Well, let me tell ya, this whole Saturday morning TV thing, it ain’t what it used to be. Used to be, kids could plop down in front of the TV and watch all sorts of cartoons. Silly stuff, ya know? But fun. Now, it’s all…different.
This Litton Entertainment, they kinda messed things up, if you ask me. They came in and took over all them Saturday morning spots on ABC, NBC, CBS, even that CW channel. Used to be cartoons, now it’s all this “educational” stuff. Live-action shows, they call ‘em. Learn about animals, learn about this, learn about that.
- My grandkids, they don’t even bother watchin’ anymore. Too boring, they say.
- They want spaceships and talking animals, not some kid learnin’ about plants.
- Heck, when I was their age, Saturday mornings were all about cowboys and silly superheroes. That was the life.
Some folks say it’s all because of this “Children’s TV Act”. Says the TV stations gotta have this “educational” shows for kids. Three hours a week, they gotta have it. So, instead of spreadin’ it out, they just dumped it all on Saturday mornings. Killed the cartoons, just like that.
I heard tell some company, Hearst Media somethin’ or other, they coulda changed things. They make some of these shows, I guess. But they didn’t. They just kept on makin’ this educational stuff. Now, the cartoons, they’re mostly gone. Vanish like a fart in the wind.
It’s a shame, really. Kids these days, they missin’ out. They don’t get to experience what we had. You know, wakin’ up early, grabbin’ a bowl of cereal, and watchin’ them crazy cartoons. It was a whole thing. Now its just lectures disguised as fun. Humph!
It started way back when, they tell me. Some fella named Jerry Fairbanks, he started makin’ cartoons just for TV. Crusader Rabbit, it was called. Cheap-lookin’ thing, probably, but it was somethin’ new. And it caught on. For a long time, Saturday mornings were cartoon mornings. But then folks started worryin’ about what kids were watchin’. Too much junk, they said. Too much sugar cereal ads. Maybe they were right, I don’t know. But they went and overcorrected, if you ask me.
I hear tell people complainin’ about it online. Sayin’ Litton ruined their childhood or somethin’. Well, maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. All I know is, my grandkids ain’t watchin’ Saturday morning TV. And that’s a darn shame. They’re out playing with them tablets and phones, ain’t even lookin at a real screen. It’s like they replaced one bad thing for another. No more good ol’ fashioned tv time for them I guess.
Times change, I guess. Things ain’t always gonna stay the same. But I still miss them Saturday morning cartoons. They were silly, they were loud, and they were fun. And that’s more than you can say for most of the stuff on TV these days.
I reckon some folks back in the day studied them cartoons too much. Said they were bad for kids. Said they made ‘em want to buy things, all that marketing stuff. Maybe so, maybe so. But we turned out alright, didn’t we? We knew the difference between a cartoon and real life, mostly. Now, I am not so sure with these new shows.
So, there you have it. That’s my take on this whole Saturday morning TV mess. Litton Entertainment, the Children’s TV Act, whatever you wanna call it, they killed the cartoons. And that’s just a plain ol’ shame.
Tags: Saturday Mornings, Cartoons, Litton Entertainment, Children’s TV Act, Educational Programming, TV History, Kids TV, 90s Kids, TV Shows, Broadcasting
