# What became ubiquitous then went away in your lifetime? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180 "2026-04-10T22:01:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 21
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2026, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/401 "2026-05-03T12:39:01Z")
[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wZrFZrULnec/hqdefault.jpg "Kermit the Frog Interviews Oscar the Grouch on Public Television | Sesame Street, Special") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZrFZrULnec) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2026, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/402 "2026-05-03T13:44:53Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Democracy Just how old _are_ you? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2026, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/403 "2026-05-03T13:51:42Z")
That was GREAT! Thnx. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2026, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/404 "2026-05-03T14:17:37Z")
[The Rise and Fall of Wine Coolers](https://winefolly.com/lifestyle/the-rise-and-fall-of-wine-coolers/). I remember parties where everyone had a Bartles and Jaymes in their hands. And then poof, they were gone. On edit: I see it was already mentioned by **salinqmind1** in Post 157. ---
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2026, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/405 "2026-05-03T14:20:41Z")
The Trapper Keeper, at least in the US. They were launched nationally in the late 70s, and then it seemed like everyone had one (in High School and somewhat in College) and then disappeared (actually withdrawn from the marked in 2002). These days of course, with the advent of having all your stuff available in the cloud, there isn’t a need for that kind of 3 ring binder, though probably they exist for nostalgia’s sake. I doubt you would see any if you were to go to a school today. `//i\\` ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2026, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/406 "2026-05-03T14:53:43Z")
Long as someone brought up Oscar the Grouch: [Orange Oscar](https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-tracfone-us-rvc3&hs=J2op&sca_esv=f547a834f8ca6474&udm=7&fbs=ADc_l-byipRaccqV0jmfPhi1DgzPtklXGmVkws8Z_lBff884vwWzYGOXmwhR8m6ZBpcqcPLGZsMcHzb046MbOWR3c9PUkQtOJTidy_NJs1CY9LQFajn3Mxu4n7xEQ9NDM-DKA7RDM7cr6m0uON-ThHb5M-dWapsHFTiTAoGYaSoCNXT-7x02ZIxXUaYFbhpSM5vHT2aXbNFjXizjRnsqAl81ppFU6ZPxRaIz8zmtr1LevzIff_spfLw&q=orange+oscar+the+grouch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwizmojor52UAxV4hSsGHaXGLxQQtKgLegQIEhAB&biw=411&bih=884&dpr=2.63#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:d5cb36eb,vid:TMjOefmwWJw,st:0). He was orange when he debuted in 1969 but mysteriously turned green during the second season. I was past the targeted viewing age but my younger sibling picked up on it and had our pop screwing around with the color control trying to get him orange again. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2026, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/407 "2026-05-03T15:54:17Z")
> [@icon](#): > > The Trapper Keeper, at least in the US. They were launched nationally in the late 70s, and then it seemed like everyone had one (in High School and somewhat in College) and then disappeared (actually withdrawn from the marked in 2002). Like so many things, it still lives online. You can still buy one if you want. > **[Trapper Keeper | Mead](https://www.mead.com/c/binders-filler-paper/trapper-keeper/?srsltid=AfmBOooDRZbeUZVdrB8TR9br4K05Hdz74ZS-4fXnYOSQifRG7q9445zt&srt=relevance)** > > The original Trapper Keeper is back. When it comes to organization, you’ve either got it or you don’t – so get it! It includes many of the original features you know and love with an inside storage pocket, a metal clip and a secure closure. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2026, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/408 "2026-05-03T18:11:36Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > I thought at first that this post was going to be about the Jerry Lewis telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which used to be held every Labor Day weekend. It’s actually a good candidate for this thread. For something like 21 hours, Jerry Lewis and Ed McMahon would host a big telethon in Las Vegas, which was broadcast on seemingly every channel (pre-empting all my favorite cartoons!) to raise money for the MDA. It featured performances by a lot of big-name entertainers, most of whom a kid like me had never heard of. That’s a good one, and reminds me, in a weird way, of the predicted traffic fatalities over holiday weekends. I haven’t heard of one in years. The connection? Mad Magazine once did a bit about the Jerry Lewis Labor Day traffic telethon, where Jerry went on the air encouraging drivers to make the predicted fatality numbers, with the progress board from the real telthons. Another positive one. When I visited my parents in LA in the late '70s, the news would always carry the current (usually bad) air quality numbers. Ditto for the Bay Area. They are now not covered unless there are special circumstances, like a fire or weather pattern. We pay a lot for gas out here, but we got something out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2026, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/409 "2026-05-03T18:48:29Z")
Saturday morning cartoons ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2026, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/410 "2026-05-03T18:59:21Z")
They were there from when I was a child. When did that start to happen because this thread is for thing that weren’t there when you were a child, then became ubiquitous and then went away ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2026, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/411 "2026-05-03T19:06:09Z")
They started in the mid-sixties, became ubiquitous in the 70s, 80s and 90s, and are now gone. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/412 "2026-05-04T12:40:09Z")
You know those hills people talk about…? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/413 "2026-05-04T15:08:09Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > They started in the mid-sixties, became ubiquitous in the 70s, 80s and 90s, and are now gone. Do we anyone here who was a kid in the late 1950s? I think most would have been very familiar with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Popeye, Mickey Mouse, Casper (the friendly ghost), Tom and Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, etc. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/414 "2026-05-04T15:58:06Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Do we anyone here who was a kid in the late 1950s? I think most would have been very familiar with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Popeye, Mickey Mouse, Casper (the friendly ghost), Tom and Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, etc. Likely so, but those cartoons, at that time, were, AIUI, shorts which were mostly – if not entirely – shown in movie theaters; I think that it was only a bit later when the shorts with those characters were repurposed for use on television. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/415 "2026-05-04T16:12:43Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Likely so, but those cartoons, at that time, were, AIUI, shorts which were mostly – if not entirely – shown in movie theaters; I think that it was only a bit later when the shorts with those characters were repurposed for use on television. But there was also Rocky & Bullwinkle and Jay Ward’s show before that. However, since I was born in 1951, even the earlier ones came during my lifetime. When I was 5 or so I’d wake up, come downstairs, turn on the TV and get Modern Farmer and then Farmer Grey, a silent era cartoon they were running. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/416 "2026-05-04T16:30:03Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > But there was also Rocky & Bullwinkle and Jay Ward’s show before that. However, since I was born in 1951, even the earlier ones came during my lifetime. True. On the other hand, it appears that Rocky & Bullwinkle initially ran on weekday afternoons on ABC, then later in prime time on NBC. It looks like it didn’t start running on Saturday mornings (which was the point of the post about “Saturday morning cartoons”) until it was in re-runs, sometime after it was originally cancelled by NBC in 1964. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/417 "2026-05-04T16:44:49Z")
There had been programs aimed at children before, but the practice of programming a block of children’s shows on Saturday mornings, mostly animated but some live-action, seems to have begun in the mid-1950s. By the 1960s, all three major networks were doing it, and studios like Hanna-Barbara and Filmation had begun producing cartoon series specifically for Saturday morning. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/418 "2026-05-04T21:59:05Z")
I pulled up the December 27, 1958 copy of our local paper, and it was hit and miss with cartoons on Saturday morning. Some cartoons, some “Our Gang,” some movie serials, so a mixed bag. One of the cartoons that shows up a lot is [Ruff and Reddy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ruff_and_Reddy_Show), which the wiki claims might be the first made-for-Saturday-morning cartoon. (First I’ve ever heard of it.) Side note: One of the other programs that shows up was[Uncle Al](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Uncle_Al_Show), apparently syndicated from Cincinnati, another I’d never heard of. I got a chuckle out of that was an Alan Sues character on “Laugh-in,” but that Uncle Al was a drunken kiddie show host. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/419 "2026-05-05T02:27:21Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I got a chuckle out of that was an Alan Sues character on “Laugh-in,” but that Uncle Al was a drunken kiddie show host. By that time drunken kiddie show host was kind of a cliche. I think I heard a (not very good) Lenny Bruce bit about it, and I’m pretty sure drunk kiddie hosts were in Mad magazine. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/420 "2026-05-05T02:31:38Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I’m pretty sure drunk kiddie hosts were in Mad magazine Yep - that would be Uncle Nutzy (not to be confused with the one from **UHF** ): [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/7160/6521070301_a0f8e2c14e_b.jpg "Uncle Nutzy") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/kipw/6521070301) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180.md?page=22)