One Saturday Morning (2016 Reboot)

Disney's One Saturday Morning (2016 reboot) is a Saturday Morning television block to air on the American Broadcasting Company. It is slated to start on June 4, 2016, after the closure of 'Litton's Weekend Adventure' on May 28th, 2016. It is a reboot of the block of the same name that aired from September 13, 1997 to August 27, 2011. The block is to feature a mix of Disney's animated and live action shows from the past and present.

Development
After Disney took over ABC in 1996, then-Chairman Michael Eisner sought to create a Saturday Morning block that was different from its competitors on FOX, CBS and the WB.

In February 1997, Peter Hastings left Warner Brothers in the wake of a dispute over a show he was working on at the time, Animaniacs. Hastings immediately joined Disney, where he was tasked with the complete overhaul of the Saturday Morning lineup. Hastings' idea was that Saturday was different from all the other days of the week and that the weekdays were just buildings leading up to Saturday. He also proposed the idea of using virtual set technology; even though he knew little about it and the technology was still untested. Disney and ABC liked the idea and were quick to sign on. Prudence Fenton was signed on as co-producer and soon, Hastings' fantasy would become reality.

Rutherford Bench Productions hired POP Sound (then Pacific Ocean Post) to produce the set. Hastings' original concept was that of Grand Central Terminal with a roller coaster inside. However, that quickly morphed into a huge mechanical version of the Magic Kingdom castle.

Disney's One Saturday Morning
On September 13, 1997, Disney's One Saturday Morning debuted on ABC. It was advertised as "five hours of summer, once a week!" (a reference to the theme song that opened the block each week) The block had 2 parts - 3 hours of cartoons and a 2 hour flagship show that included feature segments, comedy skits, and the virtual world Hastings had proposed, along with episodes of three series: Doug, Recess and Pepper Ann. Schoolhouse Rock was a stalwart of ABC's Saturday Morning schedule and had aired there since 1972. It aired on One Saturday Morning until the contract with Warner Brothers ended in 2000.

The live action segments  were originally hosted by Jessica Prunell (in the role of Charlie) for the block's first season, and later by Valarie Rae Miller (in the role of MeMe) beginning in September 1998; the segments also featured an elephant named Jelly Roll (voiced by Brad Garrett), who served as a sidekick to the human host.

During the intro sequence as well as at the start of all programs on the block, there would be a lightbulb on the bottom right corner of the screen with the voiceover "Illuminating Television", in reference to the programming content on the block. This remained through the block's re-branding to ABC Kids until it was changed in 2004.

The shorts and hosted segments were dropped in 2000 due to low ratings. In 2001, live action programs were added to the block as part of the ZOOG Hour, a reference to Disney Channel's weekend block - Zoog Disney.

ABC Kids
In July 2001, Disney purchased Fox Family Worldwide, acquiring Fox Family Channel and Saban Entertainment in the process. On September 14th, 2002, One Saturday Morning was re-branded as ABC Kids. The original ABC Kids lineup was a mix of first-run shows plus reruns of live-action and animated shows from Disney Channel, with the exception of NBA Inside Stuff, which ABC acquired in 2002 when they obtained NBA rights from NBC Sports.

Through the acquisition of Saban Entertainment, the Power Rangers franchise moved to ABC Kids as well, starting with the 2nd part of the Wild Force season (beginning with the episode 'Unfinished Business'). All episodes from the Wild Force and Ninja Storm seasons aired first-run episodes on ABC Kids with repeats on ABC Family. From Dino Thunder on, first run Power Rangers episodes were on ABC Family with reruns on ABC Kids. RPM aired exclusively on ABC Kids before the program was discontinued by ABC. Instead of producing a new season, a re-version of 'Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers' aired from January to August of 2010. Afterwards, Saban bought the rights to Power Rangers back from Disney and moved the franchise to Nickelodeon. All new seasons would premiere on the cable network starting with the Samurai season in early 2011. Replays of episodes from past seasons would debut the day after Samurai's premiere.

On August 27, 2011, ABC Kids was discontinued, ending ABC's tradition of airing Saturday Morning cartoons, dating back to the 1970s. Litton's Weekend Adventure would take the place of ABC Kids the following week.

Reboot
On January 1, 2016, it was announced that Disney/ABC and Litton Entertainment had agreed to end Litton's Weekend Adventure at the end of the current television season. Due to the high ratings of the 'Wonderful World of Disney' special 'Disneyland 60', One Saturday Morning was announced to be making a comeback the following day. On February 14, 2016, it was announced that the new One Saturday Morning would debut on June 4, 2016.