Saturday Morning memories thread

[Drtooth]

They said starting in Januray, FOX's 4Kids Saturday morning lineup will officially end. I checked my TiVo guide for this Saturday and it looks like they will still be showing just reruns of Sonic X, Biker Mice From Mars, and Di-Gata Defenders while the other two hours will be infomercials. So it looks like FOX 4Kids might only be halfway gone for now.

I already posted that, and I think the responses I got were "Stop whining about the industry and use your college degree to shove yet another indie comic into the already overcrowded market, full of crappy talentless Harvey Pecar (sp?) wannabees." I know what you mean, and I'll probably do that anyways... but trying to sell comics out the back of a truck ain't going to even pay off a month of student loans in a lifetime. (come on, someone... I need a storyboarding job at least... I can get someone's coffee... anything!)

Face it, the parental groups won this one. They killed the American cartoon... they killed the prospect of Saturday Morning, with the help of lackadaisical programming directors who get a modest paycheck no matter how big they screw up, and no matter how little work they actually do (passing the buck and rerunning cable shows is NOT doing a job, therefore they shouldn't get paid).

So basically, everything I've ever stated about this. Over and over. Lack of Junk Food commercials, crazy standards and broadcasting, ever growing budgets, crappy over rated competition, the ever crappening economy.... the perfect storm for the death of cartoons. I want to do something about it, and making a petition no one will care about isn't going to cut it.

 

[Xerus]

I already posted that, and I think the responses I got were "Stop whining about the industry and use your college degree to shove yet another indie comic into the already overcrowded market, full of crappy talentless Harvey Pecar (sp?) wannabees." I know what you mean, and I'll probably do that anyways... but trying to sell comics out the back of a truck ain't going to even pay off a month of student loans in a lifetime. (come on, someone... I need a storyboarding job at least... I can get someone's coffee... anything!)

Face it, the parental groups won this one. They killed the American cartoon... they killed the prospect of Saturday Morning, with the help of lackadaisical programming directors who get a modest paycheck no matter how big they screw up, and no matter how little work they actually do (passing the buck and rerunning cable shows is NOT doing a job, therefore they shouldn't get paid).

So basically, everything I've ever stated about this. Over and over. Lack of Junk Food commercials, crazy standards and broadcasting, ever growing budgets, crappy over rated competition, the ever crappening economy.... the perfect storm for the death of cartoons. I want to do something about it, and making a petition no one will care about isn't going to cut it.

I guess I can always check out my collection of Saturday Morning cartoons on DVD and check out classic SM commercials on youtube to get a taste of the old days. And I'm sorry you're going through such hard times Dr. Tooth. I too am waiting for my cartoonist dream.

 

[Xerus]

It's not so much kids as their lazy parents that expect their kids to raise themselves watching TV. Which, by and by, is why we have this mess to begin with. I still say, where the heck are the likes of Timer, and all them blokes who came in and said not to eat junk food every five seconds? Apparently, they can take breakfast cereals off the market, make children's programming unprofitable, but when it comes to educating kids about making smart choices they're all thumbs.

Seriously... if you're not smart enough to know a big vehicle could hurt you, you may just be too stupid to leave the house. Ha ha...

Lately, they've been airing these quick commercials called, "One Small Step", where they get kids to go out and play an hour a day, eat less, don't waste energy, and go green.

 

[bazooka_beak]

^ I wonder if those work? I never paid attention to or cared about PSAs and stuff as a kid

 

[Baby Gonzo]

^ I wonder if those work? I never paid attention to or cared about PSAs and stuff as a kid

I've heard that the current kid/tween generation is among the most eco-aware. Though I doubt PSAs alone are a huge contributing factor to that, kids have an understanding of sorts of man's impact on the environment.

 

[Drtooth]

Lately, they've been airing these quick commercials called, "One Small Step", where they get kids to go out and play an hour a day, eat less, don't waste energy, and go green.

Yeah, but we need much, much more of them. The only one I've seen on a frequent basis is the NFL sponsored "Get up and be a Player" PSA. To a much less extent I might see the clumsily added Jungle Book "Bare Necessities of nutrition." I don't see why they don't air the Shrek one more often.

The problem is, these groups have the influence and funds to ruin stuff... errr... threaten sponsors... err... Let me start over. You'd think that a group like that would use their time, energy, and funding (if any) to make more PSA's, and come up with catchy new Timer like characters, so they can run them along side the cereal and McDonald's commercials.

^ I wonder if those work? I never paid attention to or cared about PSAs and stuff as a kid

The health ones or the eco ones? It works for anyone who's willing to listen. and then of course, there are people who listen and just don't care. As for the environmental stuff, every generation starts being eco-aware and trying to help the environment, and then they completely toss the fad to the side for 10 years until something terrible happens. They can rerun Captain Planet all Ted Turner wants, but its up to kids to listen, and grow up still striving to those goals. That's what bugs me about the environment... people only seem to care when it's popular, and then they quickly forget about it when it gets out of fashion.

 

[Xerus]

The health ones or the eco ones? It works for anyone who's willing to listen. and then of course, there are people who listen and just don't care. As for the environmental stuff, every generation starts being eco-aware and trying to help the environment, and then they completely toss the fad to the side for 10 years until something terrible happens. They can rerun Captain Planet all Ted Turner wants, but its up to kids to listen, and grow up still striving to those goals. That's what bugs me about the environment... people only seem to care when it's popular, and then they quickly forget about it when it gets out of fashion.

It also makes me wonder if the healthy eating fad might fade away as well and then come back a few years later.

 

[Xerus]

Also, I've noticed that some commercials have been airing ads about getting kids into the arts. Like making their own inventions, or how reading books can take them to great fantasy worlds, or getting them to visit art museums and theaters which could inspire them create their own artworks. I really like seeing those things on TV.

 

[Drtooth]

It also makes me wonder if the healthy eating fad might fade away as well and then come back a few years later.

Anything will. Any given good intentioned movement, as soon as it becomes trendy, will also tend to fade away into the background.

Anyway, here's something I am too young to remember but I've read about... in the 1970's the Looney Tunes split off into different sub series (The Bugs and Tweety show, The Porky Pig Show, The Road Runner show, the Foghorn Leghorn and those annoying effeminate, agreeable Gophers Show- okay, I made that one up- ... etc. etc.) And sometimes they even ran opposite each other on different networks. Oh, to have been alive at that time.

 

[Xerus]

Anything will. Any given good intentioned movement, as soon as it becomes trendy, will also tend to fade away into the background.

Anyway, here's something I am too young to remember but I've read about... in the 1970's the Looney Tunes split off into different sub series (The Bugs and Tweety show, The Porky Pig Show, The Road Runner show, the Foghorn Leghorn and those annoying effeminate, agreeable Gophers Show- okay, I made that one up- ... etc. etc.) And sometimes they even ran opposite each other on different networks. Oh, to have been alive at that time.

I too remember the different Looney Tunes collection shows growing up. During the 70's, weekday syndication offered the Popeye and Bugs show where they showed classic Popeye and Bugs cartoons back to back.

And on the weekends, they had the Bugs Bunny, Road Runner Show on CBS.

And soon, ABC had the Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, but the cartoons were heavily censored and weren't that much fun.

Nickelodeon aired the Looney Tunes for a while along with the rarely seen black and white Bosko and Buddy cartoons.

And the WB Network had That's Warner Bros. and the Bugs N' Daffy show.

Now they only seem to show the Looney Tunes on Boomerang and they made a special appearance on Cartoon Network this New Years Day.

And here's the theme song to the Bugs Bunny, Road Runner show from 1985.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPFhSTyek38