What Really Killed Saturday Morning Cartoons

[Brian Damage]

Was it the internet, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, The FCC, Lack of Originality? What in your opinion was the real reason behind the demise of Saturday morning cartoons?

[Marvo301]

Was it the internet, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, The FCC, Lack of Originality? What in your opinion was the real reason behind the demise of Saturday morning cartoons?
I think both specialty cable channels (Disney,Nick) and the internet are major contributors to the demise of Saturday morning cartoons. When I was a kid Saturday A.M. was the only time their was programming on TV especially for children. I used to wait all week long for Saturday so I could watch my favorite cartoons. With cable channels like Disney and Nick airing programs for children 7 days a week and the internet making such programming available whenever you want it Saturday A.M. is not the special time for children that it used to be.

[MrCleveland]

In 1992...It was The Networks, NBC Discontinued their SatAM cartoons and replaced it with the NBC Today News!
In 1993...Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon started having cartoons.
In 1996...The FCC Stepped-in and said there has to be E/I Programming...PBS wasn't enough I guess!
In 1997...The Disney Channel would be available to the masses with cable/satelite.
In 2000...Boomerang Network came.
In 2006...YouTube came.

And let's not forget The VHS, where you can watch SatAM cartoons on Tuesday Afternoon! Then came DVD's where you can do the same thing...in better quality!

[TV Knowledge Fan]

....by the late '90s, the broadcast networks gained control of virtually everything they schedule in prime-time and late night (either they own the shows they schedule outright, or co-own and produce them with others). With all that attention to those schedules (with the exception of Disney/ABC), the broadcast networks decided to "get out" of the Saturday morning cartoon business and lease that time to "others", like Qubo and Cookie Jar TV, allowing them to fill those hours with their own "in-house" series and split the profits with them on ad time sold during those shows. Yet, the "E/I" rule is still in effect, and naturally, those shows have to "teach" something....and that's why those Saturday schedules, for the most part, suck these days.

:tv:

[DSfan]

I just read Dustin Diamond's memoir last week and he states that the emergence of the teen high-school type of sitcoms starting with Saved by the Bell and then all those other TNBC sitcoms is what killed Saturday morning cartoons - which he says were his favorite and would go into an executive at NBC's office just to watch tapes that were available of cartoons.

I agree with his statement because then came Lizzie McGuire, That's So Raven and Hannah Montana. The list goes on and on as the quality of the Saturday morning cartoons went down and down.

[Marvo301]

I just read Dustin Diamond's memoir last week and he states that the emergence of the teen high-school type of sitcoms starting with Saved by the Bell and then all those other TNBC sitcoms is what killed Saturday morning cartoons - which he says were his favorite and would go into an executive at NBC's office just to watch tapes that were available of cartoons.

I agree with his statement because then came Lizzie McGuire, That's So Raven and Hannah Montana. The list goes on and on as the quality of the Saturday morning cartoons went down and down.
Live action shows have been airing on Saturday mornings since at least the early 1970's when Sid and Marty Kroftt introduced shows like Land of the Lost, Far Out Space Nuts, and The Lost Saucer to Saturday mornings. Then there were the live action Shazzam and Isis shows as well. None of these shows killed Saturday morning cartoons so I don't tghink Dustin Diamonds theory is correct.

[Stuck In The '70's]

Live action shows have been airing on Saturday mornings since at least the early 1970's when Sid and Marty Kroftt introduced shows like Land of the Lost, Far Out Space Nuts, and The Lost Saucer to Saturday mornings. Then there were the live action Shazzam and Isis shows as well. None of these shows killed Saturday morning cartoons so I don't tghink Dustin Diamonds theory is correct.
Yea. I even remember watching a drama called Run Joe Run about a fugitive dog in the early 1970's. Live action shows have always been a part of Saturday morning.

[robyrob]

the FCC and that stupid E/I initiative

[DSfan]

Yea. I even remember watching a drama called Run Joe Run about a fugitive dog in the early 1970's. Live action shows have always been a part of Saturday morning.

Oh wow. I really wasn't aware that so many live-action shows used to air on Saturday mornings! Well, maybe some of it just has to do with Hanna-Barbera declining over the years as they were the ones to introduce so many of the classic Saturday morning cartoons.

[waichingliu81]

- the likes of filmation, hanna barbera closing down

- adult animation shows or cartoons aimed at adults have taken over and thus likes of fox have concentrated more on producing those types of progs

- lack of good characters, themes, storylines

- nickelodeon, cartoon network, disney airing unoriginal, less interesting and quality shows

[Rezny@gmail.com]

The 1960's was the BEST time for Saturday Morning Cartoons.Followed by the early (very early)1970's.In the 1960's,Hanna-Barbera was at its best.In the early 1970's,Filmation also had good product("The Archie Show"."Archie's Fun House","Sabrina,the Teenage Witch"(not to be confused with the one airing today,or the live-action series -this was a totally different version),"Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids"(the ORIGINAL CBS version,which,in my opinion,was the best ,with Bill Cosby(who else?).There was an NBC version ,but I never saw that).However,that all changed in the late 1970's,1980's,and today.

[retroTVfan4ever]

I agree that the 1960's was best for Saturday morning cartoons. In the 60's, Hanna-Barbera was king with a number of good animated shows. During the early and mid 1970's, there were still some fairly decent toons being aired but the glory days of the 60's were over and the decline had begun.

[comedyfreak]

I just read Dustin Diamond's memoir last week and he states that the emergence of the teen high-school type of sitcoms starting with Saved by the Bell and then all those other TNBC sitcoms is what killed Saturday morning cartoons - which he says were his favorite and would go into an executive at NBC's office just to watch tapes that were available of cartoons.

I agree with his statement because then came Lizzie McGuire, That's So Raven and Hannah Montana. The list goes on and on as the quality of the Saturday morning cartoons went down and down.
I heard almost the same, Saved By The Bell was really popular the Network wanted more programming like SBTB other teen shows popped up after Saved By The Bell.

[jimpickens]

It's cheaper and easier to produce a live action kids show than it is to produce a cartoon show so they are here to stay. Plus if have ever seen the quality of the cartoons that are being made it's perhaps for the better if we don't have Saturday morning cartoons.

[TMC]

What killed Saturday morning cartoons in a nutshell:
*The popularity of live-action high school sitcoms (which were much cheaper to produce than animated shows) like Saved by the Bell. It's really no different than the assortment of cookie-cutter tween sitcoms we normally see on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel presently.

*American animation studios like Filmation and Hanna-Barbara slowing dying/losing direction over the course of the late '80s and throughout the '90s.

*The FCC tightening their grip on children's programming with stuff like the "three hours of education" mandate. This made shows (e.g. action figure commercials like He-Man, Transformers, and G.I. Joe), way, way, way harder to be profitable.

*Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Disney Channel (and now The Hub) becoming more available. It became kind of pointless for networks to devote a Saturday morning to original children's programming when it was readily available virtually 24/7 elsewhere.

*Media consolidation like Disney buying ABC or Viacom buying CBS. Because of this, it was highly unlikely that a network's schedule would be more diversified. For instance, during the early '90s (prior to Disney buying ABC) CBS aired The Little Mermaid. Also, networks lazily decided to place shows that originated on cable (e.g. the Disney Channel and Nick Jr.) on Saturday mornings.

*The advent of the YouTube and Tivo meant that it was easier to see an animated show (without having to get up early in the morning).

[Regulus]

Was it the internet, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, The FCC, Lack of Originality? What in your opinion was the real reason behind the demise of Saturday morning cartoons?

There are many factors that led to the demise of Saturday Morning TV, but the first "Catilyst" occured in the late 1960s and early 1970s. During this time, several Children's Advocacy Groups began complaining to the FCC that many Children's programs were among other things:

Too Violent.

Contained no "Educational Content".

Were nothing more than "Overlong Commercials" for certain Products.

As a result of this many Shows were taken off the airwaves, some were even banned from ever being shown again. :(

Growing up at this time, I watched helplessly as many of my Favorates disappeared from the scene. Only recently have some of them returned, thanks to a little something called the DVD.

It wasn't enough that they took a lot of Childrens Shows off the air, they also began attacking the Advertisers that placed Commercials in these kinds of Shows. In Particular, those that dealt with certain Foods and Beverages. The "Do Gooders" whined that many of these caused problems with Children, such as Tooth Decay, Obesity and Diabetis, among others. So what replaced these Ads? Ones with Lizards and other Charactures OBNOXIOUSLY hawking their Insurance Policies, Not-so Free Credit Reporting Agencies and even Prescription Drugs dealing with certain "Bodily Functions" featuring a Rip-Off of an old Elvis Presley Tune! (It was the sight of the latter on a Children's TV Show a little over four years ago that made me decide to discontinue my Cable TV Subscription!):mad:ticked: :angryfire

[koolcartoontv]

Regulus is 100/% right as a child of the 80`s I remember there use to be a lot of good Saturday morning cartoons on channel 2,4,5,7,9,11 then those do gooder groups as regulus mention earlier along with the fcc started running ever thing allowing lazy writers with no creativity writing bad cartoons and sitcom with over the top awful acting.