Quote:
Originally Posted by ItsRick24
It's bad enough that the regular networks no longer have cartoons, but I turn on Boomerang for my classic Hanna-Barbera fix and wouldn't you know, they even changed that to these bull**** shows that I can't stomach! Whatever happened to reruns of Yogi Bear, Scooby doo, Speed Buggy and more? (Yea, I still like Saturday Morning cartoons, even in my early 50s). Maybe I'm just from another era-wall to wall cartoons, then American Bandstand, followed by Wide World of Sports. Those shows, and their respective hosts, now gone, but the memories will last forever! Sad.
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I got a lot of opinions on this topic- *organizes thoughts*
I can't comment on the saturday morning cartoons in the 1960s or 1970s because I grew up in the 1980s. I have only seen bits and pieces of 1960s and 1970s cartoons in syndication and reruns years after their original air dates. I do remember Josie and the Pussycats, Speed Buggy, all the Scooby Doo series, the Tex Avery cartoons, Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, the 1960s Spiderman, the 1960s Superman and Batman Series. But again, I have seen them in reruns.
The 1980s (The decade I hold most dear) brought a boatload of animation that was worth getting up for on Saturday mornings Kissyfur, Snorks, Smurfs, LooneyTunes, Shirt-tales, Dungeons and Dragons, Saturday Supercade, Dragon's Lair, Pacman, Garfield to name just a few.
Then in 1985/1986 Walt Disney started a golden renaissance of television animation airing phenomenal Saturday morning series such as Wuzzles, Gummi Bears (pure adventure and a awesome series) and Winnie the Pooh.
The renaissance continued into the 1990s with the Disney Afternoon which brought syndicated cartoons Tale Spin (my all time favorite Disney cartoon series), Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Duck Tales, Aladdin, Rescue Rangers, Quack Pack, Tarzan and Gargoyles (another phenomenal series which they should resurrect or reboot in some form). But wait, we are talking about Saturday morning cartoons here.
In the 1990s NBC exited the Saturday morning cartoon business so that left ABC, CBS and FOX
which aired a few series from the Disney afternoon Aladdin comes time mind. On Fox which made huge strides with their Power Rangers franchise (which was cheesy good until they dumped the original cast) Batman the Animated Series, Xmen the Animated Series, Tom and Jerry Tales, Taz-Mania, Eek the cat, The Tick, C Bear and Jamal to name a few.
In the late 1990s new networks emerged UPN and the WB. Kids WB during its life had a phenomenal Saturday morning lineup of modern Warner cartoons and classic ones Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, Freakzoid, Animaniacs, Batman Beyond (Bruce Wayne mentoring the next generation batman- another great adventure series- if you missed it shame on you!), Detention, Hysteria!, Pinky and the Brain, the New Superman Batman Adventures and Road Rovers just to name a few.
The 2000s saw changes to Saturday mornings on the broadcast networks. As I understand it, the FCC had a stringent requirement that the networks had to air certain amount of children's educational programming a week. ABC and CBS had it the hardest because they only aired cartoons on Saturdays.
UPN started carrying Disney's One Too the second coming of the Disney Afternoon which aired weekdays and Sundays.
ABC aired Disney's One Saturday morning that aired programs like Sabrina the animated series and other series from its cable channel. Later it became ABC Kids.
CBS formed a arrangement with Nickelodeon and then DIC animation to program their Saturday morning cartoons and in my opinion that is when their Saturdays mornings started to go down hill.
NBC formed some type arrangement with the Discovery Channel to program their Saturday mornings. It brought back cartoons to the channel, but their programming was just unappealing to me anyway.
Fox had their Saturday mornings programmed by 4 Kids Entertainment after ending their afternoon Kids Block in 2002. They exited the Saturday morning cartoon biz in 2008.
Kids WB overtook Fox Kids Saturday mornings with a strong, strong lineup including cartoons Pokemon and Static Shock. They were the place to be of the broadcast networks on Saturday mornings until UPN and WB merged to form the CW at which time it became CW Kids.
The 2010s saw the broadcast networks throw in the towel on Saturday morning cartoons.
ABC exited the Saturday morning cartoon biz in 2011 their Saturday morning is now programmed by Litton Entertainment which is airing educational programming. (By this time I had stopped watching so I didn't even notice.)
CBS ended the Saturday morning cartoon biz in 2013 their Saturday morning block is also programmed by Litton Entertainment as well. (By this time I had also stopped watching so I didn't even notice.)
NBC now airs a children's block called Sprout airing programming aimed a preschoolers. It was which launched in 2012.
Fox doesn't air cartoons on Saturday mornings.
CW Kids which has experienced ratings declines to the migration of Saturday mornings to cable has decided to end their programming block this fall and outsource it to another company which will air education programming.
Circling back to the original poster's complaint. Today Saturday morning cartoons are on cable. Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney XD and the Hub come to mind.
These networks produce and continue to produce outstanding cartoons in the 2000s and 2010s that took eyeballs away from the broadcast networks.
Cartoon Network had the Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Teen Titans, Young Justice, Batman the brave and the bold and Pokemon. All of them great series. As for the Teen Titans, I am referring to the first series not the Teen Titians Go comedic series (yuck). The Justice League series were a reimaging of the Super Friends cartoons from the late 1970s and early 1980s and pure awesomeness.
Disney XD had Ultimate Spiderman and Avengers.
Nickelodeon had the Penguins of Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda, Power Rangers and season six of Digimon (which is damn good).
The Hub is the cable channel that I find myself on the most. The channel is a joint venture between Discovery Channel and Hasbro. It is like an independent tv station airing a mix of old cartoons and television shows many of them from the 1980s and 1990s GI Joe, Jem, Transfromers *squee!*. Oops, sorry about that.
Their Saturday morning lineup is awesome incarnate including one of the best cartoon series from the past five years: My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. It is a reimagining of the 1980s series and was initially aimed at children but was so so so good (story, casting, acting and concept) that it skewed its demographics and appeals to adults as well. After the conclusion of each season, I find myself anxiously awaiting the start of the next and like a junkie, looking for a new cartoon fix to tide me over.
Other saturday morning series on the channel is the Littlest Pet Shop (a remake of the 1990s of the cartoon), Pound Puppies (a remake of the 1980s cartoon) and Sabrina: Secrets of a Teenage Witch.
IN CONCLUSION:
Saturday mornings have changed drastically from when we were kids. However, there are still good Saturday morning cartoons to be found (there are many many many which I have omitted) you just have to seek them out- that and they most likely will be on cable.
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The Cartoons Have Migrated To Cable
