WPTV and WSM to become ABC affiliation in the 80s

[DucNguyen0131]

Now, here's a quick recap of the kids TV of the 1991-92 television season.

ABC:

ABC is looking promise to kids TV, with several new shows, quite a few didn't last long and didn't want to survive on the air. First we kicked ABC off with The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, then a new version of the 1970s NBC show Land of the Lost, followed by Darkwing Duck and Beetlejuice, then with Hammerman and Hanna-Barbera's newest action/adventure television series The Pirates of Dark Water, then with returning animated favorites The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters, now cut down to a half-hour show and the ABC Weekend Special.

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CBS:

CBS is doing well with newer animated/live-action programs. First off were Riders in the Sky and the new animated show Mother Goose and Grimm, then hour-long runs of Garfield and Friends, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and then with Back to the Future, the newest Universal animated cartoon based on the movies of the same name, followed by Where's Waldo?, then Jim Henson's Muppet Babies, now cut down to a half-hour show, and then with CBS Storybreak, until it was dropped for an entirely new animated show based on the 1990s rapping band Digital Underground, produced by DiC Enterprises.

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NBC:

Although NBC quickly declined with children's programming, these programs did not fare well. First off it was Chip and Pepper's Cartoon Madness, followed up by the new and campy Hanna-Barbera cartoon Yo Yogi!, then with the new cut-down half hour Captain N and the New Super Mario World, then two new DiC programs ProStars and Wish Kid, followed by Space Cats, then with the returning Saved by the Bell and a new live-action show produced by Peter Engel, The Vanilla Ice Show, that starred the hip-hop rapping band Vanilla Ice, and then with NBA Inside Stuff, the freshman NBA basketball show. Some of them bombed, just as previous live-action efforts like Team Defense Force and Guys with Kids tried to appear in the last two seasons and failed, but Vanilla Ice ultimately survived the next year.

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FOX:

Fox is the strongest performing, becoming the leader in programming. Although Fox already had the soap Tribes, and several game shows, as well as Beetlejuice weekdays, Fox is offering newer Saturday morning shows, the three returning shows Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Bobby's World, Tom and Jerry Kids, the new Warner Bros. cartoon Taz-Mania, the newest Marvel Productions cartoon, based on The Little Shop of Horrors, Little Shop and a newer DiC animated cartoon, that of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures, different from what we got on CBS last season.

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Syndication:

There are some new shows that came on the air in 1991. These were first-run syndicated shows, like The Pirates of Dark Water, Darkwing Duck, Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars, and the strip James Bond Jr., and Hanna-Barbera also had the syndicated cartoon Young Robin Hood in cooperation with CINAR. Darkwing Duck was part of a lineup of shows that were in the Disney Afternoon block.

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Cable Networks:

Nickelodeon has been just on the rise in 1991 with three new Nicktoons, Rugrats, The Ren & Stimpy Show, and Doug. Nickelodeon also has new programs already out, these were Fifteen, Clarissa Explains It All, Welcome Freshmen and Salute Your Shorts, these three were teen programs. The other animated cartoon The Legend of Prince Valiant made its debut on The Family Channel. Speaking of The Disney Channel, it offered an imported show The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and even newer episodes of Kids Incorporated, which has been a staple of since 1986.

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And now the top 10 most popular kids shows:
1. Darkwing Duck (Syndication)
2. The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show (ABC)
3. Rugrats (Nickelodeon)
4. Doug (Nickelodeon)
5. The Ren and Stimpy Show (Nickelodeon)
6. Saved by the Bell (NBC)
7. Muppet Babies (CBS)
8. Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters (ABC)
9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (CBS)
10. Tiny Toon Adventures (Syndication)

 

[Inferno60]

So is this timeline going to continue or not?

 

[DucNguyen0131]

Well they would might continue all the way to the launch of SNES-CD, which was shown here. The timeline is almost came to the end.

 

[farmerted555]

Judging by the title Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters, would i be correct in assuming that Q5 screwed up that awesome show as IOTL?

 

[DucNguyen0131]

Now here's a recap of Summer 1992, but other events are shown here.

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The Old West
Steve: 6 ("The western setting for the NES is nice, though the controls are a bit good, but still lack of a disappointment, and otherwise help them in order to be more astonishing to their experiences.")
Ed: 7
Martin: 6
Sushi-X: 6

Lexi-Cross
Steve: 7
Ed: 8 ("This makes Smash T.V. looked like Wheel of Fortune, in a robotic world of game shows, but Interplay strikes it yet again with the newest game show for their whole hangman with Scrabble elements.")
Martin: 6
Sushi-X: 7

Ultimate Fast Racer
Steve: 8
Ed: 7
Martin: 9 ("The most addictive fast racing game is the most challenging Nintendo game, though not unlike RC Pro-Am, but entirely in 3D and had high helps in order to get th fast racing experience done.")
Sushi-X: 8

Scorched Earth
Steve: 5
Ed: 4
Martin: 3
Sushi-X: 5 ("The most, but a bit disappointing port of a computer game introduced a year ago, but THQ strikes it hit big again with the most combat strategy game for the Nintendo system, and it was a bit interesting.")
-EGM's reviews of this summer's Nintendo Disk/Cassette/Compact Disk System games from the July and August 1992 issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly

Strike Force
Steve: 8 ("Acclaim's Super NES take on Defender is quite a bit polishing, but otherwise it was addictive and fun, but it has the old gameplay formula of the classic Defender, which happens to be a classic good arcade translation.")
Ed: 7
Martin: 7
Sushi-X: 8

Xerex
Steve: 9
Ed: 10 ("The best home translation of the arcade game, it would might be a successor to Gradius, but it is quite fun and decided to do well with the shooting and decided to gave them their own mechanics.")
Martin: 8
Sushi-X: 9

Welltris
Steve: 8
Ed: 8
Martin: 9 ("Nintendo hits it again with the most accurate home port of that home computer game, which was indeed the Tetris successor and decided to go into a three-dimensional experience.")
Sushi-X: 8

Battletoads
Steve: 8
Ed: 9
Martin: 8
Sushi-X: 10 ("An accurate port of the original Nintendo game done by the Japanese programming team, it retranslates the script into the most addictive assembly game, with the HAL team doing a great job at doing the most accurate 16-bit conversion ever.")

RBI Baseball 4: Relief Pitcher
Steve: 8
Ed: 9 ("The most accurate concept, which was first utilized for the arcade territory. RBI4 has gained their charm and reputation for the baseball territory, with it eventually striking all the way to be the relief pitcher.")
Martin: 6
Sushi-X: 6
-EGM's reviews of this summer's 1992 Super Nintendo games from the July and August 1992 issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly

Sneak preview of new animated cartoon

Film Roman would offer a planned animated cartoon was to debut for the fall of 1992, Pit-Fighter, which was based on the video game by Atari Games/Tengen, for Fox Kids. The cartoon would follow the adventures of Buzz, Ty and Kato through his fighting experiences and decided that they would decided that they would help them eliminate. 13 episodes were ordered for the new animated cartoon, which is scheduled for debut in the fall of 1992.

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New soap made its debut

A new transitional soap opera, Swans Crossing, was made for syndication, aimed at a teenage audience, like what Fox is doing with Tribes. It was created by Ned Kandel and Mardee Kravit, who also served as executive producers, written by Steven Phillip Smith, Penina Spiegel, Chris Steinbach and Andrew Stoll, directed by Noel Black, Robert Scinto and Joshua White and starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shane McDermott, Brittany Daniel and Mira Sorvino. It also comes with action figures from Playmates Toys, and hopes it would succeeded very well.

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Nintendo to release new titles

Nintendo of America is releasing several new titles for the NES, SNES and Game Boy. Nintendo would release Day Dreamin' Davey, a title designed by Sculptured Software, and two new titles, Battletoads, converted by HAL Laboratory for the SNES, and Kirby's Dream Land, designed and developed by HAL Laboratory for the Game Boy, with enhancements on the Game Boy TV Adapter. The Super Game Boy is also out with Wave Race as its first title with SGB enhancements, with future games like Super Mario Land 2 featured SGB support in addition to pre-existing Game Boy TV Adapter support. Nintendo also had Welltris, converted by Intelligent Systems, for the SNES this summer.

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RBI 4 launches on SNES

RBI Baseball 4: Relief Pitcher, which marked the franchise's first entry onto the arcade market is gearing up for the SNES for the first time. Being a merger of two unrelated titles, the home console RBI Baseball 4 and the arcade Relief Pitcher, it follows the gameplay of the classic R.B.I. Baseball formula, along with commentary from Jack Buck, the sportscaster (all the pitfalls from OTL's SNES version of Relief Pitcher by Left Field has been butterflied away). It will follow with versions for the NES, the Game Boy and the Genesis, which also came out later that year.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

Judging by the title Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters, would i be correct in assuming that Q5 screwed up that awesome show as IOTL?

Yes, I would be correct in Q5 screwing up the show.

 

[Inferno60]

Well they would might continue all the way to the launch of SNES-CD, which was shown here. The timeline is almost came to the end.

But honestly with all the changes it honestly may be way different from @RySenkari ‘s work.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

Several more final posts, and that would be the end of that time. The Japanese launch of SNES-CD was discussed here.

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Steel Talons
Steve: 8 ("Move over, Hard Drivin! The 8-bit version of the classic 3D polygons game would be the most impressive, and technical port, even for the Nintendo Compact Disk System, with stunning Super Cartridge adapter and graphics.")
Ed: 8
Martin: 7
Sushi-X: 8

Tank Tech
Steve: 9
Ed: 10 ("The best game about tank, they would make their own construction set in order to build their technology, with their controls and their special adapter to build their own technology.")
Martin: 8
Sushi-X: 9

The Taking of Beverly Hills
Steve: 8
Ed: 9
Martin: 9 ("RazorSoft did it again with that adaptation of the movie of the same name, and it followed that they would follow on the richest residents and decided that they would become the nicest thing in town.")
Sushi-X: 8

Space 1889
Steve: 10
Ed: 10
Martin: 9
Sushi-X: 10 ("The best home port of that one computer game of the same name, this is an otherwise amazing game, with the best mechanics, and decided that they would follow on the pencil and paper roleplaying game.")
-EGM's reviews of this month's August 1992 Nintendo Cassette/Disk/Compact Disk System games from the September 1992 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly

Super Steel Talons
Steve: 9
Ed: 10 ("The best home version of the game, giving its edges over the NES and Genesis versions, Steel Talons is still the most impressive and more accurate home translation of the arcade game with the 3D graphics.")
Martin: 8
Sushi-X: 9

CyberHoops
Steve: 10 ("Cyberball meets basketball, this is the futuristic sport of basketball, and we have their robotic slam dunks, and decided to throw their futuristic hoops in their own world grand final tournament of stunning 16-bit basketball.")
Ed: 9
Martin: 8
Sushi-X: 9

Wild West World
Steve: 7
Ed: 8
Martin: 8 ("This is a wild west game, but RazorSoft did it again with that great western game, and the controls are much a bit confusing, but still otherwise more addictive gameplay and have fun.")
Sushi-X: 7

Xenon 2: Megablast
Steve: 8
Ed: 9
Martin: 9
Sushi-X: 10 ("The best home version of an European computer game, Mindscape strikes it again with that impressive 16-bit home version with the most stunning graphics and several hip-hop music for addictive challenge players.")
-EGM's review of this month's Super Nintendo games from the September 1992 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly

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Lunar Chase to get 3D cartoon

In what would be the world's first computer-animated television special, Lunar Chase: Squadron X, the upcoming Nintendo Game Boy game is planning on to have an animated special that was timed in with the game's release on the Game Boy by Nintendo of America. Christopher Brough of Mainframe Entertainment is producing the special, in association with DiC Animation City, and was set to be released by Bohbot Entertainment for local stations. This computer-animated special loosely followed the plot of the game, and had high hopes of going into series by the fall of 1993 if the special succeeded.

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Steel Talons is out!

Tengen is releasing Steel Talons for the NES, SNES, Sega Genesis and Game Boy. Although most other ports were designed by Tengen, Argonaut Software would handle the duties of the Game Boy version of the same name, using the impressive 3D engine that was designed by Argonaut themselves.

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Nintendo to get new titles

Nintendo is releasing Super Play Action Football and Mario Paint for the Super NES, along with CyberHoops, Rare's newest sports title, that was equipped with the Super Four Score. CyberHoops utilized Silicon Graphics technology and featured 3D models for the robotic characters that would play basketball, in what would be the futuristic setting of 2022, 30 years later than the game's release. Also out was Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy, to be compatible with the Game Boy TV Adapter for the NES, and the Super Game Boy for the SNES, with enhanced graphics on these systems.

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Should Swans Crossing to come back?

After an interesting success of 65 episodes, Swans Crossing was picked up once again for an additional 65 episodes, becoming the most successful teen soap opera and transitional soap opera ever. Accompanied by a video game tie-in for THQ, and a toyline adaptation from Playmates Toys, this show would became the top-rated kids show of the year, and become the most successful teen soap.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

Might be the next-to-last post, as we did a recap on September and October 1992!

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"Rad Racer GB is a fun addictive game. Our friend Dylan Cuthbert had reverse engineered the Game Boy on Lunar Chase with Nintendo staffers, and now we reverse-engineered the Game Boy, with the third Rad Racer game. I programmed it at the Square headquarters in Japan, and I worked at Argonaut Software of London for programming. I used the skills he picked from the Lunar Chase software and made the 3D video game engine we are using for the game, using their own outlining models and we used a development kit from Square to utilize it and be familiar with the hardware impressed by Lunar Chase. We used a Final Fantasy Legend cartridge in order to observe the kits for Rad Racer GB"
-Giles Goddard, programmer of Rad Racer GB, from an interview with IGN, 2001

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Nintendo to prepare shopping

Nintendo of America announced that they would release Squadron X: Lunar Chase in November 1992, for the Game Boy, and be enhanced with the Game Boy TV Adapter on the NES. This game is a rail shooting game in vein of Starglider, and features isometric 3-D gameplay. It will feature cutscenes featuring an isometric man who helped with the captain in order to read their lines, which will feature digitized speech within the Game Boy TV Adapter. Although it will feature wireframed gameplay, the Game Boy TV Adapter, which was that, in full-color, will offer full-color 3D gameplay, in order to spent worth of total experiences and fun. Other Nintendo titles were R.C. Pro-Am II, Rare's newest title, and Super Golf, the 16-bit incarnation of one golf game.

-excerpted from an October 1992 issue of Nintendo Power

(OTL's cancellation was butterflied away, and asked Sony to help and assist with the North American release, in order to change the decision's minds.)

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By this fall, newly-bounded Squaresoft will have the third Final Fantasy Legend, for play on the Game Boy, with enhanced gameplay, in full-color on the complete colorful Game Boy TV Adapter, with many details, following on the strict formula as with the Final Fantasy games. There even had the new Rad Racer GB for the Game Boy. Argonaut Software, who previously assisted with Nintendo on Lunar Chase is on board to program and design the newer 3D Rad Racer game, which handled the game design and programming, and it will be enhanced with the Game Boy TV Adapter.

-Excerpted from the September 1992 issue of GamePro

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October 13, 1992

Rad Racer GB is the third installment in the Rad Racer series, and the first to offer 3D gameplay. Developed and programmed by Argonaut Software and published by Square, as a follow-up to the two Rad Racer games on the NES. The gameplay used a strict variation on the Rad Racer formula, that pushed the technology hardware as shown, according to Giles Goddard, who designed and programmed the game. Although Argonaut only handled design and programming, most of the other aspects had gone on to Square themselves, including Masanori Hoshino, who designed the graphics, and Ryuji Sasai who handled the sound of the game. It will handle one or two players, according to each aspect of the game themselves. Square also developed an internally-developed Super Rad Racer for the SNES, with Mode-7 gameplay, and the whole programming team is done by Square of Japan themselves.

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Super Rad Racer

The newest and third installment in the Rad Racer franchise, this time for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it takes up to the Mode 7 formula that F-Zero is using. It will be a four-player cooperative game, and it has super fun and excitement, for the third entry in the Rad Racer video game, second only to the Game Boy installment, and to the two prior Nintendo installments. This is a far better game within than with F-Zero, which only offers only one player.

Graphics: 3.5
Sound: 2.5
Control: 3.0
FunFactor: 4.0
Challenge: Expert

R.C. Pro-Am II

The sequel to R.C. Pro-Am comes to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Bolstered by its Mode 7 gameplay and its four-player co-operative mode unlike the isometric gameplay with the prior Super R.C. Pro-Am on the SNES, it will take a while for Rare to get the programming done, and with the intermediate gameplay, with their own excitement and within their four-player challenge for computer-controlled cars.

Graphics: 4.0
Sound: 3.5
Control: 5.0
FunFactor: 4.5
Challenge: Intermediate

Die Hard 2: Die Harder

Activision offers the newest sequel to the hit Nintendo game, this time for the newest and most-advanced Super Nintendo Entertainment System. All terrorists return and we have to shoot all terrorists by invading the Washington's Dulles airport and they would let them for the civilizations and we had to shoot. Based on the second movie of the same name by 20th Century Fox, released two years earlier, Die Hard 2 retains the same fun and charm the older Nintendo game had, even with a Super Adapter. Everything else is much of an improvement over the first game, which is already out on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Graphics: 4.5
Sound: 5.0
Control: 4.0
FunFactor: 3.5
Challenge: Beginner

-Excerpted from GamePro's reviews of October 1992's SNES games from their December 1992 issue

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New replacements is out!

The newest game shows are out on the Fox Broadcasting Company. Studs would return, so does a newer version of You Bet, Your Life, which was hosted by Bill Cosby themselves, and Tribes would return. Among the replacement cartoons on Fox were on the Fox Kids block. were Tiny Toon Adventures and Batman: The Animated Series, along with Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends. On Saturday mornings, we have Dog City, The Plucky Duck Show, Eek! The Cat, Super Dave: Daredevil for Hire, and the newest action-adventure entry, Pit-Fighter, based on the Atari Games video game of the same name, produced by Film Roman, of Bobby's World fame, under license from American game developer Tengen. NBC, like OTL is out of the Saturday morning cartoon business, inserting several live-action series in, and what was kept was the Vanilla Ice series, slotted at 11:00 am, along with newer shows like California Dreams, Name Your Adventure and Double Up.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

This is the final post that covered in the timeline. More details could be found there.

Squadron X: Lunar Chase

Squadron X: Lunar Chase is the world's first ever 3-D space shooter for the Game Boy. Designed by Argonaut, handled by Dylan Cuthbert, it is about the starship VIXIV, with completing missions assigned by the Training Academy, and protect the planet Tetamus II from being taken over by a mysterious alien race. This game was originally released in Japan as X, and would eventually see Western release as Lunar Chase, which was enhanced by the more powerful Game Boy TV Adapter, this month, on Thanksgiving Day 1992, as a surprise for gamers who discovered it for the first time, being shopped well for the Christmas shopping season. Lunar Chase becoming the world's first ever graphical game ever on the Game Boy, even beating Rad Racer GB in sales for the first time.

For the Game Boy:

For the Game Boy TV Adapter (enhanced):

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EGM's coverage:

Lunar Chase
Steve: 10
Ed: 10 ("Definitely the best game that was in full 3-D, in time for the Christmas shopping season, it's definitely worth the fun to wait, with the most amazing graphics that pushed the Game Boy to its own limits.")
Martin: 10
Sushi-X: 9
-From EGM's review of the game on the December 1992 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly

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Sonic 2 is out!

After the blockbuster success of the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is finally out, and decided that they would worth the wait to release the game, in both the cartridge or cassette versions. The cassette version had some anime-esque cutscenes in between level scenes. It was also released for the Game Gear in a different version, with mild success, and decided to go for a bigger direction towards all of the audiences.

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The world's first CGI TV cartoon!

Squadron X: Lunar Chase, the world's first 30-minute computer-animated television special hit the airwaves this Thanksgiving on Fox stations, as well as independent stations. Written by Ian Pearson and Gavin Blair and Mark Hoffmeier, it was produced by DIC Entertainment and Mainframe Entertainment, Inc., in association with Reteitalia and Telecinco, and syndicated by Bohbot Entertainment, it followed the plot of the game. Despite the fact it tanked on most stations, its success did clear the way for the creation of the first computer-animated cartoon ReBoot.

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New SNES game is out

Nintendo is releasing Super Golf for the SNES, described as a 16-bit version of the popular Nintendo game, Golf, which also happened to be popular on the NES and the Game Boy. Super Golf consists of extra features that were not present in Golf. Rare Ltd. is the development team that went behind the title, clearing the way for a new SNES sequel to Battletoads.

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EPILOGUE POST:

This is the epilogue of the post. From the beginnings when WPTV and WSM were converted to ABC as the network was number one in 1980, to its resounding success of game shows and video games, this served as the epilogue of the post.

Some of the success went throughout station ownerships, and be less focused on TV, as it was focused more on gaming, such as addons for popular home systems, such as the NES, Genesis, TurboGrafx-16 and the Game Gear.

THE END!

 

[MegaToon1234]

So, that was it, huh?