Toon In Tonight: Remembering Saturday Morning Preview Specials

By Michael Lyons

Gather ‘round everyone and listen to a tale of a time when Saturday morning TV wasn’t just news shows and infomercials.  Instead, these mornings were jam packed with shows that were geared toward kids who had toiled away the weekdays in the rough and tumble world of elementary school.

These Saturday morning shows were everything from cartoons that centered on characters from crime solving dogs and strange super heroes to live-action shows that starred strange, costumed creatures.  

It no longer exists today, but Saturday morning television isn’t an urban myth, it actually happened, it was a “thing.”  In fact, Saturday morning programming was such an important part of each network’s line-up, that when the new fall TV season started, there were actually prime time shows that became known as the Saturday Morning Preview Special.

These would usually air the Friday night after Labor Day, as the following day, Saturday, would be the debut of the new morning line-up of shows.  For an entire generation, these specials were an oasis in the “back-to-school” world.  They created an eagerness for what was to come in the a.m. and almost served as a “Saturday Morning Eve” of sorts.

As Saturday Morning Television becomes a faded memory with each passing autumn, the one time Saturday Morning Preview Special has become an overlooked moment in TV history that’s become seemingly buried like a lost relic...

...until now.

What follows are just some examples of this one time annual tradition of kids TV that got everybody psyched for Saturday Mornings:

“The ABC Saturday Morning Sneak Peek” (ABC, 1973)

The comedy team of Jack Burns and Avery Schreiber (who just happened to have their own variety show at ABC at the time) were the hosts for this special.

The plot centered on a surprise party for Avery’s nephew and all of the stars of ABC’s new Saturday morning line-up were guests.   These included Batman and Superman from “Super Friends,” Lassie from “Lassie’s Rescue Rangers,” Singer Rick Springfield (later of “Jessie’s Girl” fame) from “Mission: Magic,” Goober the invisible dog from “Goober and the Ghost Chasers” and none other than Bugs Bunny himself (who was starring in his self-titled show).

Throughout the show, clips from the new series were shown, to peak the interest of kids at home.  This was a standard of the Saturday Morning Preview Shows.  

What’s unique about this show is that because technology to blend live-action and animation wasn’t advanced (and was costly), all of the characters appear in live-action.

The sight of a actors dressed as Batman and Superman, along with Rick Springfield, Lassie and a giant Bugs Bunny hiding in a living room for a surprise party is something that only ‘70’s TV could have brought us!

“The Bay City Rollers Meet the Saturday Superstars” (NBC, 1978)

From the file of “something that only ‘70’s TV could have brought us” comes this Saturday Morning Preview Show, featuring the Scottish, one hit wonder band The Bay City Rollers.

The Rollers were about to embark on their own Saturday morning variety show, produced by Sid and Marty Krofft (the masterminds behind the terrifically Trippy live-action shows “HR Pufnstuff” and “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters”).

Not only does the show preview the next day’s Saturday morning offerings, but familiar Krofft characters such as Witchiepoo appear alongside Erik Estrada and Joe Namath (who had prime time shows on NBC) in a weird display of network synergy.

“The Saturday Morning Preview Special” (CBS, 1983)

Host Scott Baio, alongside actor Sorrell Booke (in full character as Boss Hogg from “The Dukes of Hazzard”) preview shows like “Donkey Kong,” “Q-Bert” and “Dungeons and Dragons.”

Looking for a thirty minute ‘80’s time capsule?  Here it is!

“The ABC Saturday Morning Preview Special (ABC, 1992)

Twenty-six years ago, as the animation renaissance was about to kick into full gear at Disney, the studio also entered the TV animation race with several series.  One that debuted this year, “Goof Troop,” about Goofy and his son Max, would go on to be one if their most popular.

It was previewed by the cast of the ABC sitcom, “Step by Step,” along with a new, animated version of “The Addams Family,” (produced after the popularity of the 1991 live-action film).

The special and shows previewed are evidence that the ‘90’s were filled with unique and original Saturday morning offerings that also came out of that decade’s animation resurgence.  And with it, sadly, the ‘90’s became Saturday morning TV’s last hurrah.

These specials represent an excitement for Saturday Morning TV Shows that sadly no longer exists.  Many of the shows were offbeat, bizarre offerings filled with limited animation and sparse budgets.  They weren’t the best that TV had to offer...but the memories they provide are as sweet as the cereal consumed while watching them.

Sources:

Wikipedia