Liberty's Kids (stylized on-screen as Liberty's Kids: Est. 1776) is an American animated historical fiction television series produced by DIC Entertainment Corporation, originally broadcast by PBS on its PBS Kids block from September 2, 2002 to April 4, 2003, with reruns airing on most PBS stations until October 2004.
The series was based on an idea by Kevin O'Donnell and developed for television by Kevin O'Donnell, Robby London, Mike Maliani, and Andy Heyward. It received two Daytime Emmy nominations, in 2003 and 2004, both for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program (Walter Cronkite, playing Benjamin Franklin). Its purpose is to teach its viewers about the origins of the United States. Like the cartoon mini-series This Is America, Charlie Brown earlier before, Liberty's Kids tells of young people in dramas surrounding the major events in the Revolutionary War days.
The theme song was performed by Aaron Carter and Kayla Hickle.
Celebrity voice talents such as Walter Cronkite (as Benjamin Franklin), Sylvester Stallone (as Paul Revere), Ben Stiller (as Thomas Jefferson), Billy Crystal (as John Adams), Annette Bening (as Abigail Adams), Dustin Hoffman (as Benedict Arnold), Arnold Schwarzenegger (as Baron von Steuben), Liam Neeson (as John Paul Jones), Whoopi Goldberg (as Deborah Sampson), and Don Francisco (as Bernardo de Gálvez) lend credence to characters critical to the forming of a free country, from the Boston Tea Party to the Constitutional Convention.
The episodes run a half-hour, including commercials. During PBS airings, these are replaced by segments that include "The Liberty News Network" or LNN (a newscast delivered by Cronkite summarizing the events of the episode, with each including his trademark sign-off "that's the way it is"), "Mystery Guest" (a guessing game where the kids guess a historical figure, who often is a character in the episode), "Now and Then" (a segment comparing life in the Revolutionary Era and today), and "Continental Cartoons" (a rebus word guessing game). The LNN segments were produced and art directed by designer Mike Bundlie.
Plot[]
Benjamin Franklin and four fictional associates of his in their experiences during the American Revolution. Although the series spans 16 years from the Boston Tea Party in 1773 to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1789, no main characters appear to age much, except for Dr. Franklin.
Broadcast[]
The show was originally broadcast by PBS on its PBS Kids block from September 2, 2002 to April 4, 2003, with reruns airing on most PBS stations until October 10, 2004 to make room for PBS Kids GO!
Beginning in September 2004, DIC began to syndicate the series onto their DIC Kids Network block, so that those respective stations that broadcast the block, could fulfill FCC educational and informational requirements.
In 2008, it ran on History.
The series also aired on This TV's Cookie Jar Toons block and on CBS's Cookie Jar TV block from 2012 to 2013.
In 2017, it played on Starz Kids & Family, and, until August 2019, regularly aired on Starz Encore Family. As of August 2019, the series only airs as a series-long marathon on Independence Day on Starz Encore Family.