The end of Saturday Morning Cartoons…

LuckySeven

This Is the First Weekend in America With No Saturday Morning Cartoons

This will probably fall on deaf ears since there probably aren't enough regular posters here that are old enough to remember when this was a thing. A big thing, an important thing (at least for kids). Okay well it was a big thing because back in the day before we had a million cable/satellite channels, Netflix, Hulu, or any other sort of instant streaming,; Saturday mornings were our thing, our "prime time tv". Where anyone could watch as long as they just plain had a TV. You didn't need cable or a good wi-fi connection. When I was younger, I would look forward to the start of a new fall season of SatAM toons with nearly the same excitement level as a kid on Christmas Eve. I'd be parked in front of my TV remote in hand knowing it was pretty much the only time in my house when had full control of the big TV in the living room.

I knew it wasn't gonna last forever, nothing ever does to be honest (other than anime fans arguing over sub-vs.-dub). And to be totally truthful its been a good long while since I actually made an effort to get up to watch anything. That was more about the declining level of quality and viewing choices from the over the air broadcast networks. Still, I am sad to see it go. To know that I won't be able to share in that same joy and excitement with any future children I might have. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy all the advances that technology has given us, and I certainly wouldn't want to go back to the days of no internet and a number of TV channels you could count on one hand. But hey for us older (but not too old) folks, it was a big part of our young lives. So I'll say goodbye to something that was almost like a friend to me in my childhood.

TIL Nobu

You had a remote?! oOo

I had just read that article, too.

LuckySeven

@TIL:

You had a remote?! oOo

Just the big TV in the living room. Was also the only TV in the house with cable back then too.

TIL Nobu

I had to get up and turn the dial. Of course there were only 3 channels to pick from, anyway. ~_^

LuckySeven

Oh I know that all too well also. Like I said, only the big TV in the living room had cable. And my mom pretty much controlled it with an iron fist when she was home and awake. I did have a TV in my bedroom, but it was small, maybe 13 inches. No cable hooked up to it and the antenna was crap.

Domayv

I pretty much stopped watching Saturday Morning Cartoons since 2006 (at that time, I was in the middle of my elementary school), so this isn't a surprise to me. But anyways, this does mark an end of an era, which has been occurring ever since Pinwheel (now Nickelodeon) debuted in 1977.

GalaxyCrisis

I still watched a few animated programs on Saturday mornings before the CW pulled the plug on the Vortexx block. Of course, in recent years all the ones I watched were in the anime category. I was a bit surprised, but only a bit, to turn to that channel this morning and find live action programming airing instead. With the Vortexx block out, now there's only one Saturday morning program I watch on TV altogether.

jlaking

@GalaxyCrisis:

I still watched a few animated programs on Saturday mornings before the CW pulled the plug on the Vortexx block.

The CW did not pull the plug on Vortexx, Saban did not want to renew the contract with the CW.

paige62182

Yes. It makes me a little nostalgic, too. When I was a kid, I had antenna TV, which meant I could get 2 network channels 95% of the time, and a third channel 25% of the time. Saturday mornings were an awesome time for me. Sitting on the floor in front of the couch with a huge bowl of Lucky Charms and watching the original TMNT or Thundercats or Pound Puppies… Yeah, I'm showing my age, here.

jjfriday

Man, its been a awhile. Brings back a lot of memories…..

flonight

now i have been used to watching anime without annoying advertisements. But those were the days watching cartoons on tv and when there was ad get up quickly and get snacks or do chores.