by G. Jack Urso
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| Screenshot of original New York Times Article, Sep.
2, 1979. A more legible version (minus the cast picture) is provided below. |
The New York Times article, “For Children, a
Few Nuggets Amid the Cartoons,” Sept. 2, 1979, is deep dive into the then-current
state of Saturday morning cartoons. Clocking in at a feature-length 2,073
words, the New York Times pulls in
experts to analyze the industry and the target audience. Among the shows
discussed for the Fall 1979 season is Hot
Hero Sandwich. The transcription of the article is provided below along
with images of the article.
Hot Hero Sandwich is only discussed in a
couple paragraphs in this long article, but one thing of note is that the New York Times, printed Sep. 2, 1979,
reports the series will debut on Oct. 20, 1979. The official
series press release, however, dated Oct. 22, 1979, reports the start
date was pushed forward to Nov. 10. This suggests that the start date was moved up after Sep. 2.
The Times article also reports the debut of Dr.
Lee Salk’s Feelings (echoing the then-popular, and much-parodied, song of the same name), a 13‐part PBS series where
Dr. Salk talks with children 7-14 about issues affecting
kids, like divorce, drugs, and sexuality. Dr. Salk (brother of Dr. Jonas Salk
who developed the polio vaccine) was a consultant for Bruce and Carole
Hart and conducted the interviews for the animated children’s dreams segments on Hot
Hero Sandwich. Also noted is the debut of 3-2-1 Contact, which also featured Hot Hero’s very own Nan-Lynn Nelson, in The Bloodhound Gang segments (which she discusses in her interview
with the Hot Hero Sandwich Project).
Also of note,
for the mighty New York Times, there
are certainly a number of spelling errors. I note ten spelling errors (identified
by [sic]), plus number of other errors in the spacing of cartoon character names which should have been easily verified by referring to network press releases
or, dare I say, the TV Guide. To be fair, I would be surprised if the computer terminals used in the Times newsroom in 1979 had any spell-checking.
Definitely more of an article for those with an interest in TV history, and Saturday morning cartoons in particular, “For
Children, a Few Nuggets Amid the Cartoons,” gives a comprehensive look at the
Saturday morning television landscape in 1979 and provides more context to Hot Hero Sandwich.
_____________________________________________________
For Children, a Few Nuggets Amid the
Cartoons
By Alexis Greene
New York Times, Sept. 2, 1979, pages 25 & 32.
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| New York Times Article, “For Children, a Few Nuggets Amid the Cartoons,”
Sep. 2, 1979, page 25. |
Amid all the
ballyhoo over the new prime‐time schedules, little attention has been paid to
the television fare being offered in one of the more controversial, not to
mention lucrative, time periods for the commercial networks: Saturday morning.
This is the time period that accounts for the highest concentration of
programming aimed at children under 12. Indeed, of the 32 million American
children from 2 to 11 who live with television sets, at some point during any
Saturday morning at least 25 million of them are tuned to the three commercial
networks. And, despite claims about the low advertising revenues derived from
Saturday morning programming (the networks refuse to disclose precise figures),
last year toy, cereal and candy manufacturers — the biggest buyers of
advertising minutes surrounding programs aimed at children — spent $94 million
at the networks for weekend daytime commercials. Yet, the content and style of
the programming offered on Saturday mornings by the commercial networks
continues to be the object of often stinging criticism from parents, educators,
child psychologists and government officials.
“Saturday
morning is the most depressing part of the whole broadcast scheme,” says Peggy
Charren, president of Action for Children's Television. “The 2‐to‐11 age span
is the most diverse period in human development, and that's why diversity is so
important. But what the networks are doing for children on Saturday morning is
an indication that we as a nation just don't care about our kids, that kids are
all alike. ABC does a nice short‐story special — at the end of the schedule
[“ABC Weekend Specials,” at noon]. CBS's ‘30 Minutes' is a nice show, but why
are they burying it at 1:30 in the afternoon? The networks don't do anything
except what worked last year or last week.”
A look at the
forthcoming season's entries from the three networks would seem to justify Mrs.
Charren's observations. Officially, the new Saturday morning schedules will go
into effect next weekend (due to a strike by film animators, some of the new
cartoons will not appear until later in the month) and, with the exception of
NBC's “Hot Hero Sandwich,” little other than animated cartoons will be offered.
The NBC show,
which will make its debut at noon on Saturday, Oct. 20, is a weekly, hour‐long
exploration of adolescence. Created and produced by Carole and Bruce Hart, “Hot
Hero Sandwich” (the title derives from the show's setting, the Hot Hero
Sandwich Cafe, a combination luncheonette and disco) focuses on the pleasures
as well as the frustrations of growing up. Each week, skits will dramatize such
adolescent stumbling blocks as first dates and coping with school; “heroes”
such as television actor Erik Estrada and the Rev. Jesse Jackson will discuss
their own adolescent experiences with clinical psychologist Dr. Thomas J.
Cottle.
For the most
part, however, the Saturday‐morning schedules of the commercial networks for
the forthcoming season evidence scant diversity and reflect little that could
be considered fresh, innovative or experimental. For instance, CBS will be
offering an animated hour of “The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and
Jeckle” at 8 A.M.; ABC has scheduled a two hour animated‐cartoon package (9 to
11 A.M.) under the umbrella title of “Plasticman Comedy/ Adventure Show,” which
features, in addition to the elasticized superhero of the title, such
characters as Mightyman, Yukk, Fangface and Fangpuss. A half‐hour of this ABC
cartoon package will include something called “Rickety Rocket,” in which four
black teen‐agers run an amateur detective agency and ride a talking rocket
ship. Every Saturday morning through Oct. 13, NBC has scheduled a block of five
hours of animated cartoons, three‐and‐a‐half hours of which have been produced
by a single supplier, Hanna‐Barbera. [sic]
“Cartoons are
what we have found to work in terms of drawing an audience,” says Mary Alice
(Mickey) Dwyer, vice president of children's programs at NBC. “Experience has
shown us quite honestly that it is the exceptional live‐action show that works
on Saturday morning. And for all of the good that we try to do, if we cannot
draw an audience to our programs, then it doesn't matter. And that
Saturday‐morning arena is an exceptionally competitive arena.”
Faith Frenz
Heckman, CBS vice president of children's programs, maintains that a program
such as “30 Minutes” would not get an audience if shown earlier on Saturdays.
“It's not fair to put a show like that in competition with cartoons on other
networks,” she said. “It wouldn't be viewed.”
Squire D. Rushnell,
vice presfdent [sic] of children's programming at ABC, says. that “even if we
took our ‘Afterschool Specials' and put then on at 9 on Saturday morning — if
the kids have a choice between the ‘Afterschool Specials' and ‘Bugs Bunny,’
they're going to choose ‘Bugs Bunny.'”
There is,
nonetheless, concern among some child psychologists as to what really attracts
children to the cartoons they apparently watch so regularly on Saturday
mornings, and there is worry that this particular style of animation may be
detrimental to young minds. Dr. Aletha Huston‐Stein and her husband Dr. John C.
Wright, who work at the Center for Research on the Influence of Television on
Children at the University of Kansas, have found that the production techniques
utilized in these cartoons may have adverse effects on youngsters.
“The
Saturday‐morning programs, particularly cartoons, use a lot of what we call
‘hype,’ ” said Dr. Huston‐Stein in a recent telephone interview. “Just a
tremendous amount of sensory bombardment: rapid changes of scene, visual
special effects and, most important, loud music, beeps, sound effects.
“We showed kids
cartoons that had a lot of those hyped‐up features but no acts of physical
aggressison [sic]. We found that pre‐school children become overactive and
negatively aggressive even after seeing cartoons that are just hyped up and
full of noise.”
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| New York Times Article, “For Children, a Few Nuggets Amid the Cartoons,”
Sep. 2, 1979, page 32. |
Dr. Robert
Abramovitz, associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Yale Child
Study Center, believes that the kind of cartoons constantly shown on Saturday
mornings inhibit a child's learning ability. “When I look at these programs,”
says Dr. Abramovitz, “what I see is an audio‐visual element that's designed
strictly to keep grabbing the attention of a child's perceptual apparatus, but
none of that is designed to help a kid process information.
“It is well
known that children up to 7 and 8 have short attention spans, but to then
design programs around that fact is a crucial error. If you present programming
that takes into account how slowly children process information.
NBC is trying
something new with “Hot Hero Sandwich” (right) featuring skits about teenage
problems. More typical children's fare is ABC's “Plasticman” cartoons. You can
get them to concentrate for long periods of time. But what we're talking about
with the Saturday‐morning line‐up is programming that's not age‐specific. The
broadcaster is simply trying to gather the largest possible market in front of
the set.”
Network
executives contend that diversity can be found among the Saturday‐morning
cartoons themselves. “If you l,” insists NBC's Mary Alice Dwyer, “there's not a
similarity in styles. And we have looked for diversity in types of concepts:
comedy, adventure, mytery.” [sic]
When Mr.
Rushnell of ABC was queried about the lack of diversity on Saturday mornings,
he replied that “the shows are different. They may not appear unique, even in
the descriptions of them, but ‘Mightyman and Yukk’ is a unique show.
‘Plasticman’ is unique.”
Of course, the
commercial networks' Saturday‐morning cartoon ghetto does have an alternative:
public television. Beginning in October, WNET / Channel 13 will be offering, as
is its practice, Saturday‐morning repeats of its daily children's fare: “Sesame
Street”(all new episodes will be forthcoming only after Nov. 26), “Mister
Rogers,” “Once Upon a Classic” and “Zoom !”
As far as the
programming schedules during the week go, the picture for young viewers this
fall looks a bit more varied and imaginative: CBS will be introducing three new
dramatic series designed for youngsters, and the Public Broadcasting Service
will be introducing two new series, one featuring discussions of personal
problems and the other focusing on science.
“The CBS
Library,” a new series of one‐hour dramatic productions designed for children
12 and younger, will .make its debut Sunday, Oct. 21, at 5 P.M., with “Once
Upon a Midnight Dreary.” Starring Vincent Price, this suspense tale has been
adapted from segments of children's stories and books: Washington Irving's “The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Richard Peck's “The Ghost Belongs to Me” and John
Bellair's “The House With a Clock in Its Walls.” Subsequent productions will
follow a similar format.
The “CBS
Afternoon Playhouse,” tentatively slated to make its debut in November, will
offer three hour‐long original dramas during the course of the year and one
mini‐series consisting of five half‐hours (no titles were available as of this
writing). The “pilot” for this series was the five‐part “Joey and Redhawk”
telecast last December.
The third new
weekday entry at CBS, a half‐hour series entitled “The Kids on the Block,” will
use life‐sized puppets to dramatize the difficulties encountered by handicapped
children. The first offering of this series is scheduled for late November.
The Public
Broadcasting Service will be offering “Feelings,” a new 13‐part series of
half‐hour programs with Dr. Lee Salk as host; it will have its local premiere
on WNET/ Channel 13 on Oct. 6. Created for children ages eight through 14, the
program will feature the noted child psychologist discussing with youngsters of
all ages their attitudes and concerns toward such topics as sex, parents and
why their offspring get into trouble.
Another new
weekday public‐television presentation for children, this one for youngsters
between eight and 12, will be a half‐hour introduction‐to‐science series
entitled “3‐2‐1‐Contact”; it will make its debut in mid‐January.
Youngsters
watching television on Saturday and Sunday mornings will continue to be exposed
to a liberal sprinkling of brief messages about health, education and news. CBS
is bringing back its “In the News” spots for their ninth year; these
two‐and‐a‐half‐minute “drop‐ins” will be interspersed between the regular
weekend fare. Every Saturday morning, three editions of “Ask NBC News,” one
minute news‐analysis spots wherein children ask questions about current events
and NBC reporters answer, will be interspersed with three segments of
“Time‐Out,” 75‐second messages offering advice about physical fitness.
On ABC, the
award‐winning “Schoolhouse Rock” series of three‐minute, animated,
informational messages set to a comtemporary [sic] musical beat will return three
times on Saturdays and once on Sundays. During the weekends, the same network
will be offering “Dear Alex & Annie,” a five‐minute “advice column of the
air” on personal problems. ABC's “Plasticman” series will be relieved by
30‐second consumer tips of particular interest to youngsters on such topics as
the importance of reading labels and the necessity for critically viewing
advertisements.
As to specials
and returning series, entries this year will include NBC's “Special Treat,”
hour‐long dramatizations of short stories (one Tuesday a month, at 4 P.M.,
starting in October). At 8 A.M. on Monday, Sept. 10, on CBS “Captain Kangaroo”
will start his 25th year on television. Also on CBS, “The Festival of Lively
Arts for Young People” will be returning for its seventh season; details of the
first presentation were unavailable at press time.
ABC's dramatic
series “Afterschool Specials” will begin its eighth season Sept. 26. These
hour‐long plays are broadcast twice‐monthly on Wednesdays at 4:30 P.M. And
beginning this fall, ABC's “Weekend Specials” for the first time will be
telecast throughout the year. The first of a dozen new offerings in this
half‐hour series is scheduled to be shown at noon Saturday, Sept. 15. “Kids Are
People Too,” the 90minute variety/ talk‐show, will be returning to ABC for its
second season next Sunday at 10 A.M.
Inasmuch as the
networks seem content with the status quo of their Saturday‐morning
programming, government pressure may be required to alter the content and style
of what is offered during that time period. Appropriately enough, the
Children's Television Task Force of the Federal Communications Commission for
the past year has been investigating the degree of compliance with the
suggestions made in the F.C.C.'s 1974 “Report and Policy Statement on
Children's Television Programs.” That report had pressed for more programs for
children on weekdays and called for increased diversity in the whole week's
spectrum of children's programming. The Task Force will present its new policy options
to the F.C.C. during the week of Sept. 17. Certainly, on the evidence of this
year's schedule, the diversity called for in that 1974 report has yet to be
seen on Saturday mornings.
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