History Creator / KidsWB

Speaking of Cartoon Network (which was owned by WB sister outlet Turner Broadcasting, who had actually taken over The WB's operations in 2001, continuing to do so until two years later), a majority of the shows featured on the block, particularly ones that were nearing or already out of their first-run, would slowly find their way to that channel as early as 1997, either airing in their entirety or through spotlight blocks and experimentations. In fact, some of WB's previous cartoons that were originally on Fox Kids, such as ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'' (which was wrapping up reruns on Nickelodeon) and ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'' had skipped Kids' WB! entirely in favor of Cartoon Network. There was also an even bigger attempt at synergy by attempting to brand the late-afternoon weekday block under the Creator/{{Toonami}} name, temporarily airing two of the original block's most iconic shows, ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' and ''Anime/SailorMoon'' (both of which, alongside ''Pokémon'', [[UsefulNotes/TheJapaneseInvasion were responsible for helping make anime a mainstream medium in the US]]) while some of Kids' WB's own shows, like ''Superman: The Animated Series'', ''[[Manga/CardcaptorSakura Cardcaptors]]'', and ''Batman Beyond'' would begin airing on the actual Toonami block. Viewers and critics panned it, and the rebranding was dropped after just one year. It produced one original program, ''Literature/TheNightmareRoom'', which got solid reviews but lasted for only 13 episodes, and was the only live-action show ever aired on the block.

1999 ended up being a turning point for the block, one factor being that many of its competitors were either dying off or becoming shells of their former selves. Creator/{{UPN}}'s block, UPN Kids, never managed to gain as much traction due to a weaker catalog of programs and airing exclusively on ''Sunday'' mornings, which would leave it discontinued by that September. The remains of what was once WesternAnimation/TheDisneyAfternoon had finally disintegrated due to the block becoming an afterthought and the syndication market for children's programming fading away, allowing for Kids' WB! to expand its weekday afternoon block by another hour. It would still face some competition on the Saturday morning side, as Creator/{{Disney}} had bought out Creator/{{ABC}} and launched [[Creator/OneSaturdayMorningAndABCKids One Saturday Morning]], though it wouldn't matter after a major game-changer on WB's end. Meanwhile, Fox Kids was starting to struggle due to problems with the ill-fated [[Creator/{{Freeform}} Fox Family]] network, the aftermath of the Fox/New World debacle, the conclusion of network darlings ''WesternAnimation/BobbysWorld'', ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'', and ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', the growing presence of cable networks such as Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}, Creator/CartoonNetwork and a newly-relaunched Creator/DisneyChannel and the beginning of ''Franchise/PowerRangers''' SeasonalRot. During all of that, Kids' WB! picked up a little syndicated show called ''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Pokémon]]'', the move of which caused the franchise's popularity in the West to reach ''monolithic'' levels. Ratings started overtaking the competition that year, and its popularity, combined with the strength of its DC cartoons (in particular ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' and ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock''), additional anime series like ''Anime/YuGiOh'', and the expansion of its Saturday morning block by another hour, boosting it up to a total of five hours (which they kept for the remainder of its run), firmly established it as the premier children's destination for broadcast TV. Two years later (on the same day, in fact), One Saturday Morning would be rebranded as [[Creator/OneSaturdayMorning ABC Kids]] and Fox Kids would fold around the same time and be replaced by the [=FoxBox=], which was programmed by Creator/FourKidsEntertainment (the company behind the dubs of ''Pokémon'' and ''Yu-Gi-Oh'').

** The block's main competitors were Creator/FoxKids (thanks to WB taking their shows back from them), Disney's Creator/OneSaturdayMorning, eventually remained ABC Kids, and UPN Kids. CBS was more keen on airing preschool-aged cartoons, and NBC had completely gutted their Saturday morning cartoons back in 1991. Fox Kids' successor, the [=FoxBox=], later renamed [=4Kids=] TV, served as this for a while until [[Creator/FourKidsEntertainment [=4Kids=]]] got into a shoving match with Fox and took over this block instead.
** [[Creator/CookieJarTV KOL Secret Slumber Party on CBS]] from 2006, which was partially sponsored by then-WB owned AOL (both companies also jointly owned Creator/{{The CW}}), and featured a blatantly girl-centric lineup as opposed to Kids' WB's equally blatant boy-centric agenda. As such, neither block ever bothered promoting the other's series (except possibly during local ad time on CBS/CW duopolies). Downplayed in that AOL's involvement was mostly limited to running the tie-in website (the actual shows were produced by Creator/{{DiC Entertainment}}) and dropped out after just one year.

The closures of Kids' WB! and 4KidsTV, along with the degradation of ABC Kids (which would shut down three years later) were among the last signs that the decades-long tradition of Saturday morning cartoons was not long for this world. Toonzai was later folded in 2012 as a result of the gradual collapse of 4Kids Entertainment and would be replaced by Creator/SabanBrands' Creator/{{Vortexx}} block, which would ultimately be the final Saturday morning block, [[Creator/KidsClick outside of a short return in 2017]]. The Kids' WB! name was repurposed as a website featuring the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' shorts, the Creator/HannaBarbera library, and the Creator/DCComics-based cartoons. In 2013, the website's shows were scaled back heavily, and after The WB website shut down in 2013 as well, it was euthanized in May 2015 and has since been replaced by the similarly titled ''WB Kids GO!''.