Litton's Weekend Adventure

Litton's Weekend Adventure

Type	Saturday morning block
Country	United States
Availability	National
Launch date	September 3, 2011 (2011-09-03)
Affiliation	ABC
Official website	http://www.littonweekendadventure.com

Litton's Weekend Adventure (originally known as ABC Weekend Adventure) is a block of live-action children's television series programmed by Litton Entertainment that is broadcast on the ABC network on Saturday mornings.^[1][2] Announced on May 24, 2011, Litton's Weekend Adventure launched on September 3, 2011, replacing the ABC Kids block.^[3][4][5][6]

Programming

Programming featured primarily targets 13-16 year olds (though some programs may also appeal to an adult audience), and the block satisfies the E/I programming guidelines outlined by the Federal Communications Commission.^{[3][4][5][6][2]}

The block came as a result of ABC deciding in early 2011 to no longer provide E/I programming as part of its Saturday morning network lineup to its affiliates; the network had not introduced any new E/I programs for its ABC Kids block since 2008, and the E/I programs that were airing had all been re-purposed Disney Channel sitcoms in reruns for three years at the time of the decision, some of which were fully out of production without remaining drawing power to children's audiences. Also, before the returning of the rights to the Power Rangers franchise in 2010 to Haim Saban, several affiliate groups refused to carry any series from that franchise or only in low-rated early morning hours, and had demanded any lineup be fully educational so the stations would not have to purchase E/I programming on the open syndication market.

As a compromise, the network's affiliate board agreed to instead look for a broadcast syndication package that would only air exclusively on ABC stations. Litton Entertainment was eventually selected, beating out two other competitors.^[3]

Although the block airs exclusively on ABC owned-and-operated stations and affiliates, Litton's Weekend Adventure is formatted similarly to a syndication package. There are no references to the network in promotions for the lineup and it does not use the network's logo bug during any of the programs, nor do commercial breaks include any promotions for ABC primetime programming. Although Litton's Weekend Adventure is meant to be a children's programming block, advertising is not targeted at children and includes only direct response and pharmaceutical advertising targeted towards adults instead, outside of public service announcements.

The Walt Disney Company offers a different Saturday morning block with original and new programming, Toonin' Saturdays, on Disney Channel which began in June 2011 and is now Disney's primary Saturday morning children's block.

Though the block follows the federally-mandated E/I programming guidelines outlined by the FCC, therefore allowing ABC stations to carry it without issues regarding lack of educational content, some stations, such as KDNL-TV in St. Louis, Missouri; WKEF in Dayton, Ohio; WAWV-TV in Terre Haute, Indiana; WYTV in Youngstown, Ohio and WLOS in Asheville, North Carolina do not carry the block, these stations often air their own E/I-compliant syndicated children's programs (in the case of ABC stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, those stations do not carry Litton programming due to a wide-ranging deal with the Cookie Jar Group, mainly to supply E/I programming to their CW and MyNetworkTV affiliates, in addition to their major network affiliates), as well as infomercials, in place of the block. In the western U.S., due to live sports programming on Saturday mornings, some affiliates air the block on Saturday afternoons or, in the case of KITV in Hawaii, Sunday afternoons.

Current programming

Former programming

• Culture Click (hosted by Nzinga Blake) – September 2011–January 2012

References

External links

• Official website