The Magic That Used To Be Saturday Morning

[BAK55]

During the early '60's for me, as I recall, the line up had been-

Captain Kangaroo
Mighty Mouse
Looney Tunes (Unedited)
Sky King
The Lone Ranger
Roy Rogers

Then as the years rolled by there was -

Fireball XL-5
New Adventures of Superman (Animated, but the first new made for TV series since George Reeves)
Spider-Man
Fantastic Four
Space Ghost (He reaaly kicked butt in those days)
Herculoids
Young Mighty Samson
Johnny Quest - which originally started as a prime time program during a weeknight.

Plus a few other action/adventure type cartoons until a group of folks objected to the violence of cartoons for children (Shades of "Seduction of the Innocent"). Then they were banned and had become the more unwatchable stuff, for me anyway.

Yes by then I was into my teen years, but I had always love animation then, and I still do.

 

[OldKen]

Wasn't she just adorable?

My poor, but awesome dad. He'd been busting his hump for us all week, and finally had a chance to sleep in, and I'd go wake him up at oh-dark-30 to watch the cartoons with me, because I "knew" he wouldn't want to miss "Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch". He'd lie on the floor with me and fall back asleep, occasionally nudged awake again.

I saw the show again several years ago, and it is the epitome of the worst dreckish garbage made during the period. :lol

Vroom VROOOOM... Brrrbbrbbbrbbbrbbbb.... CHIKIPATA! :cool

Loved that show.

Loved all those shows.

Speed buggy, Jabber jaw...

Chewbaccadoll, I really got some nostalgia feelings with that first post.

 

[Cobalt60]

Hilarious House of Frightenstien

 

[Bootlegger137]

I grew up in the 70s and early 80s. I'd watch cartoons until noon, then the local UHF channels used to show the cheesy kung-fu flicks on Saturday afternoons if I didn't outside to run around the neighborhood with friends.

On Sundays, one channel would show an hour of The Three Stooges at 11, and then from 12 to 4 there would be 2 oldies movies, either Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, or Martin and Lewis.

Heck, I used to love being home in the summer, I'd watch Star Blazers, Voltron, Robotech, etc. in the afternoons after summer camp in the early/mid 80s.

TV is certainly not the same, and not appreciated as special anymore.

 

[Wes R]

I was lucky. I was born in 78 so i had the early 80s cartoons plus the reruns of the 70s and earlier stuff and then still had the 90s stuff to enjoy. I'm not sure how enjoyed the cartoons more me or my dad lol. if i'm watching some of them on dvd now he still sits down to watch.

 

[chewbaccadoll]

Vroom VROOOOM... Brrrbbrbbbrbbbrbbbb.... CHIKIPATA! :cool

Loved that show.

Loved all those shows.

Speed buggy, Jabber jaw...

Chewbaccadoll, I really got some nostalgia feelings with that first post.

That's really cool. I'm glad to have been of service! It's a subject dear to my heart as well.

Say what you will, and everyone's memories and nostalgic feelings of childhood are valid to each, but there was a window somewhere between the late 60's into the 70's that really, imo encompassed a period that will never be repeated.

The younger folks claim to have had the same experience, but that's not true (not that it wasn't special for you). It had to do with the day in age we were in... having to change the channel... manually...3 choices (4 counting UHF), too young and nieve about product marketing and actually thought Frankenberry was a nutritious part of a good breakfast... parents usually slept in, so it was YOUR time (nowadays parents are going to a second job, etc.)...

I could go on, but then it would just be a youngen's vs. old fogeys. Nothing to do with the OT, but definitely related.


BTW, who played with their toys while watching their favorite cartoons? Or better yet, had a toy of whatever show you were watching and HAD to have it while watching!

My daughter does that now and so did I... just curious if it was a common thing.

 

[Treadwell]

Watch all of these...
Amazon.com: Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Vol. 1: Top Cat, Atom Ant, The Peter Potamus Show, Quick Draw McGraw: Movies & TV
Amazon.com: Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Vol. 2: Tom & Jerry, Magilla Gorilla, Peter Potamus, The Road Runner Show, Flintstones, Porky Pig: Movies & TV
Amazon.com: Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Vol. 1: The Jetsons, Hong Kong Phooey, Speed Buggy, The Batman Tarzan Adventure Hour, Goober and the Ghost Chasers, Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, Yogi's Gang, Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, Roman Hol
http://www.amazon.com/Saturday-Morn...OLY0/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1317137927&sr=8-5

...and see if you still feel the same way. Apart from the rare gem, the cartoons of the late 60s through the 70s were utter, utter, dreck. And yes, I grew up with them.

Like you said, memories of everything associated with the experience is what makes for the warm fuzzies. But the shows themselves were crap.

 

[chewbaccadoll]

Watch all of these...
Amazon.com: Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Vol. 1: Top Cat, Atom Ant, The Peter Potamus Show, Quick Draw McGraw: Movies & TV
Amazon.com: Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Vol. 2: Tom & Jerry, Magilla Gorilla, Peter Potamus, The Road Runner Show, Flintstones, Porky Pig: Movies & TV
Amazon.com: Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Vol. 1: The Jetsons, Hong Kong Phooey, Speed Buggy, The Batman Tarzan Adventure Hour, Goober and the Ghost Chasers, Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, Yogi's Gang, Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, Roman Hol
Amazon.com: Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Vol. 2: Shazzan, Bugs Bunny Road Runner Hour, Valley of the Dinosaurs, Tom and Jerry Grape Ape, Banana Splits Adventure Hour: Movies & TV

...and see if you still feel the same way. Apart from the rare gem, the cartoons of the late 60s through the 70s were utter, utter, dreck. And yes, I grew up with them.

Like you said, memories of everything associated with the experience is what makes for the warm fuzzies. But the shows themselves were crap.

Well, I certainly don't have time to watch all of those, but I can tell that just from looking at what's listed that there are more than a few that I loved.

Experiencing those programs for the first time as a child, not having the media technology we're used to today to judge against and for my sense of humor and taste was as I said... magic.

Sure, there was crap in there that I didn't watch, and as an adult I'm aware of the "cartoon conveyor belt" and that shows were hap haphazardly thrown together and put on the air to capitalize on and used as marketing vehicles, but again, as a kid I wanted simple entertainment, yuks and sometimes even though predictable, seeing the good guys prevail (or fumble it up).

See if I feel the same way? Of course I wouldn't!

Everyone has brain stimulus overload today from what's out there. I enjoyed simpler times.

Thanks for the buzzkill... geez.

 

[The Keeper]

Yeah my kids dont know what Saturday morning cartoons are, they watch Hannah Montana and Icarly. :cry

I too remember getting up at the crack of dawn so I could see my toons! You had to be quiet so you didnt wake up mom. :cool


Meanwhile back at the Hall of Justice!


Oh yeah, 100 baby! :thumbsup

 

[Treadwell]

Sorry for the buzzkill, but it doesn't have to be. I'm with you on the fond memories of the experience. Knowing now that I was enjoying garbage doesn't make young Treadwell any less happy.

 

[ShadowX81]

If anything, I would say that the commercialism improved my experience. Sure, watching the heroes beat up the villians for 30 minutes was great, but knowing I could get the action figures and have tiny versions of my favorite herooes to play whenever I wanted? That was an amazing thought to a 6 year old.
I probably spent just as much if not more time playing with the figures than I did watching the actual show.

This is the reason why there are about 200 power rangers and other assorted heroes in a box in my parent's basement.

 

[Wes R]

That's really cool. I'm glad to have been of service! It's a subject dear to my heart as well.

Say what you will, and everyone's memories and nostalgic feelings of childhood are valid to each, but there was a window somewhere between the late 60's into the 70's that really, imo encompassed a period that will never be repeated.

The younger folks claim to have had the same experience, but that's not true (not that it wasn't special for you). It had to do with the day in age we were in... having to change the channel... manually...3 choices (4 counting UHF), too young and nieve about product marketing and actually thought Frankenberry was a nutritious part of a good breakfast... parents usually slept in, so it was YOUR time (nowadays parents are going to a second job, etc.)...

I could go on, but then it would just be a youngen's vs. old fogeys. Nothing to do with the OT, but definitely related.


BTW, who played with their toys while watching their favorite cartoons? Or better yet, had a toy of whatever show you were watching and HAD to have it while watching!

My daughter does that now and so did I... just curious if it was a common thing.

I remember having to get up to change all 3 channels, then we got a bigger antenna and a motor to rotate it to get other stations that never came in right. I usually played with the toys on weekdays as most of mine were heman, gi joe, and transformers.

 

[chewbaccadoll]

Knowing now that I was enjoying garbage doesn't make young Treadwell any less happy.

Ha, I love this quote!

Fair enough, and well said.

 

[GeneralFROSTY]

There were so many shows I was into growing up I am having a hard time remembering some of my favorate "Saturday Monring" specific shows....
For some reason, I keep remembering Captian Power which was fallowed by WWF Superstars...

 

[Sinime]

You can always rekindle that Saturday feeling by watching some anime :-D

Sent from my SGH-i917 using Board Express

 

[Tilandra]

On Saturday mornings:
Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner
Smurfs
Land of the Lost (how did I not realize they used the same footage of Grumpy over and over?)
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl
Wild Boy

After school:
You Can't Do That on Television
Dangermouse (late imports from the BBC)

At night:
Buck Rogers
Bionic Woman
BJ and the Bear

I've recently been watching the Six Million Dollar Man on Netflix, and man does it start out dry and slow. I have a hard time believing I watched it as a kid, I would have been bored out of my mind. I know I watched the Bionic Woman though, because my friends and I used to reenact the latest episode during recess every day. I remember bugging my grandmother to let me take a head of lettuce to school, because Jamie threw one at a bad guy one week. I needed a prop!

 

[Wes R]

I remember getting up before everyone and fiddling with the controls for the antenna motor in hopes of getting the channel out of Wheeling, WV which has Robocop and Transformers on in the late 80s after the other stations stopped showing it.

 

[The Mantis]

Childhood Memory Keeper: Retro Pop Culture from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s

 

[Wes R]

I remember in the 80s they'd always have 70s cartoons on to fill gaps in programming and on saturday mornings they'd come out of nowhere with short schoolhouse rock scenes and that singing cheese wheel.

 

[jcoffman99]

I hanker for a hunk o' cheese!!!

I miss old TV. Not just the cartoons like He-Man, GI Joe, and Transformers, but the Saturday afternoon movies. I remember the FOX channel out of DC had this little thing they'd play when the movie went to commerical. It was a graphic of a Checker cab and a movie usher in uniform in front of a theater. I miss the fuzziness. I miss the commercials. I think we need a retro channel that just shows all that old stuff, including commericals. And it can never be in hi-def.