among the major crew of 1985's Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer. The songs, composed by Sesame Street's Joe Raposo, included "Greatest Stories of All", "Child of God" and "Your Love Makes Me Strong". Release and reception The Kingdom Chums special premiered on ABC on November 28, 1986, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, pre-empting Webster and Mr. Belvedere. In the Nielsen ratings, it was among the lowest-ranked programs during the week of November 24–30 (out of 70 tracked), along with another family special, Disney's Fluppy Dogs. Little David's Adventure came in at 66th place with an 8.6 rating. Reporting on the special in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Noel Holston gave a negative response: Alan Bunce of The Christian Science Monitor gave a mixed review: "Creatively, the program easily qualifies as high-quality children's entertainment. But reaction to the message will also depend on a viewer's individual tolerance of the show's free-wheeling treatment of religious themes, and its use of fantasy, magic, and symbolism in delivering Judeo-Christian messages. These flow through the dialogue and the show's bouncy musical numbers." Robert Bianco of the Pittsburgh Press was concerned over the depiction of Bible characters as animals, and their merchandising potential thereof. On the character of David, he wrote, "... I suppose [he] has suffered greater indignities than being turned into a religious Care Bear." The Hollywood magazine Variety (in its December 10, 1986 issue) thought it was ill-suited as a network show for children, and remarked that the "plodding story has too little action or humor or plot to keep many kids entertained". In 1989, Texe Marrs referred to Little David's Adventure as "sacrilegious and New Age to the hilt". The special received a positive review from Dale and Karen Mason, the authors of 1996's How to Get the Best Out of TV Before It Gets the Best Out of You. Sequel From the time of Kingdom Chums' initial broadcast, ABC planned several follow-up specials along with a regular series. One of the planned specials involved a bear named Princess Essie, in an adaptation of the story of Esther; another was to be based on the New Testament. By late 1987, the network looked into partnering with The Walt Disney Company on a series of hour-long episodes. Instead, Little David's Adventure was followed by a 1990 video sequel, The Kingdom Chums: Original Top Ten. A new animation team, headed by Rick Reinert, worked on