Hot Hero Sandwich Project Archives: New York Times Article, Sep. 2, 1979

by G. Jack Urso

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.

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For Children, a Few Nuggets Amid the Cartoons

By Alexis Greene

New York Times, Sept. 2, 1979, pages 25 & 32.

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.”

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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