One of the biggest joys in an ’80s child’s life was Saturday morning. This was because of the phenomenon known only as Saturday morning cartoons. Young children watching TV today will not undergo the same cartoon experience this generation faced as kids. And our children’s experience could be in grave danger.
Take a trip down memory lane. It’s the 80s. After a rough week of learning addition and subtraction tables in first grade, the excitement of Saturday morning cartoons arrives.
Dwight Barnes, a psychology senior, said waking up just to watch cartoons was a great start to the day.
“I’d wake up at 8 a.m and watch my favorite cartoons like ‘Captain N’ and ‘Super Mario Bros.,'” Barnes said. “It’s just a good feeling when you wake up on Saturday morning and you don’t have to go to school, there’s no homework, and you don’t have to see any teachers.”
Catherine Miltenberger, a mass communication senior also recounts her Saturday morning experiences.
“I woke up real early to get the maximum amount of cartoon time until it turned into the daytime crap that you didn’t care about,” Miltenberger said.
She said she would fix a bowl of cereal and sit in front of the television for hours watching cartoons like “Gummi Bears,” “Eek the Cat” and “Rainbow Brite.”
Other popular Saturday morning cartoons were “The Bugs Bunny Show,” “Muppet Babies,” “Ghostbusters,” “Garfield and Friends” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
This is only a small fraction of the viewing pleasure provided for Saturday mornings. In the ’80s CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX aired four hours of cartoons from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m giving children four different cartoons to choose from at one time.
The current Saturday morning line-up looks nothing like it did in the ’80s. According to “TV Guide,” FOX and WB are the only channels keeping the Saturday morning tradition alive by showing all cartoons from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
NBC completely ditched cartoons for their news show “Today,” “The Croc Files,” “Jeff Corwin Unleashed” and “Trading Spaces.”
Because Viacom owns both Nickelodeon and CBS, Nick’s cartoons such as “Dora the Explorer” are rehashed on CBS for their Saturday mornings, along with the news at 7 a.m.
Disney owns ABC, consequently Saturday mornings on ABC are basically a promotion for the Disney Channel airing programs such as “Lizzie Maguire,” and “Lilo and Stitch: The Series.”
“It’s something I looked forward to every Saturday morning,” Miltenberger said. “Whenever I could watch cartoons, I used to watch them as long as my mom would let me.”
This generation’s children most likely will never experience a true Saturday morning like those of the ’80s.
Mark Norman, senior vice-president of business operations for Cartoon Network and Boomerang, credited the decline of Saturday morning cartoons to the rise of other cable channels.
“Saturday morning and after school cartoons became less of a focus due to the rise of channels like Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and the Disney Channel,” Norman said.
Norman said cartoons air any time of the day today. This means today’s Saturday morning and after school cartoons are less important today than 15 years ago.
Recently, Cartoon Network has shown less of the cartoons we grew up with and is airing cartoons produced for them such as “Dexter’s Laboratory” and “Johnny Bravo.” Norman said Cartoon Network wanted to attract a different age demographic for the cable channel.
Norman is also the general manager of Boomerang, Cartoon Network’s sister channel. Boomerang airs classic cartoons originating from 1964 to 1982.
When asked if another station could be created targeting people ages 20 to 30 showing ’80s cartoons, Norman said, “We’d like them to because parents would be into it and get their kids to watch saying ‘I remember watching this as a kid.'”
Unfortunately, Boomerang’s budget is considerably smaller than Cartoon Network’s budget.
“At this point in time, it’s difficult to get distribution,” Norman said. “We wanted to take advantage of the great [Looney Toons and Hanna Barbara] library we [already] have.”
Boomerang has enough shows in their library right now to satisfy their core target age demographic.
Norman said Boomerang’s goal is to evolve over time. He said in 10 years, the programming on Boomerang should reflect the cartoons our generation watched as kids.
Miltenberger said she would watch ’80s cartoons on another Cartoon Network sister station created specifically for this generation’s cartoons.
“Everyone I know would watch that because we always sit around talking about how good cartoons were,” Miltenberger said.
In an attempt to get kids associated with ’80s cartoons, some of the popular ones have been remade for television. Currently, there are remakes of “He-Man,” “Transformers” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” where the storylines have been altered from their original counter-parts.
Swenson disagreed with remakes and she said “They should recycle what used to be and bring it back on the air because those are the classics,” Swenson said.
Miltenberger agrees with Swenson.
“I think they should just replay our cartoons because they were so good,” Miltenberger said. “I wish I could still watch those cartoons but they just don’t come on.”
But Norman said the reason for the remakes is because children today want something new and fresh. They can tell when something is old by the animation style.
Swenson believes networks should bring back the ’80s Saturday mornings.
“I don’t like how they are so limited now,” Swenson said. “I think the kids now should have more of a choice and be able to flip stations for cartoons.”
Miltenberger said she tried watching Saturday morning cartoons while she was in high school.
“[Saturday morning cartoons] have turned into a big disappointment,” Miltenberger said. “It’s just not the same.”
Barnes, who noticed the Saturday morning change about two years ago, believes future generations will not have the same experiences ’80s children had with cartoons.
“I don’t think there will really be a Saturday morning cartoon anymore,” Barnes said. “I think because of Cartoon Network they feel that they don’t have to show [Saturday morning] cartoons anymore.”