what happened to the kitten bowl

The Kitten Bowl as you knew it on Hallmark wasn’t totally “killed off” so much as canceled, renamed, and moved to a different network.

What actually happened

• Hallmark Channel quietly canceled its annual Kitten Bowl special after years of airing it as a cute, adoption-focused alternative to the Super Bowl.

• The network said it was no longer developing animal‑centric original programming, which is why the event disappeared from its lineup even though it was popular and relatively inexpensive to produce.

• The concept itself survived: it shifted over to GAC Media/Great American Family and was rebranded as the Great American Rescue Bowl (sometimes just called “Rescue Bowl”).

Why people thought it was “gone”

• Viewers who only followed Hallmark saw no Kitten Bowl listed and understandably assumed it was simply canceled forever.

• Hallmark’s brief statement didn’t give a detailed reason, only that the channel wasn’t pursuing original animal shows but would still support pet‑rescue partners like North Shore Animal League America in other ways.

• Fans on forums and blogs have called the decision baffling, noting the show was a good‑cause promotion that helped drive thousands of adoptions while costing “relative pennies” to make.

Where it went instead

• Former Hallmark executive Bill Abbott—who moved to lead GAC/Great American Family—worked to bring the event over to that network.

• Under the new banner, the Great American Rescue Bowl keeps the same basic idea: showing adoptable shelter pets around Super Bowl time and promoting rescues, just not under the old “Kitten Bowl” name or on Hallmark.

So in simple terms

Kitten Bowl disappeared from Hallmark because the channel decided to drop original animal programming, but the event itself lives on in a slightly different form and name on the Great American–branded network, focused on the same rescue‑and‑adoption mission.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.