[Dimensio]

Dying off? I thought that they were dead already. I'd only recently noticed that the network programming for Saturday mornings weren't what they were when I was young -- but once I noticed it I realised that it had been that way for some time.

[bluesagewoman]

I was more of a Looney Tunes and Mighty Mouse buff, myself.

[foreverfree]

"For kids growing up in the '60s and '70s, the unifying thing was that we all watched the same shows, more or less," Burke said. "We didn't really have that many choices; we were locked into those three networks, they recycled the programming and a tremendous amount of it came from Hanna-Barbera."

And an only slightly less tremendous amount of it came from an outfit called Filmation ("Archie", "The Brady Kids", "The New Adventures of Gilligan", plus the live action "Shazam" and "Isis".

foreverfree

[general_re]

I hated the Smurfs, even before I knew they were French.

OTOH, I remember getting up on Saturday mornings quite well, getting a bowl of cereal, and tuning to channel 4 (KDFW in Dallas) to watch CBS run the Warner Bros. 'toons. I always knew the fun was over and the day had begun when "Soul Train" came on (or was it "Solid Gold"?) ;)

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

So many happy hours in front of the boob tube, watching "Looney Tunes/Bugs Bunny Hour", "The Fantastic Four", "Space Ghost", "The Mighty Heroes" et al...anyone remember when comics would put in centerfold teasers from CBS touting their new Sat Am lineups? How that would tantalize me!

[HamiltonJay]

ABC is about the only network still broadcasting any Cartoons on saturdays in my area. The other networks are all news on saturday morning. The real killer is Cable.. with cartoons on every day all day just about on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon there is little reason to watch on Saturday morning. Especially just average run of the mill fair.

I still believe a Sat. morning cartoon show could be successful, but it would have to be good, and fresh, and not simply 20 cartoons shown over and over every week. Alas all new cartoons are being developed by or explicitely for cable (caroon network mostly) and other than Disney/ABC, it doesn't appear the other networks are even trying and ABC's attempts are fair at best.

[knarf]

MY Saturday morning fare was Roy Rogers, Rin Tin Tin, a couple of Looney Toons, Sky King, Lone Ranger and the Range Rider.

Then we went off to the movies for a 'Blob' or 'Tarantula'- type movie. (.35 admission)

Somewhere around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, we got our bikes parked and went down into the woods (summertime) and built the treehouse or smoked our first stolen cigarettes in it.

I never took to Scooby Doo.

[patent]

I'm pretty sure that Saturday Morning Cartoons dying off is a sure sign of the end times, its all in Revelations somewhere. Regardless:

In the face of that, the Smurf king of Saturday mornings, NBC, pulled out of the animation game entirely, filling its airwaves with live-action programming that was considered educational — most notably the teen show Saved By the Bell.

When you see someone describe "saved by the bell" as the most notable EDUCATIONAL programming I think we have problems.

patent

[Windsong]

For a trip down memory lane:

Yesterday Land

[Bommer]

Saturday morning cartoons were garbage. Most of the Hanna/Barbera cartoons were crap and unfortuniately still have a life on the cartoon network. But compared to what? Kids were less exposed to garbage on that 1 morning then all the adults were exposed to 7 days a week on primetime!

[oyez]

How should I know. I never even open the comics any more. Since Bloom County, Calvin and Hobbs, and Far Side no longer grace those once fair pages. Even the old standards have new low talent creators. I used to go the funnies for a smile but now days I will be insulted long before I find something worthy of a smile.

Save pulp. Discontinue the comix.

[Sabertooth]

Check out this old thread...

Saturday Morning
Golden Age
The 11 Greatest Shows of All Time

[jlogajan]

I haven't watched Saturday morning cartoons since they took Benie and Cecil off. Of course, I'm 49 now ...

[101viking]

"But the salad days ended in 1990, when Congress passed the Children's Television Act. Saturday morning cartoons were attacked as "junk food for the mind," and television stations were required to run a minimum amount of educational programming,"

Making kids watch educational programming during cartoons is like getting lectured from a reformed alcoholic in a bar. Everyone occasionally needs to do something that has no redeeming values.

[moyden]

Top ten cartoons:

1. Johnny Quest

2. Speed Racer

3. Wacky Racers

4. Go-Go Gophers.

5. Tennessee Tuxedo.

6. Magilla Gorilla.

7. Bugs Bunny.

8. Underdog.

9. Scooby Doo.

10. George of the Jungle.

[hawkeye101]

"At that time there wasn't MTV original programming or cable programs catering to teens and 'tweens, so (NBC) developed programs targeted toward teens with pro-social messages," NBC spokeswoman Lisa Burks said.

I think they forgot the "-ist" at the end of social.

[mamelukesabre]

Land of the Lost
Rocky and Bullwinkle
the three stooges
yogi bear and booboo
the cisco kid
hop a long cassidy
chip and dale
zoro
Abbot and costello

[WhiskeyPapa]

Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can,
Spins a web any size, catches thieves just like flies
Look out! Here comes the Spiderman!

In the chill of night, at the scene of a crime,
Like a streak of lght, he arrives just in time!

Listen, bud, he's got radio-active blood!
Can he swing from a thread?
Take a look overhead!

In the end, he's ignored, action is his reward!
To him life is a great big hang up, wherever there's a bang-up, you'll find the Spiderman!

[Dales]

I remember when it hit me that cartoons were dead as far as the networks are concerned. I was babysitting my brother's kids, and we turned on the Saturday morning cartoons. They had the latest incarnation of the Bugs Bunny show on ABC, and they had managed to edit out all of the violence from the Roadrunner.

No cloud of smoke when the Coyote hit the ground after falling off the cliff- you would only see him a step away from the edge and it would cut back to the next scene.

You would see "instant hole" land right in front of him, but not him step into it.

It was pitiful.

Made me pine for the days of the old Pink Panther shorts, where the bad guy would fall off a ladder while carrying a gun, and not only would he splat while landing, they would have him land on a conveyor belt, the gun would bonk him on the head, and then the gun would land on the conveyor belt and start bouncing, shooting him in the arse each time it hit the belt.

Those were the days.

[Junior]

In 1981, Saturday mornings really took off with the creation of The Smurfs.

The only good smurf is a dead, squishy smurf.
-- ASPLM (Anti-Smurf Peoples' Liberation Movement)