Saturday morning preview specials
Children's television specials
Saturday morning preview specials were aired on television annually to present previews of each network's fall lineup of Saturday-morning cartoon children's programming. Similar to the model for their new prime time counterpart shows, television networks in the United States and Canada would film a preview special for the fall season. These would often air as part of the regular network schedule or be made available to their affiliates for airing at any time, especially to fill timeslots that contained programming canceled months before.
Format
The Saturday morning previews were generally aired on the network in prime-time, usually the Friday night before the new schedule began. Specials were staggered between differing time slots and days in order to allow each network's show to stand out.
The preview specials are usually hosted by stars of one or more of the network's popular series and feature an array of special guests, with the continuity between each program preview being fictionalized with a small plot or theme to keep viewers interested. The previews were for new and returning series, with each preview featuring the show's opening credits and a scene from that program. They also unveiled a network's new imaging for Saturday morning programming.
The specials often included previews for prime-time programming as well. According to Mark Evanier, who wrote several Saturday morning preview specials, this was because the network's prime-time department had to clear the time slot for the special, and convincing them to do so was difficult without agreeing to promote one of their shows in the special.
The public source identifies “Saturday morning preview specials” as children's television specials. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Saturday, morning and preview.
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