The Disappearance of Saturday Morning

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE ^ | April 30, 2003 | By Gerard Raiti

[paltz]

The Disappearance of Saturday Morning Saturday morning no longer means kids in front of TV sets across the country, glued to the latest in hip cartoons. Why? Gerard Raiti investigates the death of an era.

April 30, 2003

By Gerard RaitiA once seemingly inseparable partnership between children and Saturday morning cartoons is now a thing of the past.

In a time not so long ago, Saturday mornings were indicative of one and only one pastime for children — watching cartoons. Throughout the '70s and '80s, the broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC dominated the Saturday morning airwaves by inundating children with cartoons. Cartoons on these networks used to earn ratings of more than 20 million viewers. Today, network Saturday morning cartoons only exist on ABC Kids, FOX Kids and Kids’ WB!, the latter two networks either did not exist or did not air cartoons two decades ago. Current successful cartoons on FOX Kids or Kids’ WB! can garner a mere two million viewers. That statistic does not even take into consideration that the population of children in the U.S. has increased by approximately ten percent over the last 20 years.

Due to this precipice in viewers, network cartoons are left struggling to make money while advertisers remain befuddled without a mainstream channel to promote new toys and products to children. Why have children stopped tuning in on Saturday mornings to network cartoons and what are the ramifications of this change?

Six key factors have led to children watching less Saturday morning cartoons: more recreational sports, the introduction of cable and satellite TV, the Internet and video games, a poorer quality of animation, and a greater emphasis on family time. These factors are rather self-explanatory with the exception of the latter: the divorce rate of Americans now stands at 49 percent, and time on the weekends has become more precious for children as many commute between parents’ houses.

For parents who only have limited access to their children due to either divorce or career advancement, plopping them down in front of the television for five hours on a Saturday morning is no longer a viable option. Among most parents, divorced or not, there is a new emphasis on "quality" time. Consequently, taking one’s children to the theater, mall, museum, event, zoo or beach on the weekend is deemed more appropriate to being a "good" parent, than letting kids sit and watch cartoons. To this effect, American society has changed substantially enough over the last two decades to the point where Saturday morning cartoons are less important to our culture.

According to Linda Simensky of Cartoon Network, Saturday morning animation has always been the backwater of programming for network broadcasters. Courtesy of Cartoon Network.

The Biggest Change of All Today, cartoons are no longer on the major three networks that dominated the preceding decades. Although ABC technically still airs Saturday morning cartoons, its relationship with Disney distinguishes it from ABC’s past programming during the ‘70s and ‘80s. When NBC and CBS began reducing their children’s programming on Saturdays in 1988-1990, FOX jumped aboard the bandwagon and laid the cornerstone for its FOX Kids Network. NBC chose to delve into live-action teen entertainment, hallmarked by Saved by the Bell. Presently, NBC is in partnership with Discovery Kids; a Saturday edition of Today either precedes or follows Discovery Kids. CBS initially chose to replace its cartoons with news from local affiliates and now airs a national morning show, which is either preceded or followed by children’s content from Nick Jr. Disney acquired ABC, so their relationship has stayed relatively constant over the decades and still continues to air its One Saturday Morning, recently renamed ABC Kids. Linda Simensky, vice president of original programming at Cartoon Network, feels that, “Children’s television was never the strength of broadcasters to begin with. There were some good shows in there, but kids’ TV was the department where executives at the network would start their nephews out in. [Kids’ TV] was never the primary goal of a network.” Children’s entertainment on Saturday mornings is currently such a liability that local affiliates in markets such as Baltimore choose to air local news in lieu of Discovery Kids, Nick Jr., and ABC Kids. PAGE 2

[Pikamax]

the networks themselves killed off Saturday mornings, no one else is to blame.

[Swordmaker]

Perhaps the poor animation combined with the overwhelming PC nature of the new cartoon shows has driven discriminating children to other pastimes.

With the PC banning of the old cartoons, cartoons are no longer funny.

[mlmr]

At our house the children listen to Adventures In Oddessy on the radio every Saturday morning and one or two other good children's radio shows that go along with it.

[niteowl77]

Over the years, the quality of the product went to hell, and I'm not talking about the actual animation (I can remember "Clutch Cargo," for crying out loud). PC and marketing tie-ins made cartoons worse as time went on. The last ones that I thought were actually funny (instead of preachy) were some on Nick- they were eventually pushed aside for "lifestyle" animation.

[Howlin]

(I can remember "Clutch Cargo," for crying out loud).

Ah, that doesn't make you ancient, ya know?

BTW, don't you think Howard Dean's mouth looks just like Clutch's?

[Prodigal Son]

Hard for me to relate. Been a long time since I lived in the States or owned a television. Do they not show Warner Brothers Cartoons anymore? Bugs Bunny? Roadrunner?

[BradyLS]

Jeez... Two words: Cartoon Network. Two more words: Samurai Jack!!!

[LizardQueen]

Now with the Cartoon Network you can watch them around the clock, not just on Saturday AMs.

I'm a real purist when it comes to cartoons - I only like the old ones. So many of the newer ones have crappy animation and stupid themes.
Some of the cartoon network ones aren't bad but still don't match up to the older ones, for me.

I love Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and really miss the Pink Panther and "The Ant and the Aardvark". We spent many happy Saturday mornings watching them with my father when I was a kid.

[Miss Marple]

You have to catch those on the Cartoon Network (cable), not on the regular networks.

[niteowl77]

BTW, don't you think Howard Dean's mouth looks just like Clutch's?

Well now that you mention it...

I find it hard to get past Howard's eyes, with their blank look. He could use Clutch's eyebrows.

[Freedom4US]

Saturday Morning was great - Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Foghorn Leghorn, etc. I liked Jonny Quest. They brought the latter "back" semi-recently, but of course the animation is very poor and he looks like a crackhead.

[speedy]

Remember his co-horts Spinner and Paddlefoot? What a bizarre cartoon. And where can you catch Speedy Gonzales these days? See you later, Wally Gator.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

Children and fans of the 80's will appreciate this site:

http://www.80stees.com/pages/t-shirts/80s_cartoons.asp

Bought myself the Hong Kong Phooey t-shirt last week.

[niteowl77]

I am a cartoon nut myself, started out watching the networks on Saturday mornings, and the local daytime shows (Captain Ken's Cartoon Showboat out of the Quad Cities, and Captain Eleven when we moved up to the NW corner of Iowa) during the weekdays of my "yout." Even in college, there were a lot of us that tuned in to Duane Ellett and Floppy on WHO-TV to watch him take stale jokes from little kids between those great golden age Looney Tunes.

Dexter's Lab is okay, and Ed, Edd & Eddy has its moments (love those Kanker Sisters!), but I have lately given up on the new stuff.

[niteowl77]

Yep, Paddlefoot the pup! I was hypnotized by all those great aircraft profile drawings they'd use. I didn't know a Bellanca from a Boeing, but it didn't matter.

[squarebarb]

My step-grandkids love Spongebob Squarepants, which is where I got my screen name. Spent hours telling me the plots and characters. Sounded great. But I've watched other cartoons with the kids and the characters are often snotty and hateful.

[squarebarb]

I've only got 174 replies. Got to get my numbers up.

[Vesuvian]

Boomerang is pretty good too, but I wish they'd keep to more of a schedule- it seems to change week to week. Boomeraction is good though, Thundarr, the original Jonny Quest, good stuff!

[m18436572]

Even those have been shredded by the PC police.