# Apparently yesterday was the last day that cartoons were aired on Saturday mornings on broadcast TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793 "2014-09-28T18:40:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/21 "2014-09-29T01:06:41Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Or kids who’s parents have an internet connection. Or a smartphone. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/22 "2014-09-29T01:08:29Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > They sure don’t make 'em like this anymore: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdVseljx2UU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdVseljx2UU) > > Still one of the best TV themes ever! :o Milt Franklyn’s name was bigger than Carl Stalling’s :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/23 "2014-09-29T01:17:03Z")
…would you believe that I checked my channel guide for last Saturday on Friday night, just by chance, out of curiosity for what remained of Saturday Morning Cartoons? I think CW was the only network I forgot about. Bit of a double blow, then—the institution wasn’t even completely dead when I called it. ☹ Man, I was watching _The Flintstone Kids_ when Tiananmen Square happened, and the news anchor told us to go wake up our parents. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/24 "2014-09-29T01:18:16Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > They sure don’t make 'em like this anymore: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdVseljx2UU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdVseljx2UU) > > Still one of the best TV themes ever! :o When I was about 7, I remember asking my Mother why Wile E Coyote didn’t turn around and catch/eat the big chicken (Foghorn Leghorn) right behind him. Mom quickly told me that Wile E Coyote was on a chicken free diet. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/25 "2014-09-29T01:35:16Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Man, I was watching _The Flintstone Kids_ when Tiananmen Square happened, and the news anchor told us to go wake up our parents. Must have been an update, because I was watching _ **Dallas** _ on Friday night when the story broke. (IIRC, it was the season finale.) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/26 "2014-09-29T01:47:36Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > They sure don’t make 'em like this anymore: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdVseljx2UU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdVseljx2UU) > > Still one of the best TV themes ever! :o I (still) know every part by heart! For me, Saturday mornings “ended” with the Monkees. To this day, when I hear “For Pete’s Sake” I know it’s time to get up and go out and do something. Since I’m a “Generation Jones” my Saturday morning memories are the later stuff. Aside from Bugs (which should be run in perpetuity, so all generations get to experience them), I remember Pink Panther (with the Aardvark, too), Hot Wheels, Inch High, PI, Hong Kong Fooey, and I was there at the beginning of Scooby Do. And I can still sing along with Schoolhouse Rock. Sunday morning TV used to be the older, “odder” fare. Rocky & Bullwinkle, Underdog, Davey & Goliath (I don’t know, Daaav-ee.) But I, like **pulykamell** - I thought Saturday morning cartoons had gone away a decade or more ago. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/27 "2014-09-29T02:22:59Z")
Saturday morning cartoons? What cartoons? I have always liked to stay up late and get up late, at least when I could. At our house, the only chance I had to do that was to stay up late on Friday and sleep in on Saturday. I usually got up just in time to see the guy fall off the ski ramp. All the cartoons were over by then. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/28 "2014-09-29T02:39:32Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > I usually got up just in time to see the guy fall off the ski ramp. You realize, of course, that that poor guy probably made a thousand beautiful jumps during his career. He made one lousy one, and was forever remembered as “The Agony of Defeat!” ☹ ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/29 "2014-09-29T02:55:30Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I (still) know every part by heart! > > For me, Saturday mornings “ended” with the Monkees. To this day, when I hear “For Pete’s Sake” I know it’s time to get up and go out and do something. > > Since I’m a “Generation Jones” my Saturday morning memories are the later stuff. Aside from Bugs (which should be run in perpetuity, so all generations get to experience them), I remember Pink Panther (with the Aardvark, too), Hot Wheels, Inch High, PI, Hong Kong Fooey, and I was there at the beginning of Scooby Do. And I can still sing along with Schoolhouse Rock. > > Sunday morning TV used to be the older, “odder” fare. Rocky & Bullwinkle, Underdog, Davey & Goliath (I don’t know, Daaav-ee.) > > But I, like **pulykamell** - I thought Saturday morning cartoons had gone away a decade or more ago. You stuck around until the end of the Saturday morning line-up? I always bailed before 11. Of course, that sometimes had to do with the fact that during the fall, there was a good chance if you lived in the Pacific Time Zone and watched either CBS or ABC that the cartoons would end abruptly at 10 a.m. for a college football game. I could’ve turned to NBC but I remember their line-up being pretty lame most of the time. Also, as you mentioned, for a time ABC had a line-up of Sunday morning cartoons consisting of reruns of cartoon that previously aired during their Saturday line-up. I suspect this probably a write-off on their part since they knew that the vast majority of viewers who weren’t at church on Sunday morning were watching football on CBS and NBC. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/30 "2014-09-29T03:47:16Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I (still) know every part by heart! Same here, same here. I think I still remember the\* angle of sun\* that came through the living room window when it came on, year after year. (Though some of the whippersnapper series’ still had [their moments—even as recently as 14 years ago](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArgbE7O-_pk).) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/31 "2014-09-29T04:27:39Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > They sure don’t make 'em like this anymore: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdVseljx2UU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdVseljx2UU) > > Still one of the best TV themes ever! :o That protector of the innocent, defender of the weak, and all-around good guy [George of the Jungle](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaXWy-HQefc&feature=youtube_gdata_player) wasn’t exactly peanuts, Cholly. Watch out for that tree-ee-ee! Watch out for that • AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH! _CRASH!_ OOOH! • TREE-EE! George, George, George of the Jungle. Friend to you and me! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/32 "2014-09-29T05:47:28Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > You stuck around until the end of the Saturday morning line-up? Yep. Central time zone, so we were OK. Football started at ‘normal’ times.🙂 Depending on the year, and the time of year, they’d end the cartoon day with Kukla, Fran and Ollie, The CBS Children’s Film Festival (Skinny and Fatty! Hand in Hand!), Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp (Laaaance!) or the Monkees. For the first years of my childhood cartoon years, we didn’t get ABC at all, so I never got hooked on the Bandstand, even after we got it later. In some ways, even cartoons had some of the same problems as night-time TV. Bad spinoffs, weird spins on old shows: Josie & The Pussycats (IN OUTER SPACE!) , Partridge Family 2200, Gilligan’s Planet. But I was ready and eager for ST:TAS when it came out. However, I’m afraid to watch it now. Maybe it’s best as a fond memory? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/33 "2014-09-29T06:23:59Z")
No, TAS still holds up well today. I have the series on DVD. ---
**Author:** ![chicagowhitesox1173](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/46a35a/32.png) [@chicagowhitesox1173](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicagowhitesox1173)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/34 "2014-09-29T07:46:37Z")
I used to love Saturdays for the cartoons and Different Strokes at night and dread Sundays because i’d have to watch Zoro and The Lone Ranger reruns and then to cap a Sunday off, we’d usually get stuck watching a Roy Leonard classic. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/35 "2014-09-29T09:43:54Z")
Ah, the glory days of childhood. If you were hardcore, you were up at 5:30. And we were hardcore. But that was early, and I spent the first half hour making a rug print on my cheek until I could get going. By 1:30pm, the parents were yelling at us to turn that thing off and we’d be feverishly spinning that knob looking for anything animated to justify our pleas. We’d find something and point at the screen in victory and the parents would throw up their hands in defeat and go back to gossiping over coffee for another half hour. That was livin’. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/36 "2014-09-29T13:02:34Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > No, TAS still holds up well today. I have the series on DVD. Agreed. The animation was always crappy, but the writing and voice acting were both very good. I always thought it interesting that James Blish would take hour-long episodes of _ **TOS** _ and boil them down so that seven or eight would fit into a paperback, while Alan Dean Foster would take three episodes of _ **TAS** _ and expand them to fill paperbacks of the same size. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/37 "2014-09-29T14:35:52Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > That protector of the innocent, defender of the weak, and all-around good guy [George of the Jungle](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaXWy-HQefc&feature=youtube_gdata_player) wasn’t exactly peanuts, Cholly. > > Watch out for that tree-ee-ee! Watch out for that • AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH! _CRASH!_ OOOH! • TREE-EE! > > George, George, George of the Jungle. Friend to you and me! Ah-ah, ee-ee, tookee-tookee! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/38 "2014-09-29T16:09:22Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > Or a smartphone. Still need an internet connection, else parent’s would be better off shelling out for cable when the data charges hit. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/39 "2014-09-29T16:30:17Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > You realize, of course, that that poor guy probably made a thousand beautiful jumps during his career. He made one lousy one, and was forever remembered as “The Agony of Defeat!” ☹ [Wikipeida sez](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinko_Bogataj) he never finished above 57[sup]th[/sup] and became an instructor after the crash. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793/40 "2014-09-29T17:12:19Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I (still) know every part by heart! I heard that theme song every weekend my entire childhood, but I was an adult before I understood they were saying “Overture” in it. It kinda bugged me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-yesterday-was-the-last-day-that-cartoons-were-aired-on-saturday-mornings-on-broadcast-tv/699793.md?page=3)