Weekday cartoon

A weekday cartoon was the colloquial term for the animated television programming that was typically scheduled on weekday mornings and afternoons in the United States on many major television networks and in broadcast syndication from the 1960s to present.

Weekday cartoons began as far back as the early 1960s on commercial independent stations in the major U.S. television markets. On such stations, cartoon blocks would occupy the 7-9 a.m. and the 3-5 p.m. time periods, with some stations (such as WKBD-TV and WXON (now WMYD) in Detroit) running cartoons from 6-9 a.m. and 2-5 p.m. In smaller markets, network affiliates sometimes filled the 3 or 4 p.m. hour with such programming. In the 1970s, additional independent stations signed on running such programming (such as WUAB in Cleveland, Ohio; WXNE-TV (now WFXT) in Boston, Massachusetts; WKBS-TV, WTAF-TV (now WTXF-TV) and WPHL-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). The programs were distributed on various television stations (many of which were independent stations) through broadcast syndication.

A number of these weekday cartoons, especially the early ones such as Colonel Bleep, Batfink and Clutch Cargo, were serials that aired in daily, five-minute segments (as opposed to the standard half-hour format typical of most other cartoons to this day). A glut of such shows were produced in the late 1950s and through the 1960s, then syndicated continuously for the next two decades. These programs were usually distributed to local stations to air within their locally produced children's program showcases – which in addition to cartoon shorts, also included games, locally produced or franchised costumed characters (the best known example being Bozo the Clown), and entertainment to form a variety show. This program model slowly died out over the course of the 1980s.

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