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Children's television series are television programmes designed for, and marketed to children, normally broadcast during the morning and afternoon. They can sometimes run in the early evening, for the children that go to school. The purpose of the shows is mainly to entertain and sometimes to educate the young audience about basic life skills or ideals.

Programmes vary in their intended age group audience and style of presentation. Some take the form of game shows or comedies, and many take the form of animated series.

Children's television is nearly as old as television itself, with early examples including shows such as Blue Peter, Captain Tugg, The Magic Roundabout, Howdy Doody, Clangers, Flower Pot Men, The Singing Ringing Tree and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood . In the United States, early children's television was often a marketing branch of a larger corporate product, such as Disney, and it rarely contained an educational element. Though there is some debate on the intended audience, later non-educational children's television programmes included the science fiction programmes of Irwin Allen (most notably Lost in Space^{[citation needed]}), the fantasy series of Sid and Marty Krofft, and the extensive cartoon empire of Hanna-Barbera.

Many children's programmes also have a large adult following,^{[citation needed]} sometimes due to perceived quality and educational value,^{[citation needed]} and sometimes among adults who watched the shows as children or with their own children and now have a nostalgic emotional connection.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 TV programmes for older children 2 References 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] TV programmes for older children

Since the mid 1980s, there have been teen comedies and teen dramas such as Byker Grove and Grange Hill and that are geared toward older children (typically between the ages of 12 and 15).

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• CBeebies

[edit] External links

• Children's Television, online exhibition from screenonline, a website of the British Film Institute
• The 1950s–2000s Week-By-Week - includes listings and factoids for local/national children's shows.
• The future of children's digital television - an interview with Gloria Tristani