| rdfs:comment
| - Schoolhouse Rock is an old cartoon that played on ABC.
- A series of educational short cartoons -- so short that they fit in the space of a single commercial break -- aired from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s on Saturday mornings on ABC. Back in the day (1972, to be specific), Saturday morning children's programming was supposed to be at least tangentially educational, and Merchandise-Driven advertising was severely limited. Networks couldn't advertise things related to the cartoons they were airing in those timeslots, so there was an opening for educational shorts even after running through cereal commercials.
- Schoolhouse Rock was on the air continuously from January 1973 until 1985. During that time 36 episodes were produced, as part of the four series covering different subjects, "Multiplication Rock," "Grammar Rock," America Rock," and "Science Rock." During that initial run, the show took home four daytime Emmys. The show was initially conceived as a way to teach grade-school children their times tables, and bloomed from their. 11 episodes were produced in that initial "Multiplication Rock" series, for all the numbers from 0 to 12, excluding 1 and 10, and those numbers' times tables. During the 1990s, a "Money Rock" series of eight episodes was added to the Schoolhouse Rock collection, which along with the "Science Rock" episode "The Weather Show," and the more recently-made "I'm Going to Se
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| abstract
| - A series of educational short cartoons -- so short that they fit in the space of a single commercial break -- aired from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s on Saturday mornings on ABC. Back in the day (1972, to be specific), Saturday morning children's programming was supposed to be at least tangentially educational, and Merchandise-Driven advertising was severely limited. Networks couldn't advertise things related to the cartoons they were airing in those timeslots, so there was an opening for educational shorts even after running through cereal commercials. At around the same time, ad executive David McCall noticed that while his son was struggling in school, he had no trouble remembering the lyrics to his favourite songs. Thus the idea to introduce basic learning concepts to young minds via simple-but-catchy rock, jazz, folk and pop tunes -- most written by jazz mainstay Bob Dorough and eventual Broadway lyricist Lynn Ahrens -- accompanied by entertaining visuals, animated by a team led by Tom Yohe. The intial pitch was made to Michael Eisner, then vice president of ABC's children's programming, who brought along one Chuck Jones. Jones loved the concept, Eisner persuaded his regular program lineup to snip three minutes each off their running time to accommodate it, and a legend was born. The Saturday-morning format provided a perfect vehicle to repeat the shorts over and over until the lesson was learned; from the start, Schoolhouse Rock was a roaring success as both education and entertainment, running for 37 episodes repeated endlessly over 12 years. Many of the shorts were burned into the minds of young viewers permanently. Besides the educational content, the series won accolades for the consistently high quality of the songs - besides Dorough and Ahrens, performers included Jack Sheldon, Blossom Dearie, Essra Mohawk and Grady Tate - and the overall cleverness of the lyrics and animation. Taking cues from Sesame Street and other contemporary educational programming, Schoolhouse Rock avoided sentimentality and presented a hip, inclusive, fast-paced and funny (often downright snarky) attitude to learning. Episodes initially fell under one of four headings, in order of production: Multiplication Rock, Grammar Rock, America Rock (history, mostly released around the 1976 American Bicentennial) and Science Rock. 1983 saw an earnest but ill-fated attempt at Computer Rock (aka Scooter Computer & Mr. Chips) and in 1995-96 the original team reunited for the much more successful Money Rock. In addition, two new Grammar Rock segments ("Busy Prepositions" and "The Tale of Mr. Morton") were added. In 2002 the team reunited again to produce two new America Rock segments ("I'm Gonna Send Your Vote to College" and "Presidential Minute") as a Milestone Celebration. In 2009, yet another reunion produced Earth Rock, about environmental issues. All of the classic Schoolhouse Rock shorts are now available on DVD. The newer Earth Rock set is also available as a separate release.
- Schoolhouse Rock is an old cartoon that played on ABC.
- Schoolhouse Rock was on the air continuously from January 1973 until 1985. During that time 36 episodes were produced, as part of the four series covering different subjects, "Multiplication Rock," "Grammar Rock," America Rock," and "Science Rock." During that initial run, the show took home four daytime Emmys. The show was initially conceived as a way to teach grade-school children their times tables, and bloomed from their. 11 episodes were produced in that initial "Multiplication Rock" series, for all the numbers from 0 to 12, excluding 1 and 10, and those numbers' times tables. During the 1990s, a "Money Rock" series of eight episodes was added to the Schoolhouse Rock collection, which along with the "Science Rock" episode "The Weather Show," and the more recently-made "I'm Going to Send Your Vote to College," about the workings of the electoral college, bring the total number of episodes up to 46. The show was brought back on the air again in the late 1990s on Saturday Mornings on its original network, ABC. Children are still familiar with the songs to this day. For more information on Schoolhouse Rock:
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