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Programs vary in their intended age group audience and style of presentation. Some take the form of game shows or comedies, but the term "children's television" is also often associated with animated series. Cartoon television, however, was primarily intended for adults until well into the late 1970s when "Saturday morning cartoons" became a U.S. television tradition.
Children's television is nearly as old as television itself, with early examples including shows such as Captain Tugg, Howdy Doody, Blue Peter and The Flowerpot Men. Early children's television was often a marketing branch of a larger corporate product such as Disney, and rarely contained an educational element. Though there is some debate on the intended audience, later non-educational children's television programs included the science fiction programs of Irwin AllenIrwin Allen (June 12, 1916-November 2, 1991) was a television and film producer nicknamed "The Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre. He was also notable for creating a number of memorable and popular television series. In 1952, he w (most notably Lost in SpaceSee also Lost in Space (disambiguation Lost in Space is a science fiction TV series produced between 1965 and 1968 by television producer Irwin Allen. Allen based his space adventure series on a Gold Key comic book, Space Family Robinson as well as the cl), the fantasy series of Sid and Marty KrofftSid and Marty Krofft are a sibling team of prolific television producers who were very influential in children's television and music/variety television, particularly throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. They are largely known for a unique brand of ambit, and the extensive cartoon empire of Hanna-Barbera.
Many children's shows also have a large adult following, sometimes in appreciation of their quality and educational value, and sometimes among adults who watched the shows as children or with their own children and now have a nostalgic emotional connection.
North American children's television took a dramatic turn in 1969For other uses, see Number 1969. For the movie, see 1969 (movie). Events January January 1 Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch purchases the largest selling British Sunday newspaper The News Of The World January 5 The Derry Riots leave over 100 people i with the creation of the visionary PBS program Sesame StreetA Celebration of Me, Grover showing much of the main cast of Sesame Street''. Left to right, a penguin, Elmo, Zoe, Big Bird, Grover, Bert, Ernie, Cookie Monster Sesame Street is an American educational television program for young children, which led the. Still in production over thirty years later, Sesame Street is an educational program produced by the Sesame Workshop and featuring Jim Henson's Muppets. The show blends human and puppet characters, animation, song and dance, and colorful production numbers with basic educational material oriented for children anywhere from toddler to six. It is on this television show that many children of the world are first exposed to things like basic math and language skills, as well as social skills and multiculturality. The effect of Sesame Street was so powerful that within a few years, children's television was universally considered to have an educational mandate.
Though the perceived educational mandate continues to be promoted and debated, and many shows (particularly those on public television) are specifically designed to be educational, children's programming has moved toward back toward pure entertainment over time. Efforts by state and federal government to regulate children television into being exclusively educational have been evaded or defeated.