1980's Saturday Morning Historical Preservation Society

The ABC Weekend Special was a weekly 30-minute anthology TV 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, so it totally counts as a Saturday Morning Cartoon in my opinion.

Many people confuse The ABC Weekend Specials with the ABC Afterschool Specials, so let's get this straight right now - Similar to the ABC Afterschool Special 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.

Basically, if it felt like you were supposed to learn something about life and/or adolescents from it? It was an ABC Afterschool Special.

Unfortunately, to further complicate matters, they took a bunch of the ABC Afterschool Specials that had been aimed at slightly younger audiences and re-packaged them into episodes of The ABC Weekend Specials.

The ABC Weekend Specials were a huge downer to me, as they signified the End Of The Cartoons. Oh sure, I could probably flip around the dial a bit and find some syndicated cartoons, or over on ABC they always had re-runs of Jonny Quest and The Jetsons if there wasn't a sporting event of any kind that they could air. The ABC Weekend Special meant I had to go get dressed :(

Not many people remember the Fraggle Rock cartoon, but those of us who do knew exactly how perfect it was. If you were a fan of the real Fraggle Rock, this show never dissapointed; quite possibly the BEST transition from live-action to animation EVER!

Agree or disagree? Leave some comments below and then if you feel up to it and haven't already done so, head on over to our Best of 1987 Poll to vote some love :)

1987 was an epic year for the Babyfication or Youthenation of classic characters, I think due at least in part to the success of The Muppet Babies. Here we had "America's Teenager" and his gang turned in to "America's PRE-Teenager", and I think it worked in a late-80's way :)

Leave some kind words for The New Archies in the comments below, and if you haven't already done so feel free to go and vote it up in our Best Of 1987 Poll!