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53-416: Four Feather Falls is a British children's western television series, the third puppet TV show produced by AP Films (APF) in association with Granada Television . It was based on an idea by Barry Gray , who also wrote the show's music. The series was the first to use an early version of APF's Supermarionation puppetry. Thirty-nine 13-minute episodes were produced between April 1959 and April 1960, and

106-452: A Four Feather Falls annual . A tie-in board game was also released. Notes Citations Bibliography Children%27s television series The purpose of these shows, aside from profit, is mainly to entertain or educate children, with each series targeting a certain age of child: some are aimed at infants and toddlers, some are aimed at those aged 6 to 11 years old, and others are aimed at all children. Children's television

159-480: A block on Animax , known as "Nick Time") and Cartoon Network (Cartoon Network's age demographic is moving towards older viewers with shows such as Hello Kitty , Regular Show and Adventure Time ) One of the most well-known children's TV programmes comes from Iceland, LazyTown , was created by Magnus Scheving , European Gymnastics Champion and CEO of Lazytown Entertainment . The show has aired in over 180 countries, been dubbed into more than 32 languages and

212-560: A cable, satellite, streaming, or internet subscription to view them on first airing." In the United States, there are three major commercial cable networks dedicated to children's television. All three also operate secondary services with specialized scopes drawing upon their respective libraries, such as a focus on specific demographics, or a focus upon classic programming that fall within their scope and demographics; all three have also extensively franchised their brands outside

265-724: A few exceptions, perhaps the best-known being the Power Rangers franchise). Typically, programs are either 'for boys' or 'for girls'. The teen demographic targets viewers 12 to 18 years of age. Live-action series that target this demographic are more dramatic and developed, including teen dramas and teen sitcoms . In some cases, they may contain more mature content that is usually not permissible on shows targeting younger viewers, and can include some profanity or suggestive dialogue. Educational programming targeted at this demographic has historically been rare, other than on NASA TV 's education block. However, some programming aimed at

318-454: A number of children's channels under the Pop and Tiny Pop brands. British versions of Cartoon Network and its sister channels Boomerang and Cartoonito also operate in the country, some 25 years after the initial launch. Ireland has one dedicated children's TV service RTÉjr . Since 1998 RTÉ2 has provided children's programming from 07:00 to 17:30 each weekday, originally titled The Den ,

371-414: Is generally more overtly educational. In a number of cases, such shows are produced in consultation with educators and child psychologists in an effort to teach age-appropriate lessons (the series Sesame Street pioneered this approach when it debuted in 1969). A format that has increased in popularity since the 1990s is the " pseudo-interactive " program, in which the action of the show stops and breaks

424-774: Is nearly as old as television itself. In the United Kingdom, the BBC 's For the Children was first broadcast in 1946, and in English-speaking circles, is generally credited with being the first TV programme specifically for children. Some authors posit television for children tended to originate from similar programs on radio. For example, the BBC's Children's Hour was launched as a radio broadcast in 1922, with BBC School Radio commencing live broadcasts in 1924. In

477-635: Is the most expensive children's show of all time. In 1995, Cartoon Network became the first children's channel to be launched in India. Subsequently, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon arrived. Hungama TV (2004) was the first children's channel that had local content. Pogo and BabyTV came later in 2006. By 2018, 23 channels have aired in India. Nickelodeon was the first children's channel in Romania, launched in December 1998. Afterwards, Minimax became

530-513: The Cartoon Network , Disney Channel , Disney Junior , Disney XD , and Nickelodeon brands. WildBrain operates Family Channel , as well as the spin-off services WildBrainTV and Family Jr. it has been majority owned and operated by British Columbia's public broadcaster Knowledge Network . In French, Corus operates Télétoon and La chaîne Disney , WildBrain operates Télémagino (a French version of Family Jr.), TVA Group operates

583-614: The FCC mandates. (The rule for digital subchannels was repealed in July 2019; in practice, most still carry educational programs anyway.) In 2017, there was a programming block that aired on syndication called KidsClick ; it was notable as a concerted effort to program children's shows on television without regard to their educational content, one of the first such efforts since the E/I rule took effect. The transition to digital television has allowed for

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636-405: The fourth wall to give a young viewer the opportunity to answer a question or dilemma put forth on the show, with the action continuing as if the viewer answered correctly. Shows that target the demographic of persons 6 to 11 years old focus primarily on entertainment and can range from comedic cartoons to action series. Most children's television series targeting this age range are animated (with

689-689: The 1990s, more children's television series such as Barney & Friends , Blue's Clues , SpongeBob SquarePants , Bear in the Big Blue House , and The Big Comfy Couch were created. A voluminous range of children's television programming now exists in the 2020s. Notable successes outside the US include shows like Play School , Noggin the Nog , Clangers , Bagpuss , Teletubbies , Thunderbirds , Danger Mouse , Count Duckula , Mr. Men and Thomas & Friends originating from

742-404: The BBC runs CBBC as well as the preschool-oriented CBeebies , while ITV runs CITV as well as the preschool-oriented LittleBe , as a programming block on ITVBe . Both channels were spun off from children's television strands on their respective flagship channels ( BBC One , BBC Two , and ITV ). The BBC and ITV have largely phased out children's programming from their main channels to focus on

795-455: The UK, Paw Patrol from Canada, Le Manege Enchantè from France, The Singing Ringing Tree from Germany, and Marine Boy and Pokémon from Japan. Canadian studio Nelvana is a particularly prolific producer of children's programming. Much of Nelvana's product is broadcast worldwide, especially in the US, where the similarities in dialect do not require any dubbing or localization. In

848-445: The United States, early children's television was often co-opted as a platform to market products and it rarely contained any educational elements (for instance, The Magic Clown , a popular early children's program, was primarily an advertisement for Bonomo's Turkish taffy .) In the early years of television, advertising to children posed a dilemma as most children have no disposable income of their own. As such, children's television

901-458: The United States. Under current mandates, all broadcast television stations in the United States must show a minimum of three hours per week of educational children's programming , regardless of format. Until 2019, this rule also applied to digital subchannels ; as a result, digital multicast networks whose formats should not fit children's programming, such as Live Well Network and TheCoolTV , were required to carry educational programs to fit

954-467: The Universe , the 1980s saw a dramatic rise in television programs featuring characters of whom toy characters were being sold to retail consumers in bricks and mortar stores, underscoring the value potential of manufacturing merchandise for fans of children's programs. This practice remains firmly embedded in the broadcast sector's business case broadly in the 2020s. Commercial-free children television

1007-483: The adventures of its sheriff , Tex Tucker. In the first episode, Grandpa Twink relates the story of how it all began to his grandson, Little Jake. Tex is riding up from the valley and comes across a lost and hungry Indian boy, Makooya, and saves him. Tex is given four magic feathers by the boy's grandfather, Chief Kalamakooya, as a reward for saving his grandson. Two of the feathers allow his guns to swivel and fire automatically (often while Tex's hands are raised), and

1060-456: The camera and simulate small talk with the viewing audience at home, demonstrating basic skills for the camera. This practice lives on in contemporary children's broadcasting as a genre in of itself, with Australia's ongoing program Play School one example. At one time, a program called Winky Dink and You took a more interactive approach, prompting its viewers to affix a clear vinyl sheet to their television and draw pictures to match what

1113-572: The cultural similarities between Canada and the US, along with film credits and subsidies available from the Canadian government, a large number of animated children's series have been made in Canada with the intention of exporting them to the United States. Such programs carry a prominent Government of Canada wordmark in their closing credits. The BBC and ITV plc both operate children's oriented television networks on digital terrestrial television:

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1166-561: The day required more space than would be available in a human-scale head, therefore all the puppets in Four Feather Falls had oversized heads, though the bodies as a whole were one-third life size. Anderson's aim was to make the puppets look as realistic as possible, the beginning of the Supermarionation puppetry process, although that term was not coined until his next series, Supercar . The wires used to control

1219-498: The debut of whole subchannels that air children's programming 24/7; examples include BabyFirst , PBS Kids , Smile , and Universal Kids . The country's only directly nationally operated TV service for public consumption, NASA TV , also includes educational programs in its schedule for use in schools. English-language children's specialty channels in Canada are primarily owned by Corus Entertainment and WildBrain . Corus operates YTV and Treehouse , as well as localized versions of

1272-633: The dedicated services; in 2012, as part of the "Delivering Quality First" initiative, the BBC announced that it would end the broadcast of CBBC programmes on BBC One following the completion of the transition to digital terrestrial television, citing low viewership in comparison to broadcasts of the programmes on the CBBC channel. Channel 5 also broadcasts a preschool-oriented block known as Milkshake! , while its owner, Paramount Networks International , also runs versions of Nickelodeon and its sister networks Nicktoons and Nick Jr. Narrative Capital operate

1325-534: The demographic has had some tangential educational value in regard to social issues, such as the now-defunct TNBC block of sitcoms, which often tackled issues such as underage drinking or drug use. According to at least one journalist, for years, Broadcast Standards and Practices departments of networks, Parental Guidelines , and campaigns by social conservatives limited "efforts to make kids animation more inclusive." One former executive of Disney, David Levine, said that "a lot of conservative opinion" drove what

1378-464: The early 1930s, radio adventure serials such as Little Orphan Annie began to emerge in the United States and became a staple of children's afternoon radio listening. Early children's shows included Kukla, Fran and Ollie (1947), Howdy Doody , and Captain Kangaroo . Another show, Ding Dong School , aired from 1952 to 1965. Its creator and host, Frances Horwich , would sit in front of

1431-518: The finished prints. The production design and puppet costuming were more detailed than those of Twizzle and Torchy . Continuity for the series was provided by Sylvia Thamm , who later married Gerry Anderson. Provis, who left APF mid-production due to disagreements over the direction of the company, was given a five per cent share of the profits from the series. The show's music and song lyrics were composed by Barry Gray . Michael Holliday provided Tex's singing voice, and Tommy Reilly performed

1484-662: The first Romanian children's channel to air locally produced content, launched on Children's Day in 2001. Since then, channels like BabyTV and Disney Channel have arrived. Children's channels that exist in Turkey are Cartoon Network , TRT Çocuk , MinikaÇOCUK , Minika GO and Zarok TV . Torchy the Battery Boy Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include

1537-415: The harmonica pieces. The best known song to come out of the series was "Four Feather Falls", sung in some episodes by Michael Holliday in the style of Bing Crosby and sometimes incorrectly described as the theme song to the series. The closing theme song was "Two Gun Tex of Texas." Holliday was paid £2,000 (about £59,000 in 2023) for his singing work on the pilot episode – a significant part of

1590-986: The highest number of LGBTQ characters they ever recorded up to that point. In 2017, some said that LGBTQ+ characters in animated television were somewhat rare, despite the fact that GLAAD praised the number of characters in broadcast and primetime television. From 2017 to 2019, Insider noted that there was a "more than 200% spike in queer and gender-minority characters in children's animated TV shows." In 2018 and 2019, GLAAD stated that Amazon , Hulu , and Netflix, had increased LGBTQ representation in "daytime kids and family television." In their January 2021 report, GLAAD praised LGBTQ representation in episodes of DuckTales , The Owl House and Adventure Time: Distant Lands . Despite this, some industry practitioners state that more than 90% of LGBTQ characters in kid's animated shows within Insider 's database of characters in children's animated television shows "require either

1643-587: The installation of a director's control booth and video assist TV monitors to guide the puppeteers, who operated the marionettes from a Dexion bridge built several feet over the set. The model set representing the town of Four Feather Falls measured 30 by 15 feet (9.1 m × 4.6 m). Filming in Slough ended in April 1960. Anderson considered the puppets with static heads, made by Christine Glanville for his earlier productions, to be unacceptable because

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1696-405: The knowledge of APF's employer Roberta Leigh , with whom Anderson planned to sever ties in the aim of becoming an independent producer. The pilot episode, "How It Began", was produced in April 1959 on a budget of £6,000 (about £176,000 in 2023). A full series of 39 episodes was commissioned by Granada after APF's intended distributor, Anglo Amalgamated , turned it down. Except for the pilot, which

1749-526: The network simultaneously. The series was repeated in some British TV regions on a sporadic basis up until 1968. In December 2004, it was announced that the rights had been acquired by Network, and it was released on three Region 2 DVDs in May 2005. It is the only Supermarionation series not yet released to DVD in North America as of January 2006. Sylvia Anderson wrote two British children's annuals based on

1802-513: The networks turned to affiliated cable cartoon channels or outside programmers for their blocks. On September 27, 2014, the last traditional Saturday network morning cartoon block, Vortexx , ended and was replaced the following week by the syndicated One Magnificent Morning on The CW . Children's television series can target a wide variety of key demographics based on age and gender. Few television networks target infants and toddlers under two years of age. Preschool-oriented programming

1855-468: The other parts, including the sheriff Tex Tucker. Anderson liked Parsons' interpretation and offered him the job of providing Tex's speaking voice. American Western TV shows such as Gunsmoke and Wagon Train were popular with British audiences, so APF's Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis decided to make a cowboy series based on a story concept pitched to them by Barry Gray . According to Anderson, Four Feather Falls "was really me trying to make

1908-423: The other two allow his horse, Rocky, and his dog, Dusty, to speak. As Tex, his horse, and dog are very thirsty, Kalamakooya also makes a waterfall where there had been no water before, and so when the town was built it was named after Tex's feathers and the waterfall. The characters of the town are Grandpa Twink, who does little but rest in a chair; his grandson Little Jake, the only child in town; Ma Jones, who runs

1961-479: The pilot's £6,000 budget. In all, Holliday recorded six songs for the series: "Four Feather Falls", "The Phantom Rider", "The Rick-Rick-A-Rackety Train", "Happy Hearts and Friendly Faces", "My Home Town", and "Two Gun Tex of Texas". The recording was conducted at Gate Studios in Borehamwood. Four Feather Falls was the first APF series to be fully networked on ITV , that is shown by all regional franchises of

2014-700: The preschool-oriented Yoopa , and Bell Media runs the teen-oriented Vrak . Via its majority-owned subsidiary Telelatino , Corus also operates two children and family-oriented networks in Spanish and Italian, TeleNiños and Telebimbi respectively. On broadcast television and satellite to cable undertakings, children's television content is relegated to the country's public and designated provincial educational broadcasters, including CBC Television and Ici Radio-Canada Télé , as well as City Saskatchewan , CTV Two Alberta (formerly Access), Knowledge Network , Télé-Québec , TFO , and TVOntario ( TVOKids ). Aided by

2067-510: The puppets were eight feet long and made of tungsten steel , an improvement on the curtain wire used in Anderson's two earlier puppet series ( The Adventures of Twizzle and Torchy ), and were only 1/200 of an inch thick. Being shiny, the wires had to be blackened. The horses moved by being pulled along on a trolley, which meant the viewer never saw their feet when they were moving. The voice cast assembled to record each script without seeing

2120-436: The puppets, much like recording a radio series; synchronisation of each character's speech with the movement of its puppet's mouth was performed later. The tight budget precluded the use of sophisticated special effects, and less costly alternatives were used. For example, to achieve the effect of muzzle flashes , small specks of black paint were carefully applied to the 35 mm negatives so they would appear as white flashes on

2173-566: The series was first broadcast on the ITV network from February to November 1960. The setting is the late 19th-century fictional Kansas town of Four Feather Falls, where the hero of the series, Tex Tucker, is a sheriff . The four feathers of the title refers to four magical feathers given to Tex by the Indian chief Kalamakooya as a reward for saving his grandson. One of the feathers allowed Tex's guns to swivel and fire without being touched whenever he

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2226-762: The service was renamed TRTÉ and RTÉjr in 2010. Irish-language service TG4 provide two strands of children's programming Cúla 4 Na nÓg and Cúla 4 during the day. Commercial broadcaster TV3 broadcast a children's strand called Gimme 3 from 1998 to 1999. And then broadcast a new strand called 3Kids . Children's channels that exist in Australia are ABC Family , ABC Kids , and its spin-off CBeebies , Nickelodeon and its spin-off Nick Jr. , and Cartoon Network and its spin-off Boomerang . Children's channels that exist in Japan are NHK Educational TV , Kids Station , Disney Channel , Disney XD , Nickelodeon (also under

2279-536: The show, published by Collins in 1960 and 1961. The first book featured a short text story based on the pilot episode of the TV series. The show was adapted into comics form and published as an ongoing strip in Polystyle Publications ' TV Comic . The Four Feathers Falls strip was drawn by Neville Main, and appeared from issue #439 (14 May 1960) until issue #564 (6 October 1962). Sylvia Anderson wrote

2332-469: The sort of films I used to see in the cinema." APF offered Gray about £100 (£3,000 in 2023) to buy his idea, which was originally titled Two Gun Tex Tucker . This was changed to Two Gun Tex of Texas , then The Sheriff of Four Feather Falls before the final title was chosen. Development began in late 1958 while the first 26 episodes of Torchy the Battery Boy were still in production, and without

2385-570: The town store; Doc Haggerty; Slim Jim, the bartender of the Denison saloon ; Marvin Jackson, the bank manager; and Dan Morse, the telegraphist . Other characters appeared from time to time for only one episode, often just visiting town. The villains included Pedro, who was introduced in the first show and Fernando, who first appeared in the second episode as a sidekick and someone Pedro could blame when things went wrong, as they always did. Big Ben

2438-427: The viewer could not tell which character was talking unless its puppet moved up or down. For Four Feather Falls , the papier-mâché heads were replaced by interchangeable hollow fibreglass heads with internal rods that could move the eyes from side to side. The heads also contained sound-activated solenoids , which allowed the puppets' lips to move automatically in synchronisation with the dialogue. The electronics of

2491-404: Was another villain who appeared from time to time, as did Red Scalp, a renegade Indian. Other villains only appeared in single episodes. Denise Bryer had worked with Anderson on The Adventures of Twizzle , and he wanted her to play some of the voices in Four Feather Falls . Anderson visited Bryer at her home with some scripts and asked her husband, Nicholas Parsons , to help by reading some of

2544-420: Was depicted on Cartoon Network , Disney Channel , and other alike channels. Some argued that cable television, which began to pick up in the 1990s, "opened the door for more representation" even though various levels of approvals remained. Through the 2000s', advocacy group GLAAD repeatedly highlighted the lack of LGBT representation in children's programming in particular. Two years later, they recorded

2597-543: Was first introduced with Sesame Street on PBS in November 1969. It was produced by what is now known as Sesame Workshop (formerly Children's Television Workshop, known as CTW). In the United States, Saturday mornings were generally scheduled with cartoons from the 1960s to 1980s. In 1992, teen comedies and a "Today" show weekend edition were first to displace the cartoon blocks on NBC. Starting in September 2002,

2650-586: Was going on on-screen. This format did not persist, nor was it replicated, due to a number of factors unrelated to its popularity: children whose parents did not buy them the vinyl sheet would draw with crayons directly on the television screen itself, potentially causing expensive damage; there were also concerns that having children within arm's length of a television screen of the era could expose them to harmful radiation. Later and more recognisably modern shows for young children include Sesame Street , The Electric Company and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood . In

2703-444: Was in danger, two conferred the power of speech on Tex's horse and dog, and the fourth feather could summon Kalamakooya. Tex's speaking voice was provided by Nicholas Parsons , and his singing voice by Michael Holliday . The series was sporadically repeated on British television until 1968, and was released on DVD in 2005. The series is set in the fictitious late 19th-century Western town of Four Feather Falls, Kansas, and features

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2756-634: Was made in APF's studios at Islet Park House in Maidenhead, all episodes were made in a converted warehouse on the Slough Trading Estate . Previously owned by special effects artist Les Bowie , this provided quadruple the floor space of Islet Park House, where the crew had been filming in a re-purposed ballroom . After moving to the Slough estate in June 1959, APF upgraded its new facilities with

2809-603: Was not a particularly high priority for the networks. This practice continued in a toned-down manner through the 1980s in the United States after the Federal Communications Commission prohibited tie-in advertising on broadcast television. These regulations did not apply to cable, which remains out of the reach of the FCC's content regulations. Due in part to the success of He-Man and the Masters of

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