What Killed Saturday Morning Cartoons

[Highwayman]

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/677347/what_killed_saturday_morning_cartoons.html

When I was just a boy I hated school. Teachers, school work, kids other than me. All of these things were annoying. I always had one thing to look forward too though. Saturday Morning cartoons. Unfortunately the days of Saturday Morning cartoons are now dead. Every once in a while I'll hear people wonder, "Whatever happened to Saturday morning cartoons?" Well I am here to answer that question. These are the eight reasons that Saturday morning cartoons are a thing of the past.

Saturday Morning Cartoons are Dead Because Kids Grow Up Faster
In the year 2007 kids grow up faster than they did in 1987. Not grow up faster physically, most kids I know are twerps. But the kids now face things in the real world at a much younger age. They grow up so fast that it is no longer cool to watch cartoons once you're 10 years old.

Saturday Morning Cartoons are Dead Because Cartoons are For Adults
If you think about a lot of the cartoons beings made, most of them are being made for adults. Shows like the Simpsons, Family Guy and Futurama are not for young kids.

Saturday Morning Cartoons are Dead Because of Home Video Popularity
If you think back to when you were a kid, assuming you weren't a kid like five years ago then home videos were probably not as huge as they are today. Sure you probably had a video or two that you liked but now kids are practically raised on videos rather than Saturday morning cartoons.

Saturday Morning Cartoons are Dead Because of Cartoon Network, Disney and Nickelodeon
Thanks to Disney, Nickelodeon and especially Cartoon Network, there are cartoons on every hour of the day, every day of the week. Saturday morning is no longer the only time of the week that cartoons are available.

Saturday Morning Cartoons are Dead Because of the Internet
The internet offers some great things and so bad things. One of the good things about the internet is if you want cartoons you can find them somewhere at any time. Try going to YouTube and search for your favorite cartoon. Chances are you'll find a couple of episodes or at the very least a few clips.

Saturday Morning Cartoons are Dead Because of the Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission requires that every broadcast station in the United State show at least three hours of educational and informative television every week. Networks aren't going to show these programs during the day while kids aren't at home and they aren't going to air them at night instead of their prime time shows. So they put them on Saturday mornings instead of cartoons.

Saturday Morning Cartoons are Dead Because of Japanese Anime
Networks are getting lazy. Once they saw that Japanese Anime was popular they decided to just steal a bunch of Japanese Animes instead of making their own cartoons. Unfortunately most animes aren't kids shows so they don'ot come on Saturday mornings.

Saturday Moring Cartoons are Dead Because of Video Games
When I was 7 years old Saturday morning consisted of Transformers and G. I. Joe on the television. By the time I was 10 years old Saturday morning was spent with the Super Nintendo and Genesis. The video game industry increases more and more every year and kids are replacing Scooby Doo and Fred Flinstone with Mario and Zelda.

[Misfit]

because the cartoons nowadays suck...long live retro cartoons

[Joker]

I think about this every once in a while and think the bigest reason is because of channels like Cartoon Network.There isnt any anticipation anymore,you can just turn on the tv and there they are.

[ReD]

I'd go with the first reason in that list first and foremost.

Kids today are under more pressure than ever before to be like adults from an early age. Cartoons get axed along the way and moreover, childhood does as well IMO.

[Misfit]

thundercats! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Metapher]

I was a cartoon junkie as a kid, but I think that (except for the shows being bad), that it has died cause of Cartoon Network, Disney and Nickelodeon.

[hackerslacker]

maybe you just got older?

[UzumakiW]

I still love cartoons now. But sadly, pretty much all cartoons on tv now suck, with a few exceptions. Now, I'm too young, so I pretty much always remember watching cartoons on Cartoon Network and Nickolodeon, but I still grew up watching some great cartoons on there.

[Metapher]

maybe you just got older?

The shows I watched were a totally different style than the stuff on TV now.

[hackerslacker]

The shows I watched were a totally different style than the stuff on TV now.

true. I although there are some shows I used to love and now I go "wtf am I watching"

[Metapher]

Yeah, of course there are exceptions, but stuff like Thundercats, Swat Kats, Turtles (original series), Transformers (original series) and He-Man are alot better in most ways. I did watch some silly shows like Denver - The Last Dinosaur, but he's just awesome anyway :nod:

[KING]

We still have Saturday Morning Cartoons, but they're not very good. The after school cartoons are awesome though, Fairly Odd Parents for the win!

Damn I miss "Aaahh!!! Real Monsters", "Rugrats", "The Wild Thornberrys", etc...
Pretty much anything from Klasky Csupo.

[Joker]

There used to be so many good cartoons on,Thundar the Barbarian,Star Blazers,Teen Wolf,Voltron,Godzilla,Dungeons and Dragons and Galaxy High School.

[3/6]

not what, but who??

[BooBerry]

I miss Saturday Morning Cartoons and TGIF on abc!

[Luris Blear]

The WB is doing a respectable job keeping Saturday morning cartoons alive. Half of them suck, but the superhero ones are usually really good.

For those not old enough, some network execs in the 90s realized that news programming sold more commercials.

Retro cartoons aren't inherently better. New "on the cheap" programming effectively made in Adobe's software at least delivers more than 4 frames per second of action. The new techniques also make sure that a character's pants don't change colors every time the scene changes.

As a bonus, my kids aren't subjected to the three hours of Muppet Babies that plagued Saturday Morning in the late 80s.

[Tarantino]

I think Fox Kids ruined it all, they pretty much brought in the first wave of shitty new age cartoons. Butt Ugly Martians? Sure, most retro cartoons suck as well (except: Doug, Rugrats, Batman: The Animated Series, etc...) but they have a certain nostalgia factor that makes them watchable. Nowadays cartoons are becoming more and more sickly and weird to the point where it's not interesting or clever anymore.

Also, anime has a huge hand in it too... not that there's anything wrong with anime, but there are so many bad cartoons out there that are inspired by it, Avatar anyone?

[3/6]

retro cartoons are not Doug, and Rugrats.,..more like Looney toons and tom and jerry

no hate towards doug or rugraTS THOUGH, i was glued to Nickelodeon growing up

i love Nick 2, they play Rocko and ren and stempy everyday...fuckin sweet :nod:

[Misfit]

retro is not doug and rugrats its the likes of :
tmnt
silverhawks
thundercats
transformers
visionaries
gobots
gi joe
c.o.p.s
bravestarr
captain n the game master
jayce and the wheeled warriors
denver the last dinosaur
my pet monster
fat albert
fraggle rock
ghostbusters
he-man
she-ra
m.a.s.k
rambo
smurfs
etc etc etc


but then again i guess it matters on your age what you consider retro, but i think the overall consenses that the 80's cartoons are the group considered in the retro cartoon category

[Driden]

Rescue Rangers & the snorks lol

[Grendel]

retro is not doug and rugrats its the likes of :
tmnt
silverhawks
thundercats
transformers
visionaries
gobots
gi joe
c.o.p.s
bravestarr
captain n the game master
jayce and the wheeled warriors
denver the last dinosaur
my pet monster
fat albert
fraggle rock
ghostbusters
he-man
she-ra
m.a.s.k
rambo
smurfs
etc etc etc


but then again i guess it matters on your age what you consider retro, but i think the overall consenses that the 80's cartoons are the group considered in the retro cartoon categoryAnd virtually every one of those was, essentially, little more than a half-hour commercial. Granted, merchandising is still quite prevalent, but it seems to me that the shilling was a bit more transparent back then. That might be one reason for the flavor of things changing over the years.

[choptop2]

Saturday morning cartoons were always crap, you just got older. Now apologize to your parents for making them sit down and watch the shows with you, as well as taking you to see [Cartoon series X] on Ice.

[Godfatha]

And virtually every one of those was, essentially, little more than a half-hour commercial. Granted, merchandising is still quite prevalent, but it seems to me that the shilling was a bit more transparent back then. That might be one reason for the flavor of things changing over the years.

Those commercials had to work hard to make us buy those toys. Now, all it has to do is be on and it'll sell a shit of load of... something.

[Misfit]

i had a shit load of g.i joes

[da Gay]

I think what killed them was ABC bringing in Live Action shows,
they basically got tired of ORIGINAL programming and just
brought in shows from DISNEY CHANNEL.

[toxicangel19]

i miss the x men cartoon the transformers the original tmnt the looney tunes, tom and jerry, woody the wood pecker cartoons now suck!!!!

[dead breed]

because the cartoons nowadays suck...long live retro cartoons

:nod: and the internet helped kill it

[dead breed]

i had a shit load of g.i joes

damn right

[koolmike]

Kids wake up early on Saturdays, and watch porn on their computers.

No?

I would have.

[Chief Falling Rock]

I think what killed them was ABC bringing in Live Action shows,
they basically got tired of ORIGINAL programming and just
brought in shows from DISNEY CHANNEL.

Disney Channel used to not suck too. I loved the old cartoons with Mickey, Donald, Goofy,Pluto, Chip and Dale and all the others. But now its crap like "thats so raven" and all that BS. I'm gonna look on netfix and see if those old toons are on there.

[da Gay]

Disney Channel used to not suck too. I loved the old cartoons with Mickey, Donald, Goofy,Pluto, Chip and Dale and all the others. But now its crap like "thats so raven" and all that BS. I'm gonna look on netfix and see if those old toons are on there.

Yeah it use to be really really good! I remember
the days of the 90s with RECESS and THE WEEKENDERS
now they dont try to make shows they basically IMPORT
anything that hhas become a hit on its Cable Station.

They dont try they just want to make bank.

[Dr. Phibes]

And virtually every one of those was, essentially, little more than a half-hour commercial. Granted, merchandising is still quite prevalent, but it seems to me that the shilling was a bit more transparent back then. That might be one reason for the flavor of things changing over the years.

True enough. Although my age is in my headline, I'll give you a glimpse of "them days" with the line-up of after-school cartoons on WPGH channel 53 when I was a kid:

Ultraman
Speed Racer
Spiderman (the Ralph Bakshi cartoon)

...then dad would take over the television for the news about the latest goings-on in Viet-Nam.

Saturday mornings were the gloden hours though, with Scooby-Doo (born the same year I was) and the Bugs Bunny-Roadrunner Show. Those were the pre-cable days, so you took cartoons where you could get 'em. :nod:

[broke string bill7]

i think corperate america killed saturday mornibg cartoons:thumbsdown:

[Joker]

Saturday mornings were great in the mid 80's ,making sure I got up before my brothers so I could get to the TV first and get to choose the cartoons,while eating a huge bowl of sugary cereal.

[dr_foreverclear]

more channels

[darkoverlord]

nickelodeon, Disney, and cartoon network along with boomerang really hurt saturday morning cartoons imo i remember watching G.I.joe,transformers and all the classic 80s cartoons even you cant do that on television when the teens get water and slime dumped on them.

[Highwayman]

It's really sad that the feeling from saturday morning cartoon will never return. Since "saturday morning toons" doesn't mean anything anymore and we all grow up... for the most part.

[Atticus Hero]

I dont really blame Cartoon Network or other channels, because, those channels have only gone downhill as well.

I blame a lot of it on, Poke'mon!!!!

How many shows are out there now that have kids "collecting" creatures/things and battling with them.

Kids these days are too stupid to see how its Poke'mon with just a different theme, such as kids "collecting" balls that turn into monsters and then fighting, or cards that turn into monsters, or hookers that turn into regrets.

[JonnieBoi]

It started going down hill when Disney took over ABC's Saturday Morning Cartoons. Yes, there was Recess and the Weekenders, but it did start going down from there. I would watch those very same cartoons to this day, screw my age. I'm still a kid by heart. I miss Beetlejuice the cartoon, old school Doug, Rugrats (before Dill Pickles), Ahhh! Real Monsters, Care Bears, Captain Caveman, and Fraggle Rock.

[Rust In Peace]

I miss:

Doug
Rugrats
Ren & Stimpy
Beavis & Butthead (not a kids show, but I loved it anyway)
X-men
Spiderman
Batman
AHHHHH! Real Monsters
Beetlejuice

and it was a newer cartoon that wasnt around when I really enjoyed cartoons, but I still miss, was Invader Zim.

these days I'll come over to my parents place and my little sister watch's someof the most mindless cartoons yet, that i doubt when shes around my age she'll have any nestalgia for. What killed saturday morning cartoons though, well it was a lot of things, but nothing last forever and at least most of us on here had some form of them.

[Wrathborne]

I'd say the 90's killed cartoons.

[hackerslacker]

i grew up. :bigthumbup:

[Jess]

yeah..i used to watch them every saturday morning but all they have now is hannah montana and icarly..X(

[voodoo]

to me the only valid explenation is the first one,the others..c'mon?Gimme a fuken break.. i loved watching cartoon network when i was a kid ...they had awesome carton back then...swat kats,Plastic Man,Space Ghost,Pirates of the dark waters and so on...and iike somone pointed out cartoon these day fuken suck!I mean when i was a kid i watched cartoons the swamp thing,captain planet,toxic avenger,TNMNT,Biker Mice from Mars...those were all badass cartoons!And i loved ll of those cartoons even at the age of like..4,and what cartoons do we have today?Pokemons and Sponge Bob Square pants?C'mon..people just don't give the cartoons the love and attention they use to...there all woried about being Politicly Corect and all that crap...i miss those cartoons :cry: