ABC Weekend Special

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ABC Weekend Special is a weekly 30-minute American television anthology series for children that aired Saturday mornings on ABC from 1977 to 1997. It featured a wide variety of stories that were both live-action and animated. Similar to both the ABC Afterschool Special and The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie that had started five years previous, the ABC Weekend Special differed in that it was primarily aimed at younger viewers following ABC's Saturday-morning cartoon lineup, whereas the ABC Afterschool Special was known for its somewhat more serious, and often dramatic storylines dealing with issues concerning a slightly older teen and pre-teen audience. With the debut of the ABC Weekend Special, some of the early ABC Afterschool Specials that had been targeted towards younger viewers were subsequently repackaged and re-run instead as ABC Weekend Specials.

Video ABC Weekend Special

Presenters/Hosts

1979-1981: Michael Young served as host of the series for two seasons.

1981-1984: Willie Tyler and his puppet Lester took over as the new hosts of the series, appearing in an opening segment introducing that week's episode as well as an ending segment wrapping up the show and often recommending the book that that week's episode had been based on.

1984-1989: The puppet character Cap'n O.G. Readmore took over as host of the series, along with Jon "Bowzer" Bauman. The character also starred in five animated episodes of the show, as well appearing in animated Saturday morning PSAs encouraging children to "read more".

Maps ABC Weekend Special

Title sequence

During the series' tenure on Saturday Mornings, ABC Weekend Specials had three main opening title sequence packages, all of which included storybook/literary elements and characters in varying forms.

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List of episodes

Listed by original airdate, however many of the episodes were put into heavy rotation, continuing to air in reruns for years after their original airdate.

Short Story Specials (1977)

Season 1 (1977-1978)

14 episodes:

Season 2 (1978-1979)

12 episodes:

Season 3 (1979-1980)

12 episodes:

Season 4 (1980-1981)

8 episodes:

Season 5 (1981-1982)

6 episodes:

Season 6 (1983)

9 episodes:

Season 7 (1984)

9 episodes:

Season 8 (1984-1985)

8 episodes:

Season 9 (1985)

9 episodes:

Season 10 (1986)

9 episodes:

Season 11 (1988)

4 episodes:

Season 12 (1988-1989)

5 episodes:

Season 13 (1991)

3 episodes:

Season 14 (1992)

3 episodes:

Season 15 (1992-1993)

8 episodes:

Season 16 (1993-1994)

3 episodes:

Season 17 (1994-1996)

6 episodes:

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Other specials

Occasionally, during the Weekend Specials timeslot, ABC aired a series of specials under the title ABC Saturday Morning Specials. Two ABC's Wide World of Sports for Kids specials were also produced in 1994.

List of other specials

1. The Great Alaska Dog Sled Race -- 1993.Mar.06
2. Rhythm and Jam: Rhythm & Rap -- 1993.Sep.18
3. Rhythm and Jam: Melody & Harmony -- 1993.Sep.25
4. Kids on Ice: A Skating Adventure! -- 1994.Feb.12
5. A Day at the Races -- 1994.Jun.11
6. Money Made Easy: The ABC Kids' Guide to Dollars and Sense (Part 1) -- 1994.Apr.02
7. Money Made Easy: The ABC Kids' Guide to Dollars and Sense (Part 2) -- 1994.Apr.09
8. Crash the Curiousaurus (Part 1) -- 1995.Jan.14
9. Crash the Curiousaurus (Part 2) -- 1995.Jan.21
10. Wild Things: An Earth Day Special -- 1995.Apr.22
11. The Secret of Lizard Woman -- 1995.Nov.12
12. Back to School With Schoolhouse Rock -- 1996.Sep.14

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External links

• ABC Weekend Specials on IMDb
• ABC Weekend Specials at TV.com

Source of the article : Wikipedia