No more Saturday morning cartoons

[ApolloBalboa]

Saturday morning American broadcast TV was once animation's home field. Filling a cereal bowl with artificially colored sugar pebbles and staring at the tube was every kid's weekend plan. Not any more: For the first time in 50-plus years, you won't find a block of animation on broadcast this morning. It's the end of an era.

Yes, The CW, the final holdout in Saturday morning animation, ran its last batch of Vortexx cartoons last weekend. This week, where you once saw shows like Cubix, Sonic X, Dragon Ball Z and Kai, Digimon Fusion, and Yu-Gi-Oh!, you'll instead find "One Magnificent Morning," a block of live-action educational programming.

It's the end of an era, but it's been a long time coming: NBC ditched Saturday morning cartoons in 1992, CBS followed suit not long after, and ABC lost its animated weekend mornings in 2004. The CW, a lower-tier broadcast network, was the last holdout in a game that the Big 3 left long ago.

http://gizmodo.com/this-is-the-first-weekend-in-america-with-no-saturday-m-1642441646/+kellyconaboy

This is sad. Another item of my childhood gone, and one that I'll have to explain to my kids someday, along with corded phones, video stores, and (inevitably) real-life newspapers. As much as technology can be a boon to humanity, I don't like how it can make things that others may not want to give up obsolete and ultimately worthless.

 

[Deepcover]

http://gizmodo.com/this-is-the-first-weekend-in-america-with-no-saturday-m-1642441646/+kellyconaboy

This is sad. Another item of my childhood gone, and one that I'll have to explain to my kids someday, along with corded phones, video stores, and (inevitably) real-life newspapers. As much as technology can be a boon to humanity, I don't like how it can make things that others may not want to give up obsolete and ultimately worthless.

End of an era but have you seen the toys kids have to deal with today? Nothing like the toys kids had way back in the day

 

[Johan]

When you have some channels broadcasting cartoons all day long, kids don't wait for cartoon time on other channels, they just switch to Disney Channel and they'll be sure to have cartoons at any time.

End of an era but have you seen the toys kids have to deal with today? Nothing like the toys kids had way back in the day

And the cartoons. Have you seen the carttons kids have now ? I felle so lucky to have been a kid during the 80' and the early 90', whe had all the best japanese stuff (Saint seiya, Cityhunter, Dragon Ball Z, etc...) and all the best US stuff (Transformers, Mask, TMNT, etc...).

 

[ApolloBalboa]

End of an era but have you seen the toys kids have to deal with today? Nothing like the toys kids had way back in the day

True, for the most part they're crap. When was the last time a kid just sat in the yard and played with a stick? Do kids nowadays even know what sticks are?

When you have some channels broadcasting cartoons all day long, kids don't wait for cartoon time on other channels, they just switch to Disney Channel and they'll be sure to have cartoons at any time.

And the cartoons. Have you seen the carttons kids have now ? I felle so lucky to have been a kid during the 80' and the early 90', whe had all the best japanese stuff (Saint seiya, Cityhunter, Dragon Ball Z, etc...) and all the best US stuff (Transformers, Mask, TMNT, etc...).

A part of me died inside when Fox Kids was taken off television. I realize that there are now channels devoted solely to cartoons, but it's somewhat sobering to realize that some basic channels have cut off what drew some of their audience to watch them because of cable, streaming technology, what have you.

The 90's were awesome. 'Nuff said.

 

[Deepcover]

When you have some channels broadcasting cartoons all day long, kids don't wait for cartoon time on other channels, they just switch to Disney Channel and they'll be sure to have cartoons at any time.

And the cartoons. Have you seen the carttons kids have now ? I felle so lucky to have been a kid during the 80' and the early 90', whe had all the best japanese stuff (Saint seiya, Cityhunter, Dragon Ball Z, etc...) and all the best US stuff (Transformers, Mask, TMNT, etc...).

Yup...I so agree with you there

 

[bahodeme]

For me the local CBS station showed Bugs Bunny for 2hrs. The local NBC station showed cartoon/kids shows from 9AM - 12:30PM. The local ABC station showed Hanna-Barbera cartoons until 11AM. Then it showed the campy kids show like ISIS and Shazaam. After that the entire afternoon devoted to riding bikes, playing baseball, football, etc. Of course in between the shows was Schoolhouse Rock.

 

[bobjustbob]

Thank the FCC for this with their demand for educational shows. It was those shows that got us to wake up early in the morning. The shit that's on now is just horrible but it doesn't matter. The FCC gets their quota even if no one is watching them. After school hours were also a great time for kids shows but that has gone by the wayside too. How many different ways can present 2 people fighting over a cell phone bill before a judge?

 

[FreeOnes_Adam]

It's been replaced with Saturday morning smart phone. God help us all.

 

[D-rock]

It's a sad thing indeed. Maybe it's for the best though considering how most cartoons made for kids now suck.

I can only take solace in the fact about 20 years from now Hollywood will have one less thing to shamelessly milk when they have no idea how to create new things themselves because there will be no good cartoons made now to rip off when that time comes. It's not much, but at least it's some sort of silver lining.

 

[thatbigsecret]

True true D-rock...

Looney Tunes was truly the shit back in the day and Dragonball Z after school. Nowadays...what the hell is even on?! Nothing worthwhile besides on Boomerang if you ask me

 

[Legzman]

End of an era but have you seen the toys kids have to deal with today? Nothing like the toys kids had way back in the day

agreed, they are shit today! The new transformers are plastic trash! Very shoddily built

 

[Will E Worm]

They have been dead for a while now.


Saturday morning and weekday afternoon cartoons need to come back.

 

[Rey C.]

The cartoons I grew up with have now been labeled racist, sexist, homophobic and/or overly violent... probably anti-Semitic too. So they've all been replaced by non-offensive talking blobs who mutter lines that make absolutely no sense. And really, that's all broadcast TV is now too - just with live actors instead of animation. If I see one more politically correct, cookie-cutter cop show being pushed & promoted, I'll probably smash my TV.

The coolest thing when I was little was the preview weekend leading up to the new cartoons and Saturday morning series. A week or two before the premieres, NBC (I think) would do a Friday night show for what was coming up for us kool lil kiddies. Saturday mornings, from about 9AM to 12 noon, all a kid needed was a bowl of cereal and a spoon... and off you went to fantasy land. Good thing we got rid of that racist, sexist, homophobic, violent, anti-Semitic crap. So much better that kids zone out for 8-10 hours a day on first person shooter video games, that teach them how to use Dad's hidden pistol to murder their classmates when they feel that they've been offended or bullied in some way.

The pussification of America.

Learn it. Live it. Love it. :clap: