What ever happened to good Saturday Morning cartoons?

[Coqui2k]

I was watching TV this past Saturday and noticed the quality of cartoon has sure gone down. I remember shows like Ducktales, Ninja Turles, Darkwing Duck, and Talespin. Share your thoughts

[Foggy]

agreed, saturday morning TV has gone down the crapper.

[Red Hood]

Saved by the Bell was a cartoon? That was some awesome animation then.

[Coqui2k]

Originally Posted by Merc

Saved by the Bell was a cartoon? That was some awesome animation then.

No but it was part of the Saturday Morning Lineup

[Diesel]

Saved By the Bell wasn't a cartoon

But a show I loved to watch back when.

I've sat and watched some of the new cartoons (and shows) that play these days when my little cousins are over and wow...are they baaaad.

Nothing like The Flinstones, The Jetsons, Darkwing Duck, Gargoyles, Doug, etc. anymore it seems.

[Moefiz]

Originally Posted by Foggy

agreed, saturday morning TV has gone down the crapper.

I agree....I remember when I was a kid Saturday mornings would be my time to watch tv...just jump from channel 2,4 and 7....Smurfs,Superfriends,Spiderman and His Amazing Friends...the good old days

[Coqui2k]

Yeah nowadys they got Dino squad, The bad ninja turtles, Yugio, and other crappy toons

[My_Two_Cents]

Saturday morning cartoons died after they stopped showing:

Looney Tunes
Flintstones
Jetsons
Pink Panther
Johnny Quest (original)
Scooby Doo
Banana Splits Show (they showed cartoons)

Yes, I grew-up in the 70's.

[charlie swords]

Originally Posted by Foggy

TV has gone down the crapper.

i fixed that for you..

[Sponge-worthy]

When cartoons of one sort or another began populating cable TV (i.e. SpongeBob available every day in several time slots), the Saturday-morning variety soon lost their luster.

[borninusa]

Long long long gone

[J. J. Hunsecker]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

Saturday morning cartoons died after they stopped showing:

Looney Tunes
Flintstones
Jetsons
Pink Panther
Johnny Quest (original)
Scooby Doo
Banana Splits Show (they showed cartoons)

Yes, I grew-up in the 70's.

Looney Tunes and the Pink Panther cartoons were originally theatrical cartoons. They ran before the feature film in theaters -- Looney Tunes from 1930 to about 1969, the Pink Panther from 1964 to sometime in the early 70's. They had a higher budget than shows created specifically for Saturday morning. Even the first Bugs Bunny show created for television, in 1960, aired in primetime, with new animation bridging the old shorts.

The Flintstones and The Jetsons aired in primetime slots, and they were originally made for adults. Winston cigarettes was even one a sponsor of The Flintstones.

The shows created for Saturday Morning were dreck. American animation was at its lowest point in the 70's. It didn't start to rebound until the late 80's. I think the cartoon shows of the past 17 years were leaps ahead of the type of cartoon shows I grew up with -- Ren & Stimpy, Powerpuff Girls, Spongebob Squarepants, etc.

[Anthony P]

a mix of evolutution and cable

pre 70's toons where more for adults (Rocky and Bulwinkle, Jetsons, Flintstones, Looney Tunes...)

70's 80's they moved to kid oriented (Scooby Doo, Johnny Quest....) - shows first then if popular murchadizing might have appeared

80's-90's they went toy centric (GI Joe, Transformers, Smurfs......) -toys first but toy and show not 100% compatible,Transformers where about giant robots, GI joe about a military task force
90's-00's they became ads (Yoogi-oh, digimon, pokemon....) - all someone does in the show is play with "the toy"

I think more restrictive advertisment on network TV aimed at kids, speciality channels where kids know where the shows they want play all the time, many more shows being produced faster...

[Call_Me_Megatron]

So many great cartoons I grew up on, the best being Batman: The Animated Series. I also liked Transformers, He-Man, G.I. Joe, Thundercats, Smurfs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, She-Ra, Duck Tales, Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, The Tick, Tailspin, Goof Troop, Alvin & the Chipmunks, Animaniacs, Tiny Toons... OK I really need to stop.

When my brother was growing up it was all Pokemon. I won't say that what they watched was crap, but it wasn't to my taste.

Not having children I don't watch many cartoons anymore so I can't say give my opinion on the current state of Saturday morning cartoons. For me they died in 1995-1996, but I was 13-14 then and it likely meant that I just didn't have any interest in getting up at 8AM to watch cartoons anymore.

[EricJ]

You REALLY wanna answer that question? (Apart from previously noted "They're all on disk" responses)?

Okay--Let's put together a perfect storm of:
1) The rise of Cable and Fox/WB, which could access more series from a variety of sources and offer more niche fare like action shows outside of network restrictions, causing
2) Networks to cut back on low-rated non-news original programming, which created a greater incentive for CBS and NBC to switch to extended "Weekend editions" of the Today show, seeing as
3) Most networks were now sharing parent-company with cable channels, which also needed to fill Saturday-morning niche original programming for a more identified audience;
4) The deaths/decline of the major 70's animation houses (like Hanna-Barbera, DePatie-Freleng and Filmation) substituted by decidedly weaker houses like Film Roman and Nelvana that couldn't remedy
5) A growing out-of-touch demographic that couldn't be filled with "classic" show concepts that increasingly couldn't compete with
6) The rise of anime, through gaming shows like Digimon and Pokemon, which were already
7) Syndicated on weekday channels, a market that didn't exist before 1983.

Short answer, "Whatever happened to Saturday morning cartoons?"--
All I know is, NBC switched to big blocks of Today Show the very next season after "Chip & Pepper's Cartoon Madness".

(And three years after that, networks just started rebroadcasting Disney Channel and Discovery Kids. )

[Duffy12]

The 'Boomerang' cartoon cable channel runs a lot of the old 60s 70s and 80s cartoons. Hong Kong Phooey, Hair Bear Bunch, Perils of Penelope Pitstop, Top Cat, Captain Planet, Scooby-Doo ect ect.

Then they have some of your recent ones. Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Samurai Jack, Duck Dodgers, The Batman ect ect.

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by Coqui2k

I was watching TV this past Saturday and noticed the quality of cartoon has sure gone down. I remember shows like Ducktales, Ninja Turles, Darkwing Duck, and Talespin. Share your thoughts

Good topic! I remember watching Dungeons and Dragons on Saturday morning when I was a little kid.

[Moefiz]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

Good topic! I remember watching Dungeons and Dragons on Saturday morning when I was a little kid.

Yep..Saturdays..on CBS...

[FindYourWay]

I have no idea. Stopped watching them a long time ago, when I was 13.

[PA_Kid]

Originally Posted by Coqui2k

I was watching TV this past Saturday and noticed the quality of cartoon has sure gone down. I remember shows like Ducktales, Ninja Turles, Darkwing Duck, and Talespin. Share your thoughts

Weren't Ducktales and Talespin both weekday afternoon cartoons?

I think it's more that cartoons aren't relegated to Saturday Mornings and Weekday afternoons anymore. Batman:Brave and the Bold, Clone Wars, Ben 10, Wolverine and the Xmen and Iron Man Armored adventures all are pretty similar to the 80s/90s action stuff if not better.

Personally, I find Phineas and Ferv (on Disney XD) freaking hysterical.

But most of the stuff I watch is actually on cable channels at totally different times from Saturday morning - I think it's more that the time has changed than the quality.