Poll: When Did Saturday Mornings "Jump the Shark?"

[TMC]

*NBC stops showing cartoons in favor for more by the numbers, formulaic teen oriented sitcoms.

*Disney totally takes over ABC's programming so that they can bring us "One Saturday Morning."

*The WB suffers from an overindulgence with Pokemon.

*Nickelodeon actually threatens to gain more viewership than the broadcast networks.

*The FCC susposedly gets much more involved with dictating the programming in order to make it more "PC."

*CBS totally dumps its programming in favor for tiresome informational and religious programming.

[Tobias Christopher]

For some reason, all of these are contributing factors to the death of Saturday mornings.

NBC jumped the Saturday shark a while before dumping the cartoons. NBC jumped the shark when they cancelled Smurfs, Alvin and the Chipmunks and their other classic shows.

ABC jumped the shark a year before Disney took over. I think it was around the time that Doug and the Goliath Chronicles hit the schedule.

WB jumped the shark after it's second season when they started ditching their good shows. (Earthworm Jim, Freakazoid, Animaniacs, etc.)

Nickeledeon jumped the shark when they started doubling up on their shows on weekend mornings. One of each is enough, plus they don't even consider showing Ace Ventura, Pinky and the Brain, or ZIM on Saturdays.

The FCC's always been a pain in the ass. I blame them for the horrific treatment of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when CBS picked up the series.

And finally, CBS jumped the shark the season they dumped all their shows in favor of news shows, wildlife programs, and Nick Jr.

[Steve Carras]

For some reason, all of these are contributing factors to the death of Saturday mornings.

NBC jumped the Saturday shark a while before dumping the cartoons. NBC jumped the shark when they cancelled Smurfs, Alvin and the Chipmunks and their other classic shows.

ABC jumped the shark a year before Disney took over. I think it was around the time that Doug and the Goliath Chronicles hit the schedule.

WB jumped the shark after it's second season when they started ditching their good shows. (Earthworm Jim, Freakazoid, Animaniacs, etc.)

Nickeledeon jumped the shark when they started doubling up on their shows on weekend mornings. One of each is enough, plus they don't even consider showing Ace Ventura, Pinky and the Brain, or ZIM on Saturdays.

The FCC's always been a pain in the ass. I blame them for the horrific treatment of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when CBS picked up the series.

And finally, CBS jumped the shark the season they dumped all their shows in favor of news shows, wildlife programs, and Nick Jr.

Well, none of the shows mentioned about were cartoons--just liver shows animatred and dictated by suits--I mean the Chipmunks didn;t have any GD HUMOR like the 1960s one about which I['d posted--where was Clyde CRASCHCUP (voiced by that actor, Shepherd Menken who did the California based Western Airlines bird commercial for planes-THE ONLY WAY TO FLY :D)

Jumped the shark the eighties when NO funny carooons were done and even Fat Albert started to look good by compariosn (HEY HEY HEY,saw the flick from Fox last night and it was funny,by the way-gotta gety that obligatory rhyme there today!)

[GARFIELDKOOL]

the early 90s.

[W.J. Griffin]

Saturday mornings for me stopped being special when the parents groups decided that Space Ghost, The herculoids and uncensored Looney Tunes were detrimental to my mental health.

The onslaught of heavy-handed pro-social messages started during the late 1960s and got progressivly worse as time wore on, so that an enjoyable series like "Archie" and especially "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" got preachier and preachier to the point that i no longer cared about the protagonist.

And it was a lot worse for adventure shows, where the narratives depended on dramatic tension, and, of course, dramatic tension was eliminated because parent groups didn't want their children to repeat the acts that their favorite cartoon characters did in the shows on their little sister....

So, you got a bunch of cartoons that were designed to, little by little, wear away a child's natural craving for imaginative playtime, as each show has the atmosphere of an oppressive Sunday school lesson (skipping over the more exciting tales of The Great Flood, Exodus and The Nativity, and instead drilling unconnected and out-of-context scriptures into the minds of innocent children to forward an all-encompassing Judeo-Christian fundamentalist political agenda*, but I digress)...small wonder little Jonny suffers from attention deficeit syndrom...there's nothing for him to get excited about! :mad:

* Yes, this is a BAD thing!

[bronxgirl]

What really killed saturday mornings when someone got the brilliant idea to market directly children (you know the ones that actually would play with the toys the cartoons based on( Strawberry Shortcake, GI Joe, JEM, etc ) remember these? And the all the concerned parent groups felt that kids weren't smart enough to know the difference between a commerical and an actual cartoon. Not to mention that they felt it was an outrage to market directly to children (the nerve of all those evil ad execs gear a commercial directly to an 8 year old girl who would want a Barbie doll dream house :mad:) . After years and years of the then 3 big networks getting hammered by these groups about when and how long the commerical could show during childrens programming they said forget it and just droped the format completly, and as mentioned before with cable comming into more homes put the brakes on Saturday Mornings as we used to know it.

[musicradio77]

I remember years ago, Saturday mornings had the best cartoons on. I remember the "Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show", "New Kids on the Block", "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo", "Fat Albert", "Hammerman", "Get Along Gang", "Kidd Video", "Mr. T" and a bunch of other stuff that have never been forgotten. RIP to two networks NBC and CBS. I missed the Saturday mornings show. I hope it will be put out on DVD soon. I have two of the DVD's that had been on Saturdays "Looney Tunes Golden Collection - Vol. 2" and the "60 Classic Cartoons" on 2 DVD's with both sides. Now I can watch the older cartoons that had been before my time. Lots of great memories of Saturday mornings.

[slackermonkey]

Late 90s. Kids' blocks were dying off, the remaining ones were showing Japanese imports and lame educational shows. The only decent Saturday morning block at the time was Kids' WB, with shows like Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain and The Batman/Superman Adventures, then it got devoured by Pokemon reruns and became crap instantly.

[greenlaser5555]

FOX Kids had jumped the shark during it's 2001-2002 season while adding dumb shows & making that dumb Digimon season 3 with that whiny leader Takato, who thinks it's all real, & the show got really close to getting cancelled that year for it's low ratings. And also shows like Moolah Beach, Galidor, Alienators: Evolution Continues, Mon Colle Knights, Transformers: Robots In Disguise, & especially that most ridiculous show to ever air on FOX & Adult Swim, "The Ripping Friends". And I'm so glad that adult swim no longer carries it. But the only show that I would prefer was Medabots. To me, Medabots was the best show to ever air on FOX & ABC Family, and was the highest rated show of FOX Kids's last season. And it's sad to see it off the airwaves. But in the Fall of 2002, 4Kids Entertainment had bought FOX Kids & changed it's name to "The FOXBOX" , which is alot better than the final FOX Kids season from 2001-2002.

So R.I.P.
FOX Kids: 1990-2002

[LucyCompanyPhan]

When pokemon went under attack and the wb showed it 45843534 times a morning. When the WB canceled animanics, pinky & the brain & tiny toons. After that went under, most hope for anything decent was gone.

I actually liked ABC One saturday mornings in the beginning. Doug wasn't that bad and Pepper Ann was great but then Sabrina and other shows were created and it went down hill.

That was just the time period when I was watching cartoons in the morning.

[GARFIELDKOOL]

I just wish Saturday Mornings were what they used to be. Before FOX became a network, ABC, CBS, and NBC were real competitive. In the 80s, when I grew up, NBC had Smurfs, Snorks, Shirtales, Gummi Bears, Punky Brewster, Foofur, Lazer Tag Academy, Mr.T, Alf, Fraggle Rock, Turbo Teen. CBS had Muppet Babies, Hulk Hogan's Rock n' Wrestling, Teen Wolf, Galaxy High, Bearstein Bears, Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Popeye and Son, Mighty Mouse, Dungeons and Dragons, Ragedy Ann and Andy. ABC had the Flintstone Kids, Slimer! and The Real Ghostbusters, Pound Puppies, Care Bears, Ewoks, The Littles, Droids, The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show. To me, this was Saturday Morning at its best. Does anyone remember these cartoons?

[MacLeaper]

Awesome!!! In reply to the last post, that would have been circa 1984 and that was an awesome time to be a child!!! I remember all those cartoons and grew up loving many of them. I'd say Saturday mornings jumped the shark at about the early 90s. There were still a few holdovers from the 80s on, but somewhere along the line they died off and the end of a great era came about. You can't beat the 1980s for great Saturday morning cartoons!

Yo Joe!!!
Transformers, Transform and roll out!
Hold on, TigerSharks!
Tally Hawk!
Eyes of the Hawk! Ears of the Wolf! Strength of the Bear! Speed of the Puma!
It's Crime Fighting Time!
Spider-Friends, Go for it!
Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, ThunderCats, HOOOOO!!!!!

If any of those phrases mean anything to you, then you remember some of the greatest cartoons ever! And they're all from the good old 1980s!!!!!! :)

[robby76]

The Paw Paws (pawpaw bears), MASK, Jem, Monchichi's, The Biskitts, Meatball & Spaghetti... as well as the above mentioned Ewoks, Care Bears, Shirt-tales, GI Joe, He-man and so on.

I agree with Garfieldkool.

The last truly great Saturday mornings were circa 1992... after that it mostly went downhill... especially with the Japanese cartoons and the "trying to be too wacky" cartoons.

[theshark8777]

I just wish Saturday Mornings were what they used to be. Before FOX became a network, ABC, CBS, and NBC were real competitive. In the 80s, when I grew up, NBC had Smurfs, Snorks, Shirtales, Gummi Bears, Punky Brewster, Foofur, Lazer Tag Academy, Mr.T, Alf, Fraggle Rock, Turbo Teen. CBS had Muppet Babies, Hulk Hogan's Rock n' Wrestling, Teen Wolf, Galaxy High, Bearstein Bears, Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Popeye and Son, Mighty Mouse, Dungeons and Dragons, Ragedy Ann and Andy. ABC had the Flintstone Kids, Slimer! and The Real Ghostbusters, Pound Puppies, Care Bears, Ewoks, The Littles, Droids, The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show. To me, this was Saturday Morning at its best. Does anyone remember these cartoons?


I remember most of those shows, and watched most of them. NBC also had a show with the strange name of Kissyfur. And don't forget Hey Vern, Its Earnest!

We must be close to the same age.

[ClassicComedyFan2]

CBS and NBC when they stopped creating their own Saturday Morning programming.

FOX reversed jumped, and is now the enjoyable 4Kids TV with good shows like Sonic X, Ninja Turtles, and Kirby.

WB isn't nearly as good as it used to be, but has managed to avoid completely jumping the shark thanks the still-enjoyable Pokemon.

ABC jumped when they finally took of Recess and Buzz Lightyear.

[Tweety]

Trust me kids....Saturday morning cartoons jumped when all cartoons became poorly animated commercials for the latest toys.

I watched Sat a.m. toons from about the late 60s to the mid 70s...by the late 70s, the only decent cartoons were the old Looney Toons...

Most of the cartoons I watched in the late 60s didn't have toys connected with them. For example, I liked the "Herculoids" show, but I never saw Herculoids action figures in the stores (although if they DID have them, I'm sure I would have wanted them). There were also good Superman cartoons (before Superman started looking like a steroid freak).

The Fat Albert cartoons weren't really all that funny, but the stories all had a moral to them.

Of course, the old Warner Brothers cartoons were never intended for TV. They were actual theatrical releases. When you went to a matinee in the late 60s or early 70s, you would usually get one or two Bugs Bunny cartoons before the movie. That's why so much effort went into the six-minute cartoons. The animation, the artwork, the music and dialogue were all far superior to anything else that's ever been made.

The 80s cartoons (e.g. Transformers) used no more than 3 or 4 drawings per second, because they weren't concerned with any storyline, all they wanted to do was sell transformers to kids (which they did, in spades). But the cartoons themselves will never stand the test of time the way Bugs and the gang did.

Re: ABC's "One Saturday Morning", I've seen a little bit of Pepper Ann back in those days, and that seemed like a decent show for kids. The other show I remember from that (this must have been early to mid 90s) was a show done in "squigglevision" about a courtroom where the judge is able to solve the crime using science. I think it was called "Science Court". I thought that show was hysterical, and yet a kid could still learn something from it.

An oh, brother, don't even get me started on the "Loonatics" cartoons (supposed to be the descendents of Bugs, Daffy, Road Runner etc). The drawings I've seen of the new characters look awful.

Glad I'm not a kid growing up today, that's for sure!

Of course, reading the previous posts, EVERYONE thinks that Sat a.m. cartoons were the best when THEY were growing up, and that Sat cartoons went downhill as soon as they outgrew them. However, that's only true in MY case!
:lol:

P.S. The cartoon network really, really sucks

[MacLeaper]

Not all of the 1980s cartoons were 30 minute commercials for toys. Remember, the toy lines for both G.I. Joe and Transformers existed Before the cartoons came around. If anything, the G.I. Joe cartoon was based on the Marvel comic book that started in 1982. Transformers also got a comic book later too. There were also 80s made episodes of Bugs Bunny and the gang too. And I love Looney Tunes. But the 1980s had great animation and some great shows. There are definitely some favorite cartoons of mine from the 1980s that had no toyline whatsoever that I know of and were still great shows. Like "Turbo Teen". Other good cartoons included "Lazer Tag Academy", "The Comic Strip", "Bravestarr", "Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers", "SilverHawks", and "ThunderCats".

Superman also had a 1988 cartoon series in honor of his 50th. anniversary and I don't think he looked like a steroid freak. And I'm pretty sure the cartoon inspiring toyline didn't start in the 80s. I know there's been lots of products for The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and the Looney Tunes, for that matter.

In any case, even if some shows did showcase their toylines, I don't care because they were still great shows, the toys were awesome, and they had plenty of great animation and music. And the 1980s shows are still tons better than the stuff on today, with a few exceptions that are pretty decent. (Like X-Men Evolution, Justice League Unlimited and pretty much all the superhero cartoons)

[Tweety]

Not all of the 1980s cartoons were 30 minute commercials for toys. Remember, the toy lines for both G.I. Joe and Transformers existed Before the cartoons came around. If anything, the G.I. Joe cartoon was based on the Marvel comic book that started in 1982. Transformers also got a comic book later too. There were also 80s made episodes of Bugs Bunny and the gang too. And I love Looney Tunes. But the 1980s had great animation and some great shows. There are definitely some favorite cartoons of mine from the 1980s that had no toyline whatsoever that I know of and were still great shows. Like "Turbo Teen". Other good cartoons included "Lazer Tag Academy", "The Comic Strip", "Bravestarr", "Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers", "SilverHawks", and "ThunderCats".

Superman also had a 1988 cartoon series in honor of his 50th. anniversary and I don't think he looked like a steroid freak. And I'm pretty sure the cartoon inspiring toyline didn't start in the 80s. I know there's been lots of products for The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and the Looney Tunes, for that matter.

In any case, even if some shows did showcase their toylines, I don't care because they were still great shows, the toys were awesome, and they had plenty of great animation and music. And the 1980s shows are still tons better than the stuff on today, with a few exceptions that are pretty decent. (Like X-Men Evolution, Justice League Unlimited and pretty much all the superhero cartoons)


Excellent points, MacLeaper... I should point out that my problem is not with cartoons which also merchandise themselves...the Simpsons do that, and the Simpsons have been as consistently funny as any cartoon ever done... The thing I don't like is when the ONLY reason for the cartoons is to advertise the product.

I watched a few (very few, fortunately) Transformers cartoons with nephews and nieces during the time they were on...nobody will ever convince me that they put more than about 20 minutes in putting one of those cartoons together. No story to speak of, and like I said, about 3 or 4 drawings per second (instead of the 20 or so that good animation would require). The idea was to put as little time (and therefore money) into the cartoons as possible, since it was really just an advertisement for the toys. Of course, I was in my 20s when these were on, so I cast a much more critical eye than a kid would have at that time.

The GI Joe toy, of course, has been around at least since the 50s, maybe even the 40s. (I had one myself as a kid, in the late 60s). I never saw a GI Joe cartoon though. If they did run sometime in the 80s, I never saw it, so I can't comment on the stories or anything.

The Bugs Bunny/Daffy/Speedy Gonzales cartoons made in the 80s were a vastly inferior product to the original cartoons made in the 40s and 50s. Still, they might have been better than most stuff that was on at the time.

As for "Turbo Teen", "Lazer Tag Academy", "The Comic Strip", "Bravestarr", "Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers", "SilverHawks", and "ThunderCats", the only one of those I even remember hearing about was Thundercats, but I never saw any of them.

I'm not sure which Superman I saw where he was much more muscle-bound than he had been (they've done the same thing to Batman)... He looked terrible in the comics that I saw in the late 80s... Of course, us Superman fans know that he didn't get his great strenght from having big muscles, he got it from Earth's yellow sun and Earth's lesser gravity. If you've ever seen Superman from the 70s (or earlier) comics, he looks like a normal person (although his muscles were bigger than the average person, he still looked like a normal human being).

And yes, I remember a lot of Flintstones and Jetsons merchandise too. But again, the purpose of those cartoons was to put on a good half hour show, which they did. If they want to merchandise on top of that, I have no problem whatsoever.

You last comment kind of brough home my other point, which is that all of us, myself included, think that the cartoons we saw growing up were the best, and certainly better than any of that junk that's on today... (but actually, this is only true in MY case) :)

In fact, I predict that, about the year 2025, there will be a lot of 30 year olds saying that the junk that's on Saturday mornings at THAT time is "nowhere near as good as the stuff that was on in the good old days, around 2005....now THAT was television!!"

(but actually, I don't know how kids watch the junk that's on today!)

Have a great one!!!

[MariposaLKB]

The Disney Channel and Toon Disney have even "jumped the shark". They never used to have commercials (unless you count the promotions of other shows on the same channel), but now even they do. And they have begun carrying cartoons that ARE 20-minute (NOT half-hour LOL grrrr) commercials for toys, such as Japanese imports like Digimon.

Just as a side note--IMHO even if cartoons these days are not themselves commercials for toys, the volume of commercials during shows aimed at children is insane!

[jrb_wi]

Personally I think it was when they cancelled the animated superhero shows in the mid 80s. NBC got rid of Spidey and the Hulk, and ABC (I think) got rid of the DC superheroes (I don't think they were the Superfriends at that point, but I know it wasn't Justice League). I needed me my superpowered crimefighting fix, darn it (since I didn't get to buy the comix), and once those shows bought it I just died a little inside.

The networks redeemed themselves some in the 90s (the WB stable of Batman/Superman/Justice League, the different versions of Spider-Man and X-Men), but by that time I was sleeping in on Saturdays. Sigh...

[Sailormoonfan44]

How about when USA dumped the Cartoon Express out so they can show tv series about drama and other boring adult stuff! :mad:
And I agree about all of your posts!

[theshark8777]

How about when USA dumped the Cartoon Express out so they can show tv series about drama and other boring adult stuff! :mad:
And I agree about all of your posts!

I miss the USA cartoon express.

[80]

I miss the USA cartoon express.

Yeah so did I. I missed that very much! :soapbox: