Posted on 12/07/2003 3:49:07 PM PST by paltz
The Disappearance of Saturday Morning Saturday morning no longer means kids in front of TV sets across the country, glued to the latest in hip cartoons. Why? Gerard Raiti investigates the death of an era.
April 30, 2003
By Gerard RaitiA once seemingly inseparable partnership between children and Saturday morning cartoons is now a thing of the past.
In a time not so long ago, Saturday mornings were indicative of one and only one pastime for children — watching cartoons. Throughout the '70s and '80s, the broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC dominated the Saturday morning airwaves by inundating children with cartoons. Cartoons on these networks used to earn ratings of more than 20 million viewers. Today, network Saturday morning cartoons only exist on ABC Kids, FOX Kids and Kids’ WB!, the latter two networks either did not exist or did not air cartoons two decades ago. Current successful cartoons on FOX Kids or Kids’ WB! can garner a mere two million viewers. That statistic does not even take into consideration that the population of children in the U.S. has increased by approximately ten percent over the last 20 years.
Due to this precipice in viewers, network cartoons are left struggling to make money while advertisers remain befuddled without a mainstream channel to promote new toys and products to children. Why have children stopped tuning in on Saturday mornings to network cartoons and what are the ramifications of this change?
Six key factors have led to children watching less Saturday morning cartoons: more recreational sports, the introduction of cable and satellite TV, the Internet and video games, a poorer quality of animation, and a greater emphasis on family time. These factors are rather self-explanatory with the exception of the latter: the divorce rate of Americans now stands at 49 percent, and time on the weekends has become more precious for children as many commute between parents’ houses.
For parents who only have limited access to their children due to either divorce or career advancement, plopping them down in front of the television for five hours on a Saturday morning is no longer a viable option. Among most parents, divorced or not, there is a new emphasis on "quality" time. Consequently, taking one’s children to the theater, mall, museum, event, zoo or beach on the weekend is deemed more appropriate to being a "good" parent, than letting kids sit and watch cartoons. To this effect, American society has changed substantially enough over the last two decades to the point where Saturday morning cartoons are less important to our culture.
According to Linda Simensky of Cartoon Network, Saturday morning animation has always been the backwater of programming for network broadcasters. Courtesy of Cartoon Network.
The Biggest Change of All Today, cartoons are no longer on the major three networks that dominated the preceding decades. Although ABC technically still airs Saturday morning cartoons, its relationship with Disney distinguishes it from ABC’s past programming during the ‘70s and ‘80s. When NBC and CBS began reducing their children’s programming on Saturdays in 1988-1990, FOX jumped aboard the bandwagon and laid the cornerstone for its FOX Kids Network. NBC chose to delve into live-action teen entertainment, hallmarked by Saved by the Bell. Presently, NBC is in partnership with Discovery Kids; a Saturday edition of Today either precedes or follows Discovery Kids. CBS initially chose to replace its cartoons with news from local affiliates and now airs a national morning show, which is either preceded or followed by children’s content from Nick Jr. Disney acquired ABC, so their relationship has stayed relatively constant over the decades and still continues to air its One Saturday Morning, recently renamed ABC Kids. Linda Simensky, vice president of original programming at Cartoon Network, feels that, “Children’s television was never the strength of broadcasters to begin with. There were some good shows in there, but kids’ TV was the department where executives at the network would start their nephews out in. [Kids’ TV] was never the primary goal of a network.” Children’s entertainment on Saturday mornings is currently such a liability that local affiliates in markets such as Baltimore choose to air local news in lieu of Discovery Kids, Nick Jr., and ABC Kids. PAGE 2
Great news, but unfortunately, that's a bit outweighed by the fact that the recent batch of Transformers tv series have both sucked and blown, from Beast Machines to Robots In Disguise to Armada
This could be easily out weighted if they just imported and dubbed the Japanese continuation of the original Transformers series.
By the way, Transformers Armada is actually a ripoff of the Japan TF Masterforce Season
I was suprised at the level of quality the He-man re-make is at, it has a very linear plot and seens to be doing very well in character growns, action and plot twists.
And many others which I could name. It's amazing, though, how many of the above series are not only better then most of what you'll find on network tv, but in some cases are also a whole lot funnier than even the highest rated sitcoms (And unlike the sitcoms, they DON'T come with a laughtrack).
I totally agree.
But do you remember Hans Conreid and "Fractured Flickers"?
The direct ancestor for MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000
You forgot Gargoyles Seasons 1 and 2.
This could be easily out weighted if they just imported and dubbed the Japanese continuation of the original Transformers series.
By the way, Transformers Armada is actually a ripoff of the Japan TF Masterforce Season
I was suprised at the level of quality the He-man re-make is at, it has a very linear plot and seens to be doing very well in character growns, action and plot twists.
But do you remember Hans Conreid and "Fractured Flickers"?
The direct ancestor for MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000
I still love Underdog and Mighty Mouse!
But "The Simpsons" rules all television, animated or otherwise!
I haven't seen the episodes either, but I hear the first couple of seasons (Headmaster and Masterforce) are great but it does go downhill after that.
If you remember the old TF Powermaster Prime and Powermaster TF toys, those were originally from Masterforce.
Actually repeats of JLA and He-man comes on weekdays on Toonami, (Teen Titans comes on later at night). Just check a TV schecule.
Also, another funny cartoon is the Jacky Chan cartoon, very funny (action comedy) and fairly linear in plot.
And yes, TF Armada is not even original crud.
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