Presents
The ABC
Saturday Superstar Movies

The Walt Disney features, made beginning in 1954 for Disney's weekly TV series, could be considered the original Made-For-TV Movies, but the concept officially began in 1964 with NBC-TV and Universal's "Project 120" series. "The Killers", starring Ronald Reagan was slated to be the first, but it was released to theaters first after it was deemed too violent for television. After several years of TV Movies, the genre was made a weekly event in 1969 when ABC-TV debuted the successful 90 minute ABC Movie of the Week.

In 1972, ABC attempted to duplicate this success with a weekly Saturday morning animated series entitled The ABC Saturday Superstar Movies. The hour long series, with a budget reported to be around $300,000 per film, had wrap-around animation supplied by Hanna-Barbera Productions and consisted of animated movies, pilots and specials from various production companies geared towards a juvenile audience.


FIRST-RUN EPISODES

First Season

09/09/72 - The Brady Kids On Mysterious Island (Filmation)
09/16/72 - Yogi's Ark Lark (Hanna-Barbera)
09/23/72 - The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters (Rankin-Bass)
09/30/72 - Nanny And The Professor (Fred Calvert)
10/07/72 - Popeye Meets The Man Who Hated Laughter (Hal Seeger/King Features)
10/14/72 - Willie Mays And the Say-Hey Kid (Rankin-Bass)
10/21/72 - Oliver And The Artful Dodger, Part One (Hanna-Barbera)
10/28/72 - Oliver And The Artful Dodger, Part Two (Hanna-Barbera)
11/04/72 - Robin Hoodnik (Hanna-Barbera)
11/11/72 - Lassie And The Spirit Of Thunder Mountain (Filmation)
11/18/72 - Gidget Makes The Wrong Connection (Hanna-Barbera)
11/25/72 - The Banana Splits In Hocus Pocus Park (Hanna-Barbera)
12/02/72 - Tabitha and Adam And The Clown Family (Hanna-Barbera)
12/09/72 - The Red Baron (Rankin-Bass)
12/16/72 - Daffy Duck And Porky Pig Meet The Groovie Goolies (Filmation)
01/06/73 - Luvcast U.S.A. (DePatie-Freleng)
01/13/73 - That Girl In Wonderland (Rankin-Bass)

Second Season

09/08/73 - Lost In Space (Hanna-Barbera)
10/27/73 - The Mini-Munsters (Fred Calvert)
11/17/73 - Nanny And The Professor And The Phantom Of The Circus (Fred Calvert)

Saturday Superstar Movie
opening

Watch the opening to the Saturday Superstar Movie that I posted on YouTube

Go To Saturday Superstar Movies 1: Filmation

Go To Saturday Superstar Movies 2: Hanna-Barbera

Go To Saturday Superstar Movies 3: Other Producers

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Since December 2, 1997.

Updated October 19, 2007

Hanna-Barbera characters © 1997, 1998 Hanna-Barbera Productions. Groovie Goolies © 1997, 1998 Filmation Associates. The Brady Kids © 1997, 1998 Paramount Television. Lassie © 1997, 1998 Lassie Television. Daffy Duck and Tweety © 1997, 1998 Warner Brothers. Lost in Space © 1997, 1998 Twentieth Century Fox/Space Productions. Popeye © 1997, 1998 King Features Syndicate. The Toon Tracker sites are not endorsed by any of the respective copyright owners. They are presented solely for historical reference and educational purposes. The creators and maintainers of this web site take no responsibility for the information provided herein. All products and brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. All characters and all related slogans and indicia are trademarks of the respective copyright owners. The use of such material falls under Fair use provisions