ABC considering future of Bananas In Pyjamas Bananas in pyjamas. THOSE cheeky Bananas in Pyjamas are not quite headed for Splitsville as much as the animated version of the original loved children's program is about to get TV equivalent of the hi-rotation 'repeats' blender treatment. Denying reports its iconic kids TV brand had been axed, ABC officials confirmed the broadcaster's would continue to broadcast the remaining stores of new episodes until August, with the last three seasons of the `new generation' production to then be repeated on loop until 2014 when programmers will then reconsider its future. In line with its long-view commissioning process of Bananas, the final 40 episodes of a bulk order of 156 made back in 2011 will see its preschooler audience through its twice-daily diet of new material, just as the program is set to celebrate its 21st birthday on air. But how long it has to live beyond that time remains up in the air, with ABC's head of children's content Tim Brooke-Hunt quoted as saying that current revenue for the much-loved program was not enough to justify a fourth season. With Brooke-Hunt flying to Los Angeles today for an animation conference and unavailable to explain his comment, it was left to ABC TV's head of corporate communications, Sally Carr to clarify the health of B1 and B2, claiming their deaths had been greatly exaggerated and reiterating a decision on their future "will not be made until 2014." The plan to put the first three seasons of the animated Bananas into a repeats cycle until then was "not unusual or lazy because it's how children like to see them ... again and again and again," Ms Carr said. David Anderson, most recently in the chair as acting director of ABC television said "in order to make the most of our significant investment in this much-loved program, we will continue to air the 156 episodes for the remainder of 2013 and ongoing. The previous live action series aired the last of the new episodes in 2002, then continued in repeats until the new animated version was announced as its replacement in 2011. Two new episodes of Bananas are currently aired at 7.45am and 5.45pm each weekday, while 22 episodes are available in the program's archives online through iView. While the ABC hosed down any talk of job losses, the executive producer of the current series, Barbara Uecker, the former head of German children's television channel KiKA, reportedly told Fairfax the ABC's decision not to commission a fourth season was a "sad moment" for the production team. We were very careful to keep the essence of the original series that made it so popular, and to keep the values. These Bananas are just adorable characters," Ms Uecker said. As speculation about the Bananas future spread, the Greens called on the ABC to reconsider. Greens communications spokesman Scott Ludlam said if the popular children's show was to be cut it would be very bad for children around Australia. "Rather than just knocking the Bananas off and putting them on toast, we think it would be a much better idea to freshen it up, take another look at it and keep it on the air," Senator Ludlam said. The fact is this is a very popular show, it is much loved and it is actually quite an iconic part of the ABC brand. Communications Minister Conroy said he was glad the popular children's show, on air since 1991, appeared to be safe. Pleased @abcnews &; (ABC managing director) @abcmarkscott have confirmed bananas will not split. That rumour caught us unawares," Senator Conroy's office tweeted. Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull also took to twitter to air his concerns about the show: "This is no time for the ABC to peel B1 and B2 out of the bunch." Prime Minister Julia Gillard also tweeted: "I was going bananas about B1 and B2! Am glad my niece's little one will be able to watch them. Bananas In Pyjamas was inspired by a song by Play School lyricist Carey Blyton (nephew of English children's author, Enid Blyton) The live action series was launched in 1992, with 400 episodes running on rotation until 2001 It was a global success, screening in 130 countries It is the most successful Australian brand on Facebook with 1.8 million followers By its 10th birthday it had generated $50 million TV sales profit and $1 billion in merchandise Bananas recorded 274,000 plays on ABC's iView last month It is watched by an average of 380,000 people nationally each weekday.