.png) Logo used from 1997 to 2008[a] | |
| Network | |
|---|---|
| Launched | September 9, 1995 |
| Closed |
|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Owner | Warner Bros. Television Studios (Time Warner) |
| Headquarters | Burbank, California, U.S. |
| Original language(s) | English |
Kids' WB (stylized as Kids' WB!) was an American children's programming block that originally aired on The WB from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006, and later on The CW from September 23, 2006, to May 17, 2008. Initially launched as a competitor to Fox Kids, Kids' WB aired primarily during the Saturday morning and weekday after-school time slots, although airtimes for the block's programming varied at the local affiliate's discretion.
In 1999, the block gained a major foothold in the children's television market when it acquired the rights to 4Kids Entertainment's English-dub of the Pokémon anime (which had previously been syndicated on Fox-affiliated stations the previous year), helping cement the anime as a pop culture phenomenon among American audiences. Other notable series during the block's WB run included Animaniacs (a Fox Kids carryover) and spinoff Pinky and the Brain (which began as a WB prime time series), Freakazoid!, The New Batman/Superman Adventures, Histeria!, Cardcaptors, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Jackie Chan Adventures, Static Shock and Johnny Test.
The block moved to The CW (a result of the merger of Time Warner-owned The WB and CBS Corporation-owned UPN) upon its launch in September 2006. Following a 13-year run on broadcast television, on May 24, 2008, Kids' WB was replaced by successor block The CW4Kids (later renamed Toonzai in 2010) under a time-lease agreement reached between The CW and 4Kids Entertainment to take over programming the network's Saturday morning timeslot. An online version of Kids' WB featuring episodes of popular series from the block operated from April 29, 2008, to May 17, 2015.
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