CBS Storybreak

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox television

| image = Cbsstorybreaklogo.jpg

| caption = CBS Storybreak logo, as seen on the show's opening sequence.

| genre =

| presenter = Bob Keeshan (1985–1989)
Malcolm-Jamal Warner (1993–1994)

| country = United States
Australia

| language = English

| num_seasons = 3

| list_episodes =

| runtime = 30 minutes

| network = CBS

| company = Southern Star/Hanna-Barbera Australia
CBS Entertainment Productions

| num_episodes = 26

| first_aired = {{Start date|1985|03|30}}

| last_aired = {{End date|1989|01|28}}

}}

CBS Storybreak is a Saturday morning anthology television series that originally aired on the CBS network from 1985 to 1989.{{cite book |last1=Perlmutter |first1=David |title=The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows |date=2018 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1538103739 |page=119 }} 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 Chocolate Fever. Other episodes included Dragon's Blood and Ratha's Creature. The show grew out of a feature on Keeshan's Captain Kangaroo series.{{cite book |last1=Erickson |first1=Hal |title=Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 |date=2005 |edition=2nd |publisher=McFarland & Co |isbn=978-1476665993 |page=193}}

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 repeats until 1991 and returned to air in reruns (with Jamal-Warner replacing Keeshan as host) from the 1993–94 to 1997–98 seasons. Select episodes were released on home video in 1992 under the title Video Storybreak.

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/Hanna-Barbera Australia for CBS Entertainment Productions. The series featured regular Read More About It project selections from the Library of Congress in Washington DC, that were highlighted at the end of show by both Keeshan and Jamal-Warner. Southern Star Productions created and composed the theme song in mid 1984. Synthesizers used Roland Jupiter 8, PPG Wave, Yamaha DX-7, Korg Poly 61 and A Linndrum.

Episodes

=Season 1 (1985)=

{{Episode table |total_width= |background=#8ec0e5 |overall=10 |season=10 |title=60 |airdate=30 |episodes=

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 1

| EpisodeNumber2 = 1

| Title = The Great Ringtail Garbage Caper

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|03|30}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 2

| EpisodeNumber2 = 2

| Title = Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|04|06}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 3

| EpisodeNumber2 = 3

| Title = Robbut: A Tale of Tails

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|04|13}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 4

| EpisodeNumber2 = 4

| Title = How to Eat Fried Worms

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|04|20}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 5

| EpisodeNumber2 = 5

| Title = Zucchini

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|04|27}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 6

| EpisodeNumber2 = 6

| Title = Hank the Cowdog

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|05|04}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 7

| EpisodeNumber2 = 7

| Title = The Double Disappearance of Walter Fozbek

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|05|11}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 8

| EpisodeNumber2 = 8

| Title = Chocolate Fever

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|05|18}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 9

| EpisodeNumber2 = 9

| Title = Dragon's Blood

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|05|25}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 10

| EpisodeNumber2 = 10

| Title = Arnold of the Ducks

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|06|01}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

}}

=Season 2 (1985)=

{{Episode table |total_width= |background=#800080 |overall=10 |season=10 |title=60 |airdate=30 |episodes=

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 11

| EpisodeNumber2 = 1

| Title = C.L.U.T.Z.

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|09|14}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 12

| EpisodeNumber2 = 2

| Title = Witch-Cat

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|09|21}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 13

| EpisodeNumber2 = 3

| Title = The Pig Plantagenet

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|09|28}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 14

| EpisodeNumber2 = 4

| Title = Harry, the Fat Bear Spy

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|10|12}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 15

| EpisodeNumber2 = 5

| Title = Hugh Pine

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|10|26}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 16

| EpisodeNumber2 = 6

| Title = The Roquefort Gang

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1985|11|09}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e5

}}

}}

=Season 3 (1987–1989)=

{{Episode table |total_width= |background=#FFD700 |overall=10 |season=10 |title=60 |airdate=30 |episodes=

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 17

| EpisodeNumber2 = 1

| Title = Mama Don't Allow

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1987|09|19}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e6

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 18

| EpisodeNumber2 = 2

| Title = The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1987|09|26}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e6

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 19

| EpisodeNumber2 = 3

| Title = What Happened in Hamelin

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1987|10|03}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e6

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 20

| EpisodeNumber2 = 4

| Title = The Monster's Ring

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1987|10|10}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e6

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 21

| EpisodeNumber2 = 5

| Title = Max and Me and the Time Machine

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1987|10|17}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e6

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 22

| EpisodeNumber2 = 6

| Title = The Gammage Cup

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1987|10|24}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e6

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 23

| EpisodeNumber2 = 7

| Title = Jeffrey's Ghost

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1988|09|17}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e6

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 24

| EpisodeNumber2 = 8

| Title = Grinny

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1988|09|24}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e6

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 25

| EpisodeNumber2 = 9

| Title = Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1988|10|01}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e6

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 26

| EpisodeNumber2 = 10

| Title = Ratha's Creature

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1989|01|28}}

| LineColor = 8ec0e6

}}

}}

International syndication

See also

References