The ABC Afterschool Special: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

The ABC Afterschool Special is an American television anthology series that aired in the late afternoon on week days. Most episodes were dramatically presented situations, often controversial, of interest to children and teenagers. Several episodes were either in animated form or presented as documentaries. Topics included illiteracy, substance abuse and teenage pregnancy. The series won 51 Daytime Emmy Awards during its 25-year run.

In 2004 and 2005, BCI Eclipse and Sunset Home Visual Entertainment issued six DVD collections of episodes from the series that had been produced by Martin Tahse, each collection containing four episodes. A boxed set, in the shape of a school bus, was also released containing all of the DVD releases, with a detailed information booklet of all the specials on the set and including an extra DVD of two specials that had previously not been released on DVD. The DVDs are currently out of print.

Series details

• Title: The ABC Afterschool Special
• Format: Scripted
• Language: English
• Genres: Drama, Comedy, Adventure
• Premiere date: 1972-10-04
• Final broadcast date listed: 1997-01-23
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: ABC
• Network country: United States
• Typical episode runtime: 60 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 9159
• IMDb ID: tt0202179
• TVDB ID: 76653

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1972-10-04; final listed air date 1973-04-04.
• Season 2: premiered 1973-10-03; final listed air date 1974-06-05.
• Season 3: premiered 1974-10-02; final listed air date 1975-04-27.
• Season 4: premiered 1975-10-08; final listed air date 1976-05-19.
• Season 5: premiered 1976-10-06; final listed air date 1977-04-06.
• Season 6: premiered 1977-10-12; final listed air date 1978-05-05.
• Season 7: premiered 1978-09-07; final listed air date 1979-05-09.
• Season 8: premiered 1979-09-26; final listed air date 1980-03-19.
• Season 9: premiered 1980-09-24; final listed air date 1981-03-19.
• Season 10: premiered 1981-09-23; final listed air date 1982-04-07.
• Season 11: premiered 1982-09-22; final listed air date 1983-03-30.
• Season 12: premiered 1983-09-21; final listed air date 1984-04-18.
• Season 13: premiered 1984-09-19; final listed air date 1985-05-21.
• Season 14: premiered 1985-09-11; final listed air date 1986-03-19.
• Season 15: premiered 1986-09-17; final listed air date 1987-06-03.
• Season 16: premiered 1987-09-09; final listed air date 1988-03-16.
• Season 17: premiered 1988-09-15; final listed air date 1989-04-20.
• Season 18: premiered 1989-09-14; final listed air date 1990-04-19.
• Season 19: premiered 1990-09-13; final listed air date 1991-03-21.
• Season 20: premiered 1991-09-18; final listed air date 1992-04-16.
• Season 21: premiered 1992-10-01; final listed air date 1993-04-15.
• Season 22: premiered 1993-09-16; final listed air date 1994-05-02.
• Season 23: premiered 1994-09-15; final listed air date 1995-05-25.
• Season 24: premiered 1995-09-21; final listed air date 1996-06-11.
• Season 25: premiered 1996-09-12; final listed air date 1997-01-23.

Source and licence

Adapted from The ABC Afterschool Special on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.