When did Saturday morning cartoons start to suck? [Archive]

GottaHavePride

8/12/2006, 10:12 AM

I mean, I'm well acquainted with the suckiness of Sunday morning cartoonage, but Saturdays used to be the Holy Grail of childhood cartoon-watching. I mean, you used to able to count on a solid hour of Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry, followed by your choice of Ninja Turtles, Animaniacs, Ren & Stimpy, and even some old-school Thundercats or He-Man thrown in there. (Voltron was just bonus points.)

I flipped around the TV about an hour ago since I woke up early and saw part of one of the new Ninja Turtles cartoons - story quality was OK, but the animation looks like crap - you'd think they could afford to produce better-looking shows with the cheap technology out there now. Then another show called "Kirby, Right Back At Ya!" started. Not only did it suck in a most horrendous way, how many kids watching that crap realize that it's a sucky show based on a sucky video game featuring a character named after a sucky (in a good way) vaccuum cleaner. Heck, the Kirby video games were crap when they came out on the old school Nintendo - why has that crap survived to be a cartoon 20 years later?

I gave up and watched the Weather Channel for a while. On the upside, I hadn't realized that the Weather Channel hired a hot asian babe to host their weekend morning stuff. Yow.

birddog

8/12/2006, 10:24 AM

right around the time the smurfs were all eaten by azreal.

critical_phil

8/12/2006, 10:28 AM

RIP Hong Kong Phooey

GottaHavePride

8/12/2006, 10:30 AM

RIP Hong Kong Phooey
Hong Kong Phooey and El Kabong both.

Oh, and no one forget about Grape Ape.

birddog

8/12/2006, 10:34 AM

watch flight 29 down. it's a kids version of gilligan's island or lost in space.

TUSooner

8/12/2006, 02:18 PM

+++I mean, you used to able to count on a solid hour of Bugs Bunny....

Charles M. Jones + Mel Blanc = pure cartoon genius. I miss 'em.

I gave up and watched the Weather Channel for a while. On the upside, I hadn't realized that the Weather Channel hired a hot asian babe to host their weekend morning stuff. Yow.

I need to know more about the weather babe, please.

Flagstaffsooner

8/12/2006, 02:28 PM

Bugs is the greatest!

leavingthezoo

8/12/2006, 02:49 PM

when they became education focused (ie. dora the explorer, etc.), and when japanese anime quit being obscure.

i miss the good ole days- mindless beatings, and cartoons that looked creative instead of like fake people with big eyes.

but that's just me. :D

Sooner98

8/12/2006, 03:52 PM

It all went downhill when they changed the "Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show" into the "Bugs Bunny/Tweety Show". For some reason, I guess the higher-ups thought that the violence exhibited by Wile E. Coyote was too much for the young minds of America. They also started editing out the violence in some of the other cartoons, like Yosemite Sam, et al.

In other words, the end of cartoon violence = the end of the golden age of cartoon greatness. :(

Okieflyer

8/12/2006, 04:00 PM

Early 1970's. With the start of Scooby Doo and such!

KC//CRIMSON

8/12/2006, 04:04 PM

When did Saturday morning cartoons start to suck?

Pretty much right after this died.:(

Overture! curtains! lights!
This is it! you'll hit the heights!
And oh what heights we'll hit
On with the show this is it!

AllAboutThe'O'

8/12/2006, 05:52 PM

Growing up, cartoons were not only on Saturday morning but on local network television on weekday afternoons after school, like Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry. Those were just as anticipated as the Saturday morning cartoons. I wish more network TV stations would go back to showing mid-afternoon cartoons (and more game shows) than those newsmagazines and Dr. Phil-type talk shows.

bri

8/12/2006, 06:27 PM

Cartoon Network and Nicktoons killed broadcast network cartoons.

And I will never complain about the widening popularity of anime. :D

SOONER44EVER

8/12/2006, 08:21 PM

Early 1970's. With the start of Scooby Doo and such!
70s Satirday morning programming rocked. Josie and the *****cats, Speed Buggy, The Bugaloos, Lidsville, Time for Timer, Schoolhouse Rock, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, The Superfriends, Land of the Lost, Shazam, Isis, Electrawoman and Dynagirl and my favorite of all time H. R. Pufnstuf were awesome shows. I miss them. :(

pb4ou

8/12/2006, 09:38 PM

70s Satirday morning programming rocked. Josie and the *****cats, Speed Buggy, The Bugaloos, Lidsville, Time for Timer, Schoolhouse Rock, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, The Superfriends, Land of the Lost, Shazam, Isis, Electrawoman and Dynagirl and my favorite of all time H. R. Pufnstuf were awesome shows. I miss them. :(

Don't forget Dr. Shrinker. :D

pb4ou

8/12/2006, 09:39 PM

and Far Out Space Nuts.

tbl

8/12/2006, 10:22 PM

Cartoon Network and Nicktoons killed broadcast network cartoons.

That's exactly what happened. Before then, we couldn't just get our cartoon fix any time we wanted. Right off the school bus, we could catch some GI Joe and He-Man, then we had to wait until Saturday morning.

Obviously Looney Tunes is the best cartoon series ever, so I'm still not sure why it's not on syndication anywhere. Surely not the violence...

GottaHavePride

8/12/2006, 10:41 PM

I need to know more about the weather babe, please.

Dao Vu

http://www.yourweekendview.com/media/weekendView/bio_0.jpg

And compared to what I saw this morning, that's a terrible picture of her. ;)

Obviously Looney Tunes is the best cartoon series ever, so I'm still not sure why it's not on syndication anywhere. Surely not the violence...

Oh don't get me started on them editing classic cartoons. Remember the one where Wile E. Coyote tried to trick the roadrunner into eating all the earthquake pills? The roadrunner eats them all and runs off, so he looks at the bottle, tries one, nothing happens, so he pours the whole bottle into his mouth, waits, shrugs, tosses the bottle over his shoulder and walks off. (Then comes the delayed grab for the bottle spit-take, reading the fine print, and hilarity ensues.) Well, NOW if you watch that one they cut from the "trying the single pill" to the "shrug and toss the bottle over the shoulder" shot. They edited out the punchline to avoid giving kids the idea that eating a whole bottle of pills is OK, even though the next shot demonstrates why you shouldn't do crap like that and should read everything on the damn bottle first. F***in' lawsuit-happy morons have ruined cartoons. Dammit. [/rant]

Sooner98

8/12/2006, 10:46 PM

Speed Buggy

I loved me some Speed Buggy. On a related note, did anyone else think that Tinker (from Speed Buggy) and Shaggy (from Scooby Doo) were separated at birth?

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/e/e5/Speed_Buggy.jpg http://www.dan-dare.org/Dan%20FRD/ScoobyDoo1.jpg

bri

8/12/2006, 10:49 PM

That's exactly what happened. Before then, we couldn't just get our cartoon fix any time we wanted. Right off the school bus, we could catch some GI Joe and He-Man, then we had to wait until Saturday morning.

Obviously Looney Tunes is the best cartoon series ever, so I'm still not sure why it's not on syndication anywhere. Surely not the violence...

Yep. Plus, all the best people are taking their shows to cable, where they have more freedom, support, money, respect, etc. The high-end stuff is going to the "niche" stations, where it's more than a network's token attempt to fufill some goverment programming guidelines.

As far as Looney Tunes goes, I think it's not in syndication because (I believe), Turner owns the library lock, stock, and barrel and is keeping it solely on CN.

8/13/2006, 02:29 AM

Where I grew up, we'd get home from school, do home work (on the rare occasion we had any), then go outside until dinner. There was one guy I knew who liked to watch Star Trek after school, but who knows what ever happened to him? :D (he posts here on occasion)

Yeah, it's the kids getting cartoons on demand that ruined it. Saturday cartoon watching was a treat back in the day. Maybe the occasional Mr. Magoo at 7:00 a.m. during the week, but nothing more than that.

AllAboutThe'O'

8/13/2006, 09:27 PM

Oh, and how could I forget The Bozo Show? Both the WGN morning version and an afternoon show originating on KATV Channel 7 out of Little Rock. The WGN Bozo Show would show Superman and Batman cartoons while the KATV Bozo Show would show Popeye and Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons.

But the WGN version trumps all other Bozo Shows for one reason:

"THE.......GRAND.........PRIZE............GAME."

One of my unfulfilled goals was to make it to Chicago and play The Grand Prize Game so I could win me some cool toys. I even simulated it by using Dixie Cups as the buckets. Good times, good times. Alas, never did make it to the Windy City.

BOOMERBRADLEY

8/13/2006, 09:30 PM

I hated Scooby Doo growing up. I was/still am a big fan of Bugs,Daffy Duck,Goofy (favorite) Elmer Fudd ...etc Classic WB cartoons

tbl

8/13/2006, 09:32 PM

Yep. Plus, all the best people are taking their shows to cable, where they have more freedom, support, money, respect, etc. The high-end stuff is going to the "niche" stations, where it's more than a network's token attempt to fufill some goverment programming guidelines.

As far as Looney Tunes goes, I think it's not in syndication because (I believe), Turner owns the library lock, stock, and barrel and is keeping it solely on CN.
So when does Looney Tunes come on??? I've never seen it when I'm flipping through the program guide...

SOONER44EVER

8/13/2006, 09:39 PM

I hated Scooby Doo growing up. I was/still am a big fan of Bugs,Daffy Duck,Goofy (favorite) Elmer Fudd ...etc Classic WB cartoons
Scooby was cool until Scrappy joined the show.

pb4ou

8/13/2006, 10:16 PM

Scooby was cool until Scrappy joined the show.

Preach on brotha. :D

Sooner98

8/13/2006, 11:30 PM

Yep, Scrappy Doo was definitely one of the all-time "jump the shark" moments in not only cartoon, but television history.

walkoffsooner

8/14/2006, 12:09 AM

them there turtles started the suck parade

critical_phil

8/14/2006, 12:48 AM

Inch High, Private Eye could probably solve this conundrum.....

rebmus

8/14/2006, 01:17 AM

saturday mornings took a bad turn when shows like "saved by the bell" started.

saturday mornings were meant for animation.

Sooner_Bob

8/14/2006, 08:03 AM

Captain

CaaaaAAAAAaavvvvvveman.

1stTimeCaller

8/14/2006, 08:56 AM

GDC

8/14/2006, 09:40 AM

**** cartoons, when I was a kid we watched Mid-South Wrestling with Cowboy Bill Watts, Dick Murdoch, Skandar Akbar, Ken Patera. Maybe some roller-derby too, cartoons were for sissies.

JohnnyMack

8/14/2006, 09:48 AM

**** cartoons, when I was a kid we watched Mid-South Wrestling with Cowboy Bill Watts, Dick Murdoch, Skandar Akbar, Ken Patera. Maybe some roller-derby too, cartoons were for sissies.

Wasn't Mid-South on Sunday mornings you redneck?

We're talking Saturday here, keep up.

1stTimeCaller

8/14/2006, 09:54 AM

roller derby with the Thunderbirds came on in the evenings didn't it?

Oldnslo

8/14/2006, 10:20 AM

WFT is it with all of the amine characters YELLING.

at EVERYTHING.

Jeez-o, they're just cards or spinning tops.

I bought the beyblade stuff for the boy. It was a bunch of fun, in a Battling Tops kind of way. But, sadly, it's now all under his bed, gathering dust while he plays a version of Yu-Gi-Oh!

I say "a version" of the game, because the rules are utterly incomprehensible. I think it's just a plot to get kiddies to set fire to their money. But that's what my folks thought about comic books. And look where that's got them.

Anyway, I'll go with "cartoons started to suck when the characters all started yelling about God knows what."

GDC

8/14/2006, 10:34 AM

jm and itc I think I'm a few years older than you guys, I'm taliking mid to late 70s.

JohnnyMack

8/14/2006, 10:40 AM

jm and itc I think I'm a few years older than you guys, I'm taliking mid to late 70s.

I started watching it in the early 80's. Skandar Akbar, Kamala, Sting, etc.

OKLA21FAN

8/14/2006, 10:44 AM

saturday mornings took a bad turn when shows like "saved by the bell" started.

saturday mornings were meant for animation.
it started before that. like when 'Marshal, Will and holly, went on a routine expedition. and the greatest earthquake ever known. High on the rapids, it tossed their tiny raft. and plunged them down the valley deep below.'

well, you get the picture

pb4ou

8/14/2006, 11:47 AM

it started before that. like when 'Marshal, Will and holly, went on a routine expedition. and the greatest earthquake ever known. High on the rapids, it tossed their tiny raft. <ahhhhh> and plunged them down the valley deep below.'

well, you get the picture

Fixed ;)

sanantoniosooner

8/14/2006, 12:02 PM

it started before that. like when 'Marshal, Will and holly, went on a routine expedition. and the greatest earthquake ever known. High on the rapids, it tossed their tiny raft. and plunged them down the valley deep below.'

well, you get the picture
I'll personally send a sleestak over to kick your butt if you don't lay off.

Fish

8/14/2006, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by OKLA21FAN
it started before that. like when 'Marshal, Will and holly, went on a routine expedition. and the greatest earthquake ever known. High on the rapids, it tossed their tiny raft. and plunged them down the valley deep below.'

well, you get the picture

I sing that everytime I go on a float trip!!! Get lots of blank stares... could be because no one remembers it or I'm naked!

Don't forget Speed Racer or Battle of the Planets!!

AllAboutThe'O'

8/14/2006, 08:26 PM

**** cartoons, when I was a kid we watched Mid-South Wrestling with Cowboy Bill Watts, Dick Murdoch, Skandar Akbar, Ken Patera. Maybe some roller-derby too, cartoons were for sissies.
World Class Championship Wrestling had its weekly show on Saturday mornings.