Fox Children’s Network Sets Five New Series for Fall

The Fox Children’s Network, singing a happy toon since winning its first Saturday morning ratings sweeps in February, announced on Tuesday five new Saturday morning and weekday children’s series for fall, including a project from Steven Spielberg and a cartoon version of the educational PBS series “Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?”

A bidding war reportedly broke out last month for the animated “Carmen Sandiego,” which has been in development for two years, between networks and syndicators searching for more educational programming. This fall, the Federal Communications Commission under the Clinton Administration will begin strictly enforcing the Children’s Television Act of 1990, requiring TV stations to provide kids programming with educational content in order to receive license renewals.

“Carmen Sandiego,” which will replace Fox’s “Super Dave” on Saturday mornings, was introduced in 1985 as a computer game before becoming a popular PBS series. The animated Fox version will teach children about history and geography as they try to solve the mystery of Sandiego’s whereabouts.

The two other new Saturday series on Fox are spinoffs. “Eek! The Cat” will be replaced by “Eek! And the Terrible Thunderlizards,” and “Droopy: Master Detective” will take over for “Tom & Jerry Kids,” which will continue to air on weekday afternoons.

On weekday afternoons, “Beetlejuice” and “Alvin and the Chipmunks” are out. Replacing them are “Steven Spielberg Present Animaniacs,” about three animated siblings run amok, and “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” featuring five teen-agers battling evil intergalactic forces.

ABC and CBS are scheduled to formally announce their fall children’s schedules today. One of the higher profile entries from ABC is a new animated anthology series, “Tales of the Cryptkeeper.”

Charles Solomon contributed to this story.