Friday, January 9, 2009

The Death Of Saturday Mornings

I remember very clearly waking up at 6 am every saturday morning as a young child. That was when the really good cartoons were on. The earlybird line up was Robocop, Dinoriders, Spiderman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Then the rest of the morning would continue with My Pet Monster, Muppet Babies, Ewoks, Droids, Smurfs, Pound Puppies, the Real Ghostbusters, Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour. The list goes on and on. Though the line up changed through the years, I was right there getting up every Saturday morning to enjoy the cartoony goodness.

Fast Forward to last month when the plug was pulled on Fox Kids. Their Saturday morning lineup was a smash hit in the 90's with hits like Eek the Cat, X-Men, Bobby's World, Spider-Man, The Tick, Batman the Animated Series, Animaniacs, Power Rangers, and Tiny Toons just to name a few. But now they are gone, only to be replaced with gardening shows and the local news. That leaves two saturday morning lineups: Nbc and the CW. How long will those 2 last? The prospects are not good.

Why did this change happen? Cable TV. Why would any kid get up at 6 am on a saturday morning these days? They can watch a cartoon any second of the day thanks to 24 hour cartoon networks. Networks like Cartoon Network, Sprout, Boomerang, Nick Toons, Toon Disney. The list goes on and on. There is no reason for a kid to get up on saturday mornings. None. We've gotten quite spoiled. When I was child you were lucky to find any cartoon on tv after 5 pm (8 pm if you counted Nickelodeon).

Spectacular Spider-Man recently made the jump from Kids WB to Toon Disney. More shows are sure to follow. Enjoy Saturday Morning Toons while they last. Kids are about to lose something really special and they don't even know it.

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