The Disappearance of Saturday Morning

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE ^ | April 30, 2003 | By Gerard Raiti

[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

[Hatteras]

"Sorry, but the artwork and animation is much better now than when I was a kid."

Nah, the animation technology might be better but the imagination and artistic talent is horrible. They seem to be so rushed to get the joke out that they don't really care what the character that's delivering the line looks like. Case in point: SpongeBob & Bart Simpson.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Go rent the DVD Cowboy Bebop the Movie. Also, check out Inu Yasha and Big O on Adult Swim (12:00 Midnight Eastern) on Cartoon Network.

[Drawsing]

My early '60s Saturday morning memory:
We lived in a little guest house next to my grandmother's big house. She had a TV. We did not. Saturday morning at 6 am or thereabouts my older brother and I would sit up in bed and look out the window. If my grandmother was up and rolling she would hang a dishrag in her kitchen window. That was our signal. Still in our pajamas, we would climb out of the window and dash across the dewy grass to her house where we would flop down on our bellies in front of the old wooden cased black and white television. We would watch Superman at 6:30 and after that the cartoon lineup of the day. After a while my grandmother or my mother would bring in big bowls of cream of wheat or french toast and put them in front of us for breakfast.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Go rent the DVD, Transformers the Movie. You will see what we are talking about.

[Gothmog]

OK, I was going to spend some time over the holidays watching the Dragonball Z movies I might have missed and buy the Firefly DVD, but I think I can probably fit in a Transformers movie. If they have it.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Trust me, you'll enjoy, but be aware, the TF Movie does not pull it's punches and a lot of characters die. By the way, the voice actor for Unicron was Orson Wells in his last role before he died.

[Great_Dame]

"Here I come to save the day!" Mighty Mouse

...also made immortal by Andy Kaufman on Saturday Night Live. Anyone remember that? Pure comic genius!!!

[FeliciaCat]

being a little kid in the 70's my fav cartoons were Bugs Bunny, Speed Racer, Scooby Doo, Captain Caveman, Tom & Jerry and Josie,Fat Albert and the Pussycats.

[Grig]

I agree about the lack of imagination, but even SpongeBob & the Simpson show more artistic talent than Superfriends or any other 70's/80's cartoon (except Battle of the Planets, but that was anime). We remember them being much better looking than they actually were, go watch some old re-runs of them and you shake your head at how bad the art and animation was. Disney's The Little Mermaid blew people away because it was such a huge leap forward in animation quality over what was done previously.

[Great_Dame]

Thanks for the plug for Boomerang, but, can you see Speedy Gonzales there? I loved that little guy and I heard he has been locked in the vault because he is not PC.

Geeezzzeeee! You would think an ethnic hero figure would be desirable these days. He never got caught by the cats or birds. He helped those who could not help themselves. What's not to like about the guy?

[denfurb]

My kids got me hooked on Rorouni Kenshin. They also like YuYu Hakosho, but I can't get into that one.

[Paul C. Jesup]

RK is okay. Beware though the RK OVA sequal to the TV series (not the OVA prequal which is dark too) does have a dark ending to the series, but the manga series has a happy ending.

YYH is real good, better than DBZ in quality, the Detective Saga is good (First Season), but the Dark Tournament Saga ROCKS!! (Second Season and the show has two more seasons after that) I cannot wait till CN finishes showing the DT Saga.

I do plan to buy the DVD Boxsets of YYH eventually.

[Paul C. Jesup]

In the Dark Tournament Saga the heros have to enter a demon deathmatch tournament or their families will be killed. And the judges of the DT have the deck stacked against the heros. And there are some great actions scene throughout the DT Saga, this is not DBZ, where they talk 90% of the time and then fight, in YYH when they fight, they fight 90% of that time.

[VeniVidiVici]

Anyone remember "Gigantor the Spaceage Robot"?

Yup! I used to watch Gigantor and Ultraman! If I remember correctly I think it was WTTG-TV. Also watched Kimba, Speed Racer, and the regulars - Rocky, Bugs, etc.

[speedy]

I feel like I'm back on the Leakin' Lena.

[speedy]

I agree with you on Osmonds, Jackson Five and Scooby Doo. But I think you're being a little tough on Yogi Bear -- you don't like pic-a-nic baskets? And no sympathy for Quick Draw McGraw? El Kabong?

[GraniteStateConservative]

He's like a Shakespearean character.

[niteowl77]

Captain Eleven made it to FR... it is a smaller world than we think. Dad moved around the first few years of his teaching/coaching career, so I got to see a few shows when I was little. The only other one I remember very well was on the obscure little staion KVFD (although at the time I believe it was KQTV) in Ft. Dodge, IA: Uncle Dick's Cartoon Carnival. His specialty was doing fast sketches at an easel.

If you were lucky enough to be on the show - which I was on one occasion - you also got a can of pop and a small bag of Hiland potato chips ("The Chippiest Chips Around!").

Oddly enough, I can't recall what cartoons they showed, although I suspect with their budget, it was probably Mighty Mouse or Gandy Goose.

[Zionist Conspirator]

One of my fondest s*t*rday morning memories (from the early Seventies) was an obscure NBC cartoon called "The Tomfoolery Show." It gave me a love for the nonsense of Edward Lear that I have to this day.

[SerpentDove]

>>But I think you're being a little tough on Yogi Bear -- you don't like pic-a-nic baskets? And no sympathy for Quick Draw McGraw? El Kabong?<<

They never did it for me. Sorry.

Nor did Deppity Dog (was that Hanna-Barbera?) or the Flintstones.

:-S