HBO Kids is the current kids brand used by HBO, and was seen on HBO Family. The weekday morning block debuted on January 17, 2016, a day after Sesame Street first aired on HBO. The block replaced Jam. HBO Kids used to have a weekday 4pm timeslot, which was often filled with The Electric Company. It was also used before and/or after it, which used for shows like El Perro y El Gato, HBO Storybook Musicals, specials, and more. The timeslot was removed around March/April 2020.
As of 2021, the block was regulated to weekdays usually ends near 7:45am, or after 8:00am particularly when a documentary special is aired. It should be noted that the timeslots are no longer aligned to start at (hour):00 and (hour):30, this is because the commercial breaks have been shortened.
As of March 1, 2024, the block is no longer scheduled on HBO Family's schedule, notably taking the famously long-rerunning shows such as A Little Curious and Crashbox off the air for the foreseeable future and stripping HBO Family from a morning kids block after 25 years. Special shows such as El Perro y El Gato and Classical Baby are still seen to be scheduled on occasions.
Bumpers
HBO Kids features a very colorful and vibrant design. Oddly, there are not a whole lot of bumpers for the block, if at all. However, there are a few bumpers including balls rolling in a colorful environment, such as a blue ball rolling in a city-like area through "H" and "B"s, a bumper with a green ball rolling down and skipping across puddles to unveil the show coming up next in a house, and a purple ball rolling and ricocheting in a "it's time for" bumper.
For newer shows such as Esme & Roy and Sesame Street, a special "HBO Kids" logo in the manner of the "HBO Family original programming" opening logo is used. This logo features a colorful striped background with the static in the HBO Kids logo. An additional TV-Y/TV-Y7/TV-G ratings screen was used, which had blue 3D letters on a white background. This has since been dropped and replaced with a generic black ratings screen.
All of HBO Kids' branding was removed sometime in late 2023-early 2024.
Programming
- Classical Baby (occasionally)
- El Perro y El Gato (previously aired on Jam, occasionally)
- HBO Storybook Musicals (occasionally)
Former programming
"*" indicates that a show is still in rotation on HBO's On Demand service.
- Sesame Street (January 17, 2016 - November 1, 2020) (now only exclusive on HBO Max)
- Esme & Roy (August 18, 2018 - February 4, 2021) (exclusive on HBO Max)
- Fraggle Rock (2016 - Summer 2018)
- Pinky Dinky Doo (January 17, 2016 - January 1, 2021)
- The Electric Company (January 17, 2016 - November 1, 2020)
- Kindergarten* (January 2016 - February 29, 2024) (previously aired on Jam)
- Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child* (January 2016 - February 29, 2024) (previously aired on Jam)
- A Little Curious* (January 2016 - February 29, 2024) (previously aired on Jam)
- Crashbox* (January 17, 2016 - February 29, 2024) (previously aired on Jam, as well as Magnet)
Short-form programming
Interstitials that air in-between shows in commercial breaks.
- Sesame Street shorts (2016 - October 30, 2020)
Trivia
- This block was infamously known (and criticized) for airing Sesame Street way too much, and for taking up half the block's lineup. The show mostly aired 2-3 times a day, with a rare case being once. It was also been criticized by many Jam fans for replacing Jam:
- Thanks to this, this caused much of the older shows not airing that much as they did in the previous block, Jam. They're either get pushed at a earlier time, or not airing for (a) day(s). Most examples include A Little Curious, Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, and Kindergarten. It even caused shows to not air on the block and being moved to a timeslot between movies, notably the weekday 4pm slot. Examples include El Perro y El Gato, HBO Storybook Musicals, Classical Baby, and specials aired on HBO Family.
- As of October 30, 2020, Sesame Street no longer airs on the block. This eventually caused the lineup to have the older shows not always aired on the block to air daily.
- As of January 1, 2021, programs entirely owned by Sesame Workshop are no longer present on the block, reverting back to HBO Family's original programming as seen on Jam. This caused the promos breaks to shorten drastically, as the only promos shown during the block are regular HBO Family ads showcasing movies premiering on the channel this month, as well as the "it's time for" bumper.
- Timeslots for the block always vary.
- When the block was first introduced, it ran from 6am-12pm (noon).
- Around 2018/2019, The block got reduced by 5 hours and ran 6am to 11am, with occasionally ending at 10am (specifically weekends).
- In early 2020, the block got reduced by 4 hours and it's 11am timeslot got removed permanently. This might be due to the COVID-19 pandemic, since this happened during the peak of it, or that HBO Family wanted to air more movies.
- In November 2, 2020, the block changed a lot. The block now got reduced to 3 hours, which now airs from 6am to 9am. Also, the block now only airs on weekdays.
- In January 2021, the block got shortened to an hour and an half, sometimes ending at two hours, due to the commercial lightbreaks being shortened.
- During Thanksgiving weekend in 2020, the block didn't air on November 26 and 27th. It is the only known documented dates that the block didn't air in its regular hours.
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