The issues Captain Kangaroo had with CBS between 1980-1984 was CBS started to have their own morning news show and had to move Captain Kangaroo out of its time slot. Because CBS wanted to be competitive with NBC's "Today" and ABC's "Good Morning America". So, Captain Kangaroo got moved to earlier time during the week that didn't work out, then was moved to Weekends only for the last several years of its run.
Had the opportunity to him when he came to our local TV station where I worked as a cameraman in 1994. I was born in 1955 and loved that show. He was a guest on our morning show and everybody in the station, including reporters, producers,salespeople, engineers, people that worked the night shift came to meet him. A really nice man. I'm tearing up just remembering it.
this guy was a good man. he was right to refuse to advertise violent products. i remember when i was young , whenever i watched a kungfu movie , after the movie was over i wanted to karate chop everything in sight . nowadays we have movies like John Wick. and we wonder why we are one of the most violent countries in the world. 2nd in the world in gun violence... only brazil has more gun violence than we do
How I loved this show. It was pretty much the only morning TV I could watch when there was no school. I always got up when it moved to the earlier time. Seeing him fighting for kids' safety against violence made me respect and like him a lot more. Today's educational shows can't even come close to the educational shows of that time period, and besides today's educational shows, it doesn't protect the kids. They're nothing more than hungry corporate monsters.
As stated by another poster, Captain Kangaroo never had as high of ratings as other networks’ news programs that had aired at the same time. So by the time the 80’s came around, CBS put less emphasis on the show and more on news programs to compete with other networks. Also to note…around that time Bob Keeshan had suffered a major heart attack requiring bypass surgeries which sidelined him for a good part of 1981. The earlier time slot move as well as the cut to 30 minutes also included a set change to a futuristic space lab, as well as a name change to “Wake Up” which alienated audiences. Many affiliated stations didn’t even bother to air the new program. In 1982, the show reverted back to the older “Captain’s Place” set as well as the original name “Captain Kangaroo” but only appeared on Saturday morning before the cartoons came on. (The show by that time actually aired reruns of Hanna Barbara cartoon shorts such as “CB Bears” in place of the older animated segments such as “Toothbrush Family” that used to air in earlier seasons…to try to draw audiences who were “toon-ing” in for Saturday morning fare. But by this time the show had run its course. CBS finally cancelled the show and reruns of later seasons were aired on PBS for a few years following. After “Captain Kangaroo” ended, Bob Keeshan was not quite done with CBS yet. He hosted “CBS Storybreak” for a few seasons before finally retiring.
I know the REAL reason why Captain Kangaroo went off the air: Sketch comedy, music videos, synth-pop and many of Kevin Clash and Jim Martin's puppets killed the '50s, '60s and '70s flavor of the show! Personally, I love the old format better!
The issues Captain Kangaroo had with CBS between 1980-1984 was CBS started to have their own morning news show and had to move Captain Kangaroo out of its time slot. Because CBS wanted to be competitive with NBC's "Today" and ABC's "Good Morning America". So, Captain Kangaroo got moved to earlier time during the week that didn't work out, then was moved to Weekends only for the last several years of its run.
Had the opportunity to him when he came to our local TV station where I worked as a cameraman in 1994. I
was born in 1955 and loved that show. He was a guest on our morning show and everybody in the station, including reporters, producers,salespeople, engineers, people that worked the night shift came to meet him. A really nice man. I'm tearing up just remembering it.
this guy was a good man. he was right to refuse to advertise violent products. i remember when i was young , whenever i watched a kungfu movie , after the movie was over i wanted to karate chop everything in sight . nowadays we have movies like John Wick. and we wonder why we are one of the most violent countries in the world. 2nd in the world in gun violence... only brazil has more gun violence than we do
How I loved this show. It was pretty much the only morning TV I could watch when there was no school. I always got up when it moved to the earlier time. Seeing him fighting for kids' safety against violence made me respect and like him a lot more. Today's educational shows can't even come close to the educational shows of that time period, and besides today's educational shows, it doesn't protect the kids. They're nothing more than hungry corporate monsters.
As stated by another poster, Captain Kangaroo never had as high of ratings as other networks’ news programs that had aired at the same time. So by the time the 80’s came around, CBS put less emphasis on the show and more on news programs to compete with other networks.
Also to note…around that time Bob Keeshan had suffered a major heart attack requiring bypass surgeries which sidelined him for a good part of 1981.
The earlier time slot move as well as the cut to 30 minutes also included a set change to a futuristic space lab, as well as a name change to “Wake Up” which alienated audiences. Many affiliated stations didn’t even bother to air the new program. In 1982, the show reverted back to the older “Captain’s Place” set as well as the original name “Captain Kangaroo” but only appeared on Saturday morning before the cartoons came on. (The show by that time actually aired reruns of Hanna Barbara cartoon shorts such as “CB Bears” in place of the older animated segments such as “Toothbrush Family” that used to air in earlier seasons…to try to draw audiences who were “toon-ing” in for Saturday morning fare. But by this time the show had run its course. CBS finally cancelled the show and reruns of later seasons were aired on PBS for a few years following.
After “Captain Kangaroo” ended, Bob Keeshan was not quite done with CBS yet. He hosted “CBS Storybreak” for a few seasons before finally retiring.
Remember the ping pong balls?
I know the REAL reason why Captain Kangaroo went off the air:
Sketch comedy, music videos, synth-pop and many of Kevin Clash and Jim
Martin's puppets killed the '50s, '60s and '70s flavor of the show!
Personally, I love the old format better!