La Piñata Loca
La Piñata Loca is an American children's programming block on Spanish language television network Univision, which debuted on March 30, 1996, and aired until February 26, 2000. The three-hour block aired Saturday and Sunday mornings from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time and Pacific Time and features animated series aimed at children between the ages of 6 and 11.
Programs featured on the block consist almost entirely of Spanish-dubbed versions of series that were originally produced and broadcast in English. All shows featured on La Piñata Loca are designed to meet federally mandated educational programming guidelines defined by the Federal Communications Commission via the Children's Television Act.
History
In April 1995, Univision test-marketed Plaza Sésamo, Televisa and Children's Television Workshop's Spanish-language adaptation of Sesame Street featuring a mix of original segments featuring characters based on its U.S.-based parent series and dubbed interstitials from the aforementioned originating program, on its owned-and-operated stations in Los Angeles, Dallas and Miami. The success of the test run led the network to begin airing the program nationally beginning on December 11 of that year; the program aired on Univision until 2002, when it moved to its newly created sister network TeleFutura as part of its "Mi Tele" block. The network aired its children's programs on weekday and Saturday mornings until April 1997, when Univision relegated its children's programming exclusively to Saturday mornings to make room for its new morning news/talk/lifestyle program ¡Despierta América!.La Piñata Loca
On March 30, 1996, Univision announced that it would launch a new Saturday and Sunday morning block, La Piñata Loca. The block was hosted by George Ortuzar. The block and network opted to fully program the block with shows acquired from various programming distributors and entered in partnership with Hanna-Barbera and World Events Productions.The block's initial lineup consisted mainly of Spanish-language and dubbed version of American, European and Japanese children's programs such as with The Flintstone Kids and Cantinflas y Sus Amigos.
Giorgiomania
On August 16, 1997, Univision launched a sub-block within the lineup, called Giorgiomania, featuring dubbed version of the original series production by Film Roman during the first one-hour of the block on every Saturday morning such as Cro were the show to air as part of the sub-block.In February 2000, after George "O" left from Univision, the block were discontinued. The following in few months, Univision entered launched as every Saturday morning, ¡De Cabeza!; among within featuring cartoon shows.