Saturday Morning Cartoons Through the Years

[lhb412]

Yes, yes, with the expiration of the CW's Vortexx block Saturday morning cartoons on network television are officially extinct (though, I have to mention, you can still watch cartoons on Saturday mornings on the many stations that air primarily cartoons). Fell through the wiki wormhole and ended up reading the (very thorough) entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday-morning_cartoon

Then I stumbled on something truly interesting: listings for TV schedules for network Saturday mornings from the 1960s through today! I began to think: what if I was a kid during these years? What would I be watching? Guys, if you humor me I'd like to play pretend, and you're welcome to join in.

Okay, I'm starting with the 1963-1964 season. Before then, Saturdays were where lots of live action kids programs were being reran but this is the year where the cartoons began to coalesce around Saturday mornings. Apparently, this was mostly because advertisers began to realize the value of a big block of programming aimed directly at kids. Those breakfast cereals and toys aren't gonna advertise themselves! Still, it's pretty much all reruns. Here goes:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1963%E2%80 ... morning%29

8:00 Hmmm... Captain Kangaroo is pretty much it for the first hour. I may watch it, might sleep in...
9:00 The Alvin Show
9:30 Heck, yeah! I'll be watching Tennessee Tuxedo!
10:00 Okay, this is a harder one: The Jetsons (ABC) or Quickdraw McGraw (CBS). Considering that The Jetsons only had 24 episodes maybe I originally go with The Jetsons and then turn over to Quickdraw after they cycle through all the episodes.
10:30 I've never seen Fireball XL5, but I like the Thunderbirds, so I'm going with Gerry Anderson's "supermarionation" adventure.
11:00 Beany and Cecil
11:30 Unquestionably The Bugs Bunny Show!
12:00 No idea
12:30 Yay, it's The Bullwinkle Show! That's it for me. I'm off to play outside... unless they're showing some monster flick for the afternoon movie, in which case I'm staying inside all day.

Overall, a pretty good year. Four of those shows are classics of some degree. No network really wins the morning.

[MekaGojira3k]

I approve of this thread.

[lhb412]

Things get a bit more interesting this year as we begin to get an influx of new cartoons made specifically for Saturday mornings. Previously, all the cartoons were reruns of either theatrical shorts, syndicated series, or from the brief period where networks had several primetime cartoons, like The Flinstones.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964%E2%80 ... morning%29

8:00 I'm done with Captain Kangaroo and Alivin. I'm sleeping till 9:30
9:30 Tennessee Tuxedo
10:00 There's no need to fear, The Underdog Show is here!
10:30 Probably be watching Firebal XL5's first season again. If I get tired of it I may, may, switch over to Mighty Mouse (as much as it pains me to say so)
11:00 Hmmm... this is a hard one. I guess I go with the Dennis the Menace rerun? The New Casper Cartoon Show doesn't sound promising.
11:30 Beany and Cecil, partway through this season it's ABC timeslot is replaced by The Porky Pig Show, one of several Looney Tunes packages. Either way, the dial'll stay on ABC
12:00 The Bugs Bunny Show
12:30 The Adventures of Hoppity Hooper! This is the now mostly forgotten Jay Ward show they did after Bullwinlkle but before George of the Jungle.

Things are shaping up nicely! Several great new shows show up next year...

-----
EDIT: fixed the links so they go to the proper years. I was tripping myself up with that!

[lhb412]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1965%E2%80 ... morning%29

Now things are really rolling, with a plethora of great shows.

9:00 The Jetsons, maybe turning over to Heckle and Jeckle if I tire of it
9:30 Hmmm... Tennessee Tuxedo or Atom Ant? Tennessee is a better show, but I like Atom Ant a lot. I mainly stick with Tennessee, turning over to Atom when Tennessee is in rerun.
10:00 The Secret Squirrel Show! At least at first: later in the season the time slot gets more competitive with The Porky Pig Show, one of many Looney Tunes compilations. I can see myself waffling between the two
10:30 Sorry Beatles, I like your music but your cartoon is not making me miss Underdog
11:00 Tom and Jerry or Top Cat? Another difficult one! Kid me recognizes the beauty and craftsmanship of classic theatrical animation, so I'm probably tuning into Tom and Jerry. I still like Top Cat a lot, though...
11:30 Porky Pig Show at first, it's ABC time slot is given to Magilla Gorilla a few months in. Either way I'll be staying on ABC.
12:00 The Bugs Bunny Show
12:30 Hmmm... don't know about these shows. I suppose Milton the Monster?
1:00 The Adventures of Hoppity Hooper

This was a really competitive year between the channels, with there being just to much good stuff to watch, and it's just going to get better!

[lhb412]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966%E2%80 ... morning%29

9:00 Mighty Mouse & The Mighty Heroes (Ralph Bakshi worked on that)
9:30 The Underdog Show, which had a lot of episodes, by the way. Most original Saturday morning animations had very limited runs (especially back then) even if they were kinda successful. Animation ain't cheap! Rerun the heck outta those things to make your money back! Well, Underdog (like Rocky and Bullwinkle) was cheaply animated by Gamma Productions and sponsored by General Mills and ended up totaling at 60+ episodes.
10:00 This, this is a real dilemma. The King Kong Show on ABC or Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles on CBS? Yes, Frank Jr. is the better show, but there is no way kid me of 1966 isn't as huge a King Kong fan as I am today. My first instinct is Kong, but switching over to CBS when Kong's a rerun.
10:30 The winner in this slot is crystal clear: Space Ghost and Dino Boy!
11:00 The New Adventures of Superman
11:30 The Magilla Gorilla show for the fall, then over to NBC for The Jetsons when Magilla moves 12:30 in the winter
12:00 What idiots scheduled The Bugs Bunny Show and The Road Runner show at the same time on different networks? Bugs is the clear winner, but still
12:30 Milton the Monster at first, then the aforementioned Magilla once it gets this time slot a few months in.
1:00 Tom and Jerry

Quite and excellent year, if I do say so myself! Nice balance of things: theatrical shorts and original TV stuff, action and comedy.

[jellydonut25]

Road Runner and Bugs on different stations in the same time slot? That's a turrible thing to do to children.

[lhb412]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967%E2%80 ... morning%29

You guys: this year is so awesome I'm gonna just nominate it for best ever season in the history of Saturday morning cartoons.

9:00 Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles
9:30 Guys, something truly horrible has happened: The Herculoids and The Fantastic Four are scheduled during the same time slot. This is a real Sophie's Choice. Now, The Herculoids is probably Hanna-Barbera's best action show outside of Jonny Quest, but there is no way kid me in 1967 isn't a loyal reader of Kirby & Lee's Fantastic Four comics, so I'm probably more excited for The Fantastic Four cartoon than anything in the history of ever besides maybe a new Godzilla film coming to theaters. Luckily, as I've mentioned before most of these show's have a pretty small amount of episodes, so after the 20 episodes of FF have all aired I can tune in to see The Herculoids.
10:00 Spider-Man (Is he strong? Listen, bud: he's got radioactive blood!)
10:30 Space Ghost and Dino Boy
11:00 Jeez, this is another terrible conundrum: The King Kong Show on ABC, Moby Dick and The Mighty Mightor on CBS, and Birdman and the Galaxy Trio on NBC. Frankly, I have no idea what to choose. I can only think to waffle between the three networks week to week.
11:30 George of the Jungle! Another Jay Ward classic. You know, this has the best animation of any of their shows because Ward really wanted to make a quality show, and even though they'd certainly loose money (which they did) he had them do all the animation for George in-house at their studios instead of farming it out to Mexico's Gamma Productions. Ward felt comfortable doing this because his studio was also doing very lucrative work on cereal commercials.
12:00 Top Cat
12:30 Yay, they're rerunning Jonny Quest!
1:00 Hmmm... suppose I'll stick around for the Lone Ranger rerun because I've resolved to watch all the way through to -
1:30 The Road Runner Show

[Jinzo Ningen]

Next year gets a big boost when the live action Krofft product makes its debut with surreal hit, "HR PuffNStuff."

BTW... this is a cool thread.

[lhb412]

^That's actually next year, but the Krofts are tentatively involved this year via their design work for The Banana Splits



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968%E2%80 ... morning%29

8:30 Our national nightmare is over: the two separate shows have become one and the The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show is born. It won't last. We're in for several Looney Tunes permutations before we're done.
9:30 Wacky Races, but maybe I switch over to NBC for Top Cat sometimes
10:00 Spider-Man, and I suppose we're in the increasingly weird Ralph Bakshi seasons now.
10:30 The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (lalala lalalala, lalala lalalala...)
11:30 Dammit, The Herculoids and The Fantastic Four are still scheduled at the same time! And now Underdog is, too! Will this madness ever cease? I can only suppose I'm switching between the three guided by whatever mood I'm in, but I feel I'll be in a Herculoids mood most of the time.
12:00 George of the Jungle
12:30 Jonny Quest
1:00 Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor

[Russzilla]

You're about to enter the best decade ever being a kid waking up on Saturday mornings. Awesome thread.

[lhb412]

^Personally, I don't think it gets any better than the late '60s. Hanna Barbera's action shows kicked ass; their comedy shows were uniformly pretty good; Jay Ward and Total Television brought in the smarter, more subversive comedies; and you round everything off with Looney Tunes reruns. How can you possibly get any better than that?

There's some great stuff in the '70s, but you have to remember there's a lot of dreck, too. Complaining parents smashed the action cartoons along with anything subversive and you had lots of series that were Hanna Barbera making the same show over and over again and you had a ton of sitcom and celebrity animated spin-offs which were, to put in mildly, usually terrible. Then you had the really lame versions of stuff that used to be awesome, like the new Popeye and Tom and Jerry Saturday morning cartoons made in the '70s, which are so bad I think kid me would have actually written letters of complaint ("Dear Hanna Barbera, Why is it that Popeye is awesome but your show totally sucks?!"). Thankfully, Sid and Marty Kroft turned out a bunch of neato projects, the better Hanna Barbera stuff tended to last a while (Scooby, Josie and the Pussycats, Blue Falcon and Dynomutt), and you still had Looney Tunes reruns.

[lhb412]

1969-1970

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969%E2%80 ... morning%29

8:00 The Jetsons
8:30 The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour
9:30 The Pink Panther Show
10:00 H.R. Pufnstuf, the begining of the Kroft supremacy that would characterize the '70s.
10:30 I tune in for Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (The first, and the best... at least until Mystery Incorporated decades later)
11:00 - and then catch the second half of The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (thankfully they run the iconic theme song during the end credits, as well).
11:30 This is a hard one. I suppose I watch the second half of The Archie Comedy Hour?
12:00 The Flintstones. I guess this is the first time I tune into The Flintstones on Saturday morning, huh? I always liked the show, it's just that there was always something else on before, usually a new show. I figure kid me of the '60s regularly watched The Flintstones in its premier time slot during prime time, anyway, so I didn't need to catch the Saturday morning reruns. Now we're two years removed from the series cancellation, so I probably miss it.
12:30 The Underdog Show
1:00 The New Adventures of Superman
1:30 Jonny Quest

Still very strong, but sadly we see the expiration of the short-lived action boom. Those last two shows, both reruns, are the only leftovers.

[lhb412]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970%E2%80 ... morning%29

8:00 The (ever reliable) Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour
9:00 Hrrmmm... is difficult. Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies, maybe? I'm somewhat curious about the show that's all dubbed footage of live chimps. The choice becomes much clearer when the schedule changes in the spring and NBC puts The Woody Woodpecker Show on at this time. Chilly Willy IN-THE-HOUSE!
9:30 The Bugaloos, more Kroft weirdness
10:00 Josie and the Pussycats (have you guys seen the Josie movie? It's not bad)
10:30 The Pink Panther show probably wins in terms of quality, but my fondness for the Harlem Globetrotters makes me curious about their cartoon.
11:00 H.R. Pufnstuf
11:30 Probably the second half of Archie's TV Funhouse
12:00 Scooby-Doo, Where are You?
12:30 A rerun of The Monkees (did you know Harry Nilsson wrote songs for The Monkees?)
1:00 Dastardly and Muttley and Their Flying Machines
1:30 The Jetsons

[hanshotfirst1138]

I fee up with Cartoon Network at the peak in the 1990s and 2000s. You never know when you're living in a golden age .

[Gwangi]

Will there be a mention of School House Rock? If I remember, that started around maybe 1973.

[lhb412]

Schoolhouse Rock didn't have a timeslot to itself. It aired during breaks, so I suppose it won't technically show up on my little lists.

I want to be on the record as pro-Schoolhouse Rock, though.

[Gwangi]

I will start a petition to get Schoolhouse Rock on those lists!

Obviously, I don't watch Saturday cartoons anymore, but I am also a big sentimentalist and find it rather sad that this format no longer exists. Technology has certainly changed things that none of us foresaw.

[lhb412]

Now, the season!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971%E2%80 ... morning%29

8:00 The Bugs Bunny Show... which has sadly split from the Road Runner Show again. Maybe WB got a better deal by selling two seperate shows to two separate networks?
8:30 This is a very difficult one. The Road Runner Show; Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?; and The Woody Woodpecker Show are all competing for my attention. I assume that, as a kid alive during this time, I've seen almost all this material before. None of this is new, so I'd probably switch between them and likely stick around for a favorite or new-to-me episode.
9:00 The Harlem Globetrotters (kid me of '71 is probably a big fan of the Globetrotters)
9:30 The New Pink Panther Show
10:00 My love of the Flintstones predisposed me towards the Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show. Oddly, I don't think I've ever actually seen this show, which is odd. I mean, CN in the '90s reran so much Hanna Barbara material, especially The Flintstones. You think they would give it a little love?
10:30 More Kroft madness with Lidsville!
11:00 Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
11:30 Josie and the Pussycats
12:00 When will I tire of the same 22 episodes of Jonny Quest reran? Never!
12:30 Either the Jetson or the show that's all dubbed footage of chimps

[klen7]

Lancelot Link Secret Chimp!!!!

[Specium Ray]

The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm show did run on CN in the 90s'. It's kind of like Archie with a caveman theme. I wouldn't be surprised if they ran it on Boomerang from time to time.

[The Shadow]

It used to run on Boomerang, but CN has changed the channel quite a lot. Boomerang is primarily focused on recent cartoons nowadays such as the recent CGI Garfield, a show called Grojband and something called Numb Chucks (although someone managed to keep classic Tom & Jerry, classic Looney Toons, Flintstones [original show], and Scooby Doo [original show] around).

It's a shame too, as Boomerang used to run shows from the breadth of the Hanna Barbera library; for example they used to run a block called Those Meddling Kids which focused on the HB shows that used the Scooby Doo format (Fang Face, Speed Buggy, Jabber Jaw, Clue Club, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, etc.) Then there was Boomerang Zoo which focused on the HB animal shows (Yogi bear, Huckleberry hound, etc.)

[Specium Ray]

I really want CN to start an MTV3 type channel that is just their early 90s' line-up. I wish there was a TV equivalent to the internet archive.

[lhb412]

Boomerang's being molded into a sister network that will (probably) be the primary host for new series produced by CN's corporate brethren or partners while CN proper will be mostly in-house CN programming. The new Looney Tunes and Scooby shows will likely premier on Boomerang.

[MekaGojira3k]

[XvGojira]

I'd love it if they streamed it online.