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During my sophomore year of college, I took a course on the history of television and radio. As someone who adores media, this was an amazing class and it was one of my favorites during my time at Seton Hall.
As long as I can remember, I was someone who loved to memorize dates of movie releases and network TV schedules. I was the kid who would go on Wikipedia everyday and read about anything related to film, music and of course, sports.
Literally, if you put me in a normal history class and made me learn about something like the Vietnam War for the hundredth time, I would go to sleep. Now, if you put me in a class like the one I mentioned earlier, I’m going to be locked in.
There’s another type of history I adore greatly and that’s the history of college football. Whether it’s on the history of a program or an offensive scheme, I’m devouring that content. As a result, that information is now ingrained into my brain forever.
Naturally, with my curiosity of TV and college football, the history of my favorite sport on television has always been something I have been passionate about. I will spend hours watching old game footage, learning about famous announcers and seeing what games aired on what network because I am a TV and college football nerd.
One of my favorite deep dives in particular is the history of the sport on ABC. To me, this is the network I associate the greatest sport in the world with and it goes deeper.
For whatever reason, my family watched WABC (Channel 7) every single day growing up. This meant shows like Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, and whatever was airing in primetime were on my TV. When it comes to Eyewitness News, I’ve pretty much memorized all the newscasters’ names at this point.
But, when Saturdays arrived, I was up early watching ABC Kids. Unfortunately, this came at a time when Saturday morning blocks were on the decline. Still, I remember a lot of the shows airing on the block.
Mainly shows from Disney Channel, I’m pretty sure the block was where I first watched stuff like Kim Possible and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Don’t get me started on Power Rangers, just ask my family how much I loved that show.
This takes me to college football. Had I been like 8-years-old in 2005 and not like a 2-year-old, this would be my entire Saturday. Imagine watching Disney shows in the morning, then seeing Reggie Bush destroy opposing Pac-10 defenses on the same network in the afternoon.
Besides ABC Kids, Disney’s One Saturday Morning came before it and from watching videos and reading stuff about it, it was really popular. You know who else was popular between 1997 and 2002? Charles Woodson, the Miami Hurricanes, Michael Vick, Ricky Williams, should I keep going?
At some point, ABC had to advertise big time matchups on these Saturday morning blocks. It makes sense given that young kids love cartoons and football so why not? Weirdly enough, I can’t find anything on YouTube suggesting this.
Beside ads involving toys, family films and food, the only shows I remember being advertised were Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Live with Regis and Kelly. One aired nationally and the other was really more for Channel 7. My memory does not recall seeing an ad for Saturday Night Football when ABC Kids was on.
Oddly enough as well, no one has seemed to ever discuss both as a video topic. There was one YouTuber who kind of did a few years back.
For most football fans, YouTuber JaguarGator9 is a must-watch for anyone trying to learn the history of the NFL specifically. He created a second channel a few years back called JaguarGator8 and that channel dived more into college football.
One video he created was regarding the matchup between #1 Nebraska and #3 Oklahoma from the 2000 season. If you know the history of college football, you know that Oklahoma and Nebraska are rivals. For a matchup like this one, and one that had a ton of national championship implications, one would assume this would be nationally televised.
In his video, Gator8 explained that the west coast initially did not get this game because of… One Saturday Morning. It’s one of my favorite videos ever because it mixed two interests of mine and I haven’t seen another video like it.
It still shocks me, however, that no one has a recording of the blocks showing a commercial for an upcoming slate of games for a particular Saturday.
In the 2020s, the concept of a Saturday morning cartoon block is outdated. Streaming has taken over, more kids probably watch College Gameday on ESPN and really, it's just something from a different era. I mean flip on one of the “Big Five” networks (ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, The CW) and you’ll get educational programming instead.
Technically, FOX airs Big Noon Kickoff alongside educational programming but, anyway.
Had ABC continued ABC Kids well into the 2010s and added newer shows to the lineup, a show like Gravity Falls could have led into an ACC football game. That of course never happened.
Do I wish I got to experience the thrills of peak 2000s Saturday morning blocks and college football at the same time as a kid? Yes, but knowing the era I got to experience, I don’t mind.