Saturday Morning Cartoons

I'll admit that it's been probably 5-7 years since I woke up and turned on a television on Saturday morning, but today I happen to be up and interested in something that's going to be on TV (SDSU v BYU) so I'm flipping around waiting for it to start and I'm noticing that since 8 this morning there have been no real Saturday Morning Cartoons on any of the stations I remember them being on.

Granted there's some shows for toddlers on NBC and ABC but that's pretty much it.

What happened? Did Cartoon Network getting huge kill any chance of Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS getting meaningful ratings if they tried to compete so they just gave up?

When did all this happen? When I was in High School I remember shows like Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, TMNT and all that other shit still being on basic cable channels on Saturday, so it must have been somewhat recent.

I've kind of noticed the same thing, but don't really mind too much because I don't care for a lot of the cartoons that are airing now. I occasionally find Little Bear in the morning and watch that; it's just so relaxing. I wish I could find David the Gnome. :(

Well it looks like now they're playing Dragon Ball Z Kai on The CW, I guess maybe it just starts later now?

Someone like Dumptruck who is probably in the know needs to get in here and explain this shit.

Saturday mornin' nothin'. It was all about the Disney Afternoon.

Real men watched American Gladiators Saturday mornings and Carmen Sandiego weekday afternoons.

There are lots of reasons Saturday Morning Cartoons are basically dead today!

The FCC started pushing (or threatening) legislation to curb some of the marketing directed at children, which scared off a lot of the sponsorship cash for these things, particularly on network TV. A lot of that was driven by lobbying parents' groups, pissed about their fat kids' fatness. Sucks, but whatcanyado. Sugar cereals can't buy ads, ads can't pay for shows.

Money makes the world go 'round, you know.

There's also the bit about "toy commercials can't be 22 minutes long anymore", too, but I'm not sure if that rule continues today. Doesn't matter for cable.

Cable TV keeps this stuff alive (I presume because the FCC has less of a nut-grip on it), but the money isn't as big as on network TV. Programming on the four channels that most people HAD to watch due to no cable was big-time money. Captive audience! The market is fragmented all to hell nowadays, which might be a bit of why a proper "Saturday Morning Cartoons" lineup doesn't really happen anymore.

Well fuck that shit!

As far as I can tell FCC has no power over cable or satellite television, only over the air shit. And I haven't watched Saturday morning cartoons in about 16 years.

what is wrong with advertising to kids? They need toys and candy. Why can't they be happy? Angry old white women ruin every god damn thing they touch.

And no one cares what you haven't done in 16 years, Razor.

I'm trying to imagine my childhood without the joy of Saturday morning cartoons. It's really, really sad.

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Originally Posted by YellerDog

The FCC started pushing (or threatening) legislation to curb some of the marketing directed at children, which scared off a lot of the sponsorship cash for these things, particularly on network TV. A lot of that was driven by lobbying parents' groups, pissed about their fat kids' fatness. Sucks, but whatcanyado. Sugar cereals can't buy ads, ads can't pay for shows.

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So a heavy-handed, overbearing federal government exercised power outside its constitutional limits, and the result was a negative? I'm shocked--shocked!

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Originally Posted by squall_vb

I'm trying to imagine my childhood without the joy of Saturday morning cartoons. It's really, really sad.



So a heavy-handed, overbearing federal government exercised power outside its constitutional limits, and the result was a negative? I'm shocked--shocked!

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More clearly ...

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Originally Posted by Wiki

While animated production is still present on most broadcast networks on Saturday mornings, it has been noticeably reduced. Because of FCC-mandated regulations that began in the mid-1990s, broadcast stations were required to program a minimum of three hours of children's educational/informational ("E/I") programming per week.

To help their affiliates comply with the regulations, broadcast networks began to reorganize their efforts to adhere to the mandates, so its affiliates wouldn't bear the burden of scheduling the shows themselves on their own time. This almost always meant that the educational programming was placed during the Saturday morning cartoon block. NBC abandoned its Saturday morning cartoon lineup in 1992, replacing it with a Saturday morning edition of The Today Show and adding an all live-action teen-oriented block, TNBC, which featured Saved by the Bell, California Dreams, and other teen comedies. Even though the educational content was minimal to nonexistent, NBC labeled all the live-action shows with an E/I rating.

CBS followed NBC's example by producing a Saturday edition of The Early Show in the first two hours of its lineup and an all live-action block of children's programming. The experiment lasted a few months, and CBS brought back their animated CBS Storybreak series.

In 2004, ABC was the last of the broadcast networks to add a Saturday morning edition of their morning news program, Good Morning America, in the first hour of its lineup. Prior to that, especially through the early 1990s, it was not uncommon for ABC affiliates to preempt part or all of ABC's cartoon lineup with local news programming.

Fox carried little or no E/I programming, leaving the responsibility of scheduling the E/I shows to the affiliates themselves. The WB was far more accommodating; for several years, they aired the history-themed Histeria! five days per week, leaving only a half-hour of E/I programs up to the local producers to program.

Boomerang, a spin-off channel of Cartoon Network, currently specializes primarily in reruns of Saturday morning cartoons from the 1960s and 1970s (the majority of which come from Hanna-Barbera, which, like Boomerang, is owned by Time Warner). It is not unusual to see the major networks rotate reruns of older series (usually less than ten years, because of E/I content) instead of airing a new production, since the children who watched them the first time are not the same children who are currently watching Saturday morning cartoons; Cookie Jar Group's programming blocks have made extensive use of this strategy, as do channels that are intended for digital subchannels (e.g. qubo).

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Why was that even necessary if PBS is so fucking wonderful?

Whining parents not parenting.

I don't understand enough about television to get how the FCC can make broadcast stations put on educational programming.

Do these stations get government money or something? Is it because they're over the air and readily available to anyone? I thought the the FCC could only keep you from broadcasting shit you're not allowed to.

They're over the air so it's considered public domain.

I used to watch the X-Men, Spiderman, and the Tick. They were all awesome.

coincidentally today I found out that the cable company added a (new to our area) channel that is pretty much old school saturday morning cartoons

a typical night:

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# 8:00 PM Beetlejuice "Spooky Boo-tique; Scare and Scare Alike"
# 8:30 PM Real Ghostbusters "Slimer, Come Home"
# 9:00 PM ThunderCats
# 9:30 PM Transformers "Megatron's Master Plan"
# 10:00 PM G.I. Joe "Excalibur"
# 10:30 PM Inspector Gadget "So It Is Written"
# 11:00 PM Beetlejuice "Spooky Boo-tique; Scare and Scare Alike"
# 11:30 PM ReBoot "Talent Night in Hell"

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There is no show I watched more and liked less than that Beetlejuice cartoon. It seemed to be on constantly.

Beetlejuice wasn't that bad, but I remember it being overplayed as well.

I seem to remember Inspector Gadget as a weekday afternoon cartoon. It was the same block as Heathcliff, Dennis the Menace, and the SMB Super Show. I guess it all depends on where you were.

ReBoot reminds me of the time when I was growing out of the Saturday morning cartoon thing.

I remember Smurfs and Snorks. Also: Captain N.

http://www.inthe80s.com/saturdays.shtml

fyi: The 90's is when cartoons got better.

http://www.inthe90s.com/saturdays.shtml

Man, ReBoot was awesome back in the day, I remember being all OMGCOMPUTERGRAPHICSTHATSSOCOOL!

Saturday mornings as a kid for me meant Bobby's World and Xmen, nothing else mattered.

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Originally Posted by Pineapple

Bobby's World and Xmen

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These were both great, especially Bobby's World.

Time for noogies!

Whenever I hear Sarah Palin speak, I can't help but think of Bobby's World.

"Oh well doncha know."

Shirt tails and shit.

Camp Candy.

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Originally Posted by Advocate

While animated production is still present on most broadcast networks on Saturday mornings, it has been noticeably reduced. Because of FCC-mandated regulations that began in the mid-1990s, broadcast stations were required to program a minimum of three hours of children's educational/informational ("E/I") programming per week.

To help their affiliates comply with the regulations, broadcast networks began to reorganize their efforts to adhere to the mandates, so its affiliates wouldn't bear the burden of scheduling the shows themselves on their own time. This almost always meant that the educational programming was placed during the Saturday morning cartoon block. NBC abandoned its Saturday morning cartoon lineup in 1992, replacing it with a Saturday morning edition of The Today Show and adding an all live-action teen-oriented block, TNBC, which featured Saved by the Bell, California Dreams, and other teen comedies. Even though the educational content was minimal to nonexistent, NBC labeled all the live-action shows with an E/I rating.

CBS followed NBC's example by producing a Saturday edition of The Early Show in the first two hours of its lineup and an all live-action block of children's programming. The experiment lasted a few months, and CBS brought back their animated CBS Storybreak series.

In 2004, ABC was the last of the broadcast networks to add a Saturday morning edition of their morning news program, Good Morning America, in the first hour of its lineup. Prior to that, especially through the early 1990s, it was not uncommon for ABC affiliates to preempt part or all of ABC's cartoon lineup with local news programming.

Fox carried little or no E/I programming, leaving the responsibility of scheduling the E/I shows to the affiliates themselves. The WB was far more accommodating; for several years, they aired the history-themed Histeria! five days per week, leaving only a half-hour of E/I programs up to the local producers to program.

Boomerang, a spin-off channel of Cartoon Network, currently specializes primarily in reruns of Saturday morning cartoons from the 1960s and 1970s (the majority of which come from Hanna-Barbera, which, like Boomerang, is owned by Time Warner). It is not unusual to see the major networks rotate reruns of older series (usually less than ten years, because of E/I content) instead of airing a new production, since the children who watched them the first time are not the same children who are currently watching Saturday morning cartoons; Cookie Jar Group's programming blocks have made extensive use of this strategy, as do channels that are intended for digital subchannels (e.g. qubo).

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this might explain why most new American cartoons on Nick and Disney are about people going to school. I guess 40+ white mom America doesn't see any education value in fantasy or sci-fi

God knows that cartoon versions of Saved by the Bell are so much more educational.

If the FCC can actually tell broadcast companies what to air does that mean they're responsible for every station having fifteen cop dramas?

Law and Order: FHUTA followed by CSI: Papau New Guinea.

Maybe.

I wouldn't be surprised if their are grants or something for shows that encourage lawfulness, too.

Watching TV in my underwear while eating sugary cereal defined my Saturday mornings in my single-digit years.

GamePro TV.

i liked USA's saturday mornings with Street Fighter, Savage Dragon and Wildc.a.t.s

the scifi channel also showed anime at 9 am on saturdays too which was cool.

Serious question: did any of you do any extracurricular activities as children? On Saturdays I was up at 8 a.m. to get ready to play basketball or practice for basketball. I also volunteered from time to time at my neighborhood church and went to Saturday school for Catholicism bullshit.

Sometimes I played Nintendo if it was a cartoon I had already seen.

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Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

Serious question: did any of you do any extracurricular activities as children?

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I played sports, but it never got in the way of my cartoons.

Weird. All of my sports were early as fuck in the A.M. and right after school. Later on I just caught reruns in the summer or used VHS tapes and had my sisters record it. Even then I barely had time what with my video games and all.

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Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

Serious question: did any of you do any extracurricular activities as children? On Saturdays I was up at 8 a.m. to get ready to play basketball or practice for basketball. I also volunteered from time to time at my neighborhood church and went to Saturday school for Catholicism bullshit.

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Didn't do sports, but man, we'd be out playing like a motherfucker. Bike riding, running around in the forest. I'd come home exhausted. (Still didn't solve my insomnia, but whatever.)

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Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

Even then I barely had time what with my video games and all.

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I didn't really play video games growing up. Not as much as some of us, anyway.

I played few games over and over again. My parents didn't have the money to buy me video games willy nilly so I resorted to borrowing games and getting the most out of what I had. I guess that's why fighters grew on me. Same shit over and over but at least there's no story to bore me.

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Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

I played few games over and over again. My parents didn't have the money to buy me video games willy nilly so I resorted to borrowing games and getting the most out of what I had. I guess that's why fighters grew on me. Same shit over and over but at least there's no story to bore me.

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Same. I borrowed the shit out of games from my friends. Any game I bought was on sale/massively reduced/used. Those were few and far between.

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Originally Posted by Brisco Bold

Didn't do sports, but man, we'd be out playing like a motherfucker. Bike riding, running around in the forest. I'd come home exhausted.

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I resemble this. Played a bit of sports too, though! Soccer, Taekwondo, Football. There was some baseball, but my memory of it involves hanging out in the outfield a lot.

Soccer will always suck the most.

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Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

Serious question: did any of you do any extracurricular activities as children? On Saturdays I was up at 8 a.m. to get ready to play basketball or practice for basketball. I also volunteered from time to time at my neighborhood church and went to Saturday school for Catholicism bullshit.

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Most Saturdays I was either staying over at one of my 2 best friend's houses or they were at mine. We'd start the morning off with cartoons and cereal in front of the TV and be outside playing basketball/football/baseball/whatever before 11 am. In the winter (or when the weather was horrible) we'd play way more video games than any other time of the year. And it was almost always some form of Tecmo Bowl, NBA Jam, Madden, NHL, street fighter or various other sports games.

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Originally Posted by Advocate

(wiki about educational programming)

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I thought that's what the "more you know" segments at the end of the shows were for.



And saying teen sitcoms like Saved By The Bell and Full House or whatever they were are educational is like schools saying french fries and ketchup count as a serving of vegetables.

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Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

Serious question: did any of you do any extracurricular activities as children? On Saturdays I was up at 8 a.m. to get ready to play basketball or practice for basketball. I also volunteered from time to time at my neighborhood church and went to Saturday school for Catholicism bullshit.

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Yes.

It's probably why I'm a better adjusted person.

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Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

Serious question: did any of you do any extracurricular activities as children? On Saturdays I was up at 8 a.m. to get ready to play basketball or practice for basketball. I also volunteered from time to time at my neighborhood church and went to Saturday school for Catholicism bullshit.

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I did after Saturday cartoons. As I had to work more in the morning so the cartoons slowly got cut.

No, I never did the sports thing.

When I was younger, like before the second grade, my parents lived in an old farm house. My dad got an old retired bus and pulled all the seats out of it to make me and my sister a play house. So I'd play in that, or his old army trucks or out in the woods. I also got my ass beat for playing out in the creak.

When we moved, I spent most of my weekends helping my dad work on various things. Replacing breaks. Washing cars. Cleaning and moving his vast collection of bullshit.

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Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

Serious question: did any of you do any extracurricular activities as children? On Saturdays I was up at 8 a.m. to get ready to play basketball or practice for basketball. I also volunteered from time to time at my neighborhood church and went to Saturday school for Catholicism bullshit.

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I did my best to avoid sports when I was in school; I had no intention of specifically doing them in my free time. As well, my family was very non-religious, so doing things connected to a church was never an option I even thought about existing. I did make attempts to try Scouts, but the two different dens I got into were utterly terrible, to the point that it caused me to lose all interest and drop out after not too long.

I don't think I ever did any sports on weekends. Other than playing softball on weekday nights, I only did sports at school. My Saturday mornings as a kid consisted of sugary cereals, cartoons, nature shows, playing with toys, and if it was nice outside, playing soldiers or ninjas with my friends. I didn't have any real videogames at home until my parents bought me an Amiga 500 for xmas when I was about twelve. From then until the end of high school I spent my Saturday mornings gaming and tinkering on the Amiga, or recovering in bed from whatever I did Friday night.

Did anyone else watch cartoons before school? I used to watch USA and sci-fi in the morning. I remember when scifi first started and they showed Gigantor, Robotech and transformers in the morning before school

I slept before school.

I'm not even trying to be a smart-ass. I hated getting up at 7/8 for school. I had really bad insomnia, so getting up for anything sucked.

Did you ever like pretend to get up when your folks got up? And then only actually get up minutes before you had to go to school.

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Originally Posted by Brisco Bold

I slept before school.

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Me too. Then again I didn't have TNL to entertain me in the mornings. Actually that still happens most days...

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Originally Posted by Fe 26

Did anyone else watch cartoons before school? I used to watch USA and sci-fi in the morning. I remember when scifi first started and they showed Gigantor, Robotech and transformers in the morning before school

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Yea I don't remember ever watching cartoons on saturday, and I didn't watch much TV at all for the first 10 years of my life..But I do remember after that I watched cartoons during the week right before school in the living room with my Aunt. We watched He-Man religiously and uhmm..some smurfs and I think the only thing I watched much when I was really little was Scooby Doo, because he is just awesome. But for the most part I played dress-up in my room with my little doll baby that was weird and filled with sand that I used to grab only by the hair so she had this perpetually fucked up hair-do that would never lay flat and bothered the crap out of my mom, I remember she tried to hose the hair down flat once, but to no avail lol ..That or I played some sega games..my parents got me a huge pack of games when they bought it and I had a few favorites( lol good ol lion king and this other game i can't think of the name of now to save my life..it had this armadillo superhero that was trying to rescue this princess and I remember near the end had this super hard crab boss or some shit, that game was the best) I always messed with if I wasn't keeping myself entertained with my clothes in my room ;B

If anyone can tell me the name of that game I can't remember, that'd be really awesome.. I think he had a flying boomerang attack too or something

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Originally Posted by Fe 26

Did anyone else watch cartoons before school?

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Recess.

Every morning in high school while reading the comics in the paper.

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/att...1&d=1299019324

OMG YES THANK YOU SO MUCH E>E>E> LOL

now show me them titties.

You show me yours, I'll show you mine (if I like what I see) ;p

It'll be hard to see through two black eyes. Now do as you're told.

BITCH PLZ, I ANSWER TO MAN UNLESS I WANT TO
you just lost any chances on that ever happening ;p

Oh Sarah, now you're just being silly.

This is just turning gross.

The thought of seeing either SSJNs or Kyosalad's man titties is unsettling.

HEY NAO, MY MAN TITTIES IS MADD HAWT
ALL SLICKED UP WITH NERDRAGE SWEAT
UNNNGHHH YEAAA

Stop Posting.

I played a bunch of sports, but it never got in the way of my cartoons either. I was only allowed to play like 1 hour of games a day when I was growing up heh. I guess that's why half the time people here are talking about obscure games I have no idea what they are talking about. I probably missed alot of gems, oh well.

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Originally Posted by Opaque

This is just turning gross.

The thought of seeing either SSJNs or Kyosalad's man titties is unsettling.

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You two need to fuck already and get it over with.

Kyo, never get between a dog and his meat.