Same
. It's not the same without them.@ Redfern: It is to a point, without cartoons, Saturday just got a lot more boring for kids. I know some of them probably don't mind live action shows, but not everyone probably is a fan of them.
No more Saturday morning cartoons.
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. It's not the same without them.@ Redfern: It is to a point, without cartoons, Saturday just got a lot more boring for kids. I know some of them probably don't mind live action shows, but not everyone probably is a fan of them.
I thought only I remembered Ark II, Space Academy and Jason of Star Command.
The Laff-A-Lympics was also on my watch list. I rooted for the Scooby Doobies.
The big one for me growing up was The Real Ghostbusters.
I was a total Superfriends fanatic when I was a kid.
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And, of course...
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[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBF_3mC_KWE[/yt]
And, of course...
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I remember gravitating to ABC in my earliest years since they had my favorite "genres" in the early morning hours. Super Friends and Thundar The Barbarian were two of my favorites. There were also those silly but awesome ABC educational videos that ran between toy and cereal commercials. Subjects ranged from: the inner workings of government (I'm Just a Bill), grammar (Conjunction Junction), how better to portion those less than healthy condiments (Don't Drown You Food), the beauty that IS cheese (Hanker for a Hunk of Cheese), and even bodily hygiene (They Call Me Yuck Mouth). Apparently there were a ton of them but those are the ones I remember instantly through the magic of song.
I'd shift to CBS later in the morning and get some of my favorite "live shows" like, The Shazam!/Isis hour and Jason of Star Command (though I barely remember Space Academy). Land of the Lost, was on NBC. It rocked (with a banjo at any rate).
I also liked the Smurfs, Fat Albert, Kidd Video, and several weird shows that did cartoon versions of popular live sitcoms running at the time. Of course those cartoons had totally outrageous plot twists that more than distinguished them from their live prime-time inspirations.
I was too young to recall Star Trek TAS, but there was also that very short yet glorious period with the Star Wars cartoons: Droids and Ewoks (though and I didn't like Ewoks as much). C3-P0 even had his own cereal!
I have to say though... There was always one really kooky thing about watching programing on different networks. Even as a little kid I remember noticing everything on different channels looked or even "felt" different, and I've never been able to adequately describe the sensation. I'm not sure if it was during cartoon time or my days watching soap operas with baby sitters that I picked up on it, but I was pretty young when I started noticing subtle yet discrete (to me) visual distinctions between the three big networks and their affiliates (in my neck of the woods). It some ways it was visceral, more mystery than measurable. I don't know how, given the big digital overhaul and all, but to this day, I can still tell which one of the big 3 I am watching just from that "quirky something" in the visual presentation. It's always been apparent in the local news, but I started to think maybe my network notions were all in my head until I was introduced to Castle a few years ago, in late-night syndication on our CBS affiliate. When I got caught up story-wise and started watching first run season 4 episodes on ABC, there it was. That... thing. They still just "feel" different, and I've always been able to tell which version I was watching, even on DVR. Weird.
Oh well. I still loved after school cartoons and syndicated programing, but they never seemed to have the same luster as the Saturday morning line ups.
I'd shift to CBS later in the morning and get some of my favorite "live shows" like, The Shazam!/Isis hour and Jason of Star Command (though I barely remember Space Academy). Land of the Lost, was on NBC. It rocked (with a banjo at any rate).
I also liked the Smurfs, Fat Albert, Kidd Video, and several weird shows that did cartoon versions of popular live sitcoms running at the time. Of course those cartoons had totally outrageous plot twists that more than distinguished them from their live prime-time inspirations.
I was too young to recall Star Trek TAS, but there was also that very short yet glorious period with the Star Wars cartoons: Droids and Ewoks (though and I didn't like Ewoks as much). C3-P0 even had his own cereal!
I have to say though... There was always one really kooky thing about watching programing on different networks. Even as a little kid I remember noticing everything on different channels looked or even "felt" different, and I've never been able to adequately describe the sensation. I'm not sure if it was during cartoon time or my days watching soap operas with baby sitters that I picked up on it, but I was pretty young when I started noticing subtle yet discrete (to me) visual distinctions between the three big networks and their affiliates (in my neck of the woods). It some ways it was visceral, more mystery than measurable. I don't know how, given the big digital overhaul and all, but to this day, I can still tell which one of the big 3 I am watching just from that "quirky something" in the visual presentation. It's always been apparent in the local news, but I started to think maybe my network notions were all in my head until I was introduced to Castle a few years ago, in late-night syndication on our CBS affiliate. When I got caught up story-wise and started watching first run season 4 episodes on ABC, there it was. That... thing. They still just "feel" different, and I've always been able to tell which version I was watching, even on DVR. Weird.
Oh well. I still loved after school cartoons and syndicated programing, but they never seemed to have the same luster as the Saturday morning line ups.
Do kids actually still watch TV theese days?
I remember both Swap Shop and Tiswas (and Sally James ;-)), I can also remember Posh Paws the dinosaur and John Craven's jumpers on Swap Shop and the Phantom Flan Flingers on Tiswas. I used to love Saturday Mornings as a young child. For me it was watching either Champion the Wonderhorse or Zorro on the BBC before Swap Shop started. Then I'd channel hop between BBC and ITV watching bits and pieces of the two shows that interested me including cartoons like Battle of the Planets and Godzilla on Swap Shop, the road show with Keith Chegwin and interviews with genuine A list celebrities such as the main cast of the Empire Strikes Back on one occasion (Including Harrison Ford) and then switching over to ITV in time to watch Batman followed by a Canadian show called the Beachcombers. How I miss those days.Swap Shop was just about before my time.In the UK our Saturday Morning cartoon lineup on the traditional four or five terrestrial channels was effectively killed off by dedicated children's digital TV channels providing everything that the kids needed - also reflected in the lack-to-downright-absence of afternoon programming specifically for kids on these channels too.
In fact, the umbrella shows surrounding the Saturday Morning cartoon shows were highly entertaining in themselves. Sadly, these days, the likes of Saturday Superstore, Get Fresh, Motormouth, Number 73, Going Live, Ghost Train, Live & Kicking, What's Up Doc?, Fully Booked, Parallel 9, SM:TV and even Dick & Dom in Da Bungalow have been replaced by fare such as Saturday Kitchen and repeats of alleged US sitcoms.
I mean, On The Waterfront had its moments too. Remember the comedy redubs of The Flashing Blade?
Were Swap Shop and Tiswas before your time?
The dedicated teatime programming was great in that it started about 3.45 for the yopunger kids and got more adult as the minutes passed, starting with Rainbow and its ilk and ending up with Grangehill!
The trouble with dedicated kids channels is that (some) children can effectively watch TV all day, whereas in my day once you his about 5.45 in an afternoon you either had to watch the news or go out and play!
I do remember bits and pieces of Tiswas, though. Mostly the theme tune. And Sally James.
I lived for Saturday Morning toons. Every year, when the new season premiered, my butt would be planted in front of the TV and I would kill myself trying to watch every single show at least once. Of course i couldn't do it one sitting, but the fun of it was I could do it all over again next week.
Redfern, i don't care if we're talking about a natural evolution of television. Saturday morning on the nets defined the childhood of this TV junkie. It shall be missed.
My Faves:
NBC had all the cool Marvel cartoons of the time:
Spider-man and his Amazing Friends
Spider-Woman
The Fantastic Four (with Herbie the robot!)
The Incredible Hulk
The company DIC produced favorites for all the nets:
The Littles
ALF (animated series)
Pole Position
Real Ghostbusters
Of course I watched every iteration of SuperFriends on ABC, as well as every Schoolhouse Rock. This was also the net that showed my all time favorite giant robot show, Mighty Orbots (which would have ruled the world if it hadn't been for that damned Voltron.)
Another interesting thing about ABC Saturday Morning is that when important news broke and required a special report, the weekend anchor there - i think her name was Carole Simpson - would begin the report by apologizing to the kids for interrupting their shows and asking them to go get their parents.
I just thought that was cool...
Redfern, i don't care if we're talking about a natural evolution of television. Saturday morning on the nets defined the childhood of this TV junkie. It shall be missed.
My Faves:
NBC had all the cool Marvel cartoons of the time:
Spider-man and his Amazing Friends
Spider-Woman
The Fantastic Four (with Herbie the robot!)
The Incredible Hulk
The company DIC produced favorites for all the nets:
The Littles
ALF (animated series)
Pole Position
Real Ghostbusters
Of course I watched every iteration of SuperFriends on ABC, as well as every Schoolhouse Rock. This was also the net that showed my all time favorite giant robot show, Mighty Orbots (which would have ruled the world if it hadn't been for that damned Voltron.)
Another interesting thing about ABC Saturday Morning is that when important news broke and required a special report, the weekend anchor there - i think her name was Carole Simpson - would begin the report by apologizing to the kids for interrupting their shows and asking them to go get their parents.
I just thought that was cool...
That list is the closest to my era. X-Men: Evolution never surpassed its predecessor to me, though the 90's animated series of Batman is my definitive Batman. I know the first 152 Pokemon from watching the series but I only know the rest from the Game Boy games. Men in Black was cool, the Animaniacs were awesome, and Tiny Tunes had their moments. Extreme Ghostbusters deserves mentioning but reruns of The Real Ghostbusters were better, and Gargoyles, Captain Simian and the Space Monkies, Transformers, and G-I-Joe deserves mentioning too.
Always loved TMNT(all), Legion of Super Heroes & Jane and the Dragon.
Some might, if that's their only option. Not everyone can afford internet access. Others might catch their favorites online.
The original X-Men was better, but my memory was that it aired during the week as opposed to on Saturdays.
However, a quick google search tells me I'm wrong, so I'll amend that list to add:
X-Men, Pinky and the Brain, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Gargoyles was fun (particularly as a TNG fan), but it wasn't on Saturday mornings.
Swap Shop was just about before my time.In the UK our Saturday Morning cartoon lineup on the traditional four or five terrestrial channels was effectively killed off by dedicated children's digital TV channels providing everything that the kids needed - also reflected in the lack-to-downright-absence of afternoon programming specifically for kids on these channels too.
In fact, the umbrella shows surrounding the Saturday Morning cartoon shows were highly entertaining in themselves. Sadly, these days, the likes of Saturday Superstore, Get Fresh, Motormouth, Number 73, Going Live, Ghost Train, Live & Kicking, What's Up Doc?, Fully Booked, Parallel 9, SM:TV and even Dick & Dom in Da Bungalow have been replaced by fare such as Saturday Kitchen and repeats of alleged US sitcoms.
I mean, On The Waterfront had its moments too. Remember the comedy redubs of The Flashing Blade?
Were Swap Shop and Tiswas before your time?
The dedicated teatime programming was great in that it started about 3.45 for the yopunger kids and got more adult as the minutes passed, starting with Rainbow and its ilk and ending up with Grangehill!
The trouble with dedicated kids channels is that (some) children can effectively watch TV all day, whereas in my day once you his about 5.45 in an afternoon you either had to watch the news or go out and play!
I do remember bits and pieces of Tiswas, though. Mostly the theme tune. And Sally James.
I'm old enough to remember Swap Shop. Though of course as kids we tended to watch BBC1 after school up until The Six O'Clock news, when we all switched over to BBC2 for the likes of Star Trek, Buck Rogers etc...
Damn. Talk about a flash back
. I remember all of those. Especially loved Pinky and the Brain and the Animaniacs. Loved the Ninja Turtles too and the X-Men were appointment tv. Not including Spider-Man, Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokémon.
I didn't like the animation in the 90s show, or the mostly lame acting, or how they mostly just aped the comics storylines and rarely did anything on their own.
Also, the way they portrayed mutant hate got more and more annoying as the show went on. They portrayed nearly all the mutant haters as these 1-Dimensional psychotics with no depth or nuance.
X-Men EVO at least showed humans as mostly just being scare and ignorant, with some of them being surprisingly fair to mutants.
To me as well "X-Men" (FOX) has never been passed by Evolution or Wolverine or the anime series or the motion comics. The stories just worked, and the 13-episode first season was a great kick-off to the show. Unfortunately the later seasons, while the stories were very good (except for "Jubilee's Fairy-Tale Theater"), due to the animation problems lead to out of order episodes. And the crossover with Spider-Man was a huge plus. Plus the animation just had that "weight" and depth to it that I've found the later series are missing.
I also remember watching and loving Web Woman.
"Insects of the world...small creatures of the cosmos...lend me your powers--NOW!"
The Herculoids, were a part of my Saturday morning, Speed Buggy and The Krofft Supershow, my favorite on that show was Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. Dynomutt and the Blue Falcon were great.
God, I am old. Those shows, except the Herculoids, all started in the mid 70's.
"Insects of the world...small creatures of the cosmos...lend me your powers--NOW!"
The Herculoids, were a part of my Saturday morning, Speed Buggy and The Krofft Supershow, my favorite on that show was Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. Dynomutt and the Blue Falcon were great.
God, I am old. Those shows, except the Herculoids, all started in the mid 70's.
What was lost was a sense of eventfulness, as one of the other posters said. That by itself may not feel like much, but it does have a social element to it. This is especially true with the holiday specials like Charlie Brown Christmas. When you watched something, you knew probably every other kid in your time-zone was doing the same exact thing at the exact same time, and in some pathetic way, it provided a sense of community that is lost due to being able to watch whatever you want whenever you want it (even first run, due to DVR time-shifting).
The only eventfulness about Saturday morning in particular was feeling suddenly special, that there was this block of time where the networks were going to pander to kids and only kids. That felt good even if the shows were often barely watchable. In retrospect I think what will stand the test of time the most are the various live-action shows like Land of the Lost or Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. Even when those were bad they had an acid-trip "only in the 70s" quality to them.
The only eventfulness about Saturday morning in particular was feeling suddenly special, that there was this block of time where the networks were going to pander to kids and only kids. That felt good even if the shows were often barely watchable. In retrospect I think what will stand the test of time the most are the various live-action shows like Land of the Lost or Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. Even when those were bad they had an acid-trip "only in the 70s" quality to them.
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