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Hot Wheels (TV series) facts for kids

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Hot Wheels
Genre Animated series
Created by Fred Crippen
Eddie Smardan
Ken Snyder
Voices of Bob Arbogast
Melinda Casey
Casey Kasem
Albert Brooks
Susan Davis
Nora Marlowe
Michael Rye
Theme music composer Mike Curb
Composer(s) Jack Fascinato
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 17
Production
Executive producer(s) Kenneth C.T. Snyder
Producer(s) Fred Crippen
Eddie Smardan
Ken Snyder
Camera setup I
Running time 30 minutes
Production company(s) Ken Snyder Properties
Pantomime Pictures
Distributor CBS Television Distribution
Mattel Creations
Release
Original network ABC
Original release September 6, 1969 (1969-09-06) – September 4, 1971 (1971-09-04)

Hot Wheels is a thirty-minute Saturday-morning cartoon series broadcast on ABC from 1969 to 1971, under the primary sponsorship of Mattel Toys. The show took pains to stress that it was "pro-safety", contrasting the safe and responsible behavior of the series' racing-club protagonists with the reckless behavior of their rivals.

The show was criticized by the FCC, which considered it a half-hour commercial for toy cars. ABC contested the charge, saying that there was no prior commitment to Mattel, and that Hot Wheels cars were never advertised during the program. The network was backed up by the National Association of Broadcasters, and the show remained on the ABC schedule for two seasons.

Synopsis

The series mainly focused on the racing exploits of a high school student, Jack "Rabbit" Wheeler, who led the Hot Wheels Racing Club.

Voice cast

Episodes

FCC action

Some time during the show's broadcast, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received complaints from toy companies who argued that it was actually a thirty-minute commercial for the toys; one of them was Topper Toys, a rival to Mattel. The FCC obliged by ordering stations to log part of the airings as advertising time.

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