Litton's Weekend Adventure (originally known as ABC Weekend Adventure) is a block of live-action children's television series

Children's television series

Children's television series, are commercial television programs designed for, and marketed to children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run in the early evening, for the children that go to school...

 programmed by Litton Entertainment

Litton Entertainment

Litton Entertainment is a media company based in Charleston, South Carolina, with offices in New York City; Burbank, California; Chicago, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia and Raleigh, North Carolina.The company was founded in 1987 by President and CEO Dave Morgan....

 that is broadcast on the ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 network on Saturday mornings. Announced on May 24, 2011, Litton's Weekend Adventure launched on September 3, 2011, replacing the ABC Kids block.

Programming

Programming featured primarily targets 13-16 year olds, and the block satisfies the E/I

E/I

E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...

 programming guidelines outlined by the Federal Communications Commission

Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

.

The block came as a result of ABC deciding in early 2011 to no longer provide E/I programming as part of its Saturday morning network lineup to its affiliates; the network had not introduced any new E/I programs for its ABC Kids block since 2008, and the E/I programs that were airing had been in reruns for three years at the time of the decision. As a compromise, the network's affiliate board agreed to instead look for a broadcast syndication package that would only air exclusively on ABC stations. Litton Entertainment was eventually selected, beating out two other competitors.

Although the block airs exclusively on ABC owned-and-operated stations and affiliates, Litton's Weekend Adventure is formatted similarly to a syndication package. There are no references to the network in promotions for the lineup and it does not use the network's logo bug

Digital on-screen graphic

A digital on-screen graphic is a watermark-like station logo that many television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen-area of their programs to identify the channel...

 during any of the programs, nor do commercial breaks include any promotions for ABC primetime programming. Although Litton's Weekend Adventure is meant to be a children's programming block, advertising is not targeted at children and includes only direct response and pharmaceutical advertising

Pharmaceutical marketing

Pharmaceutical marketing , sometimes called medico-marketing, is the business of advertising or otherwise promoting the sale of pharmaceuticals or drugs. There is some evidence that marketing practices can negatively affect both patients and the health care profession...

 targeted towards adults instead, outside of public service announcement

Public service announcement

A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...

s.

The Walt Disney Company offers a different Saturday morning block with original and new programming, Toonin' Saturdays

Toonin' Saturdays

Toonin' Saturdays is a program block on the Disney Channel in the United States, consisting of Saturday morning cartoons. The block, which debuted June 18, 2011, airs Fish Hooks, Phineas and Ferb and Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil...

, on Disney Channel

Disney Channel

Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

 which began in June 2011 and is now Disney's primary Saturday morning children's block.

Though the block follows the federally-mandated E/I programming guidelines outlined by the FCC, therefore allowing ABC stations to carry it without issues regarding lack of educational content, WAWV-TV in Terre Haute, Indiana

Terre Haute, Indiana

Terre Haute is a city and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and...

 is the only ABC affiliate that does not carry the block (the station, which reaffiliated with the network on September 1, 2011, two days before Weekend Adventure's debut, airs syndicated children's programs in place of the block; Litton's Weekend Adventure is one of two ABC programs that WAWV does not clear, along with overnight news program World News Now

World News Now

World News Now is an American overnight news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company's television network. Its tone is often lighthearted, irreverent and humorous...

).

Current programming

Eastern & Alaska	Central & Pacific	Mountain	Show Name	Program Host(s)
9:00 am	8:00 am	7:00 am	Jack Hanna Jack Hanna John Bushnell "Jack" Hanna is an American zookeeper who is the Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. He was Director of the zoo from 1978 to 1993, and is viewed as largely responsible for elevating its quality and reputation. His media appearances have made him one of the most... 's Wild Countdown	Jack Hanna Jack Hanna John Bushnell "Jack" Hanna is an American zookeeper who is the Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. He was Director of the zoo from 1978 to 1993, and is viewed as largely responsible for elevating its quality and reputation. His media appearances have made him one of the most...
9:30 am	8:30 am	7:30 am	Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin Jeff Corwin Jeffrey Scott Corwin is an American animal and nature conservationist, best known as host and executive producer of Animal Planet cable channel television programs, The Jeff Corwin Experience and Corwin's Quest.-Early years:...	Jeff Corwin Jeff Corwin Jeffrey Scott Corwin is an American animal and nature conservationist, best known as host and executive producer of Animal Planet cable channel television programs, The Jeff Corwin Experience and Corwin's Quest.-Early years:...
10:00 am	9:00 am	8:00 am	Born to Explore with Richard Wiese Richard Wiese Richard Wiese is a world-class explorer. He is the author of a detailed guidebook titled Born to Explore. Wiese is the host of the ABC television program, Born to Explore, which was scheduled to debut September 3, 2011....	Richard Wiese Richard Wiese Richard Wiese is a world-class explorer. He is the author of a detailed guidebook titled Born to Explore. Wiese is the host of the ABC television program, Born to Explore, which was scheduled to debut September 3, 2011....
10:30 am	9:30 am	8:30 am	Culture Click	Nzinga Blake Nzinga Blake Nzinga Blake is an American / Sierra Leonean actress, writer and currently the host of Culture Click, which appears on Saturday mornings on most ABC stations. Blake was a host on Current TV and starred on the TV series Fridays on Cartoon Network, as well as in national television commercials for...
11:00 am	10:00 am	9:00 am	Everyday Health	Laila Ali Laila Ali Laila Amaria Ali is a retired American professional boxer. She is the daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali from his third wife Veronica Porsche Ali.-Boxing career:...  and Ethan Zohn Ethan Zohn Ethan Zohn is an American reality television series contestant who won $1,000,000 on Survivor: Africa, the third season of the reality TV series Survivor. He also appeared on the All-Stars edition of the show. After winning Survivor he co-founded Grassroot Soccer, which uses soccer to raise money...
11:30 am	10:30 am	9:30 am	Food for Thought with Claire Thomas	Claire Thomas

External links