Every night, kids across Slovenia eagerly awaited Cik Cak.

Before Yugoslavia died, when Slovenia was still the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, there was a childrens’ program on television every night at 7:15 p.m. It only lasted until shortly before 7:30, when the nightly news began.

Cik Cak, as it was called, was hosted by three white rabbits and played a mix of cartoons. On some nights, it would be an American one like Tom and Jerry. On other nights it would be the Polish Lolek and Bolek or the Czechoslovakian pair Pat and Mat.¹

When the cartoon was over, the three rabbits brushed their teeth and got ready for bed, like so:

And that meant it was time for them to go to bed as well. Nowadays, Slovenian television still runs cartoons, but at 6:40 p.m. But kids can watch cartoons on a variety of stations. Cartoon Network is available all day long, as is German TV, which runs all the latest American and Japanese shows.

The final scene: EP meant it was time for Ekonomsko Propogandni Program, which means the Economic Propaganda Program, which means commercials.

Watch Cik Cak. [4.9 MB] (right-click and save)

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1. The actual cartoon was called “.a je to!” (”.And that’s it!”) On the “Pat and Mat” page there is film section, where you can watch the making of an episode. It’s in Czech, but still easy to figure out what’s going on. Apparently, the pair are planning on making a comeback. At the moment, however, they’re engaged as spokespeople for the Slovenian retailer Merkur.