''First Row Features'' is an American

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...

that premiered on the television network

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

in February 1980 and continued to air until January 1982. It mainly carried British

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

s (mostly from the

Children's Film Foundation The Children's Film Foundation (CFF) was a non-profit organisation which made films for children in the United Kingdom originally to be shown as part of childrens' Saturday morning matinée cinema programming. The films typically were about 55 ...

) for children and family audiences, most of which were filmed in the 1950s–60s. It featured a

claymation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

title sequence created in-house at Nickelodeon's temporary headquarters in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. ''First Row Features'' was a predecessor to the similarly formatted '' Special Delivery'', which debuted later in the same year and eventually replaced it.

Overview

The program featured made-for-TV films from the United Kingdom, which were selected by employees at Nickelodeon. In January 1982, the

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' described the show as a collection of "one hour feature films for children ranging from comedies and adventures to dramas and semi-documentaries." Although most of the content on ''First Row Features'' had been filmed and released in Europe decades earlier, the films were marketed as new to U.S. viewers. New films premiered on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. At the time of its creation, ''First Row Features'' was one of only five programs that were aired in a loop to fill the entire Nickelodeon schedule. It was

non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that does not, in some sense, involve commerce, at least relative to similar activities that do have a commercial objective or emphasis. For example, advertising-free community ...

and advertisements were never played between features.

Films featured

References

{{Former Nickelodeon original series 1980 American television series debuts 1982 American television series endings 1980s American children's television series 1980s Nickelodeon original programming 1980s American anthology television series English-language television shows

Overview

Films featured

See also

References