This hasn't been a particularly exciting season of 'American Idol.' The addition of Ellen DeGeneres has rated a 'B-minus' at best, and that's if you're grading on a curve. The contestants have failed to create the buzz we've heard in previous seasons.

The absence of Paula Abdul as a judge has given rise to rumors that she's going to be asked back next season to bring back the 'train wreck' factor. And then there's the reality that Simon Cowell has been punching the clock, sort of sleepwalking through the competition which will be his last go round with 'Idol.'

1974 -- the start of the second revolution of live-action, Saturday morning programming. There's no clear reason why, after nearly a decade-and-a-half, the networks decided to infuse their schedules with more live-action fare. Perhaps, after 10 years of non-stop animation, they decided to mix the formula up. Perhaps they were looking to further model the Saturday morning schedule like their primetime partners. Or, perhaps they realized that ordering live-action programs was cheaper than ordering new cartoons.

IIIIII'mmmm going with 'cheap' as the main reason.

Of the fourteen shows that premiered in the 1974-75 season nearly a third of them were live-action programs. Only one of them came from the Sid and Marty Kroftt factory. The others came from two studios that hadn't had much experience with 30-minute, live-action fare...Filmation and Hanna-Barbera. The rest of the schedules were filled with animated retoolings of primetime programs, talking motorcycles, and dogs who performed karate. As we've done of the last few installments the 1974-75 season will be split into two parts. This time we'll look at CBS's schedule. So, if your Schwinn is in the garage, let's journey back to a far simpler time.