RIP Saturday Morning Cartoons

[Darvan Korematsu]

There's a real reason why I didn't post this in the Radio Tower, and it's because Saturday morning cartoons used to be a weekend ritual for me until noon growing up.

What I wanted to talk about is the death of Saturday morning cartoons in America. Just so you guys know, I didn't have the luxury of cable or satellite TV when I was younger, so I've usually had to stick to the usual Saturday mornings from 8 till 12 for my cartoon fix.

What spurred this was my desire to watch cartoons on my TV for the first free Saturday I've had in several monthes. I tuned in to the usual channel, and it was some educational animal show. So I am like "Okay, I can wait till the next show", and it was another show about a doctor or something like that. Back to back, nothing but educational shows, and not the cartoons I was used to. So I Googled Saturday morning cartoons to see what pulled up, and I found out that the last major network broadcaster (the channel I tuned into) cut cartoons from the usual Saturday lineup late last year.

I was disappointed at first, but came to terms with it, because cartoons were a huge thing for me growing up as well as some of you other American Rebornians. I dunnk what the deal is in other countries, but odds are they may still have Saturday cartoons.

Now Nickelodeon, Disney, and Cartoon Network don't count in this lineup, because they are primarily for the display of cartoons and not general purpose like the Saturday morning TV trope.

But my parents even were a part of this ritual when they were growing up. The shows over the years, "Pokemon" up till Sinnoh, "Yugioh" Original to Zexal, "Justice League", "Sonic X", "TMNT" and the spinoffs it got. "Magi Nation", "Chaotic", "Spider Riders". Holy shit I could name them off in droves, and that's not including the old Fox Box or ABC stuff. But watching them as a kid filled my child's void of cartoons.

So here's my last respect to network TV's cartoons.

RIP SM Cartoons

Circa 1960 - 2014

[Deleted User]

Cartoon's stopped being good when shows like Adventure time were well received, if not earlier.

[Felicity]

Yo Spider Riders is so out there I thought I imagined those episodes I watched.

It's the march of progress. With on demand culture growing as it is, this tradition of allotments of time for cartoons is dying out, hell within a few generations TV channels on a whole is going to die out with the advent of consistent Youtube content being made and Netflix & Co dominating with good shows and a strong business model.

Still, these traditions were nice. I remember watching YGO and pokemon with my parents on a regular basis, and on occasion winx club cuz who said little boys couldn't watch fairies.

[Red_Chaos]

It all went down hill when they dropped after school cartoons. One day I come home expected to watch Pokemon and Yugioh and they moved the stuff to Saturday.....NOW WE DONT GET THAT STUFF!!

AND I DON"T HAVE CABLE TO WATCH DISNEY OR NIKE!

;-;

[Sparky]

I, personally, think cartoons began to die after Ed, Edd, n Eddy was taken down after the last movie, Big Picture Show.

[Sunbean]

I was into Saturday Morning cartoons as well, though usually I liked to stay up and watch Toonami back then even more.

I find it hard to believe kids these days don't like to watch their cartoons on TV anymore. I'm really into Netflix and the like, but I enjoy sitting down to watch a show live on television a lot more.

[Arkhi]

Cartoons were ruined with the introduction of Teen Titans Go! I used to love watching the original show, but then they turned it into more of a humor-centered show than one with the plot of the original- there were multiple plots to follow then: Robin & Slade, Raven & her father, Terra, the other teams (Titans North, East, South), and the ongoing war against The Brotherhood of Evil. Maybe it didn't fit under the title of "cartoon", but it was one hell of a show that had great comedy, even without that being the primary focus.

[Sunbean]

Cartoons were ruined with the introduction of Teen Titans Go! I used to love watching the original show, but then they turned it into more of a humor-centered show than one with the plot of the original- there were multiple plots to follow then: Robin & Slade, Raven & her father, Terra, the other teams (Titans North, East, South), and the ongoing war against The Brotherhood of Evil. Maybe it didn't fit under the title of "cartoon", but it was one hell of a show that had great comedy, even without that being the primary focus.

I watched Teen Titans Go! and honestly, it wasn't bad. It was pretty funny. I was kind of disappointed it wasn't like the old show, but honestly the old one didn't need to be continued. I liked how it ended so I wasn't hoping for anything in particular.

Cartoons died for me after the first Spongebob Movie. Though, I guess when we start to grow up things just aren't as good.

[TalkingDinosaur]

Saturday morning cartoons have been absent for a long while now. With tv losing its audience to computers and video streaming, they've been changing the day they air new episodes pretty frequently.

And in my opinion, the day Adventure Time became well received was really the breaking point in quality. Aside from The Amazing World of Gumball who have a great amount of creativity in their show, any show that has been on air post Adventure Time is bland and boring. Clever jokes replaced with constant high pitch screaming, a ludicrous amount of cringey musical numbers, and character designs made simple and uninspiring in order to save on animating.

[Frostilicious]

In greece we have a channel called Star that on weekends shows cartoons in the morning and on Summer everyday. -Now not that i really find those cartoons appealing- No pokemon or Yu-gi-oh unless you wake up on 7:00 and from like 8 to 11-11:30 it's baby shows. Anyway, after moving to northern Greece, i'm able to watch Nickelodeon anyway so problem solved. -Would also like to add that fairly odd parents are my favorite :3-

Edited August 22, 2015 by timbla

[4thWallCeci]

Everything went downhill when CartoonNetWork stopped playing shows like Adventure Time, Regular Show, not sure if they still play Steven Universe, and they started playing shows like... I don't want to say this one... Clarence...

[Darvan Korematsu]

-.- I do believe I said the 3 channels that many cartoons y'all have talked about (Ed Edd n' Eddy, Adventure Time, etc) didn't count in the SM cartoons trope.I'm talking the "free" TV that you don't pay for other than a TV set and some electricity.

Then again don't forget the cartoons we grew up watching were way different from what the last generation gave us, like the early 1990s, where really outlandish stuff like Ren and Stimpy and CatDog were the things to watch. Still though, the TV era is slowly dying out as we know it, and I'm well aware of it.

[FlameMasterInfernape]

pokemon and yugioh are techicly anime and maybe sonic X and don't really care abort watching tv shows anymore but i still watch anime I just like to play video games or watch you tube now beside I from canada and i don't know if they still saturday morring cartoon of eng dub anime there anymore because i use the tv to play on the wii

Edited August 29, 2015 by Infernape88

[Godot]

... This convo still goes in Radio Tower IMO.

Also, did I read someone say "stay up to watch toonami?" That was on around 2-4pm on weekdays for me. I would watch Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, Reboot, Dragonball Z, and ./sign after I got home from school almost everyday. I also liked watching Digimon and X-Men on the Fox Box. There was also Animaniacs, Batman Beyond, Batman the Animated Series, and Tiny Toon Adventures on WB Kids.

[Neo]

Cartoon's stopped being good when shows like Adventure time were well received, if not earlier.

[Monochrome_Complex]

Adventure time is fine but the era of copycats it produced is a very love it or hate it thing, I can understand hating what it brought alongside its success because it really changed the kind of stuff cartoon networks put on now. Personally I don't even bother anymore.

I can still remember when Pokemon used to air on WB 4:00PM pacific and when Ash first fought Blaine being aired, school the following day was hype. Also when Digimon first aired(it was totally Fox riding off pokemon's success LOL)and Monster Rancher was on channel 13(same trend, although Monster Rancher was pretty legit actually. Mu was BOSS and Tiger of the Wind was <3).

I really miss Saturday Morning cartoons as well, TV these days just really sucks IMO but with Netflix and the like I just use those instead.

I can recall when Toonami showed more than anime, when it had its midnight run, when Tom got intruded and died, then came back with a six pack lol. Gundam wing, used to come on Outlaw freakin Star, Zoids, Tenchi, Kenshin...man. Though when Toonami would go on its Dragonball whoring that was kind of annoying. Like at one point DBZ would come on 6 times a day, I kid you not.

[Lits]

... This convo still goes in Radio Tower IMO.

Also, did I read someone say "stay up to watch toonami?" That was on around 2-4pm on weekdays for me. I would watch Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, Reboot, Dragonball Z, and ./sign after I got home from school almost everyday. I also liked watching Digimon and X-Men on the Fox Box. There was also Animaniacs, Batman Beyond, Batman the Animated Series, and Tiny Toon Adventures on WB Kids.

Toonami had 2 other time slots, each titled differently, Midnight Run and Rising Sun. I also pretty much watched all the same shows you did after school, was a daily ritual with me, since I lived in a mass rural area with nothing to do, so only had cable and my gameboy to fall back on to not be bored

[Froiky]

As much as I liked Spider Riders and Chaotic I think that by the time I started watching them the other shows that were once good were either unavailable or getting worse. Pokemon moved over to Cartoon Network and reruns of Yugioh and other shows were the only good cartoons.

[Deleted User]

Edit: Moved this thread to Animation and Manga because at the time when this forum was brought into being we officially discussed matters and decided that it is 'ANIMATION and Manga' -not- 'ANIME and Manga' specifically considering non 'Anime' forms of drawn entertainment such as American (or other nationality) cartoons. Thus this is the most appropriate place for this topic at this time.

------

been there done tha

[Amethyst]

Saturday Morning cartoons are pretty much the reason I got into anime

My best friend and I, and later my sister as well, would pretty much watch the lot of them religiously. Pokemon/Yugioh/Megaman NT Warrior/Sailor Moon/Tokyo Mew Mew.

That said, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with the abstract style of modern cartoons in Adventure Time et al. Even though I don't personally care for it, I think scenarios and worlds like the ones Adventure Time establishes are far more creative than the ones represented in 90's cartoons.

Contrast, for example, Ed Edd n Eddy's small town dystopia to the setting of a recovering post-apoc imaginary continent and associated kingdoms in Adventure Time. I won't say that when properly explored a small town can't be just as creative or powerful as the Land of Ooo, but in the given example I don't think it was. Most of Ed Edd n Eddy's scenarios involved the boys getting into trouble or trying to scheme for personal gain, often borrowing on common social stereotypes to create conflict. On the other hand I've only seen a handful of episodes from Adventure Time, but from what I've seen their focus seems to be helping others maintain order via conflicts in the varied domains.

To me, one of those requires just a little bit more thought than the other, and in the example it sets for its young and impressionable viewers, I think it shows.

My bias might be at play here, since I never did care for Ed^3. But I think the nostalgia glasses are strong on the reverse side too.

[Felicity]

Nostalgia goggles warning

Ed^3 was a simple show that did revolve around the boys working for personal gain most episodes with some variation, such as one episode where Ed went exploring on an alien world in his imagination iirc.

Thing is it did things very well. The animation was colourful and pretty unique, even now imo, and the characters while stereotypical as fuck, were done well enough with enough of the writers personal touches to make them stand out. C'mon, who can forget Johnny and Plank? And each episode, whilst following the same formula most of the time were varied, creative and entertaining to 9 year old me.