Disney's One Too

Disney's One Too

Network	UPN Syndication
Launched	September 6, 1999(1999-09-06)
Closed	August 31, 2003(2003-08-31)
Country of origin	United States
Sister network	Disney's One Saturday Morning
Format	Children's programming block
Running time	2 hours

Disney's One Too(later known asDisney's Animation Weekdays) was an American two-hour Sunday-to-Fridaychildren'sprogramming blockthat aired onUPN(and sometimes insyndication) from September 6, 1999 to August 31, 2003. A spin-off of theDisney's One Saturday Morningblock onABC(which is owned byThe Walt Disney Company), it featured animated series fromDisney Television Animationaimed at children between the ages of 6 and 11.

History

Beginning deal with UPN

In January 1998,UPNbegan discussions withThe Walt Disney Company(owner of rival networkABC) to have the company program a daily two-hour children's block for the network, airing on weekdays (during the morning or afternoon hours) and Sunday mornings.Attempts to reach a time-lease agreement deal with Disney were called off one week after negotiations started due to a dispute between Disney and UPN over how the block would be branded and the amount of E/I programming that Disney would provide for the block; UPN then entered into discussions with then-corporate sisterNickelodeon(both networks were owned byViacom) to produce a new block.That February, UPN entered into an agreement withSaban Entertainment(then a subsidiary ofFox Family Worldwide,which Disney later acquired in 2001) – which distributed two series recently aired on theUPN Kidsblock around that time,Sweet Valley HighandBreaker High– to program the Sunday-to-Friday block.

In March 1998, UPN resumed discussions with Disneyand the following month, The Walt Disney Company and UPN came to an agreement to provide Disney-produced programs on the network on weekdays (from 7:00am - 9:00am or 3:00pm – 5:00pm) and Sunday (from 9:00am – 11:00am).The block was originally announced under the working title "Whomptastic",though the name was changed before the launch of the block for greater brand identity (incidentally," whomp "was used as apejorativeterm in the Disney-produced animated seriesRecess,one of the series that would end up part of the new block, as a substitute for "sucks" ).

The new lineup was later renamed Disney's One Too in July 1999, formatted to serve as a competitor block to ABC's existing children's blockDisney's One Saturday Morning.The block premiered on September 6, 1999, replacing UPN Kids, which ended its run the day before (on September 5) after four years.Compared to the format ofOne Saturday Morning,One Toovaried in that, instead of incorporating hosted segments, short segment gags from the series featured in the block (such asSabrina: The Animated Series,Doug(bought from Nickelodeon) andRecess,all of which – alongside a few other series – were originally aired onOne Saturday Morning) were actually shown, often preceding the start of each program, and after commercial breaks. The block also featured an alternate opening sequence, using more futuristic buildings and a theme similar to that used onOne Saturday Morning.Many series previously aired onOne Toocontinued in reruns on two Disney-branded cable television networks,Toon DisneyandDisney Channel.

Closure of block and syndication

In September 2002, theOne Toobranding was discontinued (due toDisney's One Saturday Morningreplacing withABC Kids); although the UPN block wasn't rebranded (with bumpers and promos simply being created for each individual show). However, theDisneywebsite referred to it under the titleDisney's Animation Weekdaysas a result of the rebranding of the ABC block fromOne Saturday MorningtoABC Kids.The block aired for the last time on August 31, 2003, with the time periods being turned over to UPN's affiliates; this left UPN as the only "big six" broadcast television network with no children's programming (it would not offer such a block again for the rest of the network's existence through its 2006 shutdown), and one of only two major commercial broadcast networks that did not air a children's programming block (the other beingPax TV,which discontinued itsPax Kidslineup in 2000, before returning children's programming as I: Independent Television through the 2006 launch ofQubo,as a 24/7 network, it was pulled off the air in 2021).

Aftermath

UPN was not the first "big six" network to pull children's programming:NBCbecame the first to remove children's series entirely in August 1992, when the network launched a live-action block for teenagers calledTNBC;children's programming returned to NBC in 2002, through a time-lease agreement withDiscovery Kids.In the years since the block was discontinued, all other major broadcast networks, including UPN successorThe CW(sister of Big Three NetworkCBS), would gradually abandon children's programming by selling their respective children's blocks toLitton Entertainment,who produces primarily unscripted E/I content targeted nominally at teenagers (but having an older demographic overall by ratings), or in the case of Fox, removing children's programming entirely. Fox's sister network,MyNetworkTV,has never supplied children's programming as part of its lineup; both networks leave the responsibility of acquiring E/I programming to the affiliates, primarily through the syndicated blockXploration Stationin the case of the former.

Programming

Notes

• ¹Indicates that the program also ranABCprior to the block.
• ²Indicates that the program aired episode premieres.

Originally from Disney

• Recess(1999-2003)^{1 2}
• Buzz Lightyear of Star Command(2000–03)^{1 2}
• Doug(1999–2000)¹
• Hercules: The Animated Series(1999–2000)¹
• The Legend of Tarzan(2001–03)²
• Pepper Ann(2000–01)^{1 2}
• The Weekenders(2001–02)^{1 2}

Acquired programming

• Digimon(2002–03, contained reruns ofDigimon Tamers,as well as first run episodes ofDigimon Frontier)
• Sabrina: The Animated Series(1999–2002)^{1 2}

See also

• The Disney Afternoon– a syndicated children's program block that ran from 1990 to 1997.
• Disney's One Saturday Morning– a Saturday morning children's block that ran onABCfrom 1997 to 2002 before rebranding as ABC Kids.