Editing Captain Kangaroo (section)

==Schedule history==
While ''Captain Kangaroo'' was still in planning stages, CBS executives had the idea of hiring Al Lewis, who was hosting a popular kids' show at [[WCPO-TV]] in [[Cincinnati]], to host their program. But when station management refused to release Lewis from his contract, they selected Keeshan to host. Lewis' own program, ''[[Uncle Al Show|The Uncle Al Show]]'', ended its run in Cincinnati a year after ''Captain Kangaroo'' left CBS.

[[File:Bob Keeshan Captain Kangaroo 1970.JPG|thumb|180px|Keeshan and Bunny Rabbit promote an auto seat belt campaign, 1970.]]
CBS aired the program on weekday mornings, initially telecast live in the [[Eastern time zone|Eastern]] and [[Central time zone|Central]] time zones at 8:00 am (ET)/7:00 am (CT) for its first four years (it would eventually be scheduled for 8:00 am in all time zones). Same-day episodes would be broadcast on [[kinescope]] for Western audiences, as Keeshan would not perform the show live three times a day. For the first three months, ''Captain Kangaroo'' was only seen on weekday mornings. From December 1955 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''. Except for pre-emption by news or special events, notably the four-day continuous coverage which followed the November 22, 1963, [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]], and a few shows that were 45&nbsp;minutes, the show aired a full 60&nbsp;minutes on weekday mornings until 1981.

The audience of children could never compete in the ratings with such entertainment/news shows as NBC's ''[[Today (American TV program)|Today]]'', although ''Captain Kangaroo'' won [[Emmy Awards]] three times as Outstanding Children's entertainment series in 1978–1979, 1982–1983, and 1983–1984. In the fall of 1981, to make more room for the expansion of ''[[The Early Show#The 1980s|The CBS Morning News]]'', the Captain was moved to an earlier time slot of 7:00 am and cut to 30&nbsp;minutes, sporting the new title ''Wake Up with the Captain''. The show was moved again in the spring of 1982 to 6:30&nbsp;am, a time when few children (or adults) were awake. In the fall of 1982, it returned to an hour format, but was moved to Saturday mornings at 7:00 am ET and 6:00 am 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.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}} After the show ended, [[Children's Television Workshop]] hired some of its staff to work on ''[[Sesame Street]]''.<ref name="Barnes 2023 k421">{{cite web | last=Barnes | first=Mike | title=Lloyd Morrisett, Co-Creator of 'Sesame Street,' Dies at 93 | website=The Hollywood Reporter | date=January 24, 2023 | url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/lloyd-morrisett-dead-sesame-street-1235309113/ | access-date=February 28, 2024}}</ref><ref name="Nast Lepore 2020 o912">{{cite magazine | last1=Lepore | first1=Jill | title=How We Got to Sesame Street | magazine=The New Yorker | date=April 29, 2020 | url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/11/how-we-got-to-sesame-street | access-date=February 28, 2024}}</ref>

Just over a year later, on September 1, 1986, ''Captain Kangaroo'' returned in reruns on [[PBS]], with funding from [[public television]] stations, School Zone Publishing Company, and 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 (Keeshan's production company).

The original director of the program was Peter Birch, who helmed the program for its first 25&nbsp;years. Producer [[Jimmy 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.