[Drew68]

Article from Animation World Magazine can be found online here:

The Disappearance of Saturday Morning

FYI, Article is quite an in-depth and lengthy read.

[My2Cents]

They're all out playing soccer on Saturday mornings.

[Luna]

Bugs Bunny is deeply saddened.

[Petronski]

Today's cartoons SUCK....what with the three frames per second 'animation' and the mushy PC story lines and the neutered violence and the cynical product tie-ins...who WOULD watch? Kids are smarter than that.

[DannyTN]

Reasons include several factors ranging from the rising divorce rate, with parents deciding to spend more "quality time" with their kids on weekends, to the rising popularity of cable TV.

Reason #1: They just aren't funny or entertaining anymore. They are all politically correct, violence free, programs devoid of any semblance of humor and pushing products and ideology. Those shows would bore a deserted island castaway even after he had been stranded for 20 years.

[kms61]

Clearly a case of massive cartoon piracy. Don't worry, the RIAA is on the case. We've got to make an example of all these scofflaw children

/sarcasm

[Porterville]

The only animation worth watching is on Wednesday at 10:00 on Comedy Central

[Hawkeye's Girl]

With most kids having access to Cartoon Network and Nick, this should not surprise anyone.

[The Green Goblin]

Twenty-five years ago, Saturday morning TV was the only time a kid could watch cartoons (aside from the rare trip to see Disney animated features etc.). Now, kids can and do watch them every day of the week...

[Dan from Michigan]

The only cartoons with any edge anymore are the old Bugs Bunny Warner Bros shows.

The rest are weak and whimpy.

[TomB]

I agree. Most of the cartoons on Saturday mornings are garbage.

Thinking back, I started thinking about how, when I was young (early '70s), each network would have a prime time preview, usually the Friday nite before, of their new cartoons for the fall season. I always remember being SO excited about seeing all the new cartoons, but then being bummed because it meant school would be starting.

Anybody else remember those preview shows?

[SerpentDove]

The trend is toward half-assed storylines accompanied by kids' heads that are shaped weird. The weirder the better, evidently.

What a waste of time and...I was going to say talent.

[Rocko]

SpongeBob's worth seeing. But he's on cable and DVD.

[rwfromkansas]

I turned 20 last month. I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons as a young kid....because they were good at that time. Then, slowly but surely, they started cutting off the good ones. I was still quite young when they began to do this. First it was Garfield and Friends. Then, they started moving around and lowering the amount of time Bugs Bunny and Friends was on.

I started looking at some other cartoons, but except for a couple, they all stunk bigtime. So, I didn't see any sense in getting up anymore as an elementary school kid if they were going to put up such crap on tv. I started sleeping in on Saturday mornings, a decision I do not regret...:)

If they actually had good cartoons, maybe today's kids would watch.

[mhking]

Well, let's see. As opposed to having to wait until Saturday morning for cartoons, the kids can get 'em 24/7, thanks to Nickelodean, Disney Channel, Toon Disney, Nick Toons, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, ABC Family and whoever else decides to show cartoons (and that's not even counting anime)...

Is there any wonder that kids are getting away from the old Saturday morning tradition?

[thinking]

If you want a clue as what is happening to present day cartoons/TV, I suggest one look at the credits at the end of the show...note the gender of the of the folks producing the today's shows....now for a contast; pick any "old" TV production, the classics that are entertaining, Bugs, RoadRunner etc, note the gender of the producers and the backroom people as the credits roll....

[TC Rider]

Man do I feel old. When I was a kid, Saturday morning was mostly Westerns. Roy Rogers, Lone Ranger, Sky King and Rin Tin Tin ruled the day. About the only animation I recall was Mighty Mouse.

[grimalkin]

Today's cartoons are generally boring and dumb. I remember how excited I was about cartoons when I was a kid. After school it was Woody Woodpecker, Pink Panther, Superfriends, Bugs Bunny, etc.. Saturday mornings were always Bugs Bunny & Friends, The Smurfs (lol), and some others. All very entertaining without any of the PC crud mixed in. My dad used to watch Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner with me. It was his favorite.

[PJ-Comix]

The reason for the decline in viewing of Saturday morning cartoons on the tube is that they suck bigtime. Even kids get numb watching that pablum.

[mollynme]

My favorites were the Hanna-Barbera offerings, eh Boo-Boo?

[Hawkeye's Girl]

I can't believe no one's mentioned X-Men yet, bub!

da da da daaaaa da da! da da da daaaaa da da!