Saturday Morning memories thread

[wwfpooh]

It seems we all enjoy our childhood deeply. What I remember most though from my younger years was getting up and eating a healthy bowl of Cheerios or Honey Nut Cheerios (as the former was the only "health"-related cereal I would--and still dare to--stomach down & the latter is sweet enough to eat as is), whilst watching one of my favorite shows; either the shows in my signature (excluding those made recently [recently as in late 90's and onward, as I was predominately an 80's-early 90's child, having been born in 1984 & thus able to get the best of both decades]) or just anything from Disney, Nick, The WB!, PBS, & ABC/CBS/FOX.

On Mondays--and later, Thursdays--(coupled with the stations & shows therein aforementioned) I would become a fan of the WWF's "Attitude Era" (1997-2001).

All in all, my childhood was certainly a fun time and I miss it already.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Not me... when I was growing up, we had CABLE, so Saturday mornings weren't special.

So did I but cable seemed even more special back than

 

[Drtooth]

And then in the 90's came the new Fox Kids and a few years later came Kids' WB.

But now Fox Kids is called 4Kids TV and Kids' WB is going to change into the CW4kids very soon. ABC seems to show only Disney Channel reruns, NBC is showing shows from a network called Qubo, and DIC is now in charge of CBS Saturdays.

Saturday Mornings are dead to me, as far as I'm concrened. or at least a vegetable that's about to have the plug pulled. And the people holding the various murder weopon?

The FCC. In an attempt to fool the public to let single conglomerates buy up as many media outlets as possible the FCC passed 2 idiotic regulations on Kid's programming. Limiting the amount of junk food advertising on kid's programming, which left the market virtually unprofitable. And then the 3 1/2 hours of TV E/I programming, which doomed the only people still playing the game to run educational programming. Which worked at first, letting in a bunch of newly produced shows on the syndicated market... but in the long run, stations just provide lip service with slapdash programming, like old cheaply produced nature shows from the mid 90's.

The Cable Conglomerates/ Corporate partners. Due to the fact they now possessed all these networks (see above), they feel they needn't compete with themselves. So, to satiate the FCC's requirement (a formality, since the FCC has been a corporate slave for years) they felt they could just toss on some old reruns of their educational programs. All the while, not trying to compete with their up to three children's networks on cable.

To extrapolate, when CBS and WB wanted to merge their 2 pathetic networks together, huge terrible changes to children's programming occurred. It started with the CW dropping their afternoon kid's line up (why compete with Cartoon Network- they're owned by Warners) for adult programming like ER and 8 Simple Rules (a terrible, terrible show). now it's the CW's toxic waste dump of cancelled, unfunny, unwatchable WB and UPN sitcoms (Mostly Reba, which has to be on ABC Family half the day too). Which of course led to their dropping the kid's WB line up in order to get as many profits with as little effort as possible.

So basically, it's all this huge corporate deal. Kiddy shows that don't feature talentless live action tweenage twits yowling mindless pop music just aren't worth anything anymore. having a toyetic or toy based show is the only way to get your foot in the door, since profits are increasingly harder to come by with things like creativity and variety.

Sorry if this sounds bitter, but this is a touchy subject. No animated shows means no work for animators. And as I'm still struggling to find a way to get my foot in the door, the number of doors is dwindling.

 

[D'Snowth]

So did I but cable seemed even more special back than

I guess I always just took cable for granted.

 

[lowercasegods]

Yes, I too loved Mother Goose and Grimm also from the same studio that brought us Garfield and Friends. And Charlie Brown and Snoopy were great on Saturday mornings. I think we need more cartoons based on comic strips so we can bring the joys of Saturday mornings once again.

I know! I tried to convince cartoonist Greg Evans that his comic strip Luann would make a great TV cartoon, but he says the networks just aren't as interested in such things as they were in the 70's and 80's. Sigh....

 

[lowercasegods]

Saturday Mornings are dead to me, as far as I'm concrened. or at least a vegetable that's about to have the plug pulled. And the people holding the various murder weopon?

The FCC. In an attempt to fool the public to let single conglomerates buy up as many media outlets as possible the FCC passed 2 idiotic regulations on Kid's programming. Limiting the amount of junk food advertising on kid's programming, which left the market virtually unprofitable. And then the 3 1/2 hours of TV E/I programming, which doomed the only people still playing the game to run educational programming. Which worked at first, letting in a bunch of newly produced shows on the syndicated market... but in the long run, stations just provide lip service with slapdash programming, like old cheaply produced nature shows from the mid 90's.

The Cable Conglomerates/ Corporate partners. Due to the fact they now possessed all these networks (see above), they feel they needn't compete with themselves. So, to satiate the FCC's requirement (a formality, since the FCC has been a corporate slave for years) they felt they could just toss on some old reruns of their educational programs. All the while, not trying to compete with their up to three children's networks on cable.

To extrapolate, when CBS and WB wanted to merge their 2 pathetic networks together, huge terrible changes to children's programming occurred. It started with the CW dropping their afternoon kid's line up (why compete with Cartoon Network- they're owned by Warners) for adult programming like ER and 8 Simple Rules (a terrible, terrible show). now it's the CW's toxic waste dump of cancelled, unfunny, unwatchable WB and UPN sitcoms (Mostly Reba, which has to be on ABC Family half the day too). Which of course led to their dropping the kid's WB line up in order to get as many profits with as little effort as possible.

So basically, it's all this huge corporate deal. Kiddy shows that don't feature talentless live action tweenage twits yowling mindless pop music just aren't worth anything anymore. having a toyetic or toy based show is the only way to get your foot in the door, since profits are increasingly harder to come by with things like creativity and variety.

Sorry if this sounds bitter, but this is a touchy subject. No animated shows means no work for animators. And as I'm still struggling to find a way to get my foot in the door, the number of doors is dwindling.

I hear what you're saying and I feel your pain...

 

[wwfpooh]

Don't we all? The days of it being worth getting up on Saturday mornings are dead.

 

[Xerus]

Yes, it does seem like Saturday Morning's not the same anymore with cartoons airing at different times on cable, educational rules, and political correctness in food commercials. Which is why I spend my days collecting old Saturday Morning stuff on DVDs so I can relive my wonderful SM days whenever I want.

By the way, here's another blast from Saturday Morning Past. You remember Schoolhouse Rock and Time For Timer? Well, there was another series of educational shorts that aired on a show called Kids Are People Too and also appeared during the commercials. A musical advice series called, Dear Alex and Annie. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm_xK3kioyE

 

[wwfpooh]

You remember Schoolhouse Rock and Time For Timer?

Remember it? SHR taught me school-related things (like how bills become laws, cunjunctions, interjections, and more) before school even really got started & Time for Timer--who hankering for a hunk o' cheese--showed us how to make a quick and healthy snack, instead of resorting to the junk food all the time.

Note: A little tidbit is that the little girl who exclaims, "Darn! That's the end." is actually a charicature of Lauren Yohe, the daughter of the creator of SHR (with Lauren herself doing the character voice-over)!

 

[Drtooth]

Other than TMNT and the Spectacular Spider-Man (which is dang good, lemme tell you) and Tom and Jerry tales, there's nothing worth watching period. Of course, you could tell the end was near with Kid's WB when they had crap like "Skunk Fu" on the line up. Seriously... Dreamwork's Kung Fu Panda is bad enough (I had the desire to see it, but lost it months ago). Stop milking the kung fu parody genre till the parodies outnumber the originals. You did that with Superheroes, and they haven't been great since The tick and Freakazoid left the air.

I think you could tell Warners wanted out of cartoons all together. Loonatics Unleashed? That was a cry for help, if ever I heard one. Though they did have sort of a good idea in season 2. Super Hero versions of the Looney Tunes fighting supervillain versions of the bad guys. But the damage had been done, and any potential for a funny Looney Tunes superhero show were shot to heck. And for some stupid reason, Duck Dodgers, a fabulous cartoon, was tossed aside, like it never existed.

Coconut Fred was their lowest stunt ever, though. Nothing but a total knockoff of Spongebob. That was a nightmare.