The last network standing when it comes to cartoons was the CW, which had begun airing children’s programming on Saturday mornings in 1995 as Kids’ WB, before merging to form CW in the following decade.
Kids’ WB aired some extremely popular series, including some brought over from Fox Kids, including “Animaniacs,” “Batman: The Animated Series,” and “Pokemon.” The block got even more popular when it introduced various anime series in 1999. The block survived a merger with CW in 2006, even though it dropped its weekday morning and afternoon time slots. In 2008, Kids’ WB was replaced by The CW4Kids, which the name probably gives away as programming made up of shows produced by 4Kids, including “The Batman,” the 2003 version of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” and “Yu-Gi-Oh.” The block was renamed Toonzai in 2010 and then fully replaced by the Saban-run programming block Vortexx.
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Vortexx was the last gasp of the Saturday morning cartoon. From 2012 to 2014, it aired such titles as “Justice League Unlimited,” “Dragon Ball Z,” “Digimon,” and “Transformers: Prime.” But on September 27, 2014, the process begun by NBC 12 was completed: Vortexx was replaced by “One Magnificent Morning,” a block of live-action educational content produced by — you guessed it — Hearst Media. One Magnificent Morning offers you yet more animal-based content, such as “Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild,” “Pet Vet Dream Team,” and “Tails of Valor,” which also airs on CBS on Saturday, so it looks like you’ve got two chances to catch it.
