Children's television series

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Children's television series are television programs designed for and marketed to children, normally aired during the morning and afternoon hours, mainly before and after school. The purpose of the show is mainly to entertain and sometimes to educate the young audience about basic life skills or ideals.

Programs vary in their intended age group audience and style of presentation. Some take the form of game shows or comedies, and many take the form of animated series, although early animation were often intended for an adult audience.

Children's television is nearly as old as television itself, with early examples including shows such as Blue Peter, Captain Tugg, Howdy Doody, The Clangers, The Flowerpot Men and The Singing Ringing Tree. In the United States, early children's television was often a marketing branch of a larger corporate product such as Disney, and it rarely contained an educational element. Though there is some debate on the intended audience, later non-educational children's television programs included the science fiction programs of Irwin Allen (most notably Lost in Space), the fantasy series of Sid and Marty Krofft, and the extensive cartoon empire of Hanna-Barbera.

Many children's programs also have a large adult following, sometimes in appreciation of their quality and educational value, and sometimes among adults who watched the shows as children or with their own children and now have a nostalgic emotional connection.