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Children's television series: Wikis




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Children's television series are television programs designed for, and marketed to children, normally broadcast during the morning and afternoon. They can sometimes run in the early eveningor night if it's a kids channel, for the children that go to school. The purpose of the shows is mainly to entertain and sometimes to educate the young audience about basic life skills or ideals.

Programmes vary in their intended age group audience and style of presentation. Some take the form of game shows or comedies, and many take the form of animated series.



Children's television is nearly as old as television itself, with early examples including shows such as Blue Peter, Captain Tugg, The Magic Roundabout, Howdy Doody, Clangers, Flower Pot Men, The Singing Ringing Tree and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood . In the United States, early children's television was often a marketing branch of a larger corporate product, such as Disney, and it rarely contained an educational element. Though there is some debate on the intended audience, later non-educational children's television programmes included the science fiction programmes of Irwin Allen (most notably Lost in Space[citation needed]), the fantasy series of Sid and Marty Krofft, and the extensive cartoon empire of Hanna-Barbera.

Many children's programmes also have a large adult following,[citation needed] sometimes due to perceived quality and educational value,[citation needed] and sometimes among adults who watched the shows as children or with their own children and now have a nostalgic emotional connection such as Nickelodeon's classic programming.[citation needed]


Since the mid 1980s, there have been teen comedies and teen dramas such as in the UK; Byker Grove and Grange Hill and that are geared toward older children (typically between the ages of 12 and 15).


In the US there are three main children's channels Nickelodeon which gained popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, Cartoon Network which gained popularity in the mid-1990s and Disney Channel which gained its popularity in the late-1990s. Nick was the first channel devoted to childrens programming and remains the most popular of the three. Other childrens channels in the US include Discovery Kids, PBS Kids Sprout, NickToons, TeenNick, Disney XD and Nick Jr..

In Canada there is YTV, Teletoon and Family Channel. YTV airs mostly programming from Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Discovery Kids and Kids WB. Teletoon airs programs from Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, NickToons and Adult Swim. Family airs programming from Disney Channel, Discovery Kids and Nickelodeon.

In the UK there is CBBC, CITV and Nickelodeon UK and Disney Channel UK.


See also

External links

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