I was looking through Facebook the other day and saw someone
had posted something that brought back fond memories for me. The FB page posts
pictures and videos from pop culture in the 60s, 70s and 80s. The one that got
me thinking was of an ad for the Saturday morning cartoon line up on CBS. It
made me sad because today’s kids don’t have that any longer on Saturday
mornings.
What we now have on Saturday mornings are more news
programs, as if we needed yet another Today show as well as the weekday show,
the after show and the after after show. Come on, with 24 hour news channels do
we really need this? It’s no wonder we know every detail of Kim Kardashian’s
life since there isn’t enough stuff to fill all of these shows.
I just pulled up the listings for this coming Saturday from
8-9:30. ABC has local programming, Jack Hanna’s Wild Country and Ocean Mysteries.
CBS has a show about Henry Ford, Recipe Rehab and CBS This Morning (their
version of the Today Show). NBC has of course the Today Show and local
programming. You have to go to Disney or the Cartoon Network to find cartoons
and most of those are either concerned with social issues or live action
programs with the latest tween star rather than cartoons.
How many of you remember all of the lyrics to this opening?
The video also includes some of the intros and endings as well.
I’m guessing almost all of you were singing along with Bugs
and Daffy. And if you were to sit down and watch one of those classic cartoons you’d
be happy to see that they’ve held up quite well after all these years. So much
so that collections of these Warner Brothers cartoons still garner top dollar.
Many of us know exactly what comes next when someone says “No, it’s duck season”.
How many of you don’t automatically have a rabbit come to mind when you hear
the words “What’s up, doc?”
Saturday mornings as a kid were all about freedom. You didn’t
have to go to school that day and mom & dad more often than not tired from
work, stayed in bed late. If not they had things to do that didn’t involve you
so you had control of the TV set. Bowls of cereal filled with sugar were
covered with milk and eaten in front of the set so you could watch your
favorite weekly show. If you weren’t allowed to eat in front of the TV it
became the fastest meal ever devoured so you could get there.
Think back to all of those shows we watched and all of the
things we learned. We learned about team work from the Justice League and the
Super Friends. We learned about rock music from cartoons featuring The Beatles,
The Jackson Five, The Osmonds, The Monkees and of course that classic rock
group The Archies.
We had adventure and time travel, science fiction and ghost
chasing. Even though we asked where are you we knew where Scooby Doo was. He
was in our living rooms on TV in front of us. Kids has crushes on Penelope
Pitstop and you didn’t have to dig deep to realize that Dick Dastardly was a
bad guy. It was tough to tell which hero was dumber, Dudley Doright or George
of the Jungle. Popeye always won against Bluto and the Coyote never seemed able
to catch the Road Runner. Mighty Mouse was there to save the day and Jerry
always got the better of Tom. We were even exposed to culture when the CBS
Saturday Film Festival presented films from around the world that involved
kids. And if you heard the phrase “Hey hey hey…” you knew that Fat Albert was
around.
The fact is that most of us watched these programs and grew
up quite normal. But people with good intentions came along. I can’t stand
people with good intentions sometimes. They thought that cartoons were doing
more harm than good. These were the same people that thought every kid in
America was poking out their playmates eyes after watching the Three Stooges
(we weren’t). They wanted to put an end to cartoons. They wanted kids to stop
eating sugary cereals. They wanted kids to get out and play soccer and baseball
and football even though at the time we were doing all of those things every
night after we got done with homework and then on weekend afternoons. For some
reason they found those 3 hours we spent in front of the TV on Saturday morning
something they needed to save us from. Now it’s gone.
Like I said, I miss those days. Every now and then I pull
out a collection of Bugs Bunny cartoons and watch them. If I can do it on a
Saturday morning over a bowl of cereal it just makes it that much better. So I
encourage you to let your kids and grandkids see what they missed out on. Some
Saturday pop in a DVD of your old favorite cartoon programs from Saturday
mornings. They’re available. Load up a bowl of cereal for your kids/grandkids
with Cap’n Crunch. Sit back with them in the living room in front of the TV and
soak up that joy of being a kid again.
And if you miss what it was like then here’s a treat. Some
ads for Saturday morning programs from the past I found online. I think I need
a bowl of cereal right now.
