The American Broadcasting Company coined the term Afterschool Special in 1972^[1] with a series of television films, usually dealing with controversial or socially relevant issues, that were generally broadcast in the late afternoon and meant to be viewed by school-age children, particularly teenagers.^[2] The specials were generally broadcast four to six times during the school year, pre-empting local programming that would usually follow the network schedule in the late afternoon hours. ABC's series ran from 1972 to 1997.

CBS distributed its own productions as the CBS Afternoon Playhouse (later known as CBS Schoolbreak Special). It also had a program called Famous Classic Tales, which aired Australian cartoons that were adapted from literature books (similar to Family Classic Tales). NBC had afterschool programs under the umbrella title Special Treat. ABC had the ABC Afterschool Special; similar programs included The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie and the ABC Weekend Special.

The cult TV show Strangers with Candy and its 2005 feature film adaptation, featuring Amy Sedaris as an ex-con, prostitute, and junkie, spoofs afterschool special conventions.^[3]

• Degrassi (franchise)
• Last of the Curlews – The very first ABC Afterschool Special (1972), and one of a very few animated ones.
• Schoolhouse Rock!
• Public information film – In the UK, extended versions of these were shown in schools. These were often about safety.
• Very special episode
• WonderWorks – Produced several afterschool-type specials for PBS