Club didn't have a break for over three years, b/c of its e/i status.

Also, you missed...

35. Chaotic: M'arillian Invasion (September 13, 2008 - December 27, 2008)
 
Awesome, thanks for gathering all this info! I've never seen a block's schedule history outlined in this much detail. ^_^



I guess I didn't add it because I was too exhausted from the rest of the list... ><

*List is complete now*
 
Ah, yeah, I missed one commercial break during Fast Forward. But I watched the rest of the block, so I'm pretty sure those are the only two times the promo played (unless my affiliate screwed up somehow).

By the way, nice tribute. And it's kind of surprising that there were only 35 shows on the block. That's less than six new shows per year. I mean, The CW4Kids has already aired 22 different shows (if we include the four new ones premiering next week), and its only been on the air for seven months.
 
Also, kind of off topic, but...



Yeah, my mom doesn't want me watching that show either. She doesn't like the outfits they wear, even though I watch half a million shows that make FAR more sexual references than just semi-skimpy clothing that a Saturday morning cartoon with a TV-Y7-FV rating is allowed to get away with, and she's fine with them, even if she doesn't like them.

Course, it didn't stop me from watching it :D
 
It's not so much that she doesn't want me watching it (she couldn't care less what I watch), it's just that it's...awkward for me to watch girl-centered shows, ever since I watched Powerpuff Girls as a kid. It was also this case with Magical DoReMi and Mew Mew Power, but those were at least on so early in the morning that she almost never knew I was watching them. :sweat:

I ended up watching Spongebob instead of Winx, only switching back long enough to catch the Winx music video (I don't remember ever seeing one of these before, but I guess if DoReMi and GoGoRiki can have them, so can Winx) and the final credit roll.
 
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