Saturday morning cartoons died [yesterday] in 1992
September 13, 2023 6:28 AM Subscribe
Now that I'm a parent, I realize the raison d'etre for "Saturday morning cartoons" is so parents can clean the house on Saturday morning and have a clean house over the weekend...
posted by subdee at 6:54 AM on September 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by subdee at 6:54 AM on September 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
Saturday mornings were the home of the Inhumanoids, and the throughline from that show to my future horror interests is a very short and direct path.
posted by FatherDagon at 7:20 AM on September 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by FatherDagon at 7:20 AM on September 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
I distinctly recall that once I started full-time school, the siren song of sleeping as long as possible on Saturdays very quickly outweighed any desire I had to watch cartoons. I think my siblings stuck with it a lot longer; they were never as incurable of night owls. As a result I really don't have that many memories of my own generation's cartoons, apart from what I've gleaned since then on the internet. It feels like a really big gap in my generational understanding tbh.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 7:23 AM on September 13, 2023
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 7:23 AM on September 13, 2023
Now that I'm a parent, I realize the raison d'etre for "Saturday morning cartoons" is so parents can clean the house on Saturday morning and have a clean house over the weekend...
Or for parents to sleep in on the weekend. That is certainly why my parents let us watch Saturday morning cartoons when TV was strictly regulated at every other time.
posted by fimbulvetr at 7:30 AM on September 13, 2023 [19 favorites]
Or for parents to sleep in on the weekend. That is certainly why my parents let us watch Saturday morning cartoons when TV was strictly regulated at every other time.
posted by fimbulvetr at 7:30 AM on September 13, 2023 [19 favorites]
Remember when the networks used to run a block of Saturday morning cartoons on the Friday following Thanksgiving for.....reasons? I guess because they knew kids all had the day off?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:31 AM on September 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:31 AM on September 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
:’)
posted by saturday_morning at 7:38 AM on September 13, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by saturday_morning at 7:38 AM on September 13, 2023 [9 favorites]
The first Saturday morning after I got access to my own VCR I taped an episode of Yo Yogi with the special 3-D segment and re-watched it over and over again for about five or six hours until it was time for dinner.
I was so naive back then.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:41 AM on September 13, 2023
I was so naive back then.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:41 AM on September 13, 2023
In Western Canada we had to make do with The Mighty Hercules and Rocket Robin Hood for literal decades. Decades of that dreck! God, I got so tired of those little idiot centaurs and their ceaseless capering at 7am.
...then we got cable, and suddenly I could watch proper cartoons created in the same decade you were in.
Hercules still haunted the channels though, if you woke up too early. If you accidentally browsed past Hercules you knew you should turn the sound down even lower because you weren't supposed to be up yet.
posted by aramaic at 7:42 AM on September 13, 2023 [6 favorites]
...then we got cable, and suddenly I could watch proper cartoons created in the same decade you were in.
Hercules still haunted the channels though, if you woke up too early. If you accidentally browsed past Hercules you knew you should turn the sound down even lower because you weren't supposed to be up yet.
posted by aramaic at 7:42 AM on September 13, 2023 [6 favorites]
God, I got so tired of those little idiot centaurs and their ceaseless capering at 7am.
Herc! Herc! (In case you feel nostalgic).
When I became a parent, we very keenly felt the loss of Saturday morning cartoons because we wanted to plop the toddlers down with some dry cereal and the electronic babysitter and go back to bed for an hour...but having some DVDs around fulfilled the same purpose, and we could select things that weren't just half-hour advertisements for toys being interrupted by advertisements for other toys.
posted by nubs at 8:05 AM on September 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
Herc! Herc! (In case you feel nostalgic).
When I became a parent, we very keenly felt the loss of Saturday morning cartoons because we wanted to plop the toddlers down with some dry cereal and the electronic babysitter and go back to bed for an hour...but having some DVDs around fulfilled the same purpose, and we could select things that weren't just half-hour advertisements for toys being interrupted by advertisements for other toys.
posted by nubs at 8:05 AM on September 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
I still have super-positive Saturday morning memories. When I was ten, my grandfather gave me a little tv for Chrsitmas and I got to watch in my room on Saturday mornings, just in time for this weirdo gem yt . This theme song still gets stuck in my head all the time.
Wow, I remember that show.
Sadly, as an adult I realize that an awful lot of eighties movies and TV with girl protagonists had the message "older women are bad and awful and other girls don't exist, ally yourself with daddy and boys". I mean, that trailer is pretty blatant.
posted by Frowner at 8:06 AM on September 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
Wow, I remember that show.
Sadly, as an adult I realize that an awful lot of eighties movies and TV with girl protagonists had the message "older women are bad and awful and other girls don't exist, ally yourself with daddy and boys". I mean, that trailer is pretty blatant.
posted by Frowner at 8:06 AM on September 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
Also, my Saturday morning frustration was that the Dungeons and Dragons show was on at 9am, and that was just when my dad always served breakfast, which could not be eaten in front of the TV. That was the only show I really wanted to watch, and I'd get to see the theme song and maybe the last five minutes if I was allowed to rush breakfast.
And, worse yet, on weekdays they only ever showed the same few episodes of Voltron and Macross, so I never got to see any of the arcs.
posted by Frowner at 8:09 AM on September 13, 2023 [7 favorites]
And, worse yet, on weekdays they only ever showed the same few episodes of Voltron and Macross, so I never got to see any of the arcs.
posted by Frowner at 8:09 AM on September 13, 2023 [7 favorites]
In Western Canada we had to make do with The Mighty Hercules and Rocket Robin Hood for literal decades.
They were Cancon that's why. In Ontario at least they were mostly on weekday mornings so you could get a dose of cartoon before school as you ate your sugar cereal. When I lived in a remote community in Northern Ontario in the early 80s, there was a pair of brothers who operated a pirate TV station in town and they would air shows from their childhood (they were Boomers) so I saw things like the Cisco Kid, Lone Ranger, Space Angel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Star Trek, the 60s DC cartoons and on and on. They'd get shut down every 6 months or so and we'd have to go back to CBC English & French and the provincial public TV station in French and English which had good shows but little Saturday morning content. On clear winter mornings with the help of aluminum foil on the antenna we could get a Minnesota or Michigan station and you'd mainline that sweet sweet Hanna Barbera laying on the pull out couch in the living room. Coming South in the mid 80s and sampling the Saturday morning cartoons was like entering the world of Oz.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:15 AM on September 13, 2023 [8 favorites]
They were Cancon that's why. In Ontario at least they were mostly on weekday mornings so you could get a dose of cartoon before school as you ate your sugar cereal. When I lived in a remote community in Northern Ontario in the early 80s, there was a pair of brothers who operated a pirate TV station in town and they would air shows from their childhood (they were Boomers) so I saw things like the Cisco Kid, Lone Ranger, Space Angel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Star Trek, the 60s DC cartoons and on and on. They'd get shut down every 6 months or so and we'd have to go back to CBC English & French and the provincial public TV station in French and English which had good shows but little Saturday morning content. On clear winter mornings with the help of aluminum foil on the antenna we could get a Minnesota or Michigan station and you'd mainline that sweet sweet Hanna Barbera laying on the pull out couch in the living room. Coming South in the mid 80s and sampling the Saturday morning cartoons was like entering the world of Oz.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:15 AM on September 13, 2023 [8 favorites]
Ah, aramaic and nubs suffered through the same thing I did... For a period of about 3-4 years, those were the only cartoons one could get "over the air" in rural NW AB. When we did eventually move to town and get cable, it was like the pearly gates opened up. And - my frustration became that Dungeons and Dragons was on at the same time as a show that my younger sisters wanted to watch, on a different channel... Guess who got veto'd more often than not, hint... it wasn't my sisters...
posted by rozcakj at 8:16 AM on September 13, 2023
posted by rozcakj at 8:16 AM on September 13, 2023
My Saturday morning frustration was youth soccer which had games that could be scheduled anywhere from 8am to 2pm.
I missed the first part of a pretty consequential two-part episode of the Sonic cartoon, so I vowed to quit soccer. And I did. I gave up soccer for the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon. And then the show was cancelled.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:20 AM on September 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
I missed the first part of a pretty consequential two-part episode of the Sonic cartoon, so I vowed to quit soccer. And I did. I gave up soccer for the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon. And then the show was cancelled.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:20 AM on September 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
This was Saturday mornings for me when I was a little girl.
posted by JanetLand at 8:22 AM on September 13, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by JanetLand at 8:22 AM on September 13, 2023 [6 favorites]
Also, my Saturday morning frustration was that the Dungeons and Dragons show was on at 9am, and that was just when my dad always served breakfast, which could not be eaten in front of the TV. That was the only show I really wanted to watch, and I'd get to see the theme song and maybe the last five minutes
my frustration became that Dungeons and Dragons was on at the same time as a show that my younger sisters wanted to watch, on a different channel... Guess who got veto'd more often than not
Youtube to the rescue
posted by nubs at 8:24 AM on September 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
my frustration became that Dungeons and Dragons was on at the same time as a show that my younger sisters wanted to watch, on a different channel... Guess who got veto'd more often than not
Youtube to the rescue
posted by nubs at 8:24 AM on September 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
I loved Saturday morning cartoons - I recall one that did stories and there was one about a talking fish.
I actually don't remember Voltron, or Dungeons and Dragons - but Smurfs (later versions - I mostly watched the older ones on USA Network when home sick), Laff O'Lympics, and the Nintendo Power show, Muppet Babies and the show with live actors where you shot a light gun at the TV, and Gummy Bears maybe too?
I actually remember the phase out, but I recall a music video countdown show came before (as in years before) Saved By the Bell offshoots. It showed the Top 10, and since we didn't have MTV it was awesome.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:24 AM on September 13, 2023
I actually don't remember Voltron, or Dungeons and Dragons - but Smurfs (later versions - I mostly watched the older ones on USA Network when home sick), Laff O'Lympics, and the Nintendo Power show, Muppet Babies and the show with live actors where you shot a light gun at the TV, and Gummy Bears maybe too?
I actually remember the phase out, but I recall a music video countdown show came before (as in years before) Saved By the Bell offshoots. It showed the Top 10, and since we didn't have MTV it was awesome.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:24 AM on September 13, 2023
Sadly, as an adult I realize that an awful lot of eighties movies and TV with girl protagonists had the message "older women are bad and awful and other girls don't exist, ally yourself with daddy and boys". I mean, that trailer is pretty blatant.
And, obviously, the good women have to die in childbirth so they never age into being unattractive and their daughters can be menaced by evil stepmothers who are clearly just jealous of hot they are.
posted by thivaia at 8:29 AM on September 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
And, obviously, the good women have to die in childbirth so they never age into being unattractive and their daughters can be menaced by evil stepmothers who are clearly just jealous of hot they are.
posted by thivaia at 8:29 AM on September 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
Youtube to the rescue
Sadly, the golden age of the Dungeons and Dragons show is eight. I've watched a few and the magic is gone.
Macross holds up pretty well at least. It's funny - when I was a kid, I felt obliged to root for Misa Hayase but as an adult I can see that Lin Minmay is much the more interesting character.
posted by Frowner at 8:30 AM on September 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
Sadly, the golden age of the Dungeons and Dragons show is eight. I've watched a few and the magic is gone.
Macross holds up pretty well at least. It's funny - when I was a kid, I felt obliged to root for Misa Hayase but as an adult I can see that Lin Minmay is much the more interesting character.
posted by Frowner at 8:30 AM on September 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
live actors where you shot a light gun at the TV,
Captain Power? Because that was Canadian & syndicated that one was on a lot but I think it was on later in the day on Saturday? Maybe in the late afternoon or Sundays? I was too old for the toys by that point but it was a fun show. J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame was a writer on some of the episodes.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:32 AM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Captain Power? Because that was Canadian & syndicated that one was on a lot but I think it was on later in the day on Saturday? Maybe in the late afternoon or Sundays? I was too old for the toys by that point but it was a fun show. J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame was a writer on some of the episodes.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:32 AM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
I was also on the generational tail end of this.
I hadn’t put together that US legislation might have had something to do with it.
But come to think of it, that also partially explains the bizarre series of choices that lead to Cartoon All-Stars To The Rescue (Wikipedia, watch, and previously on the blue).
posted by neuracnu at 8:39 AM on September 13, 2023
I hadn’t put together that US legislation might have had something to do with it.
But come to think of it, that also partially explains the bizarre series of choices that lead to Cartoon All-Stars To The Rescue (Wikipedia, watch, and previously on the blue).
posted by neuracnu at 8:39 AM on September 13, 2023
I've only seen bits of the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon (I was a little too young for that show) but I'm weirdly invested in knowing that the kids survived their cameo in the recent movie.
They had to have lived, right? Only a sick, twisted, psychopath would have included them in the movie only to kill them off.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:41 AM on September 13, 2023
They had to have lived, right? Only a sick, twisted, psychopath would have included them in the movie only to kill them off.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:41 AM on September 13, 2023
I hadn’t put together that US legislation might have had something to do with it.
In the Buzz Dixon (writer for a bunch of these shows) article, he says that sports show ad rates were higher than kids show ad rates starting in the mid 70s, so they moved the shows to afternoon on weekdays, which was fine with the Feds.
I recall watching way more tv cartoons then (GI Joe, Transformers, DuckTales, Gem, and others) than on Saturday morning. He then ironically drags the shows he wrote nothing more than paychecks while gruffing at the kids shows of today being more poorly written.
It's also hilarious that many of these kids shows, often dragged as '30 minute toy advertisements' by parents, had lower ad rates than sports. Talk about projection, dumb grown-ups!
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:12 AM on September 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
In the Buzz Dixon (writer for a bunch of these shows) article, he says that sports show ad rates were higher than kids show ad rates starting in the mid 70s, so they moved the shows to afternoon on weekdays, which was fine with the Feds.
I recall watching way more tv cartoons then (GI Joe, Transformers, DuckTales, Gem, and others) than on Saturday morning. He then ironically drags the shows he wrote nothing more than paychecks while gruffing at the kids shows of today being more poorly written.
It's also hilarious that many of these kids shows, often dragged as '30 minute toy advertisements' by parents, had lower ad rates than sports. Talk about projection, dumb grown-ups!
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:12 AM on September 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Saturday morning cartoons were an integral part of my childhood, and I think I was the exact right age to get the biggest swath of them. By the time the great Saved By the Belling rolled around, I was also just about the right age for that as well, so I didn't mind so much. And really, at that point, most of my cartoon watching transferred to the after-school world with Batman: The Animated Series and Animaniacs.
Anyway, the short version is if you ever need to have an 80s cartoon theme song or commercial jingle recited from memory, I'm your guy.
posted by Zargon X at 9:18 AM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Anyway, the short version is if you ever need to have an 80s cartoon theme song or commercial jingle recited from memory, I'm your guy.
posted by Zargon X at 9:18 AM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
No mention of how Saturday morning cartoons even came interspersed with bite-sized edutainment in the 1970s?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:20 AM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:20 AM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
the bizarre series of choices that lead to Cartoon All-Stars To The Rescue
Super weird how George and Barbara, especially the latter, smile whenever they say "drugs and alcohol" in that intro.
I definitely spent my childhood watching Saturday morning cartoons - at the tail end of that being a thing, but I didn't know that at the time, of course. My partner is of an age where that was more in transition. And she is convinced whenever I sing the Gummi Bears theme song that I made it up, despite me showing her YouTube clips. (And despite my brother, who is the same age as her, insisting I'm not. To be fair, it would not be out of character for him to back me up while I'm spinning a yarn.)
Did anyone else click on the link for cereals? I had an immediate sense-memory of that Batman cereal. It was BAD. Tasted like celery.
posted by solotoro at 9:54 AM on September 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Super weird how George and Barbara, especially the latter, smile whenever they say "drugs and alcohol" in that intro.
I definitely spent my childhood watching Saturday morning cartoons - at the tail end of that being a thing, but I didn't know that at the time, of course. My partner is of an age where that was more in transition. And she is convinced whenever I sing the Gummi Bears theme song that I made it up, despite me showing her YouTube clips. (And despite my brother, who is the same age as her, insisting I'm not. To be fair, it would not be out of character for him to back me up while I'm spinning a yarn.)
Did anyone else click on the link for cereals? I had an immediate sense-memory of that Batman cereal. It was BAD. Tasted like celery.
posted by solotoro at 9:54 AM on September 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
In addition to the Saturday morning cartoon slots, I had two other times I had to be glued to the TV:
Schooldays, starting at around 5 or 6am, a UHF station broadcast the American dubs of anime series, particularly Mazinger Z (as Tranzor Z), the Robotech saga (Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada), and the lion version of Voltron. I would get up way earlier than I should, build a couch cushion fort over the heat register in the living room to warm up (my parents believed in setting the thermostat really low at night) , and watch these cartoons through a tiny slit between the cushions.
Then, that same UHF station in the afternoon broadcast syndicated cartoons like He Man and GI Joe, and later Silverhawks, Thundercats, etc., that competed with Disney's afterschool lineup on one of the networks.
Some Saturday cartoons that stick out for me, during that 1990s period, was Project GeeKer, and Pirates of Dark Water -- I was well beyond little-kid age by that time but these were pretty original series with oddball concepts, and ones not based on a toy or a movie, which were able to hold my attention. Neither ran very long, probably because they appealed more to teen/adults like me who had better things to do on a Saturday morning than watch cartoons.
posted by AzraelBrown at 10:09 AM on September 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Schooldays, starting at around 5 or 6am, a UHF station broadcast the American dubs of anime series, particularly Mazinger Z (as Tranzor Z), the Robotech saga (Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada), and the lion version of Voltron. I would get up way earlier than I should, build a couch cushion fort over the heat register in the living room to warm up (my parents believed in setting the thermostat really low at night) , and watch these cartoons through a tiny slit between the cushions.
Then, that same UHF station in the afternoon broadcast syndicated cartoons like He Man and GI Joe, and later Silverhawks, Thundercats, etc., that competed with Disney's afterschool lineup on one of the networks.
Some Saturday cartoons that stick out for me, during that 1990s period, was Project GeeKer, and Pirates of Dark Water -- I was well beyond little-kid age by that time but these were pretty original series with oddball concepts, and ones not based on a toy or a movie, which were able to hold my attention. Neither ran very long, probably because they appealed more to teen/adults like me who had better things to do on a Saturday morning than watch cartoons.
posted by AzraelBrown at 10:09 AM on September 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
I never had heard of Wildfire! As an animation buff and a cartoon kid, I can hardly believe it. It looks like the kind of thing I would be absolutely into, at least at first. A magical horse girl princess from the Wild West? Made in a lab, I tell you.
Sadly, as an adult I realize that an awful lot of eighties movies and TV with girl protagonists had the message "older women are bad and awful and other girls don't exist, ally yourself with daddy and boys". I mean, that trailer is pretty blatant.
Hmm -- you're right about that message in general. I think, though, that toy manufacturers figured out pretty quick that there needed to be other girls in a girls' cartoon. That way, you could sell dolls who weren't just blonde but brunette, redhead, raven-haired, and -- if they were feeling adventurous -- not even white. And all the outfits to match, of course. Maybe that's why Wildfire didn't hit it big.
That Buzz Dixon article is pretty great. Man, you used to could* just stumble into writing jobs. I grew up hearing stories like that, and it gave me absolutely the wrong idea about how to find work. Ended hanging around being winsome and helpful a lot instead of just asking people for what I wanted.
---
* see the Southern accent thread
posted by Countess Elena at 10:38 AM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Sadly, as an adult I realize that an awful lot of eighties movies and TV with girl protagonists had the message "older women are bad and awful and other girls don't exist, ally yourself with daddy and boys". I mean, that trailer is pretty blatant.
Hmm -- you're right about that message in general. I think, though, that toy manufacturers figured out pretty quick that there needed to be other girls in a girls' cartoon. That way, you could sell dolls who weren't just blonde but brunette, redhead, raven-haired, and -- if they were feeling adventurous -- not even white. And all the outfits to match, of course. Maybe that's why Wildfire didn't hit it big.
That Buzz Dixon article is pretty great. Man, you used to could* just stumble into writing jobs. I grew up hearing stories like that, and it gave me absolutely the wrong idea about how to find work. Ended hanging around being winsome and helpful a lot instead of just asking people for what I wanted.
---
* see the Southern accent thread
posted by Countess Elena at 10:38 AM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
I’m going to show my age, but for Saturday mornings, Bugs Bunny & Friends was better than anything that came after.
posted by gottabefunky at 11:01 AM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by gottabefunky at 11:01 AM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
I still have fond memories of stuff like Thundarr the Barbarian and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. I also have dim memories of the Krofft Supershow, featuring the likes of Dr. Shrinker (don't remember much of the show itself, but I can still hum the theme song) and Electra Woman & Dyna Girl.
Let's not forget the afternoon sessions of old Warner Brothers, Popeye, and Fun World of Hanna-Barbera (featuring cartoons which originally aired at least a decade or three earlier) on the non-affiliated channels. I try not to think about how much time I spent of my life watching certain cartoons for the 50th time (as opposed to watching episodes of DS9 for the 50th time).
And finally: Ultraman FTW!!!! So sad when the various Japanese giant-sized hero/monster series eventually disappeared from channel 2....
posted by gtrwolf at 11:34 AM on September 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Let's not forget the afternoon sessions of old Warner Brothers, Popeye, and Fun World of Hanna-Barbera (featuring cartoons which originally aired at least a decade or three earlier) on the non-affiliated channels. I try not to think about how much time I spent of my life watching certain cartoons for the 50th time (as opposed to watching episodes of DS9 for the 50th time).
And finally: Ultraman FTW!!!! So sad when the various Japanese giant-sized hero/monster series eventually disappeared from channel 2....
posted by gtrwolf at 11:34 AM on September 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
I've got fond memories of the Smurfs, the Snorks (sp?), and that other one where the animals were 2 animals combined into one. I also remember studying the TV guide when the fall schedule was published so I could optimize my viewing schedule.
I loved Mighty Mouse and especially Casper the friendly ghost, but I'm not sure if those were Saturday morning shows. Oh, and Underdog!
I also remember that each channel had a Fall TV Preview show where you could see trailers for all the new programming. But I can't remember whether that was for cartoons or evening sitcoms (or both).
posted by hydra77 at 11:36 AM on September 13, 2023
I loved Mighty Mouse and especially Casper the friendly ghost, but I'm not sure if those were Saturday morning shows. Oh, and Underdog!
I also remember that each channel had a Fall TV Preview show where you could see trailers for all the new programming. But I can't remember whether that was for cartoons or evening sitcoms (or both).
posted by hydra77 at 11:36 AM on September 13, 2023
Depending on your age and where you lived, even when the Saturday morning cartoons were being muscled out by live action shows, you still had The Disney Afternoon waiting when you got home from school.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 11:39 AM on September 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 11:39 AM on September 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
Let's not forget the Sunday-morning cartoons, which were less numerous and way weirder than their Saturday counterparts. The only one I remember is Beanie and Cecil the seasick sea serpent. The others were like those weird brands you find in the cookie aisle at a dollar store on a road trip.
posted by morspin at 11:48 AM on September 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by morspin at 11:48 AM on September 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
I also remember that each channel had a Fall TV Preview show where you could see trailers for all the new programming. But I can't remember whether that was for cartoons or evening sitcoms (or both).
There were specific ones for cartoons. The cast of Saved by the Bell hosted the 1989 iteration which featured Alf, Camp Candy, Captain N, the Smurfs, the Chipmunks, and a few others.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:24 PM on September 13, 2023
There were specific ones for cartoons. The cast of Saved by the Bell hosted the 1989 iteration which featured Alf, Camp Candy, Captain N, the Smurfs, the Chipmunks, and a few others.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:24 PM on September 13, 2023
Let's not forget the Sunday-morning cartoons, which were less numerous and way weirder than their Saturday counterparts. The only one I remember is Beanie and Cecil the seasick sea serpent. The others were like those weird brands you find in the cookie aisle at a dollar store on a road trip.
Was one of them Davey and Goliath? Because that was created by Lutherans to be a sort of ecumenical claymation religious show.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:24 PM on September 13, 2023
Was one of them Davey and Goliath? Because that was created by Lutherans to be a sort of ecumenical claymation religious show.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:24 PM on September 13, 2023
Yep: the part my kid has trouble grokking is those Sunday morning cartoons... For my geographic/age/cable cohort, the only Sunday morning option was the hot garbage on the USA Cartoon Express... and we watched them anyway.
You may be weirdly attached to Captain Caveman or Jabberjaw because, like me, you were stuck with them... but you're not hunting down DVDs of those cartoons either. Because they were not good.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:35 PM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
You may be weirdly attached to Captain Caveman or Jabberjaw because, like me, you were stuck with them... but you're not hunting down DVDs of those cartoons either. Because they were not good.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:35 PM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
They had to have lived, right? Only a sick, twisted, psychopath would have included them in the movie only to kill them off.
I mean, they always lived in the cartoon despite facing off against monsters that should have shredded them, so I just assume their plot armour carried over. Though I seem to remember the heroes of the movie stopping outside the cage all the cartoon kids were in and saying something about how everyone in the cage would have to be killed too (with a "wait, what?" from the wizard kid).
So...I don't know.
posted by nubs at 1:41 PM on September 13, 2023
I mean, they always lived in the cartoon despite facing off against monsters that should have shredded them, so I just assume their plot armour carried over. Though I seem to remember the heroes of the movie stopping outside the cage all the cartoon kids were in and saying something about how everyone in the cage would have to be killed too (with a "wait, what?" from the wizard kid).
So...I don't know.
posted by nubs at 1:41 PM on September 13, 2023
Sundays on UHF were the pits. Just Richie Rich or Casper shorts if you were lucky. Confusing reruns of old DC comics cartoons and Beetle Bailey if you weren't.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 2:02 PM on September 13, 2023
posted by RonButNotStupid at 2:02 PM on September 13, 2023
Jabberjaw
I tried to show my kids Jabberjaw, and there's barely even any youtube clips. It's hard to explain a talking shark that sounds like a 3 Stooge to someone with absolutely no references for such a thing.
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:15 PM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
I tried to show my kids Jabberjaw, and there's barely even any youtube clips. It's hard to explain a talking shark that sounds like a 3 Stooge to someone with absolutely no references for such a thing.
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:15 PM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'm Cap'n O.G. Readmore.
My motto's tried and true.
Read a book today, I bet you'll say,
"Oh, gee! I'll read more, too!"
(This gets stuck in my head almost as frequently as "Hanker for a Hunk of Cheese". Almost.)
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 2:19 PM on September 13, 2023
My motto's tried and true.
Read a book today, I bet you'll say,
"Oh, gee! I'll read more, too!"
(This gets stuck in my head almost as frequently as "Hanker for a Hunk of Cheese". Almost.)
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 2:19 PM on September 13, 2023
Computer Critters:
Computers are Everywhere
Joystick, Mouse, and Light Pen
Databases
Word Processors
posted by RonButNotStupid at 2:37 PM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Computers are Everywhere
Joystick, Mouse, and Light Pen
Databases
Word Processors
posted by RonButNotStupid at 2:37 PM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Derivatives leave tracks that lead to previous generational predilection.
In the mid-fifties, I was twelve years old and living at the edge of the largest city I'd ever seen: Fresno, California. My three nephews (all around my age) and I walked along the old Highway 99 to town to indulge in a Saturday cartoon fest at the White Theater. The White featured 27 Warner Bro's or Looney Tunes cartoons and a serial (Don Winslow of the United States Coast Guard). The show began at noon and ended around four o'clock.
We began our Saturday trek penniless and financed our admission by picking up soda bottles along the road and selling them at gas stations. Sometimes, when bottles were scarce along the road, we would steal a couple from one gas station and sell them at another. So. Admission was $ .11. That's eleven cents.
By the time we reached the theater, we usually had enough change to get the four of us into the theater and then buy each of us something from the refreshment counter. My favorite was Milk Duds because who doesn't like chocolate? Also, Milk Duds came in a cardboard box about the size of a deck of cards. When the Milk Duds were gone, you could pull out the paper lining and blow through the box. With only a little practice, the result would be an ear-piercing squeal. I'm sure the crowd in the theater numbered in the hundreds, all kids near my age. Many of them loved the Milk Dud squeal as much as I did. This was the day of Bugs Bunny, the Roadrunner and Coyote, Speedy Gonzales, Pepe Lepew, and other characters that nowadays would be relegated to one or another dark closet reserved for insensitive topics. But they delighted our malleable minds.
That was our day. Cartoons were not yet a big thing on our black and white TV. The best we got was The Old 49er, a banjo player with a cowboy hat who seemed to know only one song (Oh Susanna--what else?). A small bleacher stuffed with about twenty local kids screamed and clapped after each cartoon to introduce a commercial for a local used car lot--PJ Eads, the valley's leading used car company. The kids also screamed after the commercial for some reason we never understood. The Old 49er would then pull one of the kids off the bleachers and interview them. This was creepy in ways that I could not articulate then. Even now. Besides, I could imagine the Old 49er tapping his flask of Jim Beam during commercials.
My nephews and I never found out how one came to be on the show. We each made up versions of reality we might tell The Old 49er, just in case we ever got into the studio and he interviewed one of us. My best story was about how the four of us escaped from an orphanage and ran into the studio to hide from the evil headmasters. Eventually, we decided that the kids in the studio had to watch the cartoons like we did on some crappy black-and-white TV, so we let our fertile imaginations turn us toward other adventures.
My sister pointed out that we weren't likely to get on the show because we'd have to wear shoes, which, according to our dress code, was not allowed in the Summer. Before you ask, the answer is "no." The ticket taker at the White Theater didn't care a fig if we were barefooted.
posted by mule98J at 5:10 PM on September 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
In the mid-fifties, I was twelve years old and living at the edge of the largest city I'd ever seen: Fresno, California. My three nephews (all around my age) and I walked along the old Highway 99 to town to indulge in a Saturday cartoon fest at the White Theater. The White featured 27 Warner Bro's or Looney Tunes cartoons and a serial (Don Winslow of the United States Coast Guard). The show began at noon and ended around four o'clock.
We began our Saturday trek penniless and financed our admission by picking up soda bottles along the road and selling them at gas stations. Sometimes, when bottles were scarce along the road, we would steal a couple from one gas station and sell them at another. So. Admission was $ .11. That's eleven cents.
By the time we reached the theater, we usually had enough change to get the four of us into the theater and then buy each of us something from the refreshment counter. My favorite was Milk Duds because who doesn't like chocolate? Also, Milk Duds came in a cardboard box about the size of a deck of cards. When the Milk Duds were gone, you could pull out the paper lining and blow through the box. With only a little practice, the result would be an ear-piercing squeal. I'm sure the crowd in the theater numbered in the hundreds, all kids near my age. Many of them loved the Milk Dud squeal as much as I did. This was the day of Bugs Bunny, the Roadrunner and Coyote, Speedy Gonzales, Pepe Lepew, and other characters that nowadays would be relegated to one or another dark closet reserved for insensitive topics. But they delighted our malleable minds.
That was our day. Cartoons were not yet a big thing on our black and white TV. The best we got was The Old 49er, a banjo player with a cowboy hat who seemed to know only one song (Oh Susanna--what else?). A small bleacher stuffed with about twenty local kids screamed and clapped after each cartoon to introduce a commercial for a local used car lot--PJ Eads, the valley's leading used car company. The kids also screamed after the commercial for some reason we never understood. The Old 49er would then pull one of the kids off the bleachers and interview them. This was creepy in ways that I could not articulate then. Even now. Besides, I could imagine the Old 49er tapping his flask of Jim Beam during commercials.
My nephews and I never found out how one came to be on the show. We each made up versions of reality we might tell The Old 49er, just in case we ever got into the studio and he interviewed one of us. My best story was about how the four of us escaped from an orphanage and ran into the studio to hide from the evil headmasters. Eventually, we decided that the kids in the studio had to watch the cartoons like we did on some crappy black-and-white TV, so we let our fertile imaginations turn us toward other adventures.
My sister pointed out that we weren't likely to get on the show because we'd have to wear shoes, which, according to our dress code, was not allowed in the Summer. Before you ask, the answer is "no." The ticket taker at the White Theater didn't care a fig if we were barefooted.
posted by mule98J at 5:10 PM on September 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
I never had heard of Wildfire! As an animation buff and a cartoon kid, I can hardly believe it. It looks like the kind of thing I would be absolutely into, at least at first. A magical horse girl princess from the Wild West? Made in a lab, I tell you.
omg Wildfire was the SHIT, iirc had the whole "I'm a normal girl in normal reality and a horse princess in this weird alternate dimension" thing going on, and the theme song did this minor key "Wild-fire" progression that kid me found fascinating
kid me was also fascinated by, you had your normal Saturday morning shows that everyone knows are normal and correct because they're the ones they always show & they fit properly into 30 minutes with ads, then there was this weird block where the shows were shorter & seemingly piped in from some alien planet, I remember Galtar the barbarian and I think the Paw Paw Bears were part of this? (haven't revisited this indigenous-flavored cartoon bear show, I'm sure it's quite pawblematic)
anyway if we're talking about Saturday morning cartoons I gotta remind everybody of the most late 90s cover album ever to exist
posted by taquito sunrise at 7:14 PM on September 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
omg Wildfire was the SHIT, iirc had the whole "I'm a normal girl in normal reality and a horse princess in this weird alternate dimension" thing going on, and the theme song did this minor key "Wild-fire" progression that kid me found fascinating
kid me was also fascinated by, you had your normal Saturday morning shows that everyone knows are normal and correct because they're the ones they always show & they fit properly into 30 minutes with ads, then there was this weird block where the shows were shorter & seemingly piped in from some alien planet, I remember Galtar the barbarian and I think the Paw Paw Bears were part of this? (haven't revisited this indigenous-flavored cartoon bear show, I'm sure it's quite pawblematic)
anyway if we're talking about Saturday morning cartoons I gotta remind everybody of the most late 90s cover album ever to exist
posted by taquito sunrise at 7:14 PM on September 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
Oh, glob, I love that Saturday Morning cover album.
posted by mollweide at 7:51 PM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 7:51 PM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
But come to think of it, that also partially explains the bizarre series of choices that lead to Cartoon All-Stars To The Rescue
My favorite (and possibly apocryphal) part of that was how we were saved from it getting crammed down our throats on a regular basis by...Jim Davis.
(Short version: As part of the creation of the show, they used Garfield, as Garfield and Friends was a major SatAM show. The creators cleared the usage with the show...but not PAWS, Inc (Davis' holding company for his character IP.) When Davis found out, he was livid, and made it clear that he would make things rather ugly if the special was re-aired.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:05 PM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
My favorite (and possibly apocryphal) part of that was how we were saved from it getting crammed down our throats on a regular basis by...Jim Davis.
(Short version: As part of the creation of the show, they used Garfield, as Garfield and Friends was a major SatAM show. The creators cleared the usage with the show...but not PAWS, Inc (Davis' holding company for his character IP.) When Davis found out, he was livid, and made it clear that he would make things rather ugly if the special was re-aired.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:05 PM on September 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Let's not forget the Sunday-morning cartoons
One I remember on early morning Sundays, other than Davey & Goliath, was another secretly Canadian show Max, the 2000-Year-Old Mouse.
Captain Caveman or Jabberjaw because... they were not good.
Woah.. spicy take. Hanna Barbera wanted another Scooby Doo bad so it went to that well a lot in the 70s - the well being "goofy and/or weird talking creature with teens solving mysteries and/or having adventures" and a lot of those were not good (Jabberjaw but also Speed Buggy, Josie and the Pussycats, Funky Phantom, Goober and the Ghost Chasers, Wonder Wheels, Clue Club... etc.) As bad Captain Caveman it was superior to Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch! about hippie zoo bears who would escape each night to ride on invisible motorcycles or the Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan based on the character Charlie Chan.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:24 PM on September 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
One I remember on early morning Sundays, other than Davey & Goliath, was another secretly Canadian show Max, the 2000-Year-Old Mouse.
Captain Caveman or Jabberjaw because... they were not good.
Woah.. spicy take. Hanna Barbera wanted another Scooby Doo bad so it went to that well a lot in the 70s - the well being "goofy and/or weird talking creature with teens solving mysteries and/or having adventures" and a lot of those were not good (Jabberjaw but also Speed Buggy, Josie and the Pussycats, Funky Phantom, Goober and the Ghost Chasers, Wonder Wheels, Clue Club... etc.) As bad Captain Caveman it was superior to Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch! about hippie zoo bears who would escape each night to ride on invisible motorcycles or the Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan based on the character Charlie Chan.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:24 PM on September 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
It's also hilarious that many of these kids shows, often dragged as '30 minute toy advertisements' by parents, had lower ad rates than sports. Talk about projection, dumb grown-ups!
Advertising to kids is a double edged sword - kids are more succeptible to ads, but they have little discretionary income so they're not really valuable as a demographic.
And the shift from SatAM to weekday afternoons was reflective of larger shifts in society - the growth of latchkey kids with unstructured free time in the afternoon made weekday cartoons more viable, while E/I regs made SatAM less attractive for cartoons. The birth of Cartoon Network and the retooling of Disney Channel basically finalized the transition, as kids now had several channels that were focused on them as primary viewers.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:30 PM on September 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
Advertising to kids is a double edged sword - kids are more succeptible to ads, but they have little discretionary income so they're not really valuable as a demographic.
And the shift from SatAM to weekday afternoons was reflective of larger shifts in society - the growth of latchkey kids with unstructured free time in the afternoon made weekday cartoons more viable, while E/I regs made SatAM less attractive for cartoons. The birth of Cartoon Network and the retooling of Disney Channel basically finalized the transition, as kids now had several channels that were focused on them as primary viewers.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:30 PM on September 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
That Saturday Morning Cartoon covers album was my go-to breakup/sad teenager music when it came out. That's how I cope -- another helpful sadness album of mine around that time was Schoolhouse Rock Rocks!, more 90s covers (including Man or Astro-Man? and Daniel Johnston).
All in all it was very cheering, but I still feel unaccountable melancholy when I hear Tripping Daisy's "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters" theme or "Three Is the Magic Number" by Blind Melon.
posted by Countess Elena at 11:43 AM on September 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
All in all it was very cheering, but I still feel unaccountable melancholy when I hear Tripping Daisy's "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters" theme or "Three Is the Magic Number" by Blind Melon.
posted by Countess Elena at 11:43 AM on September 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
It's also hilarious that many of these kids shows, often dragged as '30 minute toy advertisements' by parents, had lower ad rates than sports. Talk about projection, dumb grown-ups!
Nobody made up the show M.A.S.K. because it was a chance to introduce kids to Shakespearean drama.
(I was so obsessed with those toys.)
posted by solotoro at 11:57 AM on September 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
Nobody made up the show M.A.S.K. because it was a chance to introduce kids to Shakespearean drama.
(I was so obsessed with those toys.)
posted by solotoro at 11:57 AM on September 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
Nobody made up the show M.A.S.K. yt because it was a chance to introduce kids to Shakespearean drama.
Counterpoint: Cartoons and other media aimed at kids were how notable writers and showrunners cut their teeth in Hollywood - as was mentioned before Babylon 5 showrunner J. Michael Straczynski built his career on kids' media in the 80s, with his runs on Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future (where he scripted the infamous "rocks fall, the main female protagonist dies" ending) and The Real Ghostbusters (where he wrote a number of the show's more notable episodes such as "The Collect Call of Cthulu"), for one notable example.
And speaking of Shakespeare and cartoons, it's worth remembering that one very successful trick that Gargoyles used was heavily cribbing from the Bard.
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:31 PM on September 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
Counterpoint: Cartoons and other media aimed at kids were how notable writers and showrunners cut their teeth in Hollywood - as was mentioned before Babylon 5 showrunner J. Michael Straczynski built his career on kids' media in the 80s, with his runs on Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future (where he scripted the infamous "rocks fall, the main female protagonist dies" ending) and The Real Ghostbusters (where he wrote a number of the show's more notable episodes such as "The Collect Call of Cthulu"), for one notable example.
And speaking of Shakespeare and cartoons, it's worth remembering that one very successful trick that Gargoyles used was heavily cribbing from the Bard.
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:31 PM on September 14, 2023 [3 favorites]
Nobody made up the show M.A.S.K. yt because it was a chance to introduce kids to Shakespearean drama.
Eh you could say the same thing about Star Wars. Also, MASK was a fun show.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:17 PM on September 14, 2023
Eh you could say the same thing about Star Wars. Also, MASK was a fun show.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:17 PM on September 14, 2023
Speaking of MASK, it still amazes me that the show's 90s era spiritual successor - VOR-TEC - somehow became lost media.
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:27 PM on September 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:27 PM on September 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
often dragged as '30 minute toy advertisements' by parents, had lower ad rates than sports. Talk about projection, dumb grown-ups!
It wasn't about the cost of advertising during the show; its that the shows themselves were often based on a toy or wound up spawning the creation of their own toys. So it was a 30 minute toy ad - because of the content of the show was a story that involved toys, with commercials for other toys filling up the air time.
posted by nubs at 1:56 PM on September 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
It wasn't about the cost of advertising during the show; its that the shows themselves were often based on a toy or wound up spawning the creation of their own toys. So it was a 30 minute toy ad - because of the content of the show was a story that involved toys, with commercials for other toys filling up the air time.
posted by nubs at 1:56 PM on September 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
So it was a 30 minute toy ad - because of the content of the show was a story that involved toys, with commercials for other toys filling up the air time.
Which was a bad way to look at cartoons, and has hampered how we treat them in the US. Now, that's not to say that many were to some degree toy ads and quite a few were blatantly so - there's a reason I refer to the period between Reagan gutting E/I rules and Batman: The Animated Series as The Toyetic Era - but the better shows had staff that genuinely sought to create engaging material that was doing more than just selling toys. Which isn't surprising when you look at the people involved, many of who saw kids' media as a way to demonstrate their chops for bigger projects.
posted by NoxAeternum at 3:18 PM on September 14, 2023
Which was a bad way to look at cartoons, and has hampered how we treat them in the US. Now, that's not to say that many were to some degree toy ads and quite a few were blatantly so - there's a reason I refer to the period between Reagan gutting E/I rules and Batman: The Animated Series as The Toyetic Era - but the better shows had staff that genuinely sought to create engaging material that was doing more than just selling toys. Which isn't surprising when you look at the people involved, many of who saw kids' media as a way to demonstrate their chops for bigger projects.
posted by NoxAeternum at 3:18 PM on September 14, 2023
Since I was a "smart" kid, grownups would often remind me that cartoons were 30 minute toy ads. (Bill Watterson, as I recall, would beat that drum.) And I was able to get what they mean, and understand why it was supposed to be bad, but the thing was -- I liked toys. And I liked watching toys get played with, even if I didn't have them or really want them.
When other people my age grew up, they would found YouTube channels that made unfathomable sums from children's urge to just look at toys, but I did not make this connection in time.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:01 AM on September 15, 2023
When other people my age grew up, they would found YouTube channels that made unfathomable sums from children's urge to just look at toys, but I did not make this connection in time.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:01 AM on September 15, 2023
but the better shows had staff that genuinely sought to create engaging material that was doing more than just selling toys.
Absolutely; when I refer to Saturday morning cartoons as 30 minute ads, I'm thinking of the dreck.
posted by nubs at 9:13 AM on September 15, 2023
Absolutely; when I refer to Saturday morning cartoons as 30 minute ads, I'm thinking of the dreck.
posted by nubs at 9:13 AM on September 15, 2023
but the better shows had staff that genuinely sought to create engaging material that was doing more than just selling toys.
Consider way-too-early Sunday Morning's "Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine" which was pretty much just a framing device for showing clips of stock and industrial film footage. (Which Mr. Rogers had previously taught us is totally groovy to watch.)
posted by mikelieman at 10:19 AM on September 15, 2023
Consider way-too-early Sunday Morning's "Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine" which was pretty much just a framing device for showing clips of stock and industrial film footage. (Which Mr. Rogers had previously taught us is totally groovy to watch.)
posted by mikelieman at 10:19 AM on September 15, 2023
Package shows were a staple of kids' media in the 70s and 80s. The good ones had really good framing for the packaging.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:05 AM on September 15, 2023
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:05 AM on September 15, 2023
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I still have super-positive Saturday morning memories. When I was ten, my grandfather gave me a little tv for Chrsitmas and I got to watch in my room on Saturday mornings, just in time for this weirdo gem. This theme song still gets stuck in my head all the time.
posted by thivaia at 6:50 AM on September 13, 2023 [7 favorites]