| CBS Storybreak | |
|---|---|
) CBS Storybreak logo, as seen on the show's opening sequence. | |
| Presented by | Bob Keeshan (1985–1989) Malcolm-Jamal Warner (1993–1994) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | Southern Star Productions Hanna-Barbera Australia CBS Entertainment Productions |
| Distributor | CBS Television Distribution CBS Broadcast International |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Audio format | Mono (1985–1987) CBS Stereosound (1987–1994) |
| Original release | March 30, 1985 – January 28, 1989 1993–1994 |
CBS Storybreak was an American Saturday morning anthology television series that originally aired on the CBS network from 1985 to 1989.[1] Hosted by Bob Keeshan (and in its 1993 return by Malcolm-Jamal Warner), the episodes are half-hour animated adaptations of children's books published at the time of airing, including How to Eat Fried Worms. Other episodes included Dragon's Blood and Ratha's Creature. The show grew out of a feature on Keeshan's Captain Kangaroo series.[2]
Unique for an American television series, the series featured open captions captioned by the National Captioning Institute for the hearing impaired during its 1993 reairing, instead of the usual closed captioning. In addition to being a convenience for the hearing-impaired, this also allowed those who could hear to read along with the story.
The episodes were produced by Australia's Southern Star Productions and America's Hanna-Barbera Australia for CBS Entertainment Productions.
One of its crew members, Sander Schwartz, [1] became the president of Warner Bros. Animation in 2002.
Select episodes were released on home video in 1992 under the title Video Storybreak.
CBS' first in-house cartoon series since their original Terrytoons, it was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program in the 1985–1986 season. It continued in reruns until 1988 and returned to air in reruns (with Jamal-Warner replacing Keeshan as host) from the 1993–94 season to 1997–98 season.
Episodes
Season 1 (1985)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Great Ringtail Garbage Caper" | March 30, 1985 |
| 2 | 2 | "Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China" | April 6, 1985 |
| 3 | 3 | "Robbut: A Tale of Tails" | April 13, 1985 |
| 4 | 4 | "How to Eat Fried Worms" | April 20, 1985 |
| 5 | 5 | "Zucchini" | April 27, 1985 |
| 6 | 6 | "Hank the Cowdog" | May 4, 1985 |
| 7 | 7 | "The Double Disappearance of Walter Fozbek" | May 11, 1985 |
| 8 | 8 | "Chocolate Fever" | May 18, 1985 |
| 9 | 9 | "Dragon's Blood" | May 25, 1985 |
| 10 | 10 | "Arnold of the Ducks" | June 1, 1985 |
Season 2 (1985)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | "C.L.U.T.Z." | September 14, 1985 |
| 12 | 2 | "Witch-Cat" | September 21, 1985 |
| 13 | 3 | "The Pig Plantagenet" | September 28, 1985 |
| 14 | 4 | "Harry, the Fat Bear Spy" | October 12, 1985 |
| 15 | 5 | "Hugh Pine" | October 26, 1985 |
| 16 | 6 | "The Roquefort Gang" | November 9, 1985 |
Season 3 (1987–1989)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 1 | "Mama Don't Allow" | September 19, 1987 |
| 18 | 2 | "The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek" | September 26, 1987 |
| 19 | 3 | "What Happened in Hamelin" | October 3, 1987 |
| 20 | 4 | "The Monster's Ring" | October 10, 1987 |
| 21 | 5 | "Max and Me and the Time Machine" | October 17, 1987 |
| 22 | 6 | "The Gammage Cup" | October 24, 1987 |
| 23 | 7 | "Jeffrey's Ghost" | September 17, 1988 |
| 24 | 8 | "Grinny" | September 24, 1988 |
| 25 | 9 | "Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees" | October 1, 1988 |
| 26 | 10 | "Ratha's Creature" | January 28, 1989 |
International syndication
- ABC (Australia)
- Channel 5 (Singapore)
See also
- The Pagemaster, a film with a similar premise
References
External links
- CBS Storybreak at IMDb
- CBS Storybreak at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- CBS Storybreak at TV.com
- http://www.retrojunk.com/details_tvshows/381-cbs-storybreak/
- CBS Storybreak Info and Videos at The Retroist