Children's programming on Telemundo

Children's programming has played a part in Telemundo's programming since its initial roots in television. This article outlines the history of children's television programming on Telemundo including the various blocks and notable programs that have aired throughout the television network's history.

History

For much of its history, the bulk of NetSpan/Telemundo's children's programming has been derived of mainly live-action and animated programming from American and international producers, including Spanish-language dubs of programs produced in other languages, and Spanish-language programming acquired from other countries.

Telemuñequitos (1992–1998)

On June 1, 1992, the network's first foray into children's programming, Telemuñequitos, was in partnership with Warner Bros., and featured Spanish-language dubs of Warner Bros. Cartoons productions (including Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies and Popeye the Sailor). The network converted its children’s programming every weekday mornings until 2000.^[1]

Telemundo Infantil (1995–1998)

In September 1995, Telemundo launched a Saturday morning block, Telemundo Infantil ("Telemundo Kids"), which was developed via input from viewers on what they wanted to be featured in a children's show. Which borrowed its the block originally in Puerto Rico aired on Telemundo Puerto Rico, included the weekdays afternoon and weekend morning line-up that consisted mainly of dubbed versions of American, Canadian, and European (including Animaniacs, Inspector Gadget, The Magic School Bus, Extreme Ghostbusters, Mona the Vampire, Tiny Toon Adventures and Bobby's World) as well as anime series (such as Dragon Ball Z, The Wonderful Wizard of OZ, Pokémon, Slam Dunk and Yu-Gi-Oh!).^[2]

Nickelodeon en Telemundo (1998–2001)

On September 15, 1998, Telemundo introduced Nickelodeon en Telemundo, a block featuring Spanish dubs of the joint agreement with Nickelodeon programming, which debuted on November 9, 1998 and was considered a sub-block of Telemundo Infantil, consisted of Spanish dubs of Nickelodeon's animated series aimed at older children and preschool-oriented programs aired by the channel's Nick Jr. block (such as Rugrats, Doug, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Hey Arnold!, Rocko's Modern Life, Blue's Clues and Dora the Explorer). The block ran on weekday mornings until September 5, 2000, when it was relegated to Saturday and Sunday mornings in order to accommodate a time slot for Hoy En El Mundo (with Jose Diaz-Balart).^[3]^[4]

Telemundo Kids (2001–2006)

The Nickelodeon blocks were discontinued after September 30, 2001, ahead of the expiry of Telemundo's program supply deal with Nickelodeon. It was then replaced with Telemundo Kids debut on October 6, 2001, which featured a mix of acquired programming from various providers, including Sony Pictures Television (such as Men in Black: The Series, Dragon Tales, Jackie Chan Adventures and Max Steel) and later Nickelodeon (Rugrats, Hey Arnold!, Dora the Explorer and All Grown Up!).^[5]

Following the sale of Telemundo to NBC in 2001 and the CBS/Viacom (now Paramount Global) split in early 2006, the block was discontinued September 3, 2006. However, Jacob Two-Two carried over to the block’s direct successor Qubo, which premiered the following week.^[6]

Qubo on NBC/Telemundo (2006–2012)

In September 2006, Telemundo debuted Qubo, a new weekend morning block of educational programming formed as a joint venture between NBC Universal, Ion Media Networks, Corus Entertainment, Scholastic, and Classic Media subsidiary Big Idea Entertainment. The block carried Spanish-language dubs of programming acquired or produced for Qubo's English-language blocks on NBC and Ion, airing on Saturday and Sunday mornings in 90-minute blocks.^[7]

The reasoning why the name "qubo" was chosen for the endeavor, or why its logo is a cube, has not been publicly explained by any of the partners, although general manager Rick Rodriguez stated in an interview with Multichannel News that the name was intended to be something that sounded fun, and be a brand that could easily be uniformally used in English and Spanish.^[8]

MiTelemundo (NBC Kids) (2012–2017)

On July 7, 2012, after the acquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast, the block was replaced by MiTelemundo; programmed by Sprout, it consisted of Spanish dubbed versions of programs seen on its sister broadcast network's Saturday morning block, NBC Kids, which debuted on the same date.^[9]^[10]^[11]

MiTelemundo debuted on July 7, 2012, one week after the Qubo block ended its run on both NBC and Telemundo on June 30 (which left Ion Television (and later Ion Plus) as the only network to retain a Qubo-branded children's block up until the closure of the Qubo Channel on February 28, 2021, as the E.W. Scripps Company is now the owner of Ion Media, which they acquired on January 7, 2021).

MiTelemundo (Litton Entertainment) (2018–present)

With NBC Kids being replaced with Litton Entertainment's The More You Know block on NBC by September 25, 2016, MiTelemundo initially retained its existing programming until January 6, 2018, when MiTelemundo moved exclusively to Saturday mornings and became programmed by Litton. The relaunched MiTelemundo carries Spanish dubs of programming from The More You Know.^[12]

Named after NBC's series of public service campaigns, the three-hour Saturday morning block is programmed by Litton Entertainment, and features live-action programming aimed at teens, all of which is dubbed in Spanish.^[13]^[14] Despite the change of programming, it did not change the name of the block, which remains as MiTelemundo.

Programming

Schedule issues

Due to regulations defined by the Children's Television Act that require stations to carry E/I compliant programming for three hours each week at any time between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. local time, some Telemundo stations may defer certain programs aired within its Saturday morning block to Sunday daytime or earlier Saturday morning slots, or (in the case of affiliates in the Western United States) Saturday afternoons as makegoods to comply with the CTA regulations.

List of notable programs

Telemuñequitos


Title	Premiere date	End date	Source(s)
Looney Tunes	June 1, 1992	May 17, 1998	^[1]
Popeye the Sailor
Merrie Melodies
The Biskitts	June 8, 1992	January 10, 1994
Goober and the Ghost Chasers	June 9, 1992	January 13, 1994
Inch High, Private Eye	June 10, 1992	January 12, 1994
Buford and the Galloping Ghost	June 12, 1992	January 14, 1994

Telemundo Infantil


Title	Premiere date	End date
Mazinger Z	August 22, 1987	March 12, 1989
Galactic Gale Baxingar	August 22, 1987	March 18, 1989
Future Boy Conan	October 26, 1987	November 27, 1987
Kolitas	October 4, 1990	May 9, 1999
Nubeluz	June 6, 1992	September 14, 1996
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons	September 27, 1992	August 24, 1997
Captain Tsubasa	January 17, 1994	December 2, 1994
Oakie Doke	September 16, 1995	November 7, 1998
Button Moon	September 16, 1995	November 7, 1998
La Isla de Jordán	June 7, 1997	April 10, 1999
Lift Off	January 12, 1998	September 29, 2001
Garfield and Friends	January 12, 1998	May 28, 2000
Jumanji	November 9, 1998	September 22, 2000

Nickelodeon en Telemundo


Title	Premiere date	End date	Source(s)
Rugrats	November 9, 1998 January 9, 2005 ("Telemundo Kids")	September 30, 2001 September 3, 2006 ("Telemundo Kids")	^[4]
Doug	November 1, 1999	September 22, 2000
Rocko's Modern Life	November 9, 1998
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
Blue's Clues		September 30, 2001
Hey Arnold!	November 10, 1998 October 3, 2004 ("Telemundo Kids")	September 30, 2001 January 2, 2005 ("Telemundo Kids")
Dora the Explorer	August 21, 2000 October 2, 2004 ("Telemundo Kids")	September 30, 2001 September 3, 2006 ("Telemundo Kids")

Telemundo Kids


Title	Premiere date	End date	Source(s)
Dragon Ball Z	July 5, 1999	August 24, 2003
Ni Ni's Treehouse	October 6, 2001	April 26, 2003	^[5]
Agua Viva		April 26, 2003
Las Tres Mellizas		December 28, 2003
Bizbirije		April 26, 2003
Nico		May 15, 2004
Toonimals!		April 27, 2003
Men in Black: The Series	October 7, 2001	April 27, 2003
Juana la Iguana		April 3, 2004
Dragon Tales		September 26, 2004
Jackie Chan Adventures		September 26, 2004
Max Steel		October 27, 2002
Wimzie's House	October 2, 2004	September 3, 2006
Monster by Mistake	October 2, 2004	September 10, 2005
All Grown Up!	October 3, 2004	January 2, 2005
Jacob Two-Two	January 9, 2005	September 2, 2006

Qubo en Telemundo


Title	Premiere date	End date	Source(s)
Dragon	September 9, 2006	June 29, 2008	^[15]
3-2-1 Penguins!		September 13, 2009
Larryboy: The Cartoon Adventures		September 29, 2007
VeggieTales		September 13, 2009
Babar	September 10, 2006	June 30, 2012
Jane and the Dragon		June 30, 2012
Jacob Two-Two		October 2009
My Friend Rabbit	October 2007	2009
Postman Pat	October 2007	June 2008
Turbo Dogs	October 4, 2008	December 2011
The Zula Patrol	2008	2009, 2012
Willa's Wild Life	September 20, 2009	July 1, 2012
Shelldon	October 17, 2009	July 1, 2012
The Magic School Bus	October 9, 2010	December 2011
Pearlie	October 10, 2010	July 1, 2012

MiTelemundo (NBC Kids)


Title	Premiere date	End date	Source(s)
LazyTown	July 7, 2012	September 24, 2016	^[16]
Jay Jay the Jet Plane		December 8, 2013
Raggs		September 24, 2016
Noodle and Doodle	July 8, 2012	December 31, 2017
The Chica Show	2013
Nina's World	2015
Maya the Bee	2017

MiTelemundo (Litton Entertainment)


Title	Premiere date	Source(s)
El viajero con Josh Garcia (The Voyager with Josh Garcia)	2018–present	^[17]
Salvando animales (Wilderness Vet with Dr. Oakley)
Aventuras con Dylan Dreyer (Journey with Dylan Dreyer)
Vivir al natural, Danny Seo (Naturally, Danny Seo)
Una mano amiga (Give)
El campeon en ti (The Champion Within with Lauren Thompson)
Taller del Consumidor (Consumer 101)	2019–present
Exploración Planeta Tierra (Earth Odyssey with Dylan Dreyer)	2020–present
Historia Familiar (A New Leaf)
Descubriendo Mis Raíces (Roots Less Traveled)
Pequeños En La Naturaleza (Wild Child)	2021–present
Un Equipo: El Poder Del Deporte (One Team: The Power of Sports)	2022–present

References

^ ^a ^b Lanneri, John (June 13, 1992). "Latin Notas". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media.
^ Claudia Puig (June 3, 1995). "New Focus for Telemundo Network". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
^ "Telemundo, Nickelodeon in pact". Advertising Age. Crain Communications. September 15, 1998. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
^ ^a ^b Richard Katz (October 23, 1998). "Telemundo deal: Nick in Spanish". Variety. Cahners Business Information. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Telemundo Network 2001-2002 Programming Schedule Presentation". Hispanic Ad Weekly. Hispanic Media Sales, Inc. April 21, 2001.
^ "Telemundo Kids - Telemundo.com (website)". telemundo.com. Telemundo Network Group, LLC. November 3, 2003. Archived from the original on November 3, 2003.
^ Andrew Hampp (August 24, 2006). "NBC Debuts Kids Programming Brand Qubo". Advertising Age. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
^ Luis Clemens (February 16, 2008). "Qubo's Rodriguez: Offering a 'Building Block' to Kids". Multichannel News. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
^ Jon Weisman (March 28, 2012). "NBC to launch Saturday kids block". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on May 19, 2012. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
^ Lindsay Rubino (March 28, 2012). "NBC, With Assist From Sprout, to Launch Saturday Morning Preschool Block". Multichannel News. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
^ "NBC Will Launch NBC Kids, a New Saturday Morning Preschool Block Programmed by Sprout®, Saturday, July 7". MarketWatch. March 28, 2012. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
^ "NBC AND LITTON ENTERTAINMENT EXPAND ICONIC 'THE MORE YOU KNOW' PLATFORM INTO NEW THREE-HOUR SATURDAY MORNING PROGRAMMING BLOCK" (Press release). Archived from the original on March 1, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
^ "NBC, Litton Partner on 'The More You Know' Block". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media. February 24, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
^ "TELEMUNDO KICKS OFF 2018 WITH THE NEW "Mi TELEMUNDO" KIDS PROGRAMMING BLOCK PREMIERING SATURDAY, JANUARY 6 AT 8AM/7C". NBCUniversal. January 4, 2018. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
^ "QUBO TO LAUNCH ON NBC, TELEMUNDO AND THE I NETWORK THIS SEPTEMBER". Ion Media Networks. August 23, 2006.
^ "Telemundo anuncia nuevo bloque infantil "Mi Telemundo!"". Primera Hora. GFR Media LLC. October 24, 2012. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
^ Desk, TV News. "Telemundo Kicks Off 2018 with New 'Mi Telemundo' Programming Block". Retrieved February 17, 2018. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)

[telemunequitos-1] Lanneri, John (June 13, 1992). "Latin Notas". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media.

[latimes-telemundonewfocus-2] Claudia Puig (June 3, 1995). "New Focus for Telemundo Network". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2015.

[3] "Telemundo, Nickelodeon in pact". Advertising Age. Crain Communications. September 15, 1998. Retrieved November 7, 2015.

[nickelodeonentelemundo-4] Richard Katz (October 23, 1998). "Telemundo deal: Nick in Spanish". Variety. Cahners Business Information. Retrieved November 7, 2015.

[telemundokids-5] "Telemundo Network 2001-2002 Programming Schedule Presentation". Hispanic Ad Weekly. Hispanic Media Sales, Inc. April 21, 2001.

[6] "Telemundo Kids - Telemundo.com (website)". telemundo.com. Telemundo Network Group, LLC. November 3, 2003. Archived from the original on November 3, 2003.

[7] Andrew Hampp (August 24, 2006). "NBC Debuts Kids Programming Brand Qubo". Advertising Age. Retrieved March 29, 2015.

[mcn-qubo2-8] Luis Clemens (February 16, 2008). "Qubo's Rodriguez: Offering a 'Building Block' to Kids". Multichannel News. Retrieved March 29, 2015.

[Weisman-9] Jon Weisman (March 28, 2012). "NBC to launch Saturday kids block". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on May 19, 2012. Retrieved March 27, 2015.

[Rubino-10] Lindsay Rubino (March 28, 2012). "NBC, With Assist From Sprout, to Launch Saturday Morning Preschool Block". Multichannel News. Retrieved March 27, 2015.

[MarketWatch-11] "NBC Will Launch NBC Kids, a New Saturday Morning Preschool Block Programmed by Sprout®, Saturday, July 7". MarketWatch. March 28, 2012. Retrieved March 27, 2015.

[nbc-pr-12] "NBC AND LITTON ENTERTAINMENT EXPAND ICONIC 'THE MORE YOU KNOW' PLATFORM INTO NEW THREE-HOUR SATURDAY MORNING PROGRAMMING BLOCK" (Press release). Archived from the original on March 1, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.

[bandc-moreyouknow-13] "NBC, Litton Partner on 'The More You Know' Block". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media. February 24, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.

[14] "TELEMUNDO KICKS OFF 2018 WITH THE NEW "Mi TELEMUNDO" KIDS PROGRAMMING BLOCK PREMIERING SATURDAY, JANUARY 6 AT 8AM/7C". NBCUniversal. January 4, 2018. Retrieved December 16, 2019.

[qubo2006-15] "QUBO TO LAUNCH ON NBC, TELEMUNDO AND THE I NETWORK THIS SEPTEMBER". Ion Media Networks. August 23, 2006.

[mitelemundo-16] "Telemundo anuncia nuevo bloque infantil "Mi Telemundo!"". Primera Hora. GFR Media LLC. October 24, 2012. Retrieved November 8, 2015.

[mitelemundolitton-17] Desk, TV News. "Telemundo Kicks Off 2018 with New 'Mi Telemundo' Programming Block". Retrieved February 17, 2018. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)

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