What If the FCC's E/I Mandate Never Existed?

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mstrahle25

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I got this idea to start this thread after reading about cable's long term effect on SATAM programming on ABC/CBS/NBC on the TZ forums. I consider the implemention of the E/I mandate in 1995-96 as one factor in the decline of Saturday morning programming on the broadcast networks. To not waste a lot of time, I basically figure that it handicapped affiliates (regardless, the networks themselves have often filled the E/I requirements for them) from being able to make a better profit. Also, it's awfully reduntant for broadcast networks to be coerced into airing supposedly educational kids programming when PBS already exists for that reason.
 
It's even sillier considering some of the shows that actually earn that e/i rating. Some such shows are hardly what I would call educational. There may have been good intentions implementing the e/i requirements--that's debatable--but the end result of the e/i thing has just been kind of a mess.

The e/i thing may not have helped Saturday morning cartoons, but those started dying even before the mandate (NBC, anyone?). And as it is, the e/i thing is probably the biggest reason that Saturday morning cartoons haven't completely died yet, being a lazy but also relatively convenient way for the affiliates to get their e/i requirements in, which really only winds up having the e/i requirement make less sense than ideally intended.
 
What if? ABC, CBS and NBC would have pulled the plug on Saturday mornings years ago.

Assuming that the economics of the TV business evolving the same way they have, the affiliates would have punted Scooby-Doo and Bugs and PR and everything else to make room for infomercials or other revenue-producing programming.

I think the kids blocks would have survived a few years longer but the economics would have won out in the end.
 
I don't know that if the mandate never existed that the major networks would still air cartoons on Saturday mornings and afternoons, but the whole Saturday morning cartoons experience would have lasted a lot longer than it did with the major networks. But I got to believe that NBC, CBS and ABC would eventually have replaced the good stuff with their morning news/talk shows or maybe educational nature programs or something, I just don't think cartoons would have kept going and going.
 
I still think that if the E/I thing never existed, we would be almost like we are today. Like people said before NBC pulled the plug on Saturday Morning cartoons a few years before the E/I Mandate started.
 
I hope what I say doesn't turn out wrong. It did with the other thread.

If there wasn't an e/i mandate, I think it's possible that the WB and UPN networks would still exist. From what I can tell, they did a decent job with cartoons. ABC, CBS and NBC may have still ended up the way they are now. But WB and UPN could have turned out differently.
 
The E/I mandate however, came along about the same time as the WB and UPN. I just figured that they along with FOX were able to exploit certain FCC loopholes since they weren't as established as ABC, CBS and NBC.
 
The longevity of those two entities as TV networks was not, in any way, affected by what happened on Saturday mornings. Really, Saturday mornings were never impactful enough to make/break a network.
 
That's because the Fox, WB and UPN affiliates were quite OK with acquiring most, if not all, of the three hours of E/I themselves. One SBTB rerun each weekday and one on Saturday is all you need.

So, Fox Kids and Kids WB were free to schedule a block without consideration to E/I content. It's them other stations that were the pains in the behind.
 
I don't know exactly what went on at NBC. But I generally believe, that NBC basically, wanted to exploit the popularity of Saved by the Bell by having more shows like that. Also, with FOX entering and making an agressive push in the SATAM game, I suppose that NBC didn't want to "oversaturate" the market with more cartoons. Therefore, they tried to be a true alternative to what the other networks were offering at the time.
 
The alphabet networks were generally never truly passionate about programming for Saturday morning; a common story within the TV industry goes that programming the Saturday morning schedule was considered worse than the mailroom job.

NBC just got lazy when Saved by the Bell became huge; they decided that it would be better (not to mention easier and cheaper) to just clone SBTB several times over than acquire more cartoons. NBC's moving out away from Sat AM cartoons had nothing to do with providing an alternative or fear of over-saturating the market. They just got lazy, pure and simple.



As was already stated, the petering out of the WB and UPN network had nothing to do with the E/I/ mandate. At all. E/I requirements are nowhere near that important a factor in a network's longevity. These networks too got lazy and thought it simpler and less trouble to just run 3rd party E/I programming blocks rather than make/acquire their own from outside sources. If UPN and WB were still around now, they'd likely be doing just what the other alphabet networks are doing now: simply running 3-hour E/I blocks courtesy of other companies like Qubo, Disney and KEWLopolis.
 
When I have the chance, I'm going to start a thread about what exactly led to both WB and UPN petering out (and turning into the CW).
 
Even though they were making millions in advertising from toy and fast food companies?! I think the real problem was that the networks themselves never owned any major properties. Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros, and Filmation to name a few were the ones making the big bucks through license deals. The reason NBC got so excited about Saved by the Bell wasn't so much cause it was cheap and easy, although that was a reason, but cause they finally found a franchise. They even aired College Years in primetime!
 
I would be alright if the FCC's E/I mandate never existed. Saturday morning is supposed to be for entertainment, not school for three hours at a time. Personally, I think it should be relaxed or changed. Let the network affiliates run at least an hour of E/I programming, let the networks run another hour of E/I, and the third hour should be supplemental, not mandatory(In the News, Schoolhouse Rock, One to Grow On, etc.) Prohibition shouldn't be allowed on network TV. Unfortunately, prohibition is a major problem, which still continues, today.
Blame the problems with the FCC's involvement in Saturday morning programming on bureaucrats and politicians.
 
I'm not an E/I supporter or anything, but I don't see the 2 as being mutually exclusive. George Newall and Tom Yohe (the creators of Schoolhouse Rock) managed to produce something that was both educational and entertaining, and at the same time, no less! it can be done, but it takes true talent. It's an art, but sadly, so few are it's masters.

...And lazy network executives. ;)
 
There was this cartoon called Project Geeker that aired on CBS saturday mornings which was cancelled at one season despite high ratings for E/I programming.

If the FCC's E/I Mandate never existed that show would've lasted longer.
 
That explains why the last year NBC aired animation on Saturday Mornings, there was ZERO effort put into the shows (Yo! Yogi; Chip & Pepper; Pro-Stars, etc.)

I think if there was no mandate, things would still be the same as they are now for one simple reason: There were no popular prime-time family shows to spin off into animated shows, and there weren't any truly blockbuster films or big name celebs to give their own series in the late 90's, especially with Kid's WB entering the game and being able to get away with more in terms of content.
 
Silverstar said:
The alphabet networks were generally never truly passionate about programming for Saturday morning; a common story within the TV industry goes that programming the Saturday morning schedule was considered worse than the mailroom job.

There's some truth to this, because I remember reading in a kids' magazine in the late '80s that NBC was considering even then to drop their Saturday Morning line-up or reduce it in favor of things like a Saturday edition of the Today show, which is what eventually happened.
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