![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
If you grew up in these United States during the last five decades or so, you probably remember spending Saturday mornings the same way I did as a kid: at home in front of the living-room or bedroom TV set, with a bowl of overly-sugared cereal in milk and perhaps a sibling or two beside you, watching what the then only three or four channels on broadcast TV had on offer in the way of children's programming. From 7 AM onward, we had a solid five hours of cartoons, the occasional live-action show, educational interstitials like Schoolhouse Rock and In the News, and endless commercials for toys, games and breakfast foods aimed at our age group. The fun usually ended around lunchtime when the teenagers became the target audience via ABC's American Bandstand or the syndicated and far funkier Soul Train.
All this is mostly gone now, along with weekday kids' shows, a victim of changing times, aging demographics, the explosion of cable and satellite channels and networks and advertisers finally realizing that adults spend way more money than children do. Of the Big Three, only ABC still attempts a kids' block this time of the week, chiefly as a venue for programs produced by their new owners, The Walt Disney Company. Otherwise, programming for the short-pants-and-pinafore set has largely been relegated to PBS and cable channels such as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
Which is really a pity, as we of a certain age know today's TV kiddie fare is more often than not far inferior to what we got to watch growing up. The current generation may see some of the old shows on cable, but even if they have parents who can clue them in, finding them on the crowded, 24-hour schedule can be a challenge...not to mention making them stay up past bedtime in some cases. (Yeah, I know, that was one of the big pleasures of childhood, too, but as adults—especially parents—we're responsible for making sure today's kids get the rest they need.) Having the shows you liked all in one block on one day of the week made it vastly easier on us.
So, if you could resurrect this grand old tradition and put on the ideal Saturday-morning lineup, what shows would you include? Bullwinkle and Rocky is pretty much a given, as is Jonny Quest (the original, not the lame-ass 1990s "Real Adventures" version). I'd also vote for the old Hanna-Barbera stable of super-heroes the late Alex Toth helped design: Space Ghost, the Herculoids, the Galaxy Trio, Dino Boy and Mightor. The animated Star Trek should also be in there, even if they couldn't afford to have Chekov or Alex Courage's original theme music. And what would Saturday morning be without ol' Bugs, Daffy, the Road Runner and the rest of the Warner Bros. gang? Nominate your candidates here. Also, what were your favorite commercials running that time of day? I always liked the Ideal toy ads for games like Hungry, Hungry Hippos and Wham-O toys like Slip 'N' Slide, plus the McDonald's "McDonaldLand" spots featuring Ronald, Hamburglar and the (originally Evil) Grimace. The Krofft brothers, Hal Sutherland and Lou Scheimer, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera shouldn't have lived in vain.
All this is mostly gone now, along with weekday kids' shows, a victim of changing times, aging demographics, the explosion of cable and satellite channels and networks and advertisers finally realizing that adults spend way more money than children do. Of the Big Three, only ABC still attempts a kids' block this time of the week, chiefly as a venue for programs produced by their new owners, The Walt Disney Company. Otherwise, programming for the short-pants-and-pinafore set has largely been relegated to PBS and cable channels such as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
Which is really a pity, as we of a certain age know today's TV kiddie fare is more often than not far inferior to what we got to watch growing up. The current generation may see some of the old shows on cable, but even if they have parents who can clue them in, finding them on the crowded, 24-hour schedule can be a challenge...not to mention making them stay up past bedtime in some cases. (Yeah, I know, that was one of the big pleasures of childhood, too, but as adults—especially parents—we're responsible for making sure today's kids get the rest they need.) Having the shows you liked all in one block on one day of the week made it vastly easier on us.
So, if you could resurrect this grand old tradition and put on the ideal Saturday-morning lineup, what shows would you include? Bullwinkle and Rocky is pretty much a given, as is Jonny Quest (the original, not the lame-ass 1990s "Real Adventures" version). I'd also vote for the old Hanna-Barbera stable of super-heroes the late Alex Toth helped design: Space Ghost, the Herculoids, the Galaxy Trio, Dino Boy and Mightor. The animated Star Trek should also be in there, even if they couldn't afford to have Chekov or Alex Courage's original theme music. And what would Saturday morning be without ol' Bugs, Daffy, the Road Runner and the rest of the Warner Bros. gang? Nominate your candidates here. Also, what were your favorite commercials running that time of day? I always liked the Ideal toy ads for games like Hungry, Hungry Hippos and Wham-O toys like Slip 'N' Slide, plus the McDonald's "McDonaldLand" spots featuring Ronald, Hamburglar and the (originally Evil) Grimace. The Krofft brothers, Hal Sutherland and Lou Scheimer, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera shouldn't have lived in vain.
