Captain Kangaroo - Schedule History

Schedule History

While Captain Kangaroo was still in planning stages, CBS executives had the idea of hiring Al Lewis, a kids' show host in Cincinnati (ABC was running Lewis's show at that time), to host their show, but Lewis's managers refused to release him from his contract. Lewis's local kids show went off the air in Cincinnati a year after Captain Kangaroo left CBS.

For the first three months, Captain Kangaroo was only seen on weekday mornings. From then until 1968, the show was also seen on Saturday mornings, except in the 1964-1965 season, when it was replaced by a Keeshan vehicle called Mr. Mayor. After 1968, the show was again seen only on weekdays. Except for pre-emption for news coverage, notably the three-day continuous coverage of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, and a few shows that were 45 minutes, the show aired a full 60 minutes on weekday mornings until 1981. It was broadcast in color from September 9, 1966 onward. The time slot for the show was from 8:00 A.M. to 9:00 A.M., E.S.T., after which the networks would allow some affiliate stations to air local programming.

The audience of children could never compete in the ratings with such entertainment/news shows as The Today Show, although Captain Kangaroo won Emmy Awards three times as Outstanding Children's entertainment series in 1978–1979, 1982–1983 and 1983–1984. But in the fall of 1981, to make more room for the expansion of CBS Morning News, the Captain was moved to an earlier time slot of 7 a.m. and cut to 30 minutes, sporting the new title Wake Up with the Captain. In the fall of 1982, it returned to an hour format, but was moved to Saturday mornings at 7 a.m. Eastern Time and 6 a.m. in other time zones. Reruns from the previous season were offered to CBS affiliates to run Sunday morning in place of the cartoon reruns offered before, but most declined. One-third of affiliates no longer ran the show at all after 1982, and it was again reduced to a half-hour in the fall of 1984. Angered over the reduction of his program for the second time, Keeshan chose to step down at the end of 1984, after his contract with CBS expired.

Just over a year later, in 1986, Captain Kangaroo returned in reruns on PBS television stations, with funding from public television stations, School Zone Publishing Company and from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. American Public Television, then known as the "Interregional Program Service", distributed the show, along with Britder Associates (Bob Keeshan's production company), and the Riehl Company, owned by former WPBT station manager Dale Riehl.

The show was on the air for 29 years, making it one of the longest-running network children's program series. Sesame Street, insulated from the Nielsen ratings wars, holds the record at over 40 years, and still airs. Several of the original Sesame Street writers and producers were hired from the Captain Kangaroo staff to help produce and direct the new program when it went on the air in 1969.

The original director of the program was Peter Birch, who helmed the program for its first 25 years. Producer Jim Hirschfeld took over as director following Birch's heart attack in 1980 and continued directing, as well as producing throughout the rest of the show's run, including the new segments inserted into the PBS reruns, until it went off the air in 1993.

The cast of Captain Kangaroo also hosted the CBS coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for several years in the 1960s.