The series, which ran for 13 years until it ended in 1960, featured a myriad of characters led by a freckle-faced marionette voiced by the show's host, "Buffalo" Bob Smith.
In September 1989, NBC premiered Saved by the Bell, a sitcom centered on the fictional Bayside High School in Pacific Palisades, California, which originated on The Disney Channel the year prior as Good Morning, Miss Bliss (the predecessor series, set in an Indianapolis, Indiana middle school, served as a starring vehicle for Hayley Mills, who did not return for the retooled series; four cast members from that show – Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Dennis Haskins, Lark Voorhies and Dustin Diamond – were cast in Saved by the Bell as their Miss Bliss characters).
However, in October 1990, then-President George H. W. Bush signed a deal with the Federal Communications Commission to require educational content under the Children's Television Act for the Fall 1991 season,[2] which mandated these guidelines in animated programs for the network, including Space Cats, Super Mario World, and ProStars.
[3] Following the negative reception with this experience, NBC subsequently canceled the animated programming for Saturday mornings as FCC responded that not all cartoons were made to be educational.
[4][5] As results of the continued success of Saved by the Bell and the failed experience of enforcing educational content, NBC restructured its Saturday morning lineup in September 1992 by replacing children's programming with live-action – mostly scripted – series aimed at teenagers as part of a new three-hour block under the brand TNBC (the network also launched an hour-long Saturday edition of Today that debuted simultaneously with the TNBC lineup).
The multi-platform programming endeavor, aimed at children between 4 and 8 years of age, would comprise children's program blocks airing on NBC, Spanish-language sister network Telemundo and Ion Media's i: Independent Television (now Ion Television), as well as a 24-hour digital multicast channel on i's owned-and-operated stations (alternatively known as Qubo Channel), video on demand services and a branded website.
Initially, VeggieTales episodes aired on the block excised religious content originally incorporated before and after the main feature in the home video releases.
This drew criticism for the block and NBC in particular from the conservative watchdog group Parents Television Council, as well as VeggieTales co-creator Phil Vischer, who claimed that he was unaware of the intent to edit out the religious material when Qubo acquired the program distribution rights.
The move came as part of a shift by broadcast television networks towards using their Weekend morning lineup solely to comply with the educational programming requirements and when Sprout changed its name to Universal Kids on September 9, 2017.
Occasionally, some or all programs featured within the block are subject to delay or pre-emption due to local or syndicated programs scheduled by local NBC stations, or may be delayed by the network due to sporting events such as the Summer Olympic Games, the French Open, the USGA-sanctioned U.S. Open and Presidents Cup tournaments, or English Premier League soccer.