So I read this blog the other day and it was about animated cartoons. Has anyone notcied that they are no longer good? There's nothing worth getting up early for on Saturday mornings. Do they even really have cartoons on? Like I remember when NBC, ABC,and FOX used to have good cartoons on Saturday. I remember being at my aunt and uncle's apartment on Saturday mornings and watching Captain Planet, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers,goosebums, Ironman, Spiderman and Batman. And I remember after Ironman went off, Felix the Cat came on, and that was the sign that the TV was off for the day, because Felix is freaky, man! I remember thinking about how grown up I was (when I was three or four) because I got up at seven o'clock every Saturday. On the weekday mornings, when I got ready, my dad would take me into the living room and fix me chochlate milk while I was watching Scooby-Doo. Then the Jetsons would come on and i would watch that and when we were about to leave, the Flintstones would come on. As I got older, I would watch Pokemon and Pinky and the Brain and Animaniacs.
I also remeber other shows like watching Family Matters (which I called Steve Urkel), Full House, Boy Meets World( and I swore that the same boy was NOT playing Corey because his voice changed), Sienfeld, and Mad About You, and Friends. I had to go to bed once Frasier came on on Thursdays. I remember that my mom would rock me when ER came on and I really wanted to watchi it but couldn't becaue I was supposed to be asleep. I remeber watching The Pretender on Saturdays and Party of Five and how now, whenever I hear Jared (even on the commercials), I think of the guy from the Pretender. I remember how I had a HUGE crush on Dean Kane and NEVER, I mean NEVER misssed an episode of The Adventures of Lois and Clark. I remember watching Saved By the Bell and how I liked Screech the best because i felt sorry for him, and I never really liked Kelly.
Isn't it funny how the most random memories stick with you? I remember riding in my Aunt Deanna's Honda in 1996 and it was raining and her car was new and I remember the smell of it. Beauty and the Beast came on the radio. I remember that time every day. I remember watching all of these Disney movies on VHS and hearing the the phone dial in the beginning of every tape. Why do they do that, does anyone know? I remember watching Pinocchio and Aladdin.
I love the music from the 90's...well, more on that to come later, but now I have to let someone finish a Physics lab.
It's funny that I saw this post, because I remember talking with some friends the other day about the same thing. It's been a while since I've turned on the tube to watch saturday morning cartoons, or just relax and watch some Cartoon Network, and if nothing gone was on there, flip up a channel to Nickelodeon. But what I've been able to see from the kids I've dealt with during summer programs or teaching karate is that they all are into the newest, craziest cartoon shows from Japan. The most popular among them, and with the most longevity is of course, Pokemon, as you had mentioned. However, we now see the emergence of shows with ridiculous, fully loaded machine gun-wielding hamsters or something along those lines at least, and kids rushing to buy the latest of action figures, video games, and collectible cards from them as these mind-numbing shows are pumped out. Even the classic shows such as Power Rangers have had several different series with "upgraded" weapons and explosions, the works.
Simple does not mean boring. In fact, if anything the shows we watched proved that they had merit despite not being able to beat the before-metioned ficiontal hamster in a duel. Although, the future state of kids shows seems bleak, there are a few beacons of light from shows such as The Fairly Oddparents, as well as Cartoon Network occasionally showing some of the classic cartoons that captured our imagination, and were such beloved relics of our childhood.
All the shows I watched are a little after the time of yours... I grew up basically in the mid-late 90's and I remember some of the shows you're talking about. But it's amazing how much nostalgia those shows can trigger, because when you think about all the old shows a whole bunch of other memories come trailing along... I remember every day after school I would look forward to watching Gargoyles on my parents' ghetto TV from like 1981. I remember how that room would heat up and the sun would shine in every nook and cranny, creating the perfect conditions for a nap after I watched the show. I remember the first movie I ever watched in theaters, The Lion King. I remember Recess, I remember all the old short Nickolodeon commericals, with the orange blob and the splat.